Analyzing Max Michel's Footwork

[robot]

I got to meet Max at the USPSA Open Nationals in Florida and had the pleasure to watch him shoot a few stages. Max is such a friendly person and exudes professionalism. True mark of a champion. He even entertained my fanboyism by taking a selfie with me.

While watching him shoot, I noticed that he uses an interesting movement technique and I thought I'd share it with you. Let me know what you think.

[Nickb45]

He is very quick on his feet!

[Jadeslade]

I think Max has done this thousand of times at matches and hundreds of thousands of times in shooting practice and maybe millions of times over his his shooting career just practicing movement. Current IPSC Open World Champion. Many times US National Open Champion. Has great footwork. Nice video with annotation. You will find similar footwork among the top shooters. Always been a nice guy.

[Pat Miles]

FanBoyism? Can you take penicillin for that?

There are very few folks who watch videos and key on various aspects (foot work, gun position, etc.) and analyze them. I watch vids of different matches which show several shooters and compare the different aspects of their shooting. Lot's of great training info if a person takes the time to break it down bit by bit.

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Take a look at some videos of KC. He never stops moving. Body type and physical condition will come into play as well. Pick a GM about your size and shape and do what they do is a good place to start. Thanks, Eric

[ctay]

I took a class with Max - best money I ever spent on USPSA. His main focus in the 3 days of shooting was movement. Not splits, not even reloads or draws but movement. The way he put it, you can only shoot as fast as you can shoot - ie see the sights and make good shots. The shooting speed is almost predetermined by the target difficulty and your ability (which of course you can practice to get better at). So knowing that, the place to make up time is in movement.

Watching him shoot, the little stutter steps are huge for him. They slow him down as he is entering a position but it also allows him to stay steady which allows him to start shooting as he enters a position rather than wait until he is stopped and set. It sounds a little funny on dry dirt we have in NM - big blast out of a position with big hard steps then these fast rat a tat tat shuffling steps as he is getting into a shooting position. I've started really making myself do it even if it is unnatural for me right now because it really does settle you down faster into the shooting. Also, you'll notice that he sits really low as he is settling into a position - ie knees really bent then slowly extending as he is shooting in a position. This also really helps in body control and stability - but does require you to do some leg workouts to get your legs strong enough to handle shooting in a squat.

If the opportunity comes up, spend the money and take a class with him. You will come away with more than you can put into place but better yet, you will have a practice regime that will help you on the fundamentals that make the difference.

[hankdiesel]

That's pretty much what I saw while watching you shoot all week Loke!

[Jake Di Vita]

Watch wide receivers route running and you'll see a lot of the same general movements, especially when it comes to slowing down. I don't even think he moves that fast, the impressive part is the accuracy of where he places his feet.

[FTDMFR]

Man, that's a great video. Thanks for putting that together! Very helpful.

[robot]

That's pretty much what I saw while watching you shoot all week Loke!

LOL... I shot exactly like Max... in slow-mo!

[V2plus25]

Great video thanks. I can definitely see the benefits of staying low helping on slowing down getting into position as well as helping with that quick burst to leave a position. Guess it's time for more leg workouts

[StraightSh00ter]

I was watching a few videos of him the other day. One thing that stood out was him talking about shooting while moving. He was saying that he keeps his knees bent to absorb forces, and uses the heel-toe to stay smooth and mitigate the up-and-down motion that usually happens when you walk. It's all about being smooth and steady, especially while trying to get a sight picture.

[Isurg]

Aggressive but still looks smooth..

[Glock26Toter]

There are two concepts that I see in the vid. Both of which are the foundation of Cha-Lee's classes and have been responsible for mega improvement in my game.

First is the "explode from the shooting position." This is both in the initial movement and the hop that you mention out of position 2. I actually did the same hop in that position when I shot that stage. It's because I too, had my foot over the fault line, and when you are on a fault line like that, it's pretty slow to try to push off aggressively without being flatly and firmly on the ground. Therefore a quick step out - spring step combo is quicker to get you moving fast. The general idea is that you are trying to change the curve of your movement from an upslope of acceleration to a much more appropriate, instantaneous burst to full acceleration and then a downlope of deceleration into the next shooting position.

That brings me to the the second thing. How he gets from full speed to almost stopped.... that's deceleration by taking small steps and using that "trailing leg" to brake with. Watch the video again and you'll see that it's not really the planting of the leading heal... but rather braking with the trailing leg so that he's coming in smooth in order to shoot as SOON as he see's the target.

To summarize a bit, the idea is to accelerate as fast as you can possibly muster, and then to make deceleration into your shooting position smooth so you can engage the instant you hit the position. That's what I see Max doing in the vid.

[CHA-LEE]

I try to tell shooters that this is a "Movement game with some shooting involved" and they look at me like I am crazy. Efficient, Aggressive movement through a stage is at LEAST 50% of the task at hand. Many shooters lose several seconds on field courses because of poor movement skills but they can't stop thinking that they need to SHOOT faster to make up the lost time.

The primary issue that shooters have with learning how to move effectively while shooting a stage is that it requires leveraging movement skills that are usually opposite of what we have done our whole lives. For example, Accelerating to near full velocity in two strides or less is not "Normal". The same goes for using your trailing leg as the primary "Breaking" effort as you settle into a position from a running speed. If you don't incorporate these shooting based movement skills into your every day life activities then it isn't going to magically happen on its own on match day.

When others are focusing their training on saving tenths of a second on their draw or reload, I am focusing my training on saving SECONDS using effective movement. I will let you "Beat" me by a 1 - 2 tenths on the draw all day long, because I know I can make up 10+ times that time with effective movement. If you are losing stages by multiple seconds but your practice is based on saving tenths of a second, then you are practicing the wrong stuff.

[Wesquire]

So what's the best way to train movement? Set up real stages and go through them airgunning full speed, then dry fire, then live fire?

[CHA-LEE]

The "best" way to train movement is to get some training from someone who can explain it first hand. Everyone learns differently and has different "Issues" so there isn't a generic plan of attack in training this stuff.

This isn't an "Easy Button" type of skill that you can simply read about or watch on a video and actually get it. You need dedicated in person training to observe your skills and define plan of attack for fixing your specific issues.

This is why most shooters suck at their movement skills. They would rather spend their $$$ on guns, ammo or gear instead of investing that money into their training.

[motosapiens]

So what's the best way to train movement? Set up real stages and go through them airgunning full speed, then dry fire, then live fire?

what do elite athletes in all sports do? break it down to individual steps and perfect those steps, then put them all together.

I think there is very little to gain from setting up real stages and airgunning them any more often than very occasionally.

I think there is a lot to gain in things like lowering the time to first shot when you have to draw and move 10' to a vision barrier. Or reducing the time from last shot in one position to first shot in another position 10' away. That's where you will learn how to aggressively step out, and how to come in with the gun up, slowing down in a controlled manner, ready to break the shot as soon as your vision tells you to.

If you work on individual movement skills, they will soon become part of your subconscious, and you won't have to think about stepping off aggressively, or getting the gun up and to the target early, any more than you have to think about running quickly to intercept a fly ball.

[zzw26n]

thank you Cha-Lee

[motosapiens]

This is why most shooters suck at their movement skills. They would rather spend their $$$ on guns, ammo or gear instead of investing that money into their training.

You sure it's just 'not paying for training', rather than 'not practicing'?

I think there is real value in having someone else watch you, and also in analyzing your own video and comparing it to better shooters on the same stage (i squadded with manny at ss nats last year, and got some vid of him with that in mind), but I also think there is real value in using a timer to learn what the fastest way for *you* is to move between 2 positions.\

As steve anderson has pointed out, movement training has an additional benefit of providing some actual exercise, which is never a bad thing.

Edited November 23, 2015 by motosapiens

[CHA-LEE]

Everyone is going to have differing opinions on the training vs practice topic. All I can tell you is that I see a LOT of shooters at major matches with THOUSANDS of dollars in guns and gear but very little $$$ invested in their training. All of the best gear in the world isn't going to overcome fundamental skills issues that can ONLY be fixed with effective in person one-on-one training.

When I go to a match and look at the competition, I am not worried about the guy who has a $5000 gun and $500 worth of training. I am worried about the guy that has a $500 gun and $5000 worth of training.

Since I started shooting this sport in 2008 I have invested thousands of dollars in my training with many different training resources. I also continue to invest in additional training every year. I also consider myself a fairly competent self learner who can figure stuff out on my own and shouldn't "Need" much outside resource training. As a competent self learner and investing in my own training by others it has allowed me to achieve pretty decent practical shooting skills in a fairly short amount of time. For those who think they can read a post on a forum, watch a DVD or video on YouTube, or read a book and achieve the same level of skills improvement GOOD LUCK. You would be better served in buying some Lotto tickets instead because your odds of succeeding are probably better with that game.

There is no "Easy Button" to avoid the cost of training and grinding through the suck to improve.

[theWacoKid]

So what's the best way to train movement? Set up real stages and go through them airgunning full speed, then dry fire, then live fire?

When I dry fire, I stand still and get a few clean draws and trigger presses. After that I'm not doing a draw, reload, or trigger drill unless I'm including movement. Even if it's one step it ingrains exploding out and in. I will start in a spot, explode and draw, and move three steps to the first spot I push out the gun and practice trigger press. I may do two trigger presses and then shuffle two steps sideways and trigger press twice more. CHA-LEE is dead on, the most important skills are efficient movements that get you quickly into the next position and engaging the array as soon as possible.

One thing I have noticed, being effective here equates to good match performance but doesn't run you up the classification ladder. Going up the classification ladder is about burning down speed shoot exercises, but match performance is based more on movement and forgoing shooting mistakes. I think the distinction between the two is important and interesting.

Edited November 23, 2015 by theWacoKid

[Jake Di Vita]

While movement is definitely important to optimizing your score, I can't agree that it is the most important skill. If you have GM movement skills and D class shooting ability, you aren't going to beat the guy that has D class movement skills and GM shooting ability.

When people talk about training movement, ultimately all they are trying to do is minimize the time between shooting. Most of this is in how early and decisively you can get moving when leaving a shooting position and how early you can get on the sights ready to shoot when entering a position, the middle isn't all that important relative to the beginning and end.

[CHA-LEE]

There is not any one single skill that is vastly more important than another. All of your skills need to be honed to perfection and kept in balance to one another as you improve.

I also want to point out that I have never seen a shooter who possess GM level movement skills and anything less than A class shooting skills. Shooters really don't even start to realize the benefit of moving more effectively until they are already shooting fairly well and still get their asses handed to them in matches. The light bulb moment of "I am not getting beat in the shooting portion of the stage" usually does not happen until they are fairly solid in shooting skills and the only remaining component to improve is movement.

What I have observed is that effective movement skills is usually want separates the top shooters from everyone else. Too many people focus their training too heavily on the gun handling and shooting skills then neglect their movement skills. I am not saying that we don't have to train and perfect the gun handling and shooting skills. You absolutely do. But every skill needs to be given the same focus and importance, movement included.

I have seen plenty of "Stand & Blast" GM's with very solid gun handling and aggressive shooting skills but then usually lack in the movement skills department. That or poor logical stage breakdown strategy, but that is a whole different discussion.

[Jake Di Vita]

There is not any one single skill that is vastly more important than another. All of your skills need to be honed to perfection and kept in balance to one another as you improve.

Really? You don't think the ability to hit the target or call your shots is more important than anything else? Honing all skills to perfection in balance is great in theory, in reality we usually have to pick one thing to really focus on bringing up at a time. I don't know about you, but if I want to make an appreciable advance in my skill in one area, it's going to take about a year of training before people start to notice.

I also want to point out that I have never seen a shooter who possess GM level movement skills and anything less than A class shooting skills. Shooters really don't even start to realize the benefit of moving more effectively until they are already shooting fairly well and still get their asses handed to them in matches. The light bulb moment of "I am not getting beat in the shooting portion of the stage" usually does not happen until they are fairly solid in shooting skills and the only remaining component to improve is movement.

I was just using that as an example. Doesn't have to exist in the real world to understand the point behind it, but the example still works with your way of it. GM shooting abilities and A class movement will spank A class shooting skills and GM movement any day of the week. Of course it takes shooters a little while before understanding the nuances of improving on other aspects of their game beyond pulling the trigger. I also don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. If you're getting several penalties per match, forgetting targets, not calling your shots, etc; fixing all these things first will be better for you as a shooter both in match performance today and your journey of development than bringing up your movement skills. I think the concept of triage absolutely applies. Fix your worst problem. Rinse, repeat.

What I have observed is that effective movement skills is usually want separates the top shooters from everyone else. Too many people focus their training too heavily on the gun handling and shooting skills then neglect their movement skills. I am not saying that we don't have to train and perfect the gun handling and shooting skills. You absolutely do. But every skill needs to be given the same focus and importance, movement included.

I have seen plenty of "Stand & Blast" GM's with very solid gun handling and aggressive shooting skills but then usually lack in the movement skills department. That or poor logical stage breakdown strategy, but that is a whole different discussion.

I'd say consistency separates the top shooters from everyone else. The top 10 in each division at the world shoot or nationals probably don't have any glaring weaknesses. The person that wins is usually the person who made the least mistakes.

I absolutely agree that there are plenty of people with super solid gun handling skills that have neglected other parts of their game to the point where it is a glaring weakness...of course you won't be successful doing that.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Jake Di Vita