Visualization Slow Motion?

[huck377]

When you visualize a stage do you see it in real time or slow motion and why?

huck

[Loves2Shoot]

There is no slow motion or fast motion, I only visualize the sight picture I need to see for each shot. If you let slow or fast enter your thinking it will take your focus away from the shooting, and that's all that really matters

[Hardball]

One thing that I do is visualize what needs to happen. Not just sight picture, target, etc.

I actually go through the stage as I am going to shoot it, including magazine changes, and basically visualize the flow, with no emphasis on time. Kind of like filling a bottle with water. You start and stop at times where no water is wasted. You can turn on a fire hose and spray water everywhere, or you can control the flow so that it is stable and does what is intended.

FOR ME, visualizing like this keeps the entire "routine" of the stage in a sensible flow so that no surprises jump out and make you crash, pending the gun runs.

I have found that actually being able to see what happens prior to LETTING it happen typically speeds the entire "routine" up and makes for no wasted motion. Hence "Economy of Motion". Having said all of this, I am in process of trying to get the time to get back out and start applying it.

See ya'll on the range!

[benos]

The longer I shot the more important it became to see everything beforehand.

be

[huck377]

So Brian, do you see everything fast or slow?

Huck

[Flexmoney]

I tend to break everything down into each individual step when I visualize. To do so, means that I have to first think about it in a conscious manner. Doing so in real time doesn't seem likely (in reality, many of the things that I am consciously tinking about in visualization, happen at the subconscious level).

Viusalization can be very powerful. Makes sure not to leave anything out.

[eerw]

hmmmm. I don't know..never thought about it as fast or slow..

my visualization of a stage is kind of a start and stop process..

I'll break down part of the stage and work that through..then I will piece together the parts .. making sure I rehearse and visualize the transitions..( if I don't, a part of my subconscious programming is missing ).

when I visualize this all together...I see parts of it faster, some slower if it is more difficult and sometimes it rewinds and plays again..if I get it right..when I am shooting..it all flows and I go along for the ride as my subconscious does the driving..

but for sure it is not consistently fast or slow..it runs as fast or slow as I need it to..

[Sam]

Kind of like filling a bottle with water. You start and stop at times where no water is wasted.

-Hardball

Man, I love that thought!

[benos]

So Brian, do you see everything fast or slow?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Either or both. (I'm guessing by fast that you mean "real time.") Actually, now that I've been thinking about it a bit, I'm not sure that I ever consciously thought about visualizing in terms of time. The guiding principle, for me, was to take whatever time was necessary to clearly see every detail of everything that I knew I needed to see. Sometimes that would have no relationship to time at all. Like the first shot of a stage, for example. Depending on the first's difficulty factor, I may visualize either the top of the slide as a blur, the sights as a blur, or a perfectly stopped, in focus, sight alignment. In those examples, what I programmed so see had nothing to do with how long it might take to see it. If I knew I needed to see a perfectly stopped sight alignment, then that's what I was gonna see before firing the shot, no matter how long it took.

I can remember some stages where the visualization more closely related to real time. Especially when shooting fixed time limit COF's, like the Bianchi Plates. For those types of strings, I'd also combine what it was physically going to feel like with the visualization. I'd feel my finger hauling through on the trigger as I was imagining what the target and sights would look like.

Another real time example would be the reload. But that probably only became like that after years of practicing that specific movement. When visualizing a reload, although I'd have a visual cue, like the line where the mag well meets the grip, the reload in general was "felt" more than it was "seen."

After thinking about this for as long as it took me to write this (which was longer than you might visualize ), my feeling would be - until you have enough experience to where you won't even wonder - don't think about visualizing in terms of time. Just learn to create in your mind, beforehand, a perfect, uninterrupted moving video of everything you are going to see, from, "Shooter ready, Standby"... until your pistol is safely holstered.

be

[huck377]

Brian,

I guess it's more how to see than how fast you see it.

thanks for your help.

huck

[Jake Di Vita]

Speed never really crossed my mind when I visualized a stage.

In thinking about that concept though I did realize something.

If I visualized a stage superfast I usually had a great time (or terrible if that visualization made me try) but sloppy points....if I visualized a stage slow....I had great hits and a not so great time....if I visualized like Brian said...only visualizing exactly what I needed to see, I shot great.

You can look to how to are visualizing a stage to realize what you are asking from your body for performance.

[Pierruiggi]

I don't have anything useful to say on the matter, but I found this on Saul Kirsch's website.

You may be able to shoot the stage only one time in a match – but mentally you can shoot it as many times as you wish.

And sometimes you have to!

Remember, as you shoot, you want to be in the “shooting tense”, allowing yourself to experience the shooting, and focus on what you are seeing as you shoot. You certainly cannot be concerned with trying to remember which way you have to move next! That preparation has to be done beforehand, during the mental rehearsal for the stage.

Always decide on your tactics before you start to rehearse mentally. Otherwise you may be rehearsing two or more options, and this can be confusing in real-time.

Do not decide on your tactics, or begin to run your mental rehearsal until you have actually seen the stage from the shooters point of view. Otherwise you may be practicing the wrong thing.

Do your mental rehearsal well in advance. Do not feel rushed while doing it, and don’t do it as you stand on the line loading your gun.

Always run a positive mental rehearsal! Visualize all your poppers falling on the first shot, your movement being smooth and precise, and always see what you need to see in your mind’s eye as you rehearse the stage.

Try to run the stage in your mind in slow motion, as well as in real-time. Being able to imagine shooting the stage in real-time is a useful tactical planning tool to master.

When you rehearse, try to sit or stand aside, so you are not disturbed. Close your eyes if this enables you to concentrate better, and detach yourself from surrounding distractions.

In your rehearsal, run through the stage, planning all the target sequences, magazines reloads, movements, and if there is any special thing that you know you must pay attention to as you move (such as checking on where that mover is as you cross doorway A).

Be sure you start your rehearsal from the beep, or even from the loading.

“See” all the targets and props on the stage in your mind in as much detail as possible.

You are ready to shoot only when you can run through the whole stage in your mind, without hesitation as to what you should see next.

On the simplest stage you should run a mental rehearsal 10-15 times or more. On a complex stage I sometimes need to run this rehearsal 50 times or more before I shoot.

[Bear1142]

I recently changed my visualization technique to "real time", but I still use the "slow" version also. When I'm programming the stage during the 5 min. walkthrough, I use the slow technique, but after the LMR command, I go to "real time" for my final run through. Visualization is a mental programming of what you want to occur. Just like Flex said,

Viusalization can be very powerful. Makes sure not to leave anything out.

The concept of time is an essential part of the process. The more "real" your visualization, the better you'll prepare for the task at hand. A word of caution. Do not attempt to speed up your visualization as a way of "making or encouraging" yourself to perform at a higher level. You should not artificially speed up or slow down your visualization. Visualize time in a real sense. If your draw is 1.0 seconds, then visualize the draw for 1.0 seconds.

I'm discovering that the more detailed my "real time" visualization is, the better I perform. The more variables I can program into my visualization, the less my consciousness has to "think" about during a run.

Erik

[Flexmoney]

Good stuff in this thread (I need to come back an re-read it a few more times).

I'm discovering that the more detailed my "real time" visualization is, the better I perform.  The more variables I can program into my visualization, the less my consciousness has to "think" about during a run.

Erik

I think that is where I try to get also.

I have to build the stage in my head in a conscious (slower) manner. I have to lay out the blocks, get them in order.

As the blocks start to come together, they form sections of my path through a stage. They become more like sub-conscious activities.

Sometimes there are parts of the path that need to remain in my conscious thought (because fundamental skills aren't 100%). These would be like (mental) hurdles, or walls, in the path through the course.

Ideally, my planning and visualization are such that my path is clear. All aspects feel comfortable (this is trust in your current ability, perhaps more than anything...no trying to be a hero). At this point I can relax and...

...just shoot the stage.

[Rikarin]

Q1

Do you guys visualize as through your eye is the video camera? I have hard time doing this. I can visualize me moving in the video. I am watching me from behind.

Q2

How do you do this for the stages its impossible to located the target like all of them hiding behind the cover and like IDPA, you can't check up the stage. IPSC is easy since you can airgun while taping.

[Jake Di Vita]

A visualize everything I need to succeed on the stage. All the targets, perfect sight picture on those targets, seeing the dot lift out of the A zone every time.

This can even be done in IDPA as you don't need to airgun to visualize.