TargetTalk

Anybody have any comments on the effect of 'attitude' when shooting AP? I've found a lot of help from a very internally agressive attitude when concentrating on the sight picture and releasing the shot. It seems to help control a lot of the wobble. Does anyone else experience this?

regards

Ed

Immeasureably superior to fear of failure. and the possibility exists that it is also superior to every other emotion one can bring to competition. The only emotion that I am sure the possibility exists that it can compete with aggression is confidence. Keep it up and If you can please let us know your conclusions after a good season of competition. Good Shooting Bill Horton

Not AP. There have been times I would increase intensity in Bullseye Timed or Rapid. I would sort of get "mad" at the target, squint my eyes, lean into it, purse my lips, press my tongue to the back of my teeth, and fire. Usually worked pretty good to channel my concentration that way.

It used to work for me, anything which pushes self-doubt out of your mind is great.

Interesting thoughts that its helping because it replaces the don't wobble, don't twitch and other negative thoughts. I'd not thought of it that way, but i'll keep you updated!

cheers

Ed

jackh wrote:Not AP. There have been times I would increase intensity in Bullseye Timed or Rapid. I would sort of get "mad" at the target, squint my eyes, lean into it, purse my lips, press my tongue to the back of my teeth, and fire. Usually worked pretty good to channel my concentration that way.

Jack,
Why not in precision?

Ed - I'll echo the comments of others here - aggression certainly works for the fast-shooting sports. Frankly, I've also found it works well in the precision sports when used in short bursts. While I normally have a pretty passive attitude toward precision shooting there are times when I call the target nasty names in my head and tell it that I'm going to blast its centre out whether it likes it or not. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it just diverts my concentration away from working on what's really wrong - flawed technique. In general I'd say it's worth a try when you've got nothing left to lose.

Would "intensity" (vice "aggression") work?

I've heard the former used a lot; not so much the latter. I think there is a difference- at least a semantic one?

Steve

edster99 wrote:Anybody have any comments on the effect of 'attitude' when shooting AP? I've found a lot of help from a very internally agressive attitude when concentrating on the sight picture and releasing the shot. It seems to help control a lot of the wobble. Does anyone else experience this?

regards

Ed

It depends on what you mean by attitude and how you use the emmotion. If you mean aggression, that can be very person specific and for some that can point you in the optimum state of excitement / anxiety yet for others it will tip them over the edge into adrenalin overload and an over anxious state.

That emmotion itself can be very positive or as mentioned it can be positive by virtue of pushing away the demons of negativity.

It is however an immensly personal thing, what works for you may well incapacitate another shooter.

Rob.

Steve Swartz wrote:Would "intensity" (vice "aggression") work?

I've heard the former used a lot; not so much the latter. I think there is a difference- at least a semantic one?

Steve

I guess that for me its somewhere in the middle - intensity definitely, but there is an element of mental confrontation / no backward step / i will not be intimidated. Perhaps it helps to ward off the negative images of things that can go wrong.

I think it just a matter of terms, some people would call it confidence, intensity, persoanlly I like to call it desisivness. I think most people mean the same thing as your aggresivness. When I first read the title i thought you're going to pop someone in the nose ;)

Richard H wrote:I think it just a matter of terms, some people would call it confidence, intensity, persoanlly I like to call it desisivness. I think most people mean the same thing as your aggresivness. When I first read the title i though you going to pop someone in the nose ;)

LOL

Mark Briggs wrote:Ed - I'll echo the comments of others here - aggression certainly works for the fast-shooting sports. Frankly, I've also found it works well in the precision sports when used in short bursts. While I normally have a pretty passive attitude toward precision shooting there are times when I call the target nasty names in my head and tell it that I'm going to blast its centre out whether it likes it or not. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it just diverts my concentration away from working on what's really wrong - flawed technique. In general I'd say it's worth a try when you've got nothing left to lose.

Almost 30 years ago, Brazilan eliminatories for World Championship and Moscow Olympics.

I was ready to shoot rapid fire, open gun in hand, when the president of the Brazilian Shooting Confederation came over, looking mad and said:"you cannot shoot! You are not registered in any state federation!"

Since I had a record of problems with him, I knew this was planned before. I closed the pistol and pointed to the target control device (behind my post) and said: "Decide: either I shoot or nobody else shoots here today."

He called me crazy, I said "Yeah! You've got 10 seconds" and the other shooters came around, asking what the problem was, and told the colonel to lay off, something should be wrong with the bureaucracy.

I finished in third, with a score way over my usual. Being mad at the "gentleman" helped a lot.

Maybe some level of aggresiveness in precision shooting might help (was it a North Korean that said, after his record in rifle, that he shot visualizing the face of the enemy in the target?)

But in my short experience, limited to Brazil, not one of the aggressive persons I met in the ranges was a good shooter. All trouble makers, but lousy shooters.

(I left the range telling the colonel that he would have to set another elimminatory, he did so two weeks later. I was fourth, still in the team, told him to set up another, and wound up in fifth, out of the team. This SOB made his successor in the Confederation, and this one was expelled by courts 3 years ago. I'm going back to the sport, just for fun, after 20 yrs out.)