Hitch's Training Blog

I had a chance to watch the tennis semifinals between Federer and Shapavalov.  It was a match of the veteran champion against a young player.  From my observation each look to be about the same in skill, power, finesse and yet Federer won the match easily in two sets (best two out of three).  I don't think the young player lacked anything, he looked to be more powerful on the serve and could make all of the shots as well as Federer.  From what I could see Shapavalov's great shots were just a little too great.  His great shots were sometimes just a little too wide or a little too long or his drop shots were just a little too soft.  Federer on the other hand was just steady. His great shots were well in, his drop shots were adequate.  He just played his game and let Shapavalov make the errors.  The difference from my observation was that Shapavalov was just trying too hard. I think this happens in fastdraw a lot.  Sometimes we just try too ha...

Well, the 2019 season is about to begin. Saturday is the Winter Range Arizona Jackpot Shoot soon to be followed by the season's titled matches.  Do not be dishearten if you have a rough go of it for a bit. Remember to shoot the system. Everyone draws a better shooter on occasion or loses focus for a time.  Persevere.  The system is progressive. You train to get progressively better. You will improve as the day or event goes on.  While others get frustrated, you will shoot better and better. You can tune yourself up for events. Get competition ready. One of the best ways to do that is several days before the event have a bad day on the bucket.  Shoot 50 rounds on the bucket, by yourself, no light.  Take away the stress of hitting. Take away the stress of the timer. Just draw and fire.  Draw as quick as you can.  Your natural ability will come forth.  Those perfect draws! Think about what this is doing.  You are finalizing your draw wi...

I was bored and posted a comment about quarter matches with little response. A quarter match is the WFPG.  The organizers have tried to eliminate accuracy, mental toughness, luck of the draw from the competition so that the only factor left is speed, so it is really just 1/4 of a CFDA match, hence a quarter match.  To me it seems to be a noncompetitive speed exhibition. Shady and I have had a disagreement for quite some time whether shooting blockers would be helpful for the CFDA shooter.  I always thought that seeing every hit was so important that shooting blockers would be helpful.  However, in December I attend a qualifying session at the camp.  As the day went on I got worst and worst until I finally quit in disgust. Maybe Shady is right.  I am not fully convinced yet, but do know that it is just the opposite of the system.  With the system you should get better and better as the day goes on, not worst and worst. The Texas State should be a good...

There are studies that indicate to become proficient at a skill, one must expend 10,000 hours practicing the skill.  Well, I don't have 10,000 hours left in me.  The skill I am concerned with is the ability to draw on the light or with the light.  How do we improve our reaction time.  That is where I can make the greatest improvement.  I know the various methods of trying to improve reaction time but as of this date none have been productive for me. I am trying to develop a grip that would be hooked to the light like a sensor and when I pressed the hammer on the simulated grip it would register a time like the sensor does a hit. I have tried a button but that will not work because the button completes or beaks a circuit whereas the sensor send an impulse. I am looking for something that would work with CFDA timer through the light.  Any suggestions on how to fabricate such a grip sensor? You are probably saying why don't he just draw on the light and sh...

A gunfighter needs to have a little swagger. When you come to an event you need to believe that you are the toughest gunfighter there. You may not be the quickest or you may not be the most accurate, but you are the toughest.  But you need to be careful.  There are little things you can do to booster your confidence.  Have confidence in the system, it will carry you through day, even a bad day. At a titled event, Gentleman George asks me if I was Lil James' grandpa because he loads like me.  Lil James only loads three and if the hand judges asks him why, he says "That is all I need."  It is a statement of confidence.  It can be unsettling to your opponent, if fact Dirty Dan used it against me Saturday in the shoot-offs, sending me to boot hill in 3 shots.  Little statements of confidence can be helpful. They remind you that you are the toughest gunfighter there.  I only load three because it is generally three winning shots.  If I miss or l...

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.  ...

Mental Toughness : More matches are won by mental toughness than by quickness or accuracy combined.  The remainder of this session (20 weeks) should be spent trying to achieve a system that promotes mental toughness.  If you have a finalized draw no matter what your quickness you will win your share of matches, but to be truly competitive you must develop mental toughness. I have given you my system.  You don't have to use my system you can develop your own but it should have the same basic elements.  You need a mental routine, a physical routine, and a waggle.  The point is to shoot from the subconscious. We are all better than we know but our minds keep getting in the way.  The elements give you something to do. A draw should be like a breath.  Your quickest shots will surprise you.  You will not know how you did it.  Mental Routine:  Evaluate the last shot. Let see, I was 6 inches to the right of  the target and low, I need t...