Practicing When Your Mentally And Physically Exhausted

[Steve Anderson]

Flex is so smart that it hurts my head...He has to be the model for that sculpture of the thinker...

Here's my take:

MANY of my breakthroughs have come when I didn't feel like practicing, esp. in dry fire.

Live fire...if it's not going well change something. You're imprinting layers of self image and it's important to protect that. You can't CANNOT leave the range feeling bad about your shooting. That will snowball into an avalanche.

I have been obsessed lately with practicing for my motorcycle license. So, you know me, I printed the test, bought some cones and designed some drills. (I might even write a book about it for new riders. Sorry Kath)

Into the first session, I couldn't get around the cones without putting a foot down. Nothing was working...The little voices started:

You need a smaller bike

You're over you head

What were you thinking

I smiled into the helmet and decided to change something. Anything.

So instead of starting from a stop I decided to cruise at idle and just get a feel for what was required for the sharp turns. I discovered that the 500 lb bike was a lot happier with some gas instead of coasting. I knew this but it was scary.

It also allowed me to practice more U-turns to get back around to the cones.

(hey, I'm getting really good at u-turns)

After 30 minutes of this, I got over the fear of the sharp cuts needed to make the tight turns and began to ENJOY the sharp cuts.

I felt like a damn shriner on parade. I even began humming circus music in my helmet. dut-dut-duttle-ut-da-dut-dut-duh-dut... :)

So, I got better and I felt better. Subconscious skill, self-image, etc.

It took all of 15 minutes because I changed something.

Then I realized that I could do a tighter U-turn and go through the cones the other way, letting me enjoy more sharp cuts and more shriner fantasies and more circus music. Yee-haw.

Your shooting can be the same way... In dry fire, keep going and turn the par times off, just use the timer to start. This removes judgement.

In live fire, change something. Anything. Find something to celebrate and change your focus. PROTECT YOUR SELF IMAGE...it's who you are.

Now go do it.

SA

[Flyin40]

What if its your self image that won't allow you to quit and hang it up for the day..........

"Its like you to have a great practice"

"If your having problems, suck it up, refocus and you will have a great practice"

"You will never quit"

Flyin40

Edited April 11, 2007 by Flyin40

[Steve Anderson]

Sounds like it's working for you...and your shooting attests to it.

Determination goes a long, long way.

SA

[dcarter]

I don't stop practicing because I did 1 or 2 things wrong. It tells me I need to work on those things. I break down the steps of what I'm doing and work on individual pieces then put it all back together and try it again.