Going faster?

[Lastcat]

3 minutes ago, motosapiens said:

 

Yeah, your shooting speed is good, and you are shooting early coming into positions, but you have some time to gain in leaving earlier. I find it helpful to put leaving the position into my visualization, and as I imagine the sights settling on the last target, I'm also imagining my weight starting to shift and getting ready to push off when the sights lift. One of the fun things about this sport is there are so many little things to always improve on and you can keep getting better for a long long time.

 

Thanks moto, yea, I need to explode out of position, soon. I used to video my Matches, but quit. Think I'll video all 7 Stages this weekend at Dundee, see where I can gain. Peace. 

[IHAVEGAS]

At 60+ I try to visualize exploding out of position without either passing gas or losing bowel control entirely or just getting dizzy like you do when you stand up fast. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by IHAVEGAS

[Lastcat]

1 minute ago, IHAVEGAS said:

At 60+ I try to visualize exploding out of position without either passing gas or losing bowel control entirely or just getting dizzy like you do when you stand up fast. 

 

No kidding.

[JimmyZip]

I was sick a year and a half ago and I was just getting geared up to start shooting again. Then we had the shutdown, and I started dry-firing and reloading again. Made up some excellent targets/stands so that I can start shooting again. Got some friends doing it with me and we have been getting better. Reading through this I have nothing to add about getting faster. I do have a comment though about the help getting better shooting has been for me and my bunch during the pandemic. We are able to concentrate on something positive and fun. Regardless of our politics, age, relationship, when we’re at our “range”, we just shoot and have fun and learn. It’s been great. 

[BoyGlock]

One common recurring issue when training at a late age is injury due to repetitive activity. Or RSI. Lightening those drills by lessened repetitions goes a long way. 
Something to be aware of. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by BoyGlock

[IVC]

As others pointed out, being faster is not about running faster or shooting faster, it's about doing everything sooner. 

 

Look at the draw of some of the top shooters. What you'll notice is that they are fast, but don't look to be trying. What's the "trick?" Pay attention to when the shot breaks, not how fast the hands are moving. The same goes for shooting a stage. Look at the how soon the top shooters engage targets and how soon they move away from the targets they've just shot, not how fast they are moving. There is all the time you need to save until you get to the very top level, where small fractions of a second add up.

 

As a side issue, this is also why top shooters have good transition times - it's not that they move hands faster, it's that they both move away from the target they just shot sooner, and, they settle on the next target and recognize the sight picture sooner. These are all mental skills, not physical ability. 

 

As a rule, you don't lose 5-10 seconds by being outrun by some young guy. You lose that time by not doing what you can do regardless of your age. 

[BoyGlock]

1 hour ago, IVC said:

As others pointed out, being faster is not about running faster or shooting faster, it's about doing everything sooner. 

 

Look at the draw of some of the top shooters. What you'll notice is that they are fast, but don't look to be trying. What's the "trick?" Pay attention to when the shot breaks, not how fast the hands are moving. The same goes for shooting a stage. Look at the how soon the top shooters engage targets and how soon they move away from the targets they've just shot, not how fast they are moving. There is all the time you need to save until you get to the very top level, where small fractions of a second add up.

 

As a side issue, this is also why top shooters have good transition times - it's not that they move hands faster, it's that they both move away from the target they just shot sooner, and, they settle on the next target and recognize the sight picture sooner. These are all mental skills, not physical ability. 

 

As a rule, you don't lose 5-10 seconds by being outrun by some young guy. You lose that time by not doing what you can do regardless of your age. 

How i wish these to be true at least to me. As I age into 60 my reaction to external inputs got slower no matter how I train. It feels fast but when I see myself in a video its not. And the timer says the same. Maybe the mind reads and reacts as fast as anybody but the body is not as fast anymore to manifest that fast reaction time. I may still beat those much younger than me but only because they dont train like I do. But those that do train always finish way ahead of me. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by BoyGlock

[midatlantic]

Very much appreciate all the advice. Now got to get to the range and put it into practice. The comments have made me realize I'm slow getting into position and shooting....need to start shooting and not concentrate on planting myself for easy shots.

[IHAVEGAS]

6 hours ago, IVC said:

These are all mental skills, not physical ability. 

 

I seem like a downer but accepting reality has made senior shooting a lot more fun, so sharing that is the goal.

 

Age takes away - short term memory - whatever you want to call mental information gathering and thought processing time - typically vision - visual speed (eye muscles age just like leg muscles) - energy to practice - ability to perform without injury - muscle mass - typically balance - all forms of quickness - attainable speed - probably another half dozen things that I used to remember.

 

All of the drills and technique are great, but if it bugs you that you are not close to where you were at 30 - 40 - 50 that can really suck the fun out of the sport. 

 

 

5 hours ago, BoyGlock said:

How i wish these to be true at least to me. As I age into 60 my reaction to external inputs got slower no matter how I train.

 

That strongly implies that you are a human. 

[Lastcat]

21 hours ago, midatlantic said:

Ha! thats what I usually tell myself. My girlfriend observes "you're competitive." I guess she's right.

 

midatlantic, that's it. Just be competitive and enjoy as much as you can. Like some have said, ask the M's and G's that you know as friends and ask questions. Here in Ore and Wa, some are willing to help and some are people to avoid. 

[Lastcat]

56 minutes ago, IHAVEGAS said:

Age takes away - short term memory - whatever you want to call mental information...

 

Ha, have you ever finished a stage and forgot a few targets? I have, a few times. Now on a 32 round stage, for some reason, I always blurt out, "did I get everything"?

[IHAVEGAS]

31 minutes ago, Lastcat said:

Ha, have you ever finished a stage and forgot a few targets?

 

Hasn't everyone? 

 

  

 

That does seem to be a thing that practice and technique can pretty much eliminate though. You know how much time you need before the match, and you have learned how to make a plan that sticks and you have learned about the mistakes (thinking too much about one stage feature and not enough about others was a bad one for me) that create the problem.

On that topic, there is nothing in the USPSA rulebooks that says that the squad has to be allowed 5 minutes for a walk through, worked a level 2 where the head cheese was nervous about having enough time and he cut the walk throughs down to 3 minutes, didn't effect me (shot on staff day, helped build stages b4) but I thought it sucked for a lot of the paid competitors.

[motosapiens]

On 8/18/2020 at 9:02 AM, IHAVEGAS said:

 

Hasn't everyone? 

 

i've only ever done it at nationals (twice!!!), both times when weird stuff happened on the stage or right before. generally my visualizations are getting better and my execution more aggressive as well, probably not because i'm almost 60 but because I've gotten better at visualizing.

 

Quote

On that topic, there is nothing in the USPSA rulebooks that says that the squad has to be allowed 5 minutes for a walk through, worked a level 2 where the head cheese was nervous about having enough time and he cut the walk throughs down to 3 minutes, didn't effect me (shot on staff day, helped build stages b4) but I thought it sucked for a lot of the paid competitors.

everybody serious shows up early to look at the stages without time pressure. 3 mins vs 5 mins is annoying, but not a huge difference.

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by motosapiens

[IHAVEGAS]

 

1 hour ago, motosapiens said:

i've only ever done it at nationals (twice!!!), both times when weird stuff happened on the stage or right before. generally my visualizations are getting better and my execution more aggressive as well, probably not because i'm almost 60 but because I've gotten better at visualizing.

 

 

Ouch  .

 

At an L2 on the final stage I was delighted with the execution of my stage plan on an otherwise not good day, for a moment, I've gotten more rigorous about counting targets before making a plan. 

Edited August 21, 2020 by IHAVEGAS

[faster]

sprint training, explosive jump training, both horizontal and vertical, and karate kicks help a lot. The latter have a big potential to hurt your knees if done into just the air, so work on hitting a bag with your kicks, so that the shock of fully straightening your knee is absorbed (mostly) by the bag. If you can still do the 50 yd dash in 6 seconds, using spikes, cinder track and starting blocks,  you're plenty fast enough to place quite high in big matches. Running is an art form, you have to be coached at it. or you'll have lots of wasted motion, costing you a lot of time. I'm in my late 60's and my reaction to the beep and firing is still quite good. .20 second "cold" and .17 after a few warmups. However, I've never popped a .14 second repeat shot in my life, not even with eyes shut and just firing into the burm. These days, I can't crack .18 second and it's very annoying. i"m going to have to look into this hair trigger stuff, with spring tension, etc, and see if there's anything to it.

Edited August 24, 2020 by faster

[Bigdeal929]

On 8/17/2020 at 7:16 PM, IHAVEGAS said:

At 60+ I try to visualize exploding out of position without either passing gas or losing bowel control entirely or just getting dizzy like you do when you stand up fast. 

Great!  I have this to worry about now!