Shooting VS. Practice - How Much Of Both?

[jlochey]

Group,

I see lots of information out there on pistol drills that a shooter can do to improve their skills.

My question is, how much shooting vs. practice (dry firing, etc.) do you do per week?

I seem to only be able to devote about 4-5 of my evenings to shooting a week. So how should I spend that time?


Thank you,


John

[Steve Swartz]

As discussed previously (most recent see thread on overtraining/burnout):

15-25 hours per week

6 hrs aerobic/anaerobic physical conditioning (in 1 hr increments)
6 hrs skill drills (in 30-45 min increments)
6 hrs match training (8 x 30 dry fire; 1 x 60 dry match 1 x 60 live match)

HTH

Steve

[Steve Swartz]

Sorry about that last post; I know it wasn't very helpful. Those numbers are "scalable" to a certain degree; although as total time goes down, the amount of time spent on developing skills (technique drills) has to go up. With yoiur constraints, I would recommend much less in the way of integrated training than someone with a lot more time would. Given 4-5 sessions of 45 minutes each per week, you could do something like:

1: Sight picture (align only), trigger control drills
2: Sight picture (align only), trigger control with extended hold time
3: Sight picture (align plus aim), trigger control drills
4: Sight picture (align plus aim), trigger control drills with extended hold time
5: Practice Match- "Putting it all Together" combination Dry then Live fire

Notice it's all dry fire except for the second half of match day; note it's all focused technique drills except for the last session. During a training week, you are building your technique through drills until the end of hte training cycle, where you "integrate and apply" the newly developed/developing skills.

Also, this schedule assumes you are also working out aerobically/anaerobically at a separate time (not included in schedule above).

Steve

[Fred Mannis]

Steve,
I have recently purchased a RIKA and thinking about how to integrate its use into standard drills such as the ones you list in your last note. Would appreciate any thoughts/your experience in this area.

Fred

[Steve Swartz]

Fred:

Sorry about the delay- got distracted by a shiny object I guess!

First, my mojo on Rika use is not as powerful as Ed Hall's and Warren Potters' . . . I have gotten a lot of help from them along the way. Particularly reference Ed Hall's notes recently on how to set up the Rika to isolate trigger control for analysis.

That being said- my Rika use follows a couple of principles:

1) I don't use the Rika directly for technique drills per se (like those noted above). I kind of worry about becoming "Rika Dependent" in that I won't have Rika data during a match; and I need to be able to recognize, diagnose, and correct behaviors along the way at a match without Rika assistance. So for simple technique drills I don't generally use it.

2) I use the Rika daily for dry fire training/analysis. Every day I will shoot a series jsut like a match; following my match plan and shooting until I would normally take a break and then ending the session there. The Rika feedback I use falls into the following categories:

a) Time from entering the 8 ring until releasing the shot: I want this number to be low- I am trying to shoot the first ten I see- and 10 seconds is my current maximum; ~7 seconds is my optimal; and less than 5 seconds is shaky.

b) Last 400ms before the shot: I want my yellow (400ms) and red (200 ms) traces to be very tight leading up to the shot circle. This gives me quality of settle- have i really settled before releasing the shot?

c) Last 200ms before the shot: This is trigger ocntrol to me. I want the little tracing dots to be sitting right on top of each other; a large gap between dots indicates rapid movement during release. See Ed Hall's notes on this part.

d) Directionality prior to release: This one is trickier, and I may get some alternative opinions here. For a truly subconscious release, you should see your yellow and red traces pointing generally toward the center of the target. If your tracing points away from the center, it will indicate that you may have waited until you saw the perfect aim before releasing the shot. I am assuming, of course, that my reaction time is around 400ms.

e) Post shot tracing: good follow through is indicated by no change in direction or movement speed before, during, and after the big yellow shot dot. This is also an indicator of good trigger control- you want your follow-through dots to be stacked up right on top of one another.

Finally, in general, I will replay the shot in my mind as I am watching the trace after every shot. Not convinced this is either a good thing or a bad thing . . . but it sure feels nice to replay a 10 and watch it come together on the screen! Yeah, sometime i skip the replay on the bad shots . . .

Steve

[Fred Mannis]

Steve,
Thank you. You have provided some really good stuff for me to think about.

I have been using Ed Hall's set up for practicing trigger control. and have talked to him about it. I use a blank card to aim at, but use the RIKA 10M AP target set up. That way I can not only look at the concentricity (or lack thereof) of my trace, but also see whether the shot (yellow dot) is within the average hold area (1 sigma) for the shot. About half my hits fall outside my av hold area, which of course means that my trigger control leaves a lot to be desired. Which is why I started thinking about dry firing from a supported position.

There is so much for me to learn, understand and do about AP, I may never get back to firearms! I do enjoy FP tho, and our winter FP league starts in a few weeks.

Be well
Fred

Fred

[Steve Swartz]

Fred:

I started AP just to help my Service Pistol scores . . .

Steve