Do Pros have bad days?

[alexmg]

I am still learning but, for what I am practicing right now I've progressed well per my self-set standards, I can maintain sub-1" grops at 5 and 7yds, and consistent 1,5 - 2" groups at 10 yards. By consistent I mean 90% of all strings end up as a good group withing above mentioned numbers.

However, I went shooting today and started at 7yd and it was a total mess, right from the beginning I shot fuzzy group top/right off center, which is weird, I even thought my sights were broken or something, then shot again, now low/left, shot another group, kinds centered, another group, low left. And so on an on and on for 200 rounds. Basically I totally blew it, well, I know that 99.9% the pistol is okay and shot as accurate as always so it was me that was shooting allover the place, I do however that my gripping technique was the same, my sight picture was the same, it's just somehow did not work today.

So I am just curious, is it possible to just have a bad day when stars are not aligned or something? Does this happen to pro shooters when on one day, when nothing indicate metal or physical fatigue, you go shooting and it just does not work?

[emjei]

Do you train with a Timer ?? If so; Do you push yourself to the limit while training ??

[alexmg]

No, I only train with timer at home when drawing from holster, this I am talking about target-shooting at the in door range.

[emjei]

One of the reasons I shoot IPSC USPSA ACTION STEEL and IDPA is because Match preasure is something that I like....but while practicing I emulate that preasure to be familiar with it

[emjei]

I suggest listening to Ben Stoeger and Steve Anderson podcasts

[coordinator]

Yes. Some days things don't work out as they have in the past nor does it flow smoothly. Welcome to the competitive arena. Keep after it, they will lessen with persistence and practice. It's still part of the learning process.

[Bkreutz]

I'm sure the "pros" have more bad days than any of us normal humans. The main reason being that they are more critical of themselves than anyone else could be. They know where all the flaws and errors are.

[mgardner]

I shoot with the pros and they have bad stages but usually don't have bad days (unless they break an ankle or something similar). They have developed the ability to recover from disasters and forget them by the time they go to the next stage.

[Service Desk]

When you are starting out there will be days when you look at the sights and squeeze the trigger, these will be the good days.

[bigred1]

The saying goes "amatuers practice till they get it right, pros practice till they cant get it wrong"

Everyone has "off" moments but thats why you train.

[newmexicocrawler]

Yes they have off days....its just someone doesn't notice there bad days as much because there bad is still good

[Nimitz]

I get a little better every day ....

focusing on bad days is not the path to shooting enlightenment .... forget about it and just train harder tomorrow ... and always use a timer ... on every rep ....

[Brooke]

I'll take all of Vogel's off-day scores! He can have all the good-day scores. That will make me better than anybody except him.

[Sarge]

Everybody has the occasional bad day no matter what profession they are in.

[motosapiens]

Bad days (or bad stages) are something you should rejoice about. They are pointing out the shortcomings in your training, so you know what issues to attack.

This issue *sounds* like a problem with trigger control or flinching or something. It's something that can be fixed. Get to work.

[GOF]

Training on the range with a timer is an excellent idea. That timer & the targets are the 'coach' that can't be with you that day.

When you have established some smooth timer/target scores and on one day you cannot meet them... it's time to ask yourself "What am I doing wrong?"... Is it my grip, stance?

Am I pushing too fast? Am I seeing the sight picture on the target I need to see?

Stop and think! You know what you can do.... on those days when you can't do it, figure out what part of your technique is going to hell..... and then fix it. Many years ago a member of the US Shooting Team (shotgun) told me that when her practice day went to hell she "Went back to my ABCs". The fundamentals. That's often where the problem lies..... they are called the "fundamentals" for a reason..... stop and think about what in your technique has changed... and then fix it.

Sometimes just going back and doing things a bit slower can get you back into form.

If you can do it frequently, you should be able to do it often. If not, look at your ABCs.

[mike4045]

I think it all goes back to what I tell people. I practice the things that are tough. I don't considering going to the range shooting groups tough. Bad stages show me where I am weakest. Next practice session I work on that. Most of practice is a plate rack to 40 yds. Makes most shots easy after that.

[rowdyb]

Yes, they just define it differently and react to it differently then us normal people do.

[mulrick]

So I am by no means a pro and I balance on the line of a B class shooter desperately trying to actually shoot like an A class and not just qualify as one.

I try to replicate the stages that messed me up at my local club after and practice until I either reach diminishing returns. Always on the timer and always as if it was a real match.

[joedirt]

I like that idea.

[motosapiens]

I try to replicate the stages that messed me up at my local club after and practice until I either reach diminishing returns. Always on the timer and always as if it was a real match.

That's an interesting tactic, but I think there is a lot to be learned by experimenting a bit in practice. For example, occasionally going faster than you really can to see where things break down. Sometimes you might surprise yourself at what you can do.

If you look at how pro athletes practice (hockey, football, track, etc...) they don't just simulate competitions all the time. In fact, they do very little of that. They simplify and break down the process and focus on individual parts of the process.

Edited January 25, 2015 by motosapiens

[Chris iliff]

I couldn't speak for the pros.

Myself, ....Yep, I have bad days.

[Nimitz]

Steve Anderson's training method of Accuracy mode, speed mode and shoot calling mode has been instrumental in lowering my times while maintaining my old 'retard slow' accuracy of the past ....

[Steve Moneypenny]

EVERYONE has bad days, pro or not.. but most of the top level shooters only shoot 90-95 percent of their ability, they only do what they KNOW they can do. they don't try stupid stuff that they MIGHT pull off, and they have learned to manage stress and feelings.

[us820]

Yes they do.Their bad days just usually are not that bad.

I am a skeet shooter.Everybody in the upper classes are capable of running 100s.The mark of a pro is staying in the moment and doing your work on every target no matter how bad it is going.When you do that you will find the up and down swings in your scores are way less severe.

I don't practice like a shoot as said above either.I practice fundamentals and try to simplify my game by doing all the little things perfect.The shoot just shows how well you practice.

I used to always see the same pros win the big shoots.I really made a point of looking farther down the list than the top 5 on the score sheets.Awesome shooters can have bad days.And if you look you can find them.You just don't notice it because their great days overshadow the few bad ones.

You need to let it just be water off a duck.Even if you really lay an egg it can still be a good thing as long as you can honestly look into your performance and see mistakes you can work on fixing.I can't count how many 10hour long 4 hour drives home that I went round and round in my head asking how I let myself do something stupid all weekend long without picking up on it.