Improving match results by not training

[Johansson81]

I have been shooting IPSC in the Open division for 6 years and doing fairly well, ending up in the region of 10-15th place in the Nationals.

 

Due to other hobbies, kids and so on I have constantly been having the nagging feeling that I need to spend more time on the range to improve my game. On average I visit the range once a week and shoot perhaps 3-4000 rounds in practice during a season.

 

I do lots of running so I have always been one of the fastest guys on a match, it is more the little things during a stage that cost me placements. Hit percentages are average.

 

I have spent lots of time thinking about this and come to the conclusion that when I visit the range I am doing absolutely nothing that will improve my overall match performance. Sure I might improve my split times somewhat and transitions are getting faster but that is not what is keeping me from medals at the nationals.

 

I need to get better at performing under pressure, figuring out the best stage plan for me (not blindly copying others) and memorizing difficult stages so I can flow through them without  the split seconds of hesitation.

 

Nothing that I just mentioned can be improved by me going to the range hammering at a bunch of paper, making mock up stages where I decide that "I need to pass that rock before I can shoot that taget", etc.

 

In fact it is making my match performance worse since I am practicing on things that I will never encounter during a match, like running past a visible target without shooting it.

 

So this year I decided that except for confirming the sights I wouldn´t shoot a single shot in practice between matches, one week before a match I allowed myself to start dry practicing at home. My main focus has been self improvement stuff, eating better, going to the gym 5 days a week on top of 20-30km running, no alcohol, and generally sorting s#!t out so I can be more present in the now.

 

The result? I ended up 4th place in Nationals this year.

 

Anyone who has tried this approach? I understand that if I spend more time on the range setting up proper stages with a friend timing me (15-20k yearly round counts) on top of all this I will get even better, but that is not an option since I can´t afford it either in time or money.

Edited September 28 by Johansson81

[shred]

Sometimes taking time off gets a lot of the 'noise' out of your head; things you think you should be thinking about but really are just distractions.

 

I took a year off shooting to go rock climbing a long time ago and won the first match I shot when I came back.

 

[Boomstick303]

Maybe lack of expectations due to lack of practice, where you go into a match without expectations of finishing well.  Your mind is on the match.  I find every time I compete with zero expectations, typically after long layoffs in practice I shoot better than normal.  

 

Something else to ask, is if your claim of 4000k rounds in one practice is true, is it a bit unrealistic to improve skills?  One has to ask how constructive any practice in one day that your burn over 1000k rounds.  How is your grip at the end of the day (to be honest how is your grip after 30 minutes of practice)?  Are you concentrating on specific 1-2 skills to improve upon?  Are you distracted by just trying to fit so many rounds into one practice.  

 

Running by targets is indication your programming is not on point.  Since it would seem you have been in the sport for a bit how detailed is your programming?  Are you picking exactly where you want to hit targets, i.e. are you aiming at a specific spot.  From my observations in the sport, many have the individual skills to place decent to well in a match.  As you progress up the scale in classification it is that shooters ability to use all of the skills consistently to truly be competitive.  I would argue a Master level shooter has all the skills that a GM has, the GM just performs more consistently 99% of the time.  It seems you have all the skills, it is just a matter of applying all of them consistently.  

 

[Johansson81]

shred: I´ve not been active enough to really need a break, I got into the hobby when the kids were small so going to the range once a week and a handful of matches each year was like resting for a father of two.

 

I live in the northern parts of Sweden where we unfortunately don´t have many local matches, last weekend I drove 950km to get to a match and back. Last year we drove 2400km for the Nationals. 

 

Boomstick303: Oh no, I mean 3-4000k round in total per year, not for a shooting sesstion. I load my major 9´s on a Lee turret so that would send me to the hospital in a week.

 

"Running by targets is indication your programming is not on point."

 

I didn´t mean running by targets by mistake, I meant setting up a practice stage with no walls where I have to imagine that I can´t shoot the targets until I reach a certain place in the bay.

 

I agree that having expectations is not helping a bit, that tend to up the pace and lead to bad hits.

 

My best matches have been when I get into "robot mode" and just chug along focusing on solid hits and constant movement through the stage. I never manage to get into that zone during practicing, that is probably one of the reason it feels like a waste of time and ammo to me. Perhaps practicing some precision shooting would do me good though.

 

/Anders

 

 

[Boomstick303]

16 minutes ago, Johansson81 said:

Boomstick303: Oh no, I mean 3-4000k round in total per year, not for a shooting sesstion. I load my major 9´s on a Lee turret so that would send me to the hospital in a week.

 

Lmao, yea that sounds way more reasonable.

[Stmark73]

3-4000k?  K=1000. 3,000,000 - 4,000,000 rounds per year. That is a lot!!! Around 9k rds/day.
 

MarkS

[Johansson81]

Dangit, I meant 3-4k.