Ben Stoeger's FOUNDATIONS

[bayougump]

Foundations

The newly released DVD "Foundations" by Ben Stoeger is another must see for those wanting to become better shooters and more importantly for the beginner who has decided to take competition shooting seriously and are hungry for knowledge to honing their shooting skills. Foundations will serve as a reference and useful tool going hand in hand with his previously released DVD last year and Ben's multiple dry-fire and pistol shooting soft backs.

Foundations was produced with the quality of a Hollywood blockbuster and not a third rate indie documentary. Rob Lisak did a great job in the picture and sound quality with multiple points of views and video speeds to enhance the viewer's ability to interpret clearly the points Ben was emphasizing. The background and lighting effects were easy on the eyes and allowed the viewer to easily focus in on even the most subtle movements throughout the film. This was truly a top notch production.

Ben takes a different approach in Foundations than from his previously released Skills and Drills and completely breaks down all the fundamental elements that are key to becoming a competitive shooter vs a weekend range shooter. He goes over in great depth of the Draw, Reloads, Stance and much more. I'd list them all but to get the full appreciation of this you'll have to purchase the DVD. I was impressed at the time and attention to detail that Ben conveyed in every different aspect of the fundamentals of competitive shooting. A beginner will be able to take these 80 minutes and have a clear and justified understanding of where to start to begin shooting competitively and how becoming effective and efficient in these foundational skills will form a solid framework to start from in USPSA.

The highlight of the DVD for me was the last segment on "Shot Calling" and how it plays a vital role in USPSA. Ben seemed to effortlessly explain what can be a hard skill to interpret for a newer shooter. His use of "technology stolen from the Russians during the Cold War" highlighted how shot calling is seen from a shooters point of view behind the sights.

Throwing in a mix of round table discussions and interesting tidbits from "The Source" kept the DVD from being monotonous of just Ben talking.

I would highly recommend buying Foundations if you really want to understand why these basic and fundamental skills are so vital to competition shooting and how to become proficient in these skills. You will leave with the knowledge needed to train correctly and properly under the pressure of the timer. Two thumbs up from this viewer!!!

[kernelofwisdom]

Here’s another positive review.

Got the video via vimeo download.

It’s not tactical. It’s not 3-D. It wasn’t filmed in IMAX. It doesn’t talk about saving you on the streets. It doesn’t talk about how to achieve a micron improvement in sear surface finish.

It’s direct and to the point. The emphasis is on conveying information in a straight forward way to somebody looking for advice on the foundations of competitive shooting. It’s well produced.

The video seems aimed at somebody like me – a person with a lot of shooting experience but none of it done in a way to minimize to the extent possible the time it takes to do the shooting. So, I found a lot of the information revealing. Some tips on grip force were interesting plus the different mindset to achieving the “best” grip for the individual for purposes of going fast while remaining accurate.

Generally, I found the process Ben used of walking through the elements of shooting and how to approach them physically and mentally to be very useful (trigger engagement, reloads, transitions and shot calling for examples).

It’s certainly not a video for advanced techniques for field courses but it doesn’t claim to be. If you’re pretty new to competitive shooting you’ll learn some new things and probably fill in some gaps on things you didn’t know that you didn’t know. I do have dry fire books etc., but I found this video to be informative in ways those weren’t. The video title is exactly accurate in what is provided.

I’m still suing Ben though if this video doesn’t get me a GM card in 30 days or less.

[peterthefish]

I’m still suing Ben though if this video doesn’t get me a GM card in 30 days or less.

The GM card only comes with the DVD version.

[GrtWhite]

I'm a new shooter, got the Vimeo download as well and really liked it. I have the Dry-Fire book/DVD and I was lost watching the DVD, the Foundations was great to watch, very easy to understand.

And yes, The readme.txt file with the Vimeo download states the GM card only comes with the DVD version.

[Jayohee]

The shot-calling portion was definitely innovative and useful to me. I wish he had a dozen or so examples of shots where the viewer could 'guess' where the shot went. I think he had 2 or so but damnit, I want more

[TommyK]

I watched it last night and thought it was really informative. Too much for me to absorb with one viewing so I'll be studying it section by section until I got it all.

I bought the DVD version so my GM card might be in the mail, but I don't expect to see it any time soon.