Burnout/Overtraining

[konkapot]

Showed up at a match with minor physical problems and extremely negative mental state. 

 

Pulled up to the range, turned around and drove home. 

 

Haven't been shooting well lately. Training is on point. 

 

Anybody experienced burnout and.or overtraining? If so how did you manage it?

[limitedgun]

Sounds like you are in severe need of Steve Anderson's Mental Management training. What was your goal for that match? What was the goal for the prior matches that you decided everything was good enough for you to stick around and shoot?

 

Some people have more serious physical problems and will not allow the mental state to be negative when it comes to showing up at the match that they trained for. If you have not been shooting well lately how on point is your training? What do your journal entries look like after you have not been shooting well? How much of your training is devoted to the mental aspect of training? 

 

There is no such thing as over training. If you have no objectives or goals, there is no path. What is your training schedule and what do you do when you miss a scheduled session? That will answer a lot of your questions.

[Joe4d]

I found another hobby,  did that for a few years,  now moving on to something else.  Wonder if you turned around from the same match I got burned out on. 10 hour days for less than 2 minutes of shooting will do that.
I think we had a thread that talked about a 5 year thing in most hobbies. Seems to be a point where alot of folks move on. Never thought about it, but when the 5 year thing was mentioned I looked at my time at various sports and seems I did that repeatedly.
year 1, learn the game, year 2 get serious and go in on practice and being competitive. Year 4 sorta peak but dont know it yet. Year 5 realize you have plateaued,  get bored with it, move on.

[stick]

You did the right thing by going home in the state you were in.  Step away, find something else to do and your heart and head will tell you when it's time to go back.  I trained 6 days a week for SCSA.  When I made GM, I was burned out.  I stopped shooting SCSA.  That was almost a year ago.  Right now, I have no desire to shoot it again.  You can say I got burned out.  My head and my heart are on other priorities.  

[konkapot]

Training logs were solid. Match logs were good up until Western PA and the club match immediately prior. 

 

Western PA I failed in work the throttle properly; pushed past positions several times. 

 

Club match prior was also pushing too hard. 

 

I've never missed a training session; I work at a range. Part of the problem (a first world problem to be sure) is that I could, easily, shoot 7 days a week. That, in the past, has resulted in not taking a session seriously...or, in other words, taking it for granted. 

 

I have found that a fair amount of the "training" material and product to be more focused on revenue generating for the provider. I will take a look at Steve's book though. 

 

The problem for me is that so much of mental training is based on putting a "spin" on things. "Oh, 12 rounds to clear a plate rack. Well it was a learning experience, so you did great. It's good that you got so much training on that plate rack. Way to go champ." 

 

I am exaggerating a little it with that hypothetical plate rack example, but that type of thinking is self deception. 

[konkapot]

@stick-Would you say that training became "work.?" 

 

My wife has commented that "Shooting doesn't seem to bring you joy."

 

Well I don't know about "joy" but I've gotta reload and chamber check the ammo. This morning is dryfire and this afternoon I'm going to drive 45 minutes to the range for livefire. Tomorrow I've got to find some primers for sale somewhere on this planet. 

 

Joy is holding a baby rabbit while it sings to you. 

 

Joy is not working on loaded table pickups in 100F heat. 

 

I am not the guy who shows up at a match and shoots 8 mikes and 4 deltas and chuckles about it. No hate to those that are that guy. 

[Boomstick303]

It all comes down to fun.  When a hobby becomes work and there is no joy when participating in that hobby its time to take a break or possibly its a time to walk away.  When individuals are driven to compete at high levels of any hobby where competition is involved, winning is one driver.  To win you have to truly "Embrace the Suck".  Embracing the Suck in shooting, is the reloading, training, dry fire and live fire.  All of these things take up an immense amount to time.  When I started to getting good at RC Racing, I had to do all of these little things that individually did not take up a lot of time but collectively took up immense amounts of time.  My wife commented it was like having a second job.  Like all jobs they grow old.  Some people are wired to be able to be happy by throttling  back the "work" aspect of the hobby to have fun again.  Most "A type" personalities I imagine are not. I ask myself why am I doing the hobby?  Where is this hobby going?  What level of participation allows results that I can live with?  That's what I do and the answer usually becomes self evident. 

[stick]

2 hours ago, konkapot said:

@stick-Would you say that training became "work.?" 

 

My wife has commented that "Shooting doesn't seem to bring you joy."

 

Well I don't know about "joy" but I've gotta reload and chamber check the ammo. This morning is dryfire and this afternoon I'm going to drive 45 minutes to the range for livefire. Tomorrow I've got to find some primers for sale somewhere on this planet. 

 

Joy is holding a baby rabbit while it sings to you. 

 

Joy is not working on loaded table pickups in 100F heat. 

 

I am not the guy who shows up at a match and shoots 8 mikes and 4 deltas and chuckles about it. No hate to those that are that guy. 

Yes it was work.  I can tell you from experience.  You need a break.  Back in the day... I was a golf pro.  I worked, taught and did all the golf stuff.  Then when I was off, guess where I was?  Back where I worked practicing.  Someone very wise told me a saying I use to this day.  "It's very different getting up in the morning and wanting to practice versus getting up in the morning and having to practice."  Where is your time away? 

[konkapot]

"wanting to practice" versus "having to practice." That times 1000.

[konkapot]

"But I just came off of a break."

 

Yup. I took a break about 5 years ago. Time flies. 

[benos]

I don't have anything pertinent to add to this. But I’ll type this anyway…  The burnout / comeback factor varies with the individual. For me, once I shot my first competition (PPC match in 1978), I knew that is what I wanted to dedicate my life to. And I did for 20 years. It consumed me - if I wasn't shooting, thinking about shooting, I was working on guns or reloading. At the end of that 20 years, my sponsorship options were pretty much depleted - I walked away with no regrets.

 

During that 20 years, on the rare burnout occasion, I'd just take some time off, then that motivated to come back with a vengence.  But if that doesn't work for you... if you don't feel it in your gut, then don't do it. And maybe more importantly, don't care that you don’t.

[limitedgun]

8 hours ago, konkapot said:

Training logs were solid. Match logs were good up until Western PA and the club match immediately prior. 

 

Western PA I failed in work the throttle properly; pushed past positions several times. 

 

Club match prior was also pushing too hard. 

 

I've never missed a training session; I work at a range. Part of the problem (a first world problem to be sure) is that I could, easily, shoot 7 days a week. That, in the past, has resulted in not taking a session seriously...or, in other words, taking it for granted. 

 

I have found that a fair amount of the "training" material and product to be more focused on revenue generating for the provider. I will take a look at Steve's book though. 

 

The problem for me is that so much of mental training is based on putting a "spin" on things. "Oh, 12 rounds to clear a plate rack. Well it was a learning experience, so you did great. It's good that you got so much training on that plate rack. Way to go champ." 

 

I am exaggerating a little it with that hypothetical plate rack example, but that type of thinking is self deception. 

The mental aspect really does not have much to do with shooting. Brings great life lessons. WIth Winning In Mind was written by a shooter but has helped people in countless sports. Reading that book several times can change a lot of aspects in your life. Sometimes you are just in a place where it is time to quit.

[CHA-LEE]

Konkapot> You are discovering the reality of what happens when the time/effort/money invested doesn't justify the desired outcome. When the input doesn't match the output it makes us second guess why we are doing it. This is actually a "good" thing because it should allow you discover inefficiencies in your training process or reassess your performance expectations or goals. For example, if you are "Training" 5 - 7 days a week for years on end and are not dominating this sport at the National/World level, then you are training ineffectively.

 

I think you need to take a step back and assess your situation. Make lists of the Pro's, Con's, and Goals associated with competing in the practical shooting sports. There are very few people that can make a living shooting professionally. Maybe you are in that boat, but you are likely not just like 99% of the people that participate in the practical shooting sports. If you are not paying the bills by shooting professionally, then it needs to be treated as a hobby that you find joy in doing. If you don't find joy in participating in a hobby, then why do it? Also realize that a "Hobby" level of participation isn't going to provide the level of participation that will consistently produce National/World Championships winning skills or performance. This means that your expectations or goals need to be aligned with your level of participation.

 

The number one mistake I see competition shooters make that leads to burn out or skill stagnation is the lack of reassessing their current situation on a regular basis and rebuilding their formula to rebalance what is needed. The things we need to focus on while transitioning from B class to M class are completely different than what is needed to transition from M class to GM. Then once you get a GM classification there is a completely different focus needed to start winning matches as a GM. If you are still using a "Get out of B Class" training solution but simply double or triple down on the frequency in hopes that it will improve your skills even more, that usually isn't an effective solution. Just as our skill level evolves, so should our training solutions. We also need to make our training solutions enjoyable enough to keep us motivated in doing them. Basically put, if you make your training an ineffective grind, then you get burned out because its not producing the end results you desire. If your match performance expectations are set too high vs reality then you will get burned out because you will feel like all of the training effort isn't worth the output.

 

Lastly, I want to say that Everything that has a beginning, also has an End. What we find interest, enjoyment, challenge, or engagement in today will rarely stay the same as time goes on. Relationships, Hobbies, Jobs, Homes, Cars, Pets, etc all come and go through our life time. Maybe competition shooting has simply run its course for you and its time to move onto the next hobby? We only live once buddy and life is too short to waste on hobbies we don't find joy or accomplishment in doing.

[konkapot]

"Don't care that you don't" is tough for me. Driving away from the match I felt like a punk. 

 

It's not a childish sense of "my mama didn't raise no quitter" but rather a sense of "this isn't that hard. I can work my way through this."

[konkapot]

Good stuff Cha-Lee. Great stuff, actually. Will re-re--read and possibly PM

[18111811]

3 hours ago, CHA-LEE said:

Konkapot> You are discovering the reality of what happens when the time/effort/money invested doesn't justify the desired outcome. When the input doesn't match the output it makes us second guess why we are doing it. This is actually a "good" thing because it should allow you discover inefficiencies in your training process or reassess your performance expectations or goals. For example, if you are "Training" 5 - 7 days a week for years on end and are not dominating this sport at the National/World level, then you are training ineffectively.

 

I think you need to take a step back and assess your situation. Make lists of the Pro's, Con's, and Goals associated with competing in the practical shooting sports. There are very few people that can make a living shooting professionally. Maybe you are in that boat, but you are likely not just like 99% of the people that participate in the practical shooting sports. If you are not paying the bills by shooting professionally, then it needs to be treated as a hobby that you find joy in doing. If you don't find joy in participating in a hobby, then why do it? Also realize that a "Hobby" level of participation isn't going to provide the level of participation that will consistently produce National/World Championships winning skills or performance. This means that your expectations or goals need to be aligned with your level of participation.

 

The number one mistake I see competition shooters make that leads to burn out or skill stagnation is the lack of reassessing their current situation on a regular basis and rebuilding their formula to rebalance what is needed. The things we need to focus on while transitioning from B class to M class are completely different than what is needed to transition from M class to GM. Then once you get a GM classification there is a completely different focus needed to start winning matches as a GM. If you are still using a "Get out of B Class" training solution but simply double or triple down on the frequency in hopes that it will improve your skills even more, that usually isn't an effective solution. Just as our skill level evolves, so should our training solutions. We also need to make our training solutions enjoyable enough to keep us motivated in doing them. Basically put, if you make your training an ineffective grind, then you get burned out because its not producing the end results you desire. If your match performance expectations are set too high vs reality then you will get burned out because you will feel like all of the training effort isn't worth the output.

 

Lastly, I want to say that Everything that has a beginning, also has an End. What we find interest, enjoyment, challenge, or engagement in today will rarely stay the same as time goes on. Relationships, Hobbies, Jobs, Homes, Cars, Pets, etc all come and go through our life time. Maybe competition shooting has simply run its course for you and its time to move onto the next hobby? We only live once buddy and life is too short to waste on hobbies we don't find joy or accomplishment in doing.

Great advice!

[Prange]

Take a season off. Try a different shooting sport.

 

Air pistol and/or Air rifle could suffice.  

 

You'll know when you're ready to go back.

[gnappi]

I've been there... worked hard enough for wifey to regularly complain, and have taken breaks from shooting. Some short as well as long, some from self induced pressure (International skeet, was a biggie there) issues and others club politics issues.  Like Konkapot said, I had thought shooting sports had run their course.  

 

After a break I've been refreshed, and I now play my own game and put more of the "P" (from IPSC and USPSA) in shooting for a while. Instead of focusing on one discipline I've re-focused for some CO, single stack, limited, open and maybe even IDPA. Ammo supply does not allow all of that so I'll be mixing it up from now on.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by gnappi

[Tango]

On 8/29/2020 at 7:50 AM, Prange said:

Take a season off. Try a different shooting sport.

 

Air pistol and/or Air rifle could suffice.  

 

You'll know when you're ready to go back.

how about, try a different sport? work on your fitness for a while, etc?

[DD78]

Burnout is definitely a serious issue.  I started shooting USPSA and 3 gun about 5 years ago.  Each year I didn't get burned out, until this year.  The thing that was different this year is that even with Covid cancelling some of the early matches, I've shot matches almost every single day on the weekends since about mid April.  I've had maybe a handful of days off on the weekends.  When I look back at what was different those first few years compared to this year, there are two things I can see - 1.  shooting way too many matches and not having time off except for during the week, while I'm working 60-70 hours a week.  When I'm putting in that many hours at work every week, and not having a day off on the weekends, it seems to have led to being burned out.  2.  I also shot more indoor matches over the winter last year.  While it wasn't every weekend, it was 2-3 times per month.  I'm very much looking forward to getting through this weekend and only having 3 more matches for the rest of the year.  

 

Earlier this year I shot a sectional about 3.5 hours away.  I took Friday off, drove there to walk the stages, and then shot the match the following day.  I drove home, and then got my stuff prepared for 3 gun the next day.  I woke up the next morning in a piss poor mood, with absolutely no interest in shooting.  Combine that with shooting with a slow squad that you constantly had to yell at to paste and reset, I basically shot terrible.  In hindsight, I should have just taken the day off.  If you wake up in a bad mood, you have to try to change it, otherwise there's no point in shooting.  For the most part, all of us are doing this for fun and aren't making a living off of shooting.  As soon as it becomes miserable, it's time for a break, otherwise what's the point?  

 

I'm personally looking forward to taking the winter off and focusing on getting into shape, dropping weight, and focusing on dry fire.  I may throw an indoor match into the mix maybe once a month, but that's it.  I love shooting too much for it to become a source of unnecessary stress.  This is why I stopped playing golf.  I played literally almost every day from the ages of 16-25.  I'd show up in a bad mood, and not be able to shake it, but still played well.  Once I stopped, I'd play every so often and loved playing again even though I couldn't perform the way I did before I stopped playing.  The way I look at things that cause me stress today is if it's causing me stress, it better be paying me money.  If I'm not being paid, why am I voluntarily adding stress into my life?  

Edited October 23, 2020 by DD78
forgot to add something

[JoeSoop]

I agree with the others. Setting mental goals before each match is key. Maybe you will only be focusing on doing one thing better...dedicate all your focus to that. Hang in there!

[Orlandoech]

I got burned out this year for sure when I showed up to a match two weeks ago and before it started I wanted to go home, then when a local blatantly cheated I realized I didnt care enough to complain and decided I needed a mental health break.

[Doge]

Good on you for turning around and taking a break.