Catfish Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Excellent "easy" day at the gym today. Streched for quite some time and worked out a bunch of kinks. More ab work, and then a short session - first one of the year - working on footwork drills. Spent some time limbering up, hit a few pretty hard, and then backed off again. No sense in doing something crazy today.... Brought over a chair, and practiced getting out of the chair and hitting the footwork drills. After talking with a shooting friend, who's also a personal trainer, we've pretty much decided that it's not necessarily the fastest way to get up, but the fastest way to get going that matters. So, spent a little time working that out with different foot positions etc. Haven't really come to any conclusions yet, and haven't put anything to the timer yet, it's going to be an ongoing process. Finished at the gym with some more ab work. Good session at home tonight; worked on draws, reloads, Burkett drills, and then put it all to movement. Steps forward and to each side; striving to finish the load within a step. I'm noticing now that even when I'm not trying to go fast or work on speed that I'm going faster than I was last year. Hoping to be able to shoot this weekend - weathermen have been so screwed up this winter that who knows what the hell's going to happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNorth Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Ok, I lied. I did some fast stuff because I just felt like it. Not TT fast, but smooth I think. Any suggestions? The reloads look very quick and smooth!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 The reloads look very quick and smooth!!! Thanks Bob! Another toughy workout at the gym today - deadlifts, shrugs, rows and pulldowns. Got through it just fine and with pretty good effort. Building up to the week after next which will test my max weight on all my lifts... Seems like I was constantly running late tonight - between the weather sucking, traffic sucking, hyper dogs, and scrounging for something to eat I didn't get to practice until later than usual tonight. Got in some good quality reps - tonight's focus was on reloading while seated in a chair, and drawing/reloading while kneeling. The kneeling actually got a bit tedious on my knee and I had to break out a kneepad, but everything turned out just fine. Finished the night with 20 perfect (standing) draws and 20 perfect reloads. Was about all I could manage tonight because today's gym work pretty much finished off my shoulders and lats. Feeling good!!! - It's like me to move with perfect timing and impeccable coordination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 3, 2007 Author Share Posted February 3, 2007 Another series of good, heavy lifts today at the gym - making good headway! Worked on turning draws, strong and weak hand shooting and finished with boo-coup 'regular' draws. Many good reps, reinforcing good habits with a tad of speed work thrown in the middle. Hoping the weathermen are right about this weekend, may get to finally shoot some more without 20 layers of clothing on! Need to start fine tuning my major match schedule - looks like I may be too late to get into the SS nats; in which case I'm going to try and get into Space City.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 Excellent range session today. A bit brisk in the shade, but it beat the hell out of not shooting at all.... Ran through about 400 rounds. 100 or so 'warm up' doing bill drills at 5 and 10 yards. Started a bit out of sorts, but got it dialed in by the last couple. Must have had me watching the front sight, because later during my practice at the "el prez" section, I was able to see the front sight and the entire slide move back and forth - usually I'm just seeing the front sight, but today was *seeing*, really seeing stuff. Shot the same drill from post #31 that enosverse member Bryan W was kind enough to share with me. Improved to 590 points on the first run through and 609 points on the 2nd, out of a grand total of 680 points. Good day at the range!! Get to shoot some SS tomorrow at the IDPA match (ok, CDP), and will run through this drill again with the Limited gun after the match. I move with perfect timing and impeccable coordination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 IDPA match today, shot the SS/CDP gun. I have noticed that lately, shooting IDPA, I shoot USPSA points on an IDPA target - in other words, IF the target had been a USPSA target, I would have had a lot of A hits. BUT, that translates to a lot of 1s and 2s down per target, and that crap all adds up.... Goal for the match today was to shoot at the IDPA zero down, and not the USPSA A zone. And it worked. Good match, shot 5 stages like that and got a little trigger happy on the last stage and ended up dropping 5 points out of 16 rounds... Good focus throughout and all in all a great time at the range - weather was lovely - finally!!! Smoked a great Romeo and Julietta and just couldn't ask for a nicer day at the range. After the match, shot the afore mentioned practical shooting standards drill (see post #31) with my Limited gun and gear. Felt very good, much more locked in than yesterday, and shot a 614. A PR to date, but still lots of room for improvement considering max points = 680. I move with perfect timing and impeccable coordination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 (edited) Outstanding day at the gym today - my day off and in addition to normal Monday routine, got in about 30 minutes of ab work in which I'm sure I'll be feeling tomorrow. Considering I hit the pistol pretty hard this weekend, day off from any formal training with the gun - no burnout!! Cleaned the SS, made a few hundred rounds of .40 and did some AR fondling for giggles. I figure about 6-7 weeks till Double Tap - will start Anderson's dry fire routines tomorrow and start putting the timer to my work. Looking forward to the challenge. Edited to add - quick link to one of the stages yesterday - everything was mozambiqued; a little hallway action, a little cooper tunnel action and a little no shoot action. Felt good, with the exception of the draw; the SW 1911 for some reason is very hard to activate the beaver tail and I was very cautious after a failure to do so on an earlier stage to get a good grip on the gun... Edited February 6, 2007 by Catfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 7, 2007 Author Share Posted February 7, 2007 Solid workout at the gym today - 1st week of a 3 week cycle on arms. Needless to say I was feeling it tonight and was able to only get in 3 of Anderson's drills before my arms got tired and I started getting sloppy. Got in Drills #1, 5, 7. Par times either where they were last time I was hitting the dry fire, or a 10th or 2 quicker, for #5. Trying to decide my weekend schedule - I've got a kitchen pass to get down to Houston for a "biggish" club match on Sunday; or I can shoot both days up here. I think at this point the weather is going to play the biggest role; it'd be nice to catch another break on a weekend like we did a coupla days ago.... I move with perfect timing and impeccable coordination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 8, 2007 Author Share Posted February 8, 2007 Today was one of those training days that I'll be proud of as I look back. Work today was an absolute butt kicker - budget time, yippie!! Between budget due today, all day long meetings for the past couple of days and still managing to turn in my budget it's been hectic, to say the least. Coupled with my workout at lunch - footwork today - that left pretty much everything I had out there on the track - I was one tired puppy when I got home tonight. We shall not mention the horrendous traffic jam on the way home.... Original plan was to continue working on Anderson's drills - but as fatigued as I am I figured the best plan was to not go crazy for speed and get sloppy tonight so I performed: 20 perfect draws; 10 perfect table draws/gun loaded; 10 perfect table draws/gun unloaded; 20 perfect reloads; 10 perfect strong hand draws; 10 perfect weak hand draws. Worked everything in at Tai Chi speed and focused completely on the peferction of each movement. Tired now, bed time!! I move with perfect timing and impeccable coordination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Deadlift day at the gym - for some reason, deadlifts (even today when I was lifting fairly light) kick my ass!!! Good gym session, and hit Anderson's drills at home tonight. Went through drills #1, 4, and 8. Must have tweaked an ankle yesterday doing footwork drills as the outside of my ankle on my left foot (high ankle) was a bit tender doing the turn and shoot drills... No biggie, but I could notice it was there. Was really seeing the sights tonight, and sticking the reloads. Good practice session and outside of trying to pinpoint down the bestest way to get turned around not much to focus on as a challenge to work on. I do need to figure out why my damn holster (CR Speed) keeps moving around. There's a little bit of play between the holster and the belt, and it seems like whenever I draw, I'm pushing the holster slightly forward. No big deal, except when you're doing 100 draws at a time the damn thing scoots up quite a bit... Looks like I'll be shooting up here this weekend - with luck the weather will cooperate and I can shoot both days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I do need to figure out why my damn holster (CR Speed) keeps moving around. There's a little bit of play between the holster and the belt, and it seems like whenever I draw, I'm pushing the holster slightly forward. No big deal, except when you're doing 100 draws at a time the damn thing scoots up quite a bit... I have some 'belt keepers' that I keep in my bag. Remind me to give you a couple and that will be one less problem to worry about........ -Mike Deadlifts are fun!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 What belt are you using? I hung a CR Speed on my belt for a little while to try it out, and it was on my CR Speed belt tight once I got things tightened down.... I suspect a Safariland belt might be a little too thin to get that fit, but I haven't tried it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Mike - yep - I DO enjoy deadlifts. But they sure kick my butt. Thanks for the belt keepers, I'll see ya'll tomorrow at Greenville. I hope it's not nasty cold! (or wet) Dave - I'm running the holster on a new CR Speed belt. That's why I can't figure out the wiggle. All the screws on the holster are screwed in as tight as I dare tighten 'em up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Shouldn't be too hard to shim it up, if need be. You could use some brass shim stock, or a piece of heavy paper stock (or two), or something like that, cut to fit the inside of the hanger. It won't take much to get the wiggle out of it, I suspect. That should make it more solid on the belt than a keeper can (the holster would still wiggle w/ a keeper, but perhaps wouldn't move forward...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Dave, I haven't completely taken the holster apart into halves yet - but is it possible to take it apart and then tape some velcro onto one half and have that stick to the belt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNorth Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 +1 on the Velcro. Velcro is what I used on my mag pouches to keep them in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 Thanks Bob... see you tomorrow? Fairly easy day at the gym; wrapped up my 6 week cycle getting ready to lift for max next week. Good session tonight dry firing - Anderson's drills #1, 7 and a variation of #1 using a table draw, instead of a holster draw. Everything is coming along well, took a 10th off both #1 and #7 again. Looking forward to shooting this weekend, looks like Mother Nature is co-operating and we'll get to shoot both days!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Dave, I haven't completely taken the holster apart into halves yet - but is it possible to take it apart and then tape some velcro onto one half and have that stick to the belt? I don't know if there's enough room for that - but you should be able to stick some hook velcro on the inside part of the hanger where it contacts the inner belt.... I'm thinking you need something thinner inside the hanger itself to shim up to the outer belt than velcro, but you could certainly give it a whirl... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 (edited) +1 on the Velcro. Velcro is what I used on my mag pouches to keep them in place. +2 for velcro. Placing it on the back hanger of my gear where it contacts the inner belt, my gear NEVER moved around after the V treatment. Have a great match this weekend Fish! Edited February 10, 2007 by Pharaoh Bender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 11, 2007 Author Share Posted February 11, 2007 Thanks for the advice on the velcro fellas - Mike ended up letting me use some of his straps, which, coupled with me physically "squishing" together the inner and outer belt have solved my problem... Woke up today amped up and ready to shoot - excited about the fact that it wasn't raining. On the way to the range, I started noticing my car's thermostat kept going the wrong way. Started at my house at 45 and just nose dived all the way to the range. By the time I got there it was 34ish. Since I listened to the weathermen - I dressed like it was in the 50s and froze my ass off today. Just never got in the rythm of shooting and was pretty miserable the whole time. Shot the standards stage pretty well - I can see that my strong hand/weak hand drills are paying off - and shot a short 16 round stage well also. The rest were just a struggle that I've already managed to forget! Saving grace of the day was we got to shoot rifles in a 4 stage "side" match after the pistol match and I had a blast - I'm pretty sure I tore up the Limited division with a new carbine I've never even shot... Driving home I was thinking no way in hell am I going to shoot tomorrow, but after a hot hot shower that brought some warmth back into my system and a buttload of advil, I think I'm going to go play tomorrow as well - I need the work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airic Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 I really wanted to come to this match... Looked really cold in the videos though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Airic, We missed you at the match...... our goal is to put on quality, challenging matches every month. Hope to see you at the next one! -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 12, 2007 Author Share Posted February 12, 2007 Eric - it WAS cold. FELT much colder than today at Double Tap. Shot a much better match today than ysterday - better focus throughout the match - probably had a lot to do with actually ignoring the weathermen (highs in the mid-high 50s) and dressing as if it were going to be in the 40s, which is what it turned out to be... As a side note, I want their job. Let's be wrong 80% of the time and keep workin'! Was fortunate to shoot with two local big dogs - Adam Poppelwell and Brian Wilhite. Learned a lot of stage prep from them and just enjoyed the hell out of watching them shoot. Also in the squad was a fella who drove all the way down from Kansas to shoot a match! Gary, if you're on the forums, great job today kicking my butt!! Also got to shoot with some old friends from DFW (thanks for the handwarmers Patty!) and some new ones from OKC (thanks for the brass Patty!) The challenge today was given by Adam. He pointed out I'm dwelling on targets and not trusting my front sight. After the first couple of stages I cranked it up a notch and was able to get a lot closer to the big dogs. This is going to be a mental hurdle I'm going to have to get over. Going that fast felt massively out of control. However, consdering I only had 2 mikes with the rest of the last 4 stages being solid hits - it would seem to be that I wasn't completely out of control - it just felt like it. The other bit of wisdom came from Adam as well, on our classifier stage. He said something to the effect that once he earned his GM card, classifiers all of a sudden became easy. think about that one for a while. I know I have. Now I need to come up with some drills/pracitce that will let me cut loose and learn to trust, and not just hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 You shot a good match today-- I was listening to those same words of wisdom as they were being passed to you, and hope that maybe I can glean a little from it as well. Keep up the good work! -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airic Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 The other bit of wisdom came from Adam as well, on our classifier stage. He said something to the effect that once he earned his GM card, classifiers all of a sudden became easy. Of course.....the mental focus is completely different. As a GM, I would think your focus would be on shooting a solid stage for the match. Theres no extra mental pressure that some people put on themselves to shoot a classifier above the current class they hold. Ive seen a lot of people who get freaked out by the classifier, thinking they need to shoot it different than all the other stages in the match. Truth is, most of the time its the simplest stage at the match. At least thats how I would do it....its not like a 112% classifer is gonna move you up to Super GM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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