Eye exercises (Y. Lee)

[OnceACowboy]

I'm a 67 year old shooter and as you know, the eyes aren't as good as they used to be.  I listened to Yong Lee on Arik Levy's podcast and he described a series of eye exercises that should help with eye speed for transitions, calling shots, etc,  Has anyone on the board used these?  What were your results?

[JJB05]

Can you provide what these eye exercises are? I'd be interested to try them.  

[Adamj]

3 hours ago, JJB05 said:

Can you provide what these eye exercises are? I'd be interested to try them.  

The podcast is Firearms Nation Podcast. Yong Lee was on the 12/21/2018 and 05/28/2018. You should check both of those episodes out. They offer some helpful advice for anyone starting out on or trying to improve their performance with a dot. Also the podcast as a whole has a ton of info from big name shooters. 

[JJB05]

28 minutes ago, Adamj said:

The podcast is Firearms Nation Podcast. Yong Lee was on the 12/21/2018 and 05/28/2018. You should check both of those episodes out. They offer some helpful advice for anyone starting out on or trying to improve their performance with a dot. Also the podcast as a whole has a ton of info from big name shooters. 

 

Thanks.  Will check it out.

[hrhawk]

You could try a Brock string. Cheap and readily available on amazon.  Plenty of vids on YouTube. 

[rowdyb]

i use a brock string. i do quite a few vision related exercises as my eye sight is horrible. remember there is a difference. you won't get better eye sight with these, if you're 20/40 you're gonna stay 20/40. but you will have better "vision" if you work on it. brock string, hand eye coordination drills, sports eye exercises out of two different books.

[OnceACowboy]

Thanks for the responses.  I really want to keep shooting iron sights but I know I need some eye work.  I will be checking out the Brock string and the YouTube info.

[B585]

I hate to be a the voice of gloom, but if you are looking for exercises to improve your eye’s ability to change focus, they don’t exist for someone who is 67.  Yong is 55 and also has said he hasn’t seen his front sightclearly for over a decade.

The good news is you can improve your ability to perceive what is happening and you can improve your saccades (quick eye movements from one target to the next).  

Again, you can’t improve your eyes ability to be in focus at a distance target and then on the front sight without some form of optical aid (multifocal lenses, mono vision, etc).  You can practice getting the target and then the front sightin focus with whichever optical aid you chose.  Also Mr.Lee shoots with a target focus and has an excellent index so he doesn’t have to get the front sight in focus.      

If you understand your physical limitations, you have a better chance at being able to do eye “exercises “ that may improve your shooting.

For clarification, Calling shots is a perception which can be learned.  There are some computer programs that are primarily designed with perception problems that can help to some degree but they aren’t cheap.  A red dot helps a lot of people learn to call shots and the beauty of it is that you conscience mind is in the same state as when you are shooting irons.

Edited January 10, 2019 by B585

[B585]

One other food for thought, Ben has gone to primarily target focus because it’s faster.... and he is young enough that he doesn’t have to do it. He actually said that he feels he can call his shots better now with the target focus . 

 

Again, my posts may have sounded harsh, but my goal is to see work on things that can actually be improved and trying to change your ability to focus from target the  sight without an optical device is not  possible for someone who is 67.

 

Transitions, learning what kind of  sight picture is required for varying difficulty shots as well as calling shots are things that can be improved at your age.

 

If you have questions about optical options, let me know.

Edited January 10, 2019 by B585

[OnceACowboy]

Thanks, that more or less confirms what I thought.  I have started the quick movement exercises after a visit to the eye doctor.

[Chili]

On 1/9/2019 at 8:45 PM, B585 said:

 

The good news is you can improve your ability to perceive what is happening and you can improve your saccades (quick eye movements from one target to the next).  

 

 

Would you expand on how to improve this or link to the appropriate exercises?

[B585]

If you are referring to saccades (changing focus  from one target to the next)), it is complex.  Unless you have significant issues with saccades, you may not get a bid bang for the buck, but it never hurts to try.  You can start with pasting small targets on the wall (pasters work well) and force yourself to focus one one paster then the next and then the next.  Change directions and height.  See if you have any problems with any direction.  If so, work on that direction.  Once you can do that on demand start slowly incorporating shooting activities.  First, no gun and moving your body     (Preferably with your legs), then add a gun and aim, then add the trigger press.  Determine which step gives you the most trouble and work on that till it is not a problem.  For most people, the eye movements part is not what causes the problem, but rather incorporating all the activities required.  For all of them, the more subconscious they are, the more efficient they will be.

If you do find that the eye movements part alone gives you a lot of problems, the following is a pretty decent set of.exercises that are free.  The first few are more related to shooting .

http://eyecanlearn.com/tracking/saccades/

[pjb45]

On 1/8/2019 at 10:59 AM, OnceACowboy said:

I'm a 67 year old shooter and as you know, the eyes aren't as good as they used to be.  I listened to Yong Lee on Arik Levy's podcast and he described a series of eye exercises that should help with eye speed for transitions, calling shots, etc,  Has anyone on the board used these?  What were your results?

 

I got to shoot with Yong Lee for a few months years ago.  Great guy.  Sound advice always from him.

 

[OnceACowboy]

If you are referring to saccades (changing focus  from one target to the next)), it is complex.  Unless you have significant issues with saccades, you may not get a bid bang for the buck, but it never hurts to try.  You can start with pasting small targets on the wall (pasters work well) and force yourself to focus one one paster then the next and then the next.  Change directions and height.  See if you have any problems with any direction.  If so, work on that direction.  Once you can do that on demand start slowly incorporating shooting activities.  First, no gun and moving your body     (Preferably with your legs), then add a gun and aim, then add the trigger press.  Determine which step gives you the most trouble and work on that till it is not a problem.  For most people, the eye movements part is not what causes the problem, but rather incorporating all the activities required.  For all of them, the more subconscious they are, the more efficient they will be.
If you do find that the eye movements part alone gives you a lot of problems, the following is a pretty decent set of.exercises that are free.  The first few are more related to shooting .
http://eyecanlearn.com/tracking/saccades/

Yes, this what I was referring to. I know my eyes won't get better at focusing near to far, nor will my prescription change.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[B585]

It was kinda funny.  I had not heard that specific podcast when I posted the previous info.  I thought you were referring to a previous interview where Yong mentioned eye exercises in much less detail.  In any case, good luck 

[2Alphamikenoshoot]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 8:02 PM, hrhawk said:

You could try a Brock string. Cheap and readily available on amazon.  Plenty of vids on YouTube. 

I do the brocks string, as well as another one our human performance guy suggested. Basically its a grid matrix printed on an 8x11" piece of paper, and then a scaled down one. You put the big one on the wall, and hold the smaller one. They have different letters in different spots. Basically go down a column or across a row, alternating between the small one and the large scale one. So you have to focus on the small one, identify the letter, then look at the big one, identify the letter, and alternate and keep working your way across a row or down a column.