Warm up?

[TANFARM]

I don't know if this falls under mental or physical conditioning ......it seems the older I getting the longer its taking me to "warm up". At the end of a range session I'm noticeably better than the start.......old age perhaps????

[Hi-Power Jack]

Sounds like a little more dry firing, and more "wet firing" might help solve that problem.

[Glock26Toter]

I did this quite a bit also. I found that when shooting both weekend days, Saturday's match was always a lower score than the Sunday match.

So now, I make sure to get a 10-20 minute dry fire session in the night before.

If I miss that, 10 draw's in the safety area while gunning up helps a tad also.

If I miss both of those, I just accept the fact that my first stage or two are warm ups.

[EricG]

Normal find a pre match routine that will help you stay loose and have some blood flowing also you must have a trigger that gets your mind in a ready position as well. Stretch a lot every day will help too.

[Pizzim]

I think it's a mental thing, even a few shots at a paper target seems to make a difference. It shouldn't but it does even if I shoot the night before.

[Jake Di Vita]

More dry fire before you live fire to make sure your hands get warmed up and ready for action, and more starting live fire practice at match speed. No group shooting to warm up, that goes completely against what we are trying to achieve. You'll never have the opportunity to do that in a match.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Jake Di Vita

[Nimitz]

The first thing I do at EVERY live fire training session for Steel Challenge is what I call the "cold stage run" for score. I shoot 5 strings of whatever stage I'm practicing that day at match speed just like it's the first stage of a major. I record these scores and track the results throughout the year ... This is the only "score" that means anything in training because it most closely resembles a match ... No warm up ... Anyone can record a great time on a drill or practice classifier stage after you're knee deep in brass. It's the first rounds out of the gun which depict your true current skill level ...

[Chris iliff]

Amen

Nimitz is spot on.

I haven't got anything against going knee deep in brass though.

[Nimitz]

Neither do I ... I just tend to ignore my times at that point. I've put up a few sub 7 sec Steel Challenge stage times in training ... Other than knowing what I'm capable of I don't get too excited about those times since I haven't found a MD yet who would let me shoot a stage 20 times before counting the next one for score ...

Edited January 22, 2016 by Nimitz

[benos]

Before I shot my first stage I'd always do enough draws (in a warm / safety zone area) until I felt my draw (to a perfect sight alignment) was to my capacity.

[imeyers78]

I'm a newer shooter and always come into a stage with a plan and then buzzer sounds and I forget EVERYTHING. My lessons learned is to shoot the stage mentally before I got live. I've learned to plan my shoot and shoot my plan mentally first.

[nahanshew89]

I'm a newer shooter and always come into a stage with a plan and then buzzer sounds and I forget EVERYTHING. My lessons learned is to shoot the stage mentally before I got live. I've learned to plan my shoot and shoot my plan mentally first.

This is a problem for ALL newer shooters. I'm not a seasoned vet by any means, but I have been doing it for a little bit now, and I've found that if you make your plan, and run thru the stage during the walk thru like you're going to run it, helps a lot. I do it 2 or 3 times at least. Helps me stick to the plan. Idk if all clubs do it, but my club puts the stages online in PDF format about a week beforehand, so I get to make my plan early on. If yours does this, use that to your advantage!!