Odds and Ends!
Winning Flyer: A comment was made about walking the hits to the light and then having a flyer on the third or fourth shot. This is quite common. It happens to me frequently. I am not sure but I think it is just a variant of the 2 up fluster. See August 7, 2017, post "2 up fluster" on ShadyMtnTips.blogspot.com. At Rio this last Saturday I think the majority of my wins were on winning flyers.
Dance with the girl you brought: A comment was also made about falling back into an old draw. This time of year many of us are working on new draws or new stances. It is sometime easy to fall back into old habits, if you do, you end up shooting the old draw, not the new one you are practicing. Generally, I say never ever change your draw during an event because if you do you are lost. The exception to that rule is when fall back into old habits, then of course, the sooner you get back to the draw you have been practicing the better. The Alleluia Competition and Training System got its start in Texas in 2016. I started my warm up for the State missing 29 of my first 30 shots, but I did not change my draw from the first miss in warm ups to the last shot of the Territorial in the finals (lost to a quicker shooter.) Shortly thereafter No Daisy made a comment on facebook about making adjustments, which I took to heart and incorporated into the walk'en system. Adjustments are made before the set command. Never ever change your draw during an event.
A Perfect Start: I have had problems when my first shot is perfect or nearly perfect. What happens is that this disrupts the routine because no adjustments are needed. I have gotten over this primarily by making adjustments even if they are minimal. At a minimum I lift and reset my shooting toe in the same spot and reset off foot.
Event Preparation: The day before Rio I did mostly bucket work, it always seems to help. Even a bad day on the bucket helps because you are chunking data. For some you may lose a little quickness by not being well rested but for me it does not seem to matter. I seem to need a warm up day anyway.
Every Day is Different: For the past several weeks I have been shooting with a more closed stance. At Rio I missed my first four shots, two low and two about 15 inches to the left. I adjusted my balance back and opened my stance 4 degrees to the right which moved the shots 12 inches to the right to the center of the light. Everyday is different. It may be that your holster is not quite in the same place, it may be surface you are standing on, it may be the lane dividers, or it may be you are wearing more clothes because it is chilly. I think my closed stance may go back all the way to FGA where I stand against the right lane divider as a way of lining up, hence the closed stance. Any way be prepared to adjust. At Rio I did struggle a bit reverting to my old draw. Remember never change you draw, change your alignment before the set command. At Rio, my first match I had a gunfighter rating of .78, fortunately my opponent's was worst. Once I made the adjustments I shot at a 1.38 clip (.58+.80). At Rio 60% of my opponents were quicker than me.
Mostly Mental: At Rio Saturday, Shady and I had 5 matches against 3 shooters that are quicker than we are. The quicker shooters were 0-5 against us. Why? My guess is that their thought process were either "I am quicker than him, I need to go fast!" or "He is hitting, I need to hit!" Either thought is bad. It results is a change in the draw and hence slowness or misses. None of those matches were competitive.
Just Walk'en: The point of walking the hits to the light is to give you something to think about so you do not have these thoughts that cause you to shoot from the frontal lobe.
To be competitive we need to shoot from the subconscious with a finalized draw. Good luck, hang in there, wins will come.
Dance with the girl you brought: A comment was also made about falling back into an old draw. This time of year many of us are working on new draws or new stances. It is sometime easy to fall back into old habits, if you do, you end up shooting the old draw, not the new one you are practicing. Generally, I say never ever change your draw during an event because if you do you are lost. The exception to that rule is when fall back into old habits, then of course, the sooner you get back to the draw you have been practicing the better. The Alleluia Competition and Training System got its start in Texas in 2016. I started my warm up for the State missing 29 of my first 30 shots, but I did not change my draw from the first miss in warm ups to the last shot of the Territorial in the finals (lost to a quicker shooter.) Shortly thereafter No Daisy made a comment on facebook about making adjustments, which I took to heart and incorporated into the walk'en system. Adjustments are made before the set command. Never ever change your draw during an event.
A Perfect Start: I have had problems when my first shot is perfect or nearly perfect. What happens is that this disrupts the routine because no adjustments are needed. I have gotten over this primarily by making adjustments even if they are minimal. At a minimum I lift and reset my shooting toe in the same spot and reset off foot.
Event Preparation: The day before Rio I did mostly bucket work, it always seems to help. Even a bad day on the bucket helps because you are chunking data. For some you may lose a little quickness by not being well rested but for me it does not seem to matter. I seem to need a warm up day anyway.
Every Day is Different: For the past several weeks I have been shooting with a more closed stance. At Rio I missed my first four shots, two low and two about 15 inches to the left. I adjusted my balance back and opened my stance 4 degrees to the right which moved the shots 12 inches to the right to the center of the light. Everyday is different. It may be that your holster is not quite in the same place, it may be surface you are standing on, it may be the lane dividers, or it may be you are wearing more clothes because it is chilly. I think my closed stance may go back all the way to FGA where I stand against the right lane divider as a way of lining up, hence the closed stance. Any way be prepared to adjust. At Rio I did struggle a bit reverting to my old draw. Remember never change you draw, change your alignment before the set command. At Rio, my first match I had a gunfighter rating of .78, fortunately my opponent's was worst. Once I made the adjustments I shot at a 1.38 clip (.58+.80). At Rio 60% of my opponents were quicker than me.
Mostly Mental: At Rio Saturday, Shady and I had 5 matches against 3 shooters that are quicker than we are. The quicker shooters were 0-5 against us. Why? My guess is that their thought process were either "I am quicker than him, I need to go fast!" or "He is hitting, I need to hit!" Either thought is bad. It results is a change in the draw and hence slowness or misses. None of those matches were competitive.
Just Walk'en: The point of walking the hits to the light is to give you something to think about so you do not have these thoughts that cause you to shoot from the frontal lobe.
To be competitive we need to shoot from the subconscious with a finalized draw. Good luck, hang in there, wins will come.
Just a thought on that "perfect shot" for me personally. When I hit it, I know the feel, I know what I did, I have it--a good chunk--, but then I think about duplicating it and gone. Same with quick, I did it now I must do it again the same way---gone. DON'T THINK.
ReplyDeleteI agree on your thoughts. I also like your response to the FB Society page in which people want to see this blog public. Too many people nowadays are too lazy to work for anything...they just want a quick fix.
ReplyDeleteI will give tips to those that make an effort..but not to the general public. This sport is still a competition after all!!!
A question for consideration, then discussion. When doing reaction training, do you track times, or just practice reacting?
ReplyDeleteGreat question. Since all I have at home is a Boss timer light I can not track reaction time. I hate light practice and therefore do not do enough of it. Therefore I have not made progress in reaction time. I really did not know why I hated it so much until a couple a weeks ago we were trying to figure out why a 513 was not firing. We found the gun only fired when trigger fully pulled back. You had to pull trigger hard. My guns would fire with a light and partial pull. I discovered I partial and lightly pull when firing live rounds. However, when using the Boss timer with laser rounds I have to pull trigger fully. After a few rounds, my hands hurt. I hate it, so I stop doing. I can shoot hundreds of live rounds with no pain. It is the laser in a Ruger that is the problem. I need to find a reaction practice that I will do. Any thoughts?
DeleteTo get to your question, what do you gain by tracking the time. Practice without tracking time will give you the practice time which is what will improve you. Will tracking the time lead into bad habits to gain a few mls of momentary improvement. Won't you get the gain without the risk if you do it without chasing the clock. Isn't that the same problem that some shooters have that fall into the trap of flailing to get fast and then they are constantly changing the draw on the way to boot hill.
I wanted another opinion before I gave mine and my experience. I think tracking the numbers every shot is detrimental. I use a laser very little simply because mine is not reliable, needs batteries or switch or something. 95% or more of my practice is with wax. When you suggested moving to reaction training I did even though I wasn't completely happy with my bucket work and it went completely to shit shooting on the light and timer, but it was quick. So I went back to strictly bucket work and got my grouping and draw back in order. Monday I was pretty consistent with 80%+ hits on an 80% target. Wanted to work on reaction since there's a match Saturday and Tuesday my hits went to about 45%. Issues were converting my normal command sequence, range commands, to match flashing lights and beeps so there's one distraction, then my draw going south because I was chasing time, mini fever, and having to react. Today I turned the timer over so I couldn't read the display and it took about half the session, but got my draw back to where I think it should be and got the hits back to about 70%. I've always felt like training while tracking time induces flail symptoms that disrupt the mechanics. I generally try to tell people never slow down, but don't try to go fast either. I base that on the idea there is a top speed for mechanics, but you are capable of actually going faster than mechanics will work when you force it faster. The mechanics will speed up with repetition, but you can go faster than the mechanics work. I also know that when it all flows correctly, it is just about as fast as my best flail, but then comes the distraction of "trying" to duplicate that good flow and thinking.
DeleteAs for the reaction training, sounds like the switch on your laser needs more impact than a primer, might try to see if you can do something with the switch. Cal made a comment the other day when pushing the reaction tester for his timers that the draw begins with the thumb so reaction should be tested and trained with thumb movement. I sometimes use one of the reaction timers on the internet. Either the Gunslingers or Vaqueros have a link to one on their web site. I've also watched Windmill when he rm's and he will do a fist clench and forearm pop to keep his reaction on the light. If you don't care about the time, just the training for reaction there's really no need for a gun, a good twitch or pop will suffice.You are just teaching your muscles to start, bucket work teaches them what to do once they start.
Thanks for sharing. Your comments are helpful. I am going to alert other Alleluia shooters to read the comments unless you object.
DeleteI just finished 30 rounds on the mirror and the light. About my maximum. I am on the mirror trying to compact my draw and stand more upright. Don't have it finalized yet. Not shooting well right now.
Too lessen the pain I spread my two lasers out evenly so I get a laser every third shot. Trying not to crush the trigger. The laser cause you to do that so that the laser stays on and that is what causes the pain. Maybe I should forego the laser all together but that helps me to know where I am hitting. Also with the Boss light, it stays on .3 of second so you are trying to hit the light before it goes out. Probably should give up on the laser. Present training has not reduced my 240 mls reaction time. Need to try something else or train more on reaction time.
I have no problem with people reading my comments. If you think trying to keep the laser on with the Ruger is an issue, get one that does not stay on, just flashes. Depending on the brand you have you may be able to just get the rear cap. If you are trying the "Mernickle draw" and want to be more upright try transferring your weight to your toes, that helps me. I raise my rear heel and try to keep the weight on my front foot even or slightly toe heavy. Sometimes just pressing slightly forward when I go to my "set" stance helps.
DeleteI was doing pretty well in training, but at yesterday's match I never got my training draw and only hit about 30%. I know what I was not doing, but I'm not sure why. Back to the bucket tomorrow.