Training Schedules

[EricW]

It's become blatantly obvious that at the present time, one trip a week to the range is insufficient for me to really burn in some techniques that I need to be learning live fire. So...I'm thinking twice a week...either Sat/Sun and Wednesday. My goal over lunch is to pencil out a curriculum that I will work on at the range as well dryfire at home. I'll probably post those tonight if I have time.

I was working on some things the right way, some things the wrong way, and more than a few things not at all. The one thing that I'm going to attach to the curriculum is a clear set of achievable goals - the lack of which is one of the major mistakes that I've made. Practicing to "get better" isn't sufficient as compared to practicing to do "X, Y, and Z in NN seconds or less."

What's your schedule? What did you have to do to make it happen? It looks like I'm going to need to bail out of work early one day a week to make it work....at least until I can make a breakthrough with movement and trigger prep and...the 100% reload. Maybe after that I'll be able to sleep at night.

[Matt Cheely]

Most important weekly training session for me is the day I sit on the couch with a beer watching TV.

I don't have a training schedule. I suppose I should get one eh?

In reality, I shoot a practice on thursdays that I setup, and then matches on the weekends. I'll toss in some dryfire if I'm feeling bored at home.

Edited October 2, 2006 by Matt Cheely

[EricW]

Most important weekly training session for me is the day I sit on the couch with a beer watching TV.

If it's all about beer consumption, then I'm already a Super-G.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped my match scores any.

[shred]

The whole practice goals thing is a tough one for me. Easy goals or no goals make it easy to slack off, but tough goals do bad things to your self-image if you don't make them. Lately I've also been stuck at one practice session a week and it's irritating.

So far the best answer for me is "I'm going to practice skills X, Y & Z" at each session, and then have a sub-goal there to see improvement, or at least see something new about what I'm doing. Half of practice is trying different things to see where you crash.

I then have some regular drills I'll run most every practice session to see what the longer-term story is. I'll rotate out the regular drills depending on what it is I want to track.

[Flexmoney]

Pick the most fundamental aspect of your shooting that isn't up to par. Then, figure out why...work that in dry fire...test your work in live fire.

Make that weakness a strength, then pick the next one.

I don't know about more than one goal at a time.

Never keep practicing on a shitty day.

[Al Capizzo]

I think the single thing that has helped me most is reading Saul's book "Thinking Practical Shooting."

He has a method of looking at your current skills and weighing them against your percieved importance of those skills...you end up with a list of what you need to work on.

I've shot an awful lot of rounds down range working on what I "knew I should do better", but until I sat down and methodically plotted things out I really wasn't being efficient.

I practice one or two times each week, and only one local match each month.

It is a tremendous help to me to know ahead of time what I'm going to work on and WHY.

[Religious Shooter]

I like to "cycle train." For most of the year it's one day of live fire every one to two weeks (using a combination of 2 firearms of either pistol, rifle and shotgun and bolt rifle) and maybe 1-2 sessions of dryfiring/loading/drawing/presenting a week. I usually attend one bolt rifle match, one 3 gun and one pistol match a month.

Two to one and a half months away from a big match I "cycle up" and try to bump it up to 2-3 live fire sessions a week (usually 2 pistol and one multi-firearm sessions if it is for a 3 gun match), 3-4 sessions of dry practice a week, and maybe 3-5 matches a month.

For me I've found that 2 or more live fire practice for an extended period of time tends to burn me out. And of course it costs more money and time (to reload).

[hopalong]

Flex,

I used to think the same way about practicing on a shitty day (nothing goes right type of day).......................

But if you don't go ahead and work on those days, what about when you hit a match and are having one of those type of days??????

You can always get something from a practice, on the bad days you just have to look a little harder.

SAM

[A-shot]

Flex,

I used to think the same way about practicing on a shitty day (nothing goes right type of day).......................

But if you don't go ahead and work on those days, what about when you hit a match and are having one of those type of days??????

You can always get something from a practice, on the bad days you just have to look a little harder.

SAM

Amen, brother.

[Trey]

Current training plan

Dryfire M - Sat.

work days 3 drills

off days 5 drills (or more)

Livefire 1-2x week using 1-4 drills, steel, or standards with practice partner

Run mental program for each run

Dry/live fire drills come from Anderson's book, home brew, and stuff I've gleaned from BE.com.

Hope that helps.

[Bear1142]

Eric,

I organize my training days by training type. There are so many important, yet diametrically opposed skills in our sport that I don't like to combine them on the same training days. Think of it like lifting weights. You only work on certain complimentary body parts each session, not the whole body every day.

I have four types of sessions. The first is what I call the Core drills. These are the most basic fundamental drills required by our sport. I do them every practice session, period. They are usually only about 50 rounds of work, but I do them everytime I'm out, so you don't have to hammer a lot of rounds doing these drills.

The other three training types are grouped by skills. They are Accuracy training, Speed training, and Movement/obstacle training. I rotate these training sessions everytime I'm out regardless of the amount of time between the practice sessions. If my last practice session was Speed training, then my next one will be Movement training, etc.

I usually get to the range for live fire once a week minimum and when major matches are approaching, I'll get to the range 2-3 times per week. Prior to ramping up for a major match, I'll evaluate my performance for the last few matches and see which techniques are starting to deteriorate. Then I'll incorporate the appropriate extra training session to address those issues. For example, over the last few weeks I've been getting ready for the Production Nationals. Shooting minor places a premium on accuracy and points so on my extra training days I've focused on my Accuracy sessions. So if my first training day of the week is Speed work, my second and third session that week will be the Accuracy training session. If my Accuracy session is up on the rotation for the week, then I'd actually be getting three Accuracy sessions in for that week.

Hopefully, you see how the rotation works. As for the "X's, Y's, & NN's", my recommendation is to evaluate what your weaknesses are and then hit the BE forum for some shooting drills to help with that specific weakness.

Respectfully, is sounds to me as if your training sessions need more organized focus, not more generalized shooting drills.

Erik

[EricW]

Respectfully, is sounds to me as if your training sessions need more organized focus, not more generalized shooting drills.

Erik

Trust me, I know.

[Flexmoney]

Flex,

I used to think the same way about practicing on a shitty day (nothing goes right type of day).......................

But if you don't go ahead and work on those days, what about when you hit a match and are having one of those type of days??????

You can always get something from a practice, on the bad days you just have to look a little harder.

Sam,

If you are having a shitty practice day and keep on practicing being shitty, then you start to accept being a shitty shooter. It becomes "like you" to have shitty days.

If you don't do that, then your self-image tends to build around you shooting well. (Keep practicing on the good days...leave on a good note...build that positive image.)

Then, if you get to a match and start having trouble, you head sees that as not being "like you". And, your head will do all kinds of stuff to ensure that you shoot "like you". (and that certainly goes both ways)

[EricW]

Not long ago, I would have said, "quit as soon as things start going south and stop on a good note if you do something really well." I think in the very beginning, that's a very good rule. As time goes on, I'm not so sure that's a good rule. Tension and frustration are cumulative things, and I think the most powerful tool one can have in his/her arsenal is understanding one's self well enough to know when tension, frustration, fatigue, anger, trying, etc. are inhibiting one's performance. Learning how to let go of that stuff and press on is just as important and a sub 1 draw IMO.

I know that in working on reloads I learned a tremendous amount about tension, relaxation, and fatigue and how they affect my performance. I also am learning how to let go of it when those negative energies build up and restore my performance to that pre-tensed state where I began the practice session.

I hope that with time I can have enough self-awareness to where I can rid myself of the need to "warm up" in order to perform at a 90 to 95% level - unlike now - where things are rough on the first couple stages or at the beginning of a practice session. I bring this up because the first stage jitters and cumulative tension affect my performance the same way and my current belief is that they probably can be treated by the same solution.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm changing my attitude and approach to how I deal with self-conflict. Conflict avoidance is certainly desirable, but sooner or later one has to learn to work through it. Some days you just need to stick it out and see what happens.

Edited October 3, 2006 by EricW

[wide45]

If you always quit when things go shitty, your self image will be a quitter, will it not?

[Micah]

My weekly goal is 5 80 minute sessions. Because I rarely have time to sneak off to the range before work, 98% of that is dryfire. Steve Andersons book is my practice bible!

Some days, I cannot miss, my reloads are a perfect .7, and my draws lightning fast! On those days, I will practice as long as I can...up to 2 hours.

Some days, I am moody, my reloads are absolutely awful, and my arms are tired from the surrender position. I tried 3 weeks ago to practice through it, and got so pissed that I put my fist through a wall (believe me, the wife was MUCH more angry )

I know that I can turn it on at a match. When it's just practice, and I'm tired and grumpy, that's how my drills begin to look...tired and grumpy.

Edited October 4, 2006 by Pharoah Bender

[Flexmoney]

Not long ago, I would have said, "quit as soon as things start going south and stop on a good note if you do something really well." I think in the very beginning, that's a very good rule. As time goes on, I'm not so sure that's a good rule. Tension and frustration are cumulative things, and I think the most powerful tool one can have in his/her arsenal is understanding one's self well enough to know when tension, frustration, fatigue, anger, trying, etc. are inhibiting one's performance. Learning how to let go of that stuff and press on is just as important and a sub 1 draw IMO.

Good points. I've bolded the part of that I think is important to me (and likely to a few others). Consider...the cumulative negative self-image that is being practiced.

Now consider, taking one aspect of your shooting...an aspect that that is a weakness (opportunity)...now work that one aspect until it is a strength. Then do that again in a few weeks with a different aspect...then again a few weeks later. Over and over. THAT leads to building a self-image of overcoming adversity.

I'd pick whatever weakness (Opportunity) was my most fundamental. Decide to change that. Focus on that one thing. Decide to do what it takes to make that fundamental aspect of my game into a positive strength.

[TEricksen]

In my prime I would practice every weekday (200rds minimum usually somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 rds per month), and compete Saturdays and Sundays.

Summer: Get off work, go straight to range, practice. Go home, clean and inspect gun, brass to tumbler, load brass from previous day, get ready for next day.

Winter: Range bag to work with me in the morning, go to range at noon and get ready for next day in the evening (brass to tumbler, clean and inspect gun, reload, etc.)

When I wasn't practicing at the range, I was pretty much practicing in my head 24/7.

I always felt it was best for me to actually shoot rather than dry fire practice. If I didn't have access to a close range or the ability to get to the range, I could see the need for dry fire practice, but it was never my thing.

Edited October 17, 2006 by TEricksen

[justinwb]

In my prime I would practice every weekday (200rds minimum usually somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 rds per month), and compete Saturdays and Sundays.

Summer: Get off work, go straight to range, practice. Go home, clean and inspect gun, brass to tumbler, load brass from previous day, get ready for next day.

Winter: Range bag to work with me in the morning, go to range at noon and get ready for next day in the evening (brass to tumbler, clean and inspect gun, reload, etc.)

When I wasn't practicing at the range, I was pretty much practicing in my head 24/7.

I always felt it was best for me to actually shoot rather than dry fire practice. If I didn't have access to a close range or the ability to get to the range, I could see the need for dry fire practice, but it was never my thing.

I am hoping I can get a schedule together, I want to get pretty serious and see what I can really do and if my skills are good enough to hang at the top.

[TEricksen]

JustinWB: Albany has a great group of shooters to follow.

Good luck!

[redmist10]

On the rare occasion that I get to the range to practice; if things turn crappy and are not going right I try not to walk away but rather change my focus. I might bring the targets in closer or start from low ready and do slow fire or accuracy drills. Changing focus from one drill to the other has salvaged a few crappy days. Some days the focus is just not there and nothing goes right - on those days it is sometimes better to stop shooting and do something relaxing or read about shooting to regain my focus without physically applying the training I am trying.

Unfortunately, my live fire training days have become a thing of the past so I might apply something new or untried at a club match to see the results of the "theory." Sometimes this isn't too productive to scores but it gives you a real-time result that can be applied at a later time.

I think the key to learning is to be flexible and be open to finding answers - where ever they may be found.

Shooting a lot of club matches can be equally beneficial to a regimented schedule but I think it takes a lot longer to become proficient than if you were to actually practice your weaknesses during separate sessions. There's a huge psychological benefit to overcoming a weakness moreso than just the added skill. The confidence factor goes WAY up and things smooth out all over.

[shooterbenedetto]

It is strange i had tried both dryfire 5days and shoot on the weekend,

my score dipped down. but if i dont practice, i shoot very well..it came down to practicing my weakness only twice a week..then shoot. this works well for me.