TargetTalk

I have been shooting poorly lately in 10M AP, barely holding 90 in 10 shot series.

Shooting too much, training too little.

Please advise on a 10 minute daily training regimen that I can stick to.

What exercise would get me the "most bang" for my 10 minutes?

Tried 10 minutes of dry firing. I can put in only about 20 shots going through the process, going through breathing, lifting, aiming, alignment, trigger click, follow through, then repeat. Boring and really did not see much improvement from that regimen.

My opinion only. I would go to my range, set up my gun and line up 10
pellets. Set stance and grip, load and really focus on what you are going to do next.
Clear your mind and make the most careful, correct shot you can.
Lay down gun, analyze your shot, breathe. And then start over.
Make one perfect shot. 10 times. Stop.
Sort of a martial arts or zen way of refocusing to the now and letting
ALL else go away for your time period of training.
Zen archery technique....

If you found dry firing boring and limited yourself to twenty shots max and worse, convinced yourself it did not help.....your heart was likely not in it. Maybe your expectations for improvement need to be reassessed.

If you can put in the time to complete the shot process more than sixty times at a match, you shouldn't lose your ability to concentrate during dry fire training.

If 10 minutes is all you can invest, there is nothing more valuable than dry fire. You have to believe in and commit to it - otherwise it's a waste of ten minutes.

The key to success of short training moments like this is probably to plan going in exactly what you want to accomplish. Dry firing is not just firing rounds with out live ammo. Dry firing could be specific drill to improve certain aspects of the shoot process.
Consider day one just working on sight alignment. Blank wall, just hold your sights in exact alignment. another day try moving your trigger finger and holding the alignment. Another day might be approaching the hold area and gently squeezing the trigger.

The key is the very intent mental attention and focus on specific element!

If someone can tell me dry fire is a boring process, I will tell you right away you do not understand what you are doing on the shooting range.

Dry fire is the most rewarding process (score wise). If the score is not your main objective, you can keep doing what you have been doing before. If for some reason you became concerned about your score progress, I strongly recommend you to attend to one of earlier mentioned clinics on TargetTalk (Brian Zins, John Zurek, or others who can really perform) and learn about the perfect development of single shot performance. I guarantee that you will never complain about your dry fire practice being boring or if you only have ten minutes to do so. I spent 80% of my practice time on the dry fire process. I saved my time to drive to the shooting range about an hour and a half both ways. I saved my fee for the shooting range facility and accordingly to 80% of ammo cost. You have to deeply understand what you are doing during the dry fire time and you need a device (pisotl with dry fire option).

My best wishes in Olympic style target shooting

PETE S wrote: Consider day one just working on sight alignment. Blank wall, just hold your sights in exact alignment. another day try moving your trigger finger and holding the alignment.

I strongly disagree. Holding drills are counter productive to the shot process. Once a hold and acceptable sight picture materialize, the remainder of the shot process including the release and follow through MUST be accomplished. The sight picture and release are inextricably entwined and should never be severed unless the shooter decides to abort.

A ten minute daily "regimen" that really works sounds like a miracle cure. One of those "eat yourself thin in 30 days with the Wonder Diet" sorts of things. Or one of the crazy exercise gizmos that are sold on late night TV by buff male athletes and skinny beautiful women saying "you can look like us" with 10 minutes a day. (Your mileage may vary; results not typical.)

I've had to lay off shooting for a while because of a problem with my right hand and fingers (can't hold the grip), and am barely a 500 shooter anyway, so I'm not one to talk. But it doesn't seem bloody likely that there is any magic anywhere that will replace dedication and practice, practice and still more practice. And talent.

But, you know, if you find one, do tell me so I can send in my $29.99 plus shipping and handling.

pete z

seamaster wrote: Boring and really did not see much improvement from that regimen.

Whatever you do whether it's on or off range, 10 mins or an hour. If you don't enjoy it and find it boring, it will not help you improve your shooting.

Good mental application in match situations starts with having good mental application during training.

Perhaps spend 10 minutes asking yourself why you shoot, what you want to achieve with your shooting and what (if anything) you are prepared to do to achieve that.

I would say "bulgarian hold still exercise" must by far be the most efficient exercise you should spend your 10 minutes in.

Don't use anything else but your gun, but put extra weigths on it.

Aim on the wall. Start with sets of 2 minutes (rest 30 seconds between), daily. Extend the length of each sets gradually, when you get stronger, and improve steadyness.

//MFR

10 mins. Not a lot of time to really do anything and my personal opinion is that if dry firing is boring, then you're going to have some issues with getting to the top level.

That being said, if you only have 10 mins then that's all you've got.

Put it another way, you've got 600 seconds to complete your session. So whatever you're doing, it must be planned to the second. You can't afford to lose a single second doing something that is not productive.

My approach would be to schedule a time every day (you don't need a rest day because you're only doing 10 mins) that is training time. Have everything ready so that when that time comes up you start training.

Start with a goal, planned in advance, make it something specific, measurable and technical. A goal such as "I want to shoot better score" is a poor goal. "I want to press the trigger better" is an ok goal. I want the blue trace (last second) on a Scatt Machine to average less than 80mm over 20 shots, withing 2 months" is a good goal.

Your training session is designed on spending 10 mins working on achieving this goal.

You will need to spend a minutes or 2 getting ready. 1 exercise is to hold the pistol in your aiming area for 2 mins. Whilst doing so you focus intensely on the rear sight for 5 seconds, then the front sight for 5 seconds and then rest for 5 seconds. Repeat until 2 mins is up. This is to get you warmed up for the rest of the 8 mins. Once 5 seconds is too easy, make it 10, 15, & 20.

Now you're remaining 8 mins should be dedicated to improving a technical element of your trigger press. Shooting for 10 mins will be of no help what so ever.

I'm sure there's plenty of topics dedicated to drills, so I won't go into too much detail. But pick 1 drill (prior to the session starting, preferably 1 or 2 days in advance.) and work on it intensely. Until the time is up

Once you have completed your session, you will need to debrief yourself. Measure your results, write down what you did well and if you feel there's opportunities for improvement. Always working towards your goal.

The one thing to remember is that planning is the most important aspect of a 10 minute session. It's no good planning it out 5 mins before the session, you need to be very smart about what your doing and everything you do is working toward achieving a goal.

Good luck

What's this bulgarian hold still exercise?

I'm not sure what the bulgarian hold still exercise is.
But I have the lithuanian wiggle down pat!
Wink,wink,nudge,nudge.

Dave C.

lxvnrsw wrote:What's this bulgarian hold still exercise?

Sorry if I was a little unclear!

The goal of that exercise is to improve steadiness, strengh and endurance.

You shall use your regular gun (not a dumbbell).
Use your regular shooting shoes and glasses as well.

Put extra weights on the pistol and you will get faster results.

Put a picture on the wall, Start by holding the gun in shooting posistion for, for instance 2 minutes. You are allowed to breath during the exercise :) .Focus on sights and movement pattern. Index finger on trigger (but no dry fire!)
Then rest for 10-20 seconds, and then repeat the hold again.

Gradually when you become stronger, and have minized the movements, incresase the time, or even put more weights on the pistol.

If you only have 10 minutes a day, double the weight of the pistol, but do it gradually, to prevent injuries, especially in the back.

If you are a serious shooter, and have some extra minutes, warm up with a power walk for about 20-25 minutes before the exercise. And combine with other phsysical exercises good for shooting.

//MFR

"Put extra weights on the pistol and you will get faster results."

I can agree with most of your recommendations but you should not put extra weights on the gun! If you want to exercise you muscles put and extra weight on the shooting arm. If a weight is put on the gun and taken off for live shooting the gun will feel differently/ out of balance.
Regards,
Guy

gn303 wrote:"Put extra weights on the pistol and you will get faster results."

I can agree with most of your recommendations but you should not put extra weights on the gun! If you want to exercise you muscles put and extra weight on the shooting arm. If a weight is put on the gun and taken off for live shooting the gun will feel differently/ out of balance.
Regards,
Guy

I agree, and I didn't mean to put weights on the barrel, but rather under the grip. But of cource a wrist weight will be just as fine.

//MFR

The year or 2 when I was shooting at my peak I would practice AP 4-5 days a week and FP 2 days/wk. For AP I ended up shooting much better. My training consisted of 5 mins of dry fire and then 20-30 shots. Some times I would also use holding exercises to get my hold improved.

Anyone who has really used dry firing for training will know it works and will also know it is no longer boring. I do think you need to have some level of history of being knee deep in brass to to really see some of the benefits of using only dry firing as your primary means of training. Do not get me wrong I think dry firing will help every one and we should all dry fire as part of our training plans.

Like most have mentioned make the most of the time you have and if you can do it every day you will stay very fresh in your mind what you did the day before and so I think it will have an effect of one long training session with long breaks. You last session will be fresh in your mind. What you did and how you performed. I would make sure you take time to write in a diary what you said you wanted to do and then what you did do and how you felt doing it. This will help you absorb and learn.

You should be able to make it work in 10 mins if it were me I would try and find 20 mins for when you want to live fire.