Cramming The Day Before

[JimmyZip]

I have been preparing for this months match. Dryfire, reloading, livefire. What to do the day before? Do you typically dryfire the night before or not?

Also, did you feel like you kind of got worse before you got better?

Not so much the time or accuracy, but it's as if I see more of what is WRONG with my shooting than I ever did before. I guess I never took the time to practice as much as I have in the last six months and now I am beginning to improve but my shortcomings are becoming more visible to me.

Just was wondering what y'all do to prep the night before.

[Catfish]

sleep, eat, and hydrate; not necessarily in that order.

[Jman]

Well, with around 2 matches a week within driving range around here (I don't shoot them all) I just check my bag list. And go to bed.

Jim M

[shred]

"seeing more wrong" means you're actually seeing. When that goes away you can worry.

too much practice running up to a match can create some unrealistic expectations, but I think it's a good idea to do a little dry & live-fire a day or two prior-- at the very least, check your zero.

[RacerX1166]

Maybe a little dryfire but that's it. Any shortcomings you've identified won't be addressed the night before a match.

Check your bag and equipment, get some sleep.

[Steve J]

Don't eat anything that makes you bloated. Don't do anything that makes you hurt. Don't imbibe. Make sure every last piece of your equipment is clean and in good working order.

[boz1911]

I wish a nutritions specialist would chime in here on this one.

I have been doing a low carb diet with moderate exercise for a while now. 17 more pounds to go before the Nat's

My last match I felt weak/shaky and made several mental errors. But my actual shooting was OK, saw the sight well and called the one mike for the day.......

[Merlin Orr]

I wish a nutritions specialist would chime in here on this one.

I have been doing a low carb diet with moderate exercise for a while now. 17 more pounds to go before the Nat's

My last match I felt weak/shaky and made several mental errors. But my actual shooting was OK, saw the sight well and called the one mike for the day.......

I am NOT a nutritions specialist but weak and shaky is definitely doing it wrong.... You shot well in spite of your diet rather than because of it. Get someone to help you.

[XRe]

My last match I felt weak/shaky and made several mental errors. But my actual shooting was OK, saw the sight well and called the one mike for the day.......

Weak/shaky == low blood sugar or dehydration (or both). Hydration really needs to start several days before the match, especially if its hot (and even more so if hot and humid). You need to be drinking enough such that you have to urinate once an hour, if possible - more is not necessarily bad, just annoying (unless you really go overboard, and end up hyperhydrated... that takes real effort, so no worries there).

Now, think about this... Your body is burning a tremendous amount of energy just keeping you upright throughout a match day. You need to keep it well fed throughout the match. I'm on a "diet" (eating Zone Diet, 18 blocks + extra fat... PM me if you want more info than that), but I easily consume 25-50% more calories at a match and still feel hungry at the end. Ideally, you'd like to consume a little bit of something fairly constantly throughout the day. You want to eat a good balance through the day (protein/carb/fat), and you want to eat stuff that's low glycemic to avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes. So, avoid refined sugar like the plague (no candy bars!).

Lately, I've been taking a 1:2 Gatorade/water mix (the small amount of sugar and electrolyte aids in absorption), and I've been experimenting w/ the new low-carb G2 stuff. I take apple slices, nuts of some sort, and two Cliff products - Mojo and Builder bars (they have the right balance of stuff, are low glycemic, and 70% organic, so they're low on the "crap" factor).

This sort of eating program will increase your energy and your ability to focus without making you feel bloated or heavy, and will avoid energy crashes throughout the day.

[steveknapp]

Lately, I've been taking a 1:2 Gatorade/water mix (the small amount of sugar and electrolyte aids in absorption), and I've been experimenting w/ the new low-carb G2 stuff.

I've had pretty good luck with this stuff for electrolytes without as much sugar as gatoraid.

http://www.nuun.com/

[Bill Nesbitt]

I wish a nutritions specialist would chime in here on this one.

I have been doing a low carb diet with moderate exercise for a while now. 17 more pounds to go before the Nat's

My last match I felt weak/shaky and made several mental errors. But my actual shooting was OK, saw the sight well and called the one mike for the day.......

boz1911, I'm not a nutrition specialist, however I usually stay at Holiday Inn Express before a big match.

I did a low carb program and still maintain on it. I fry sausage links the day before and carry them in the cooler until the match. I carry a baggie with a few in my shooting bag and eat 1 or 2 every hour or so. If you are feeling hungry you waited too long to eat something. Drink water.

Now back to the original thread. I might dry fire a little bit the day before the match but a good nights sleep will do more for you than anything else.

[chirpy]

The group I shot with traveled to Southern Ohio to shoot. We had a Behavioral Psychologist shooting with us. We would stop at a restaurant with a breakfast buffet and we would all pig out. One match day the BP decided to have LIVER and onions for breakfast figuring it was better for his system than the junk at the buffet. I don't know whether it made him a better shooter but it made for interesting conversation.

Richard

PS: No I didn't try it...I hate LIVER!!!!!!!!!

[shred]

I really like the flavored-caffiene+water from Propel-- keeps me from the midafternoon no-soda headache..

[G-ManBart]

A little dry fire to keep loose and then a gear check, that's about it. R,

[inkedshooter]

I do a little live fire to make sure my fire arm is sighted in, practice some reloads, clean firearms, check all ammo making sure no cracked cases, poor crimped primers, etc., get range bag loaded and ready, eat something that doesnt make ya have to take multible trips to the restroom, then a good nights sleep....

[Neomet]

This is a straight lift off of Saul's Double Alpha website. I was just going to put the link in but it was pretty far down in his tips.

Make sure you spend some time on the range the day before. So you are familiar with it, and get a “feel” for the place. More critical if you have never been there before. This way you know for sure how to find it, and will not be stressed about this the next day. We fear the unknown. The more you know about the range/match, the less anxiety will set in.

Of course you want to spend some time studying the stages. Use your match book to decide which stages you want to watch shot (in the pre-match). As you may not have time to watch them during the match. When you go to watch stages, takes your match book, a stop watch and a pen. Make notes! As you may not remember after looking at 16 stages or more.

Take care of registration! Make sure you are entered correctly, and you know which squad you are on, and where you start. The next day you want to go directly to your stage.

Try to see the squad list, so you can see who you shoot with, and also to know the order of shooting – and can you expect to be up first on the first stage.

Make sure you have all you need the day before. Food, drink, chair, rain/sun protection. Leave nothing to buy the morning of competition.

Have a good dinner, and get to bed early enough, so you get enough sleep even if you need to rise very early, as you usually do in IPSC competitions.

The morning of your big match

Make sure you are up early enough. It takes our body 2.5-3 hours to be fully awake for activity, like what we need in IPSC shooting! You want to have a good performance of the first stage – you need to be fully awake.

Have a good breakfast – but eat early enough, 1.5 hours before the first stage – especially if that stage requires lots of running.

Go for a walk/jog or stretch – do some warm up exercises.

Dry fire – just to get the feel of the gun. Practice perhaps special start positions.

Pack you bags – and use a check list if need be. Take more than you need in food/drink and ammo. You can always leave it in the car - but at least it’s on the range.

Leave for the range early enough – so that you don’t need to be worried about traffic, or feel rushed. You want to feel relaxed.

Don’t worry about feeling “butterflies” and stress building up. Say to yourself “this tension I am feelings is good. I need this for my best performance – and I know how to keep it under control.

Be positive, and show confidence. Feel like a winner – feel like you are shooting great – even though you have not even started.

[Flyin40]

The day prior just do some dryfire and if you regulary exercise do enough to get a good sweat. Nothing hard and don't over do it. Thats about it. You want to be rested for the match day. I been working on my weight loss also and about 4 days out I make sure I getting a well balanced diet and eating some carbs. It helps come match day so you have energy the entire match.

Also stay hydrated.

Flyin

[Front Man]

I like to take a firing pin that I have cut in half, load all of my match ammo, and cycle the slide/match ammo by hand.

I do this BEFORE I leave home.

Nice knowing your match ammo and magazines work.

FM

[Front Man]

Don't forget to replace the firing pin cut in half before you leave home!

FM

[j1b]

If you ride with the assumption that one has a consistent dry fire routine, or practice routine, then I'd wonder why one would do anything different at all.

This'll be an interesting thread.

If I started one that asked the question "how do you prepare the night before you go practice" I wonder if the responses would be the same?? Intuitively I'd say probably not.

Almost automatically we've made tomorrow's shoot about something more than the shooting.

Cool thing is that shooting is only 90% mental. The rest is in your head

[Ben Stoeger]

Just was wondering what y'all do to prep the night before.

I like to watch Braveheart or something. Movies like that get me good and pumped up.

[XRe]

I like to watch Braveheart or something. Movies like that get me good and pumped up.

Yeah, watching a good, inspiration flick can be a great way to get ready, and keep some "normalcy" around the day before a match A little light dry fire maybe, and that's about it...

[FranDoc]

This is a straight lift off of Saul's Double Alpha website. ... Don’t worry about feeling “butterflies” and stress building up. Say to yourself “this tension I am feelings is good. I need this for my best performance – and I know how to keep it under control.

One of the 'mental game' guys talks about making your 'butterflies fly in formation'. That image has always been helpful in channeling the stomach flutter into something positive.

[Flexmoney]

I see a lot of shooters show up at matches and their guns don't work. Then say how great they were working. So, I ask them what they did to them, then??? What's different??? "Ahhh...I just cleaned it."

Any time you tear your gun down...it needs to be function fired. Yes, that will make it a little bit dirty again. Deal with it.

I also hear..."this is new brass". All match brass should have at least one firing through YOUR gun.

You should know where you gun hits (zero) 5y increments...out to 50y. You should know how YOU group at those distances. (that should cover most everything you will see)

All of this, really, ought to be handled a few days to a week before the big match. So, you have time to fix anything that needs fixed.

The night before...read Saul's tips. This is a good time to make sure you are caught up on your hydration.

You aren't going to do any skill building the night before a match. If you dry-fire, do so to make yourself feel better. It should be a positive (confidence inspiring) session.

[Duane Thomas]

Honestly, I don't cram the day before a match. I think that those people who do are kidding themselves. But the time you get to day-before-the-match, you're either ready or you're not. I actually prefer to not even touch a gun the day before a big match, so I can come to it fresh and eager. YMMV.