How many live fire days a week?

[j1b]

As a person that used to live fire practice 3-4 times a week, I'd certainly echo that a consistent practice routine helps in achieving your highest level of ability.

There is a premiss though. Because with me there always is

Making GM, or winning a match, or winning a stage - whatever the goal is, is about fixing what's wrong. I know that is blatantly obviouse. If one shoots 100,000 rounds a year (1,923 rounds a week) and practices blindly with no goals, no objectives, no internal or external observations on where they need to improve then the person that studies their game intimately, knows their challenges and acknowledges them, and expends 15,000 rounds a year will beat the 100,000 round a year person every time.

I've gone through many phases in my career. When I first started (and where my learning curve was by far my greatest) I shot hardly any live fire. I did buy every available video and watched them continuously. If my draw was slow I worked on it. In live fire, or dry. Didn't matter. If movement was not where it needed to be I worked on it. Live for or dry. If I wasn't shooting on the move well I worked on it.

It was never about round count. How many. It was always about improving upon the things I observed I needed to improve upon.

Yes, I did go through the harder routine of much more live fire practice. I don't actually know any single year's ammo qty. If I were to guess in any given year I'd shoot between 25K to 30K rounds a year. That lasted for about 5 or so years. And yes, I got better but the routine was still about improving upon what I needed to improve upon.

There was a time frame when I was still practicing the same amount and because I lost a little focus, I simply didn't improve. Probably got worse.

Over the last 10 or 12 years I've probably not shot 20K rounds total. I would say that nowadays when I dry fire, or live fire, I'm very focused. I have very specific objectives and work towards them.

This post was much longer than I anticipated.

All I really wanted to say was that as has been pointed out, it is the quality of your practice - not the quantity - that is going to make the difference in your game.

Jack

Edited May 28, 2009 by j1b

[XRe]

Sorry I missed this earlier

Dave,

That is where I refocus, and start going for A's again. Push it till that point, than I refocus.

Still not sure tho how to push it...if I try to go faster it never happens, hits will be all over, tens muscles --> bad time. I need to be more relaxed if I want faster times. The timer always backs this up.

Learning what it takes to go faster is actually part of this whole deal, and yeah, tension will totally not get you there. You (and the timer) are absolutely right, there. There's a difference between thinking about "going faster", and telling yourself things like "snap the eyes hard to each target", or "move hard while you engage these targets", or whatever... I avoid saying "go faster" to myself for the very reason you say here - it tends to promote a higher level of tension. Instead, I focus on how "smartly" or "sharply" I execute the skills, and what level of intensity - Jake is getting at this, too, with his comments about training to see things happen faster, etc. It boils down to the same thing - the mental imagery and self-talk differ a bit from person to person. But, if you feel the tension creep in on a run, step back, breathe, wiggle your toes and fingers, shrug your shoulders, breathe deep and slow some more, hit the timer and tell yourself "just do it". Play with other relaxation techniques, too

Also, when I hit the "wheels just came off" point, I don't tell myself, "Ok, now slow it back down a notch". Instead, I say something like "Ok, need a little more focus on this part here..." or "now make it smooth", or whatever is appropriate to correct the error I made. I don't talk "fast" or "slow" to myself.

Don't know if that makes any sense... I'm kinda hopped up on Benadryl right now (damn mold spores in the air... ). I can try to explain more, if you like...

For now I think I will go with :

1 live fire day at the beginning of the week

3 days of dry fire

1 live fire day again at the end of the week, (totaling approx 450 rounds for the two days of live fire)

1 maybe 2 matches at the weekend.

That's not a bad scheme - in fact, that's a lot more than a lot of folks get to do (read: more than I get to do! ). Go at that practice with goals in mind, and it'll be a lot more effective, too!

[Chris iliff]

XRe, j1b, Jake and some of the others are spot on. I just want to say that 1 day a week (match) screwed me. L. B's. book was right on. I did that for close to 4 years and I got to high "C" in open. In fact, I started 3 straight Springs (no Winter matches here) at 58%. That's close to 30 matches a season (90) matches with little to no improvement. When I started that dryfire routine and a regular practice schedule I made "B" and am now pushing on "A". Of course I'm not close to these guys giving you advice, or you for that matter. I just think it's important that someone reading this realize that 1 day a week won't cut it after a certain point. IMHO.

[Doublehaul]

Live fire practice is getting expensive. My reloading costs are up 60% in the last 12 months and it's harder to get range time. we have a new outdoor range going in soon and I will have full free access to it when it's ready.

[pjb45]

With costs going up and components getting hard to find, alternatives are being seriously considered. I see more and more shooters relying on their .22 conversion units to get more rounds down range. I have seen some people make great strides in improving their abilities with the .22.

Moving up in class is about improving your current skill set and acquiring new ones. The .22 can help, it is just another tool in your tool box for improvement.

My limited observations of several grand masters is they have acquired the skills they need to succeed at the GM level. They spend time re-enforcing those skills through a variety of methods. That may result in less rounds down range than someone looking to acquire new skills and integrate them into the training routine.

There is a book called 'Outliers' which uses the Canadian Youth Hockey program as an example of what it takes to achieve a high skill level--in essence, the premise is it takes 10,000 hours to achieve the skill level to compete at a high level. Of course, this includes excellent coaching, practice, etc. After that, to reach the top, those competitors work on everything from the physical to mental improvement where little changes make the difference.