Slow and steady or short and heavy?

Dan-O-Mite

Dan-O-Mite

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Just wondering what the general thoughts are, on which style of practice would be more beneficial,
1) Shooting 100 rounds each week for one year, or
2) Shooting 5200 rounds over a period of about 1 - 2 months

The amount of rounds is the same, but the time frame is different. Also assume that the same things are practiced, same amount of strong hand and weak hand, target transitions, accuracy, etc.

For someone like myself, sitting in "C" class in IPSC, I'm interested to know, from those at the top, which course of action would best help me to climb a little higher up the ladder.
 
What do you do now?

As a perishable skill, you need to be practicing all of the time to really make a difference. If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with 100 rounds a week and compliment it with dry fire drills (dry draws, mag changes, and movement too), however to really climb the ladder, you need to put alot more volume down range.
 
Well if you keep track of progress and used a timer with some good drills the 100 two times a week would be the best. Thats what I would recommend. I wouldnt shoot that many rounds and not be shooting all the time. I have shot 10k in a month before and you get more complacent with your training. Best to go at it spread out and make every shot count. See every front sight on every trigger pull. Even if it slows you down in the short term - it gets faster quick enough with good hits.
 
Both! Which is a crappy answer - but I'll elaborate...

Steady practice through the year, but pick it up as the range warms up. That's what I do. I can tell you for a fact that in September, (Just after our provincials) I shoot at a far better level than I do in February (as I head to the Florida Open) - every year.

Eric Grauffel does basically the same. He told us on his course he practices steady until about 3 weeks before a big match - then practices heavy - but that's his job.

I can tell you something that will give you a serious boost - it's hard to force yourself to do and you can do it every day.

Dry fire - boring as hell; but worth it's weight in gold.
 
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It's quality not quantity. You can fire 5200 rounds in a month and be no further ahead if you don't structure your practices and pay atention while you are shooting...or you can shoot less and learn on each shot.
 
Hey Rob, I got an idea. One of us dryfire for the year with no practice and one of us shoot only live fire and see who does best at the Nationals....I volunteer for the dryfire :p
'cuz it's free :D
 
I hardly had time last year to get to the range,..so when I did make it,.instead of a typical 300-350 range session,..I went to 500-550. What I did a fair amount of is dryfire,....it helps a great deal. Weather has something to do with it. Last year I went to a few indoor bulls-eye type practices,...every shot counted,..and trying to get a good group counted more with no time limit. I was lucky to shoot 60-80rds at those sessions. I was very rusty on steel at the first of the spring,..and then made a few range sessions where over half my ammo was dedicated to shooting steel at near and far.
 
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This may sound silly but can you give some good dryfire drills. I can see the draw and reload practice as well as aquiring the target and getting that first shot off. Also reloading on the move but how can you really practice an actual stage feel?? Just looking for any help or advice.
 
Thanks guys. I do, do some dry fire practice and I have shot as much as 20,000 rounds in the course of one year. It has gotten me to a level of some success, (here in Manitoba), although after a couple of Nationals, I see how much farther I can still improve.
 
bizman89 said:
This may sound silly but can you give some good dryfire drills. I can see the draw and reload practice as well as aquiring the target and getting that first shot off. Also reloading on the move but how can you really practice an actual stage feel?? Just looking for any help or advice.
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If you can print off some IPSC or idpa targets,..as well as some popper targets and set them up on a wall in your basement or room,..you can practice drawing,...firing a strict set off shots on each with good trigger control and sight picture, then move to another room with a target set up,..this could help. Try starting in one room, and move to the other. You can experiment with doing a mag change as quickly as possible,...then run to the other room, and try getting into position to shoot ASAP,-taking the shot (s). Or,...try loading from a table with snap caps,...draw-load- fire.etc... You could also try starting with hands on a wall,...(typical stage starting position), and then draw to a target. Use light switches as targets..etc.
 
Just wondering what the general thoughts are, on which style of practice would be more beneficial,
1) Shooting 100 rounds each week for one year, or
2) Shooting 5200 rounds over a period of about 1 - 2 months
Click to expand...

100 rounds per sesion is not enough to do much but remember how to pull the trigger.

You need 300 to 500 per proper practice session, you cannot let yourself get sloppy though, You need 95% A's and the rest C's, If you are gettin D's in practice you will get
misses at the match when you speed up.

Shooting well at speed or distance requires shooting enough rounds to get the feel of doing it right( see above). Feel is everything. Dry fire to get the feel of all the skills
except recoil control, then do the same skills live fire, you will be much slower at first because everyone with some sense will be a little more carful with live fire than dry.

Once you have the feel and still get 95% A's you can push it to see how fast you can go before you start to get too many C abd D's.

And remember, smooth id fast!

Mike
 
I only shoot around 10k rounds a year, including match ammunition.

Most of my shooting is dry fire, and then I take trips to the range every other week and fire between 200 and 400 rounds starting in April.

Once July comes, I'm up at the range shooting around 300 rounds every other day in the 2 weeks before Nationals. I just don't have time to do a lot of range practice in addition to shooting matches. By and large, my matches ARE my practice.
 
Matches are not practice. Anyone who says that matches are their practice is just saying "I don't practice at all." If you want to see improvement you have to get out and train. And by train I mean have a plan and work on specific skills. Sorry to put you on the spot HB but it's a common phrase for shooters to use.
I have also seen shooters that go to the range and practice the same thing over and over, usually just draw and two shots, and they do this everytime they go to the range. You always hear them claim to shoot hundreds of rounds in practice, but never show any improvement.
 
Ipsik said:
You need 300 to 500 per proper practice session, you cannot let yourself get sloppy though, You need 95% A's and the rest C's, If you are gettin D's in practice you will get
misses at the match when you speed up.


Mike
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My number of 100 per session was just a number to show the meaning of regular practice with lower round count compared to higher rounds less frequently. My regular practice session when alone is around 300 rounds. I find I loose focus after that.

And I guess I practice speed differently than you do. You say you speed up during matches, I slow down to ensure I get my hits. I often go as fast as I can in practice, often too fast and get misses, (but I do practice accuracy as well). However, I feel that it helps for me too know how fast is too fast. I would think that to practice at one speed, then try to go faster at matches would be a recipe for disaster.

Does anyone else try to go faster at matches then they do in practice?


.
 
Dan-O-Mite said:
I often go as fast as I can in practice, often too fast and get misses, (but I do practice accuracy as well). However, I feel that it helps for me too know how fast is too fast. I would think that to practice at one speed, then try to go faster at matches would be a recipe for disaster.
Click to expand...

Interesting...I have an instructional vid that actually talks about this technique to speed up your shooting.

The idea is that once you have the fundamentals down and you want to really speed up your shooting you start pushing yourself in practice. You push you personal limit until your shooting starts to slip and you are dropping too many points. As you suggest this helps you determine you own limits of performance.

Then, when it comes match time, you actually slowdown your shooting as compared to your practice speed with the result you are seeing everything much clearer and are able to process the information you need at a faster rate.

Feels almost like you are shooting in slo-mo.

John
 
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