Do you practice or do you train?

[lone ringer]

Most rifle silhouette shooters I know practice shooting but very few train. I define practice as going to the shooting range and just pulling the trigger without paying too much attention to details.

Training on the other hand involves planning, doing shooting drills to improve hold as well as physical and mental preparation.

Like me a lot of you in the past have been involved in sports like football, basketball, etc. If you remember most of the training you did was not like playing the game itself but involved doing a lot different drills to help conditioning and build up skills.

The information provided here may not be of my own creation and it is provided mainly for new shooters and for those looking for advice that will help them improve their performance. If some of you want more of the same let me know.

I will not engage in arguments or debates with those that disagree with the advice given. So if you do not agree with me save your time and move to another topic.

I have shot silhouettes since 1978 and won many State and International Championships, two Canadian and one US HP Hunting Rifle Nationals. I have also spotted or coached others that won 13 US Nationals.

[Jason]

Right now, I'm only practicing and I'm not even doing nearly enough of that. I've been thinking about training a lot more lately, including trying to figure out the best workout routines and frequencies to help my scores. I'm also going back through a couple of my books to refresh some of the finer points in my mind so that I keep them involved when I'm devising my new training routine. I'm also wondering if getting back into taekwondo or another martial art my help more than just working out with weights. One of the obstacles that I currently have is wondering how to measure the effectiveness of my workouts. There are so many variables involved in my scores and I only get to shoot one or two matches a month, so that doesn't really give me real information that will tell me if a workout routine is working for me.

Also, my biggest problem with this is the same as when I've tried to other things alone before. I just keep letting other things get in the way of my plan if I don't have someone pushing me.

[BlauBear]

I do a lot of visualization, but definitely need to add some strength training and drills.

[dryfire]

Lone ringer
You have probably hit a sensitive spot for many shooters. I think that many individuals start their season with the best of intentions but lose
sight of these once they start getting into the match season.
Setting realistic goals ,documenting them and reviewing them daily,
and laying out a plan to achieving them is probably absent from many
shooters' routines.
Sounds like you have been round the block. Your insights would be
welcome.

Andrew

[lone ringer]

Jason, a lot of us are not able to shoot a lot of matches every month. Where I live in Southern Cal. I have to travel very far to compete specially HP so I have gotten more involved in Cowboy Lever Action. I do try to train at least once a week with my SB or HP rifles. I challenge myself to hit smaller targets than regulation. A good drill is to place a chicken or other target in front of a ram and try to hit the ram without touching the target in front.

In regards to physical training I would recommend what ever you are comfortable with. I used to run track and cross-country when I was going to HS and Junior College but now at 56 I am limited to walking or riding my bike which I do several times a week. The better conditioned you are the better it will be in the long run because you will not be as tired when you go to big matches like the Connard

[Detritus]

That was great Lone ringer,
You get your points across nice and clearly. A few times my mate and i have stayed back after a match and put in a bit of practice, we started to really pick up hit consistancy after addressing and putting into practice the whole mind set/comfort zone concept, but neither of us could explain it well enough to ourselves or others ill print it off and hand it to him if thats ok.
I got a lot out of it, look forward to more.
Cheers,
Detritus.

[ppkny]

lone ringer,
Great advice on the physical part of the game. Can you share some advice on the mental aspects of the game before, during and after the shoot.
Distractions are everywhere at a match. How do you stay focused especially when you have a talker next to you, an over animated shooter, etc., or a noisy gallery?
I know range etiquette frowns on this but it always happens. How do you stay out of everyone else's business?

[jneihouse]

I would like to see the Dawg chime in and discuss his training methods. (Yes the Dawg does train and not just at bending his elbow). I have had many long discussions with him about how to train for matches, and while I am still struggling to overcome mental and physical obstacles to success, I have used several of his principals in coaching a very good young shooter, new to the sport this year, that shot his first match in March of 2006 and climbed to AAA by the Midsouth Classic. What sayest thou, O' Dawg the great?

Kitty

[ajj]

Having a competitor/coach of Tirador's stature offer to take questions is like Christmas in January. Let's not be shy.
It took me quite a while to figure out that "practicing" as defined here is not merely a waste of time but is harmful in that it reinforces bad habits. I'd like to hear some more thoughts about what SPECIFIC things we shoud work on in training sessions, both physically and mentally. Special drills, perhaps.
I'd even like to hear what Dawg has to say.

[lone ringer]

Hello every one, before the Internet most of us weekend warrior shooters were at a disadvantage because information and advice was not readily available. I had been shooting for ten years or so and felt kind of lost and was looking for answers to some questions I had and found them on tapes and videos by Lanny Basham his

[Koldkut]

I must say its all practice to me at this point, just a few matches into it and I'm still out in the pasture running through the numbers that Dawg gave me:

Stance, hold, breathe, aim, squeeze.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

[dryfire]

Hi Koldkut
You sound as if you are fairly new to the silhouette game.
I know that when we start into a new endeavour we want to do as much of the real thing as we can get. You may want to confer with Lone ringer
or other capable sources on this but before you ingrain possibly some bad
habits you may want to set some goals and then set out a course of
action to acquire them. You may be doing all the right things now - but
until you define where you want to be you won't know. There are lots of
books already referenced on previous postings. Bassham is probably
one of the more celebrated authors.
It is easier to start with a fairly uncorrupted mind than try to learn new habits to replace old ones.
Best of luck with you shooting
Andrew

[dryfire]

ppkny
All the things you have mentioned are distractions I am sure on many ranges at one time or another and sometimes they might occur at all
the same time. How much we notice them is relative to the pay value
we accord them. If our attention is on the task at hand, of shooting our next shot, the background noise will be just that - unimportant clutter.
Training the focus or concentration has to be part of the training,
relative to how much you find you need.
Mark Taylor in "Rifle and Pistol Shooting - Winning With the Mental Edge"
"...if a shooter fully concentrates on placing each shot on each target - one at a time,and is successful, he can never be beaten."

Andrew

[lone ringer]

Andrew, it is human nature to start something and then lose sight or interest especially with those of us that do not belong to teams that have coaches like in organized sports. For me anything that I do whether it involves preparing my rifles, checking ammo, visualizing, dry firing, live firing or going to matches is training for the big event of the year which is usually the Nationals.

I wanted with my provocative question to point out to some that there are alternative ways of getting the job done and to show that one way is more productive than the other.

I started shooting silhouettes right at the time when SB got started and when silhouette rifles did not exist. My first rifle was a $35 Rem 581 and when a friend of mine loaned me an Anschutz 64 for a short time I thought I had a great rifle. Since most of us were in the same boat we did not feel like anybody had an advantage over the others regarding equipment and winning scores that had less than 75% hits were the norm rather than the exception.

The reason I am bringing that up is because I want you the new shooters to know how the sport got started and I do not want you to feel discouraged when you do not see the results right away. You picked one of the most difficult of the shooting sports and for most it takes years of training to excel in it.

Some things I have learned to do is to first of all have fun when I am shooting whether I am alone or at the Nationals with several hundred other shooters,

Second I pay attention to details and try to make as few mistakes as possible that usually translates into a good score for me or the person that I am spotting for but if for some reason I am not successful that particular day I am kind to myself and accept my score no matter what because that was the very best I could do that day.

Third, I do not give up when conditions are bad, I have won several important matches when the wind was blowing so hard that many other competitors had pretty much given up or were not able to perform under those conditions.

[genphideaux]

John,
Thanks for the segway. I will not try and compare or support my way of training with someone who has done so much for the sport as Lone Ringer, sir your records and accomplishments stand head and shoulders above mine. I will share with this forum some of the key components I feel are critical to meeting my goals. This is only an overview, the in the weeds stuff is to complex and must be performed numerous times.

1. Read and review With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham on a monthly bases.
2. Basics such as stance, mind set, trigger control all should become subconscience. But always be ready to bring them to the conscience level when problems arise. If all else fails basics will be a welcomed friend.
3. Define an objective and find a way to measure it. Objectives can be anything that you feel are a weakness in you overall game. Break the objectives down to small parts if it is a big objective or subobjectives. For example head placement on the stock for consisitant results(objective) tilt of head(subobjective), butt of stock in shoulder(subobjective) pressure on the stock of the head(subobjective)and so on. Consistant and controlled shot placement either mental of physical(measurement).
4. Keep detailed information on the measurement ie time of day, conditions, your mood, confidence level...etc, remember you will be reviewing this at a later date and will need key indicators to jog your memory. Review it often. This information will come in handy when you have problems to review it and see how the objective was meet before.
5. This detailed information will become what I call a toolbox. Your toolbox will contain information not only of how to fix a problem, but also how to deal with problems that will arise during a match, training session or practice. For example wind, rain, uneven firing line, noise...etc.
6. Matches are for score, objectives are to work on known and unforseen problems. Stick with the measurement and document the outcome as per your requirement, not number of hits or misses.
7. Keep training sessions simple. For me I usually limit a session to 50 shots dry or live fire. This helps to limit shot by shot measurement and to the amount of information compiled.
8. Sessions are not limited to the range or dry fire they can be done while sitting around taking a break, the mind is a powerfull tool, use it.
9. One of the best sayings I have heard and apply to this sport is amatures practice to not get it wrong, professionals practice till they cannot get it wrong.
10. Have fun, these are some of the best moments of your life. They may not pass this way again.

As stated before this is just some of the things that I think are important and work to achieve my goals.