Transitions, Specifically Your Feet In Transitions

[HSMITH]

I am looking for advise from shooters with very good transition times and good points, very solid shooters.

Transitions are by far my weakest point in my shooting. I dearly want to get better so I have been experimenting.

I am 99.99% sure transitions originate from your vision, then your feet and knees try to get the gun where you are looking, moving your body from the hips down to the next target.

OK so far? Do the knees really initiate the movement? The hips have to move since they are married to the 'index', but I am assuming they are tracking what the knees are doing or have already done and not doing anything other than 'following orders' .........

If I am right I have a question, if not please set me straight. My question if right is do you push off on the foot away from the transition hard or do you balance the push with a lift of the other foot?

What sort of sensation are you feeling in your transitions from widely spaced targets in your knees and feet?

Thanks for anything and everything you can provide.

[Loves2Shoot]

Maybe it's from my martial arts background, but the hips initiate the movement in punches and transitions, the knees follow and do what they need to do.

[Jake Di Vita]

You are right. Transitions originate from the hips and the knees. The main thing to remember is once you have your index and the gun is mounted, nothing from the waist up moves.

I'll give you an example of a hard transition.

If I am shooting a target and have a very hard transition to the right, I will call my last shot on the target, snap my eyes to the next target and simultaneously bend my left knee heavily and slightly push off of my right foot which allows me to transition to the right much faster.

Another thing to be careful of: Draw an imaginary line from your feet through your toes to the berm. Whatever targets you are shooting should be between those lines. This will eliminate any fighting you have to do with your body.

[HSMITH]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the advise.

Jake, when I try to emulate what you wrote about the transition, it feels more like a 'spin' about my core than a 'swing' of the gun from target to target. Sound about right?

[davidball]

Another thing to be careful of: Draw an imaginary line from your feet through your toes to the berm. Whatever targets you are shooting should be between those lines. This will eliminate any fighting you have to do with your body.

Jake, can you clarify this a little. Does this mean if I have a wide swing from left to right, my left foot should be pointed outside the left target and my right foot outside the right? I'm also assuming that if the swing is too wide to do this comfortably and solidly, that this indicates I need to move my feet during the transition?

[Loves2Shoot]

Jake, can you clarify this a little. Does this mean if I have a wide swing from left to right, my left foot should be pointed outside the left target and my right foot outside the right? I'm also assuming that if the swing is too wide to do this comfortably and solidly, that this indicates I need to move my feet during the transition?

Don't presume to speak for Jake, but that sounds right. You should never have to transition more than 180% (or else you would break the 180) and you shouldn't have to move your feet before you transition. Sometimes I'll swing and start shooting and then adjust the feet as shooting if there are bunches of targets.

[rwmagnus]

You are right. Transitions originate from the hips and the knees. The main thing to remember is once you have your index and the gun is mounted, nothing from the waist up moves.

I'll give you an example of a hard transition.

If I am shooting a target and have a very hard transition to the right, I will call my last shot on the target, snap my eyes to the next target and simultaneously bend my left knee heavily and slightly push off of my right foot which allows me to transition to the right much faster.

Another thing to be careful of: Draw an imaginary line from your feet through your toes to the berm. Whatever targets you are shooting should be between those lines. This will eliminate any fighting you have to do with your body.

Jake, interesting stuff. I never really thought about the imaginary lines from my feet to the targets. I'm working on improving transitions and movement in practice sessions right now.

[Flexmoney]

For those wide transitions, if you don't get your feet pointed outside the targets, you will end up with your body out past your foot...your weight will be outside your stance. Not a good thing, if you can avoid it.

The more shooting you can do with your stance as close to neutral and stable as possible, the higher the likelihood of consistent and predictable results.

The further you "get out of your stance", the harder the shooting (and, especially the returning the gun for the next shot) becomes. And, on top of that...it's not something that ever gets practiced. So, we are even further from "most bestest" shooting platform.

In Steel Challenge type shooting, you need never be in an awkward stance. In IPSC, the stage designer can often work you into an unstable position.

(Think of a good free-throw shooter in basketball. Their index, feet, shoulders, stroke, elbow, fingers...everything is always the same. Maybe that is why they call it a free-throw.)

[kevin c]

...If I am shooting a target and have a very hard transition to the right, I will call my last shot on the target, snap my eyes to the next target and simultaneously bend my left knee heavily and slightly push off of my right foot which allows me to transition to the right much faster...

I think I do exactly the opposite! Is that a move to"stage right", or to my right?

[Jake Di Vita]

If there is a target to MY right, I will bend my left knee while slightly pushing off my right foot.

[kevin c]

So that you are putting more weight onto the right foot compared to before the transition?

Sorry, I'm really slow today...

[rwmagnus]

kevin c I think you got it, but I don't want to steal Jakes thunder.

It's kinda like some guys shift their weight back or even take a step back to move forward real fast. Just expieriment what works fastest for you. For it to be quicker it has to be automatic, as in a conditioned response. There's no time to think it through other than learning it of course.

[Jake Di Vita]

I don't really have my weight on my right foot at all. It's just a small push getting my weight to my left leg faster.

[kevin c]

OK, I had a chance to try it and now I see (or more exactly, feel) the technique. Definitely faster for me than leaning into the transition/shot, with a weight transfer into the near foot, or staying straight up w/o a weight shift. Thanks, Jake. Thanks, rwm and flex.

Kevin

Edited March 6, 2006 by kevin c

[Chuck Merriam]

This sounds like the breakdown of a golf swing.....if you take a hundred things to do at the same time to the course, you will never clear your head to swing. I am no grandmaster but the ones I have watched seemed to flow through all transitions...meaning they look effortless and waste no motion. I can try to shoot fast or I can try to be smooth...funny thing is if I am smooth, I am almost always fast. I believe some of the speed of the transition is the preparation of the stage and seeing all shots and the finish before you start. It is easy to forget this sport is very mentally challenging, and I have dramatically improved my shooting by preparing mentally. Your foot position starting a stage is very important, as it helps you stay in the comfort zone of balance. This all flys out the window when you have to get from point A to point B (a distance away) fast...then you just have to want it! I still have Super Seniors teach me a lesson or two....and they have 30 years on me So much for young and flexible...makes you think.