We’ve always told people that shooting the F.A.S.T. more than three times in a day was frowned upon, and quite a few folks took that to heart. However, as the test becomes more popular and used by other instructors, schools, etc. it’s clear that there is no way to enforce that rule. We’re also using the F.A.S.T. as the classifier at KSTG matches. Quite a few people are obviously shooting the F.A.S.T. a lot more than three times a day.
Given that there is no realistic way to enforce the rule, we’re left with a choice: penalize the people who stick to the strict 3/day limit, or put everyone on a level playing field and rescind the rule.
So, the three-a-day rule is gone.
Now, for the purpose of winning a F.A.S.T. coin or pin at a pistol-training.com event, only the first three F.A.S.T. runs of the day will count. Earlier this month I had to tell a student that he couldn’t shoot for score at the end of a class because he shot the drill repeatedly on his own during a lunch break. Sorry, bud.
- To earn a pin, you have to turn in a total score under 7.00 seconds with only three attempts per day (though we only shoot it twice per day at an Aim Fast Hit Fast class).
- For a coin, you have to shoot the drill clean in under 5.00 seconds twice out of three tries in one day.
Beyond that, if you want to shoot F.A.S.T.s until your fingers bleed, knock yourself out.
I will offer one bit of advice, though: practicing the F.A.S.T. is not the best way to practice for the F.A.S.T. because the sequence is fairly easy. Working on the skills that are tested by the F.A.S.T. — ability to draw and hit a low% target on demand, reloading, and firing multiple high% shots at speed — has proven far more beneficial to folks who are on a quest to win their place on the Wall of Fame. More importantly, shooting the F.A.S.T. over and over won’t do nearly as much to improve your actual skill level, which is far more important than your score on one particular shooting test.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
FML. All this time, I’ve stuck to my personal rule that unless I am in the presence of the TLG, I only shoot the FAST cold as a test. My friend from church wanted to practice the FAST for the upcoming classifier. I didn’t allow it.
Needless to say, I shall now be conducting a longitudinal study of myself shooting the FAST exclusively for the next 3 years to determine the efficacy of such an approach…
Still waiting for my pin – coming up on 2 years. I know it is called snail mail and there is a border involved – but come on… 😉
It kind of reminds me of the SAT’s in high school. My SAT helper book taught me that the only thing the SAT score definitively told was how well you can take the SAT’s, not necessarily that you were smart or actually knew the subjects presented in the test well. The SAT’s (and FAST or Competition Classifiers) doesn’t necessarily show how skilled you are, but is one way to attempt to standardize skill level in a quantitative way.
So Todd, you want the shooter to break the FAST test down to it’s basic components and actually improve those component skills so as to be better overall shooters? What a novel idea! (J/K)
A little of topic, but i remember being able to buy the pistol-training targets pictured here. Could someone point me in the right direction?
You can buy them here:
http://www.nationaltarget.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NT&Category_Code=PT.com
practice today at the local range here in Costa Rica,(best time) 6.08, but not too precise last shot little on the left, this was my 3rd and last run, looking forward to get better, always a fan of P-T. thanks Todd
SVega
I see no reason to practice F.A.S.T. multiple times per day. It is troublesome to reset, annoying to score, and it focuses on at least 4 skills at the same time. Try to do that much in training, and you will only confuse your body and mind (it’s hard to learn while you multi-task).
Great performance analysis statistic, poor training drill…
2 shots on the 3×5 in 2 seconds or less.
Shot to shot reload of 2 seconds or less.
Splits on a 8″ circle of .25 or less.
Those are the keys to a sub. 5 second run.
You won’t get there just running the FAST over and over.
Does showing the shot timer in pics jinx it? Date this one and see how long until it dies.
Wait, wait, wait. You mean … there is a real instructor out there that promotes SKILL over EVALUATION SCORES?! HALLELUJAH!!
TLG is spot on practice the fundamentals as you should be.
You are not going to get any better on the way to the range
than you were when you woke up that morning.