Last week, 167 of Master Class Chronicles wrote a very interesting post called When does practice become more important than training?
As someone who makes a significant amount of my income as a firearms instructor, this might sound weird but I agree 100%. There are some people who take too many classes while spending too little time to practice. The training junkie who attends a different class every month but never shoots otherwise simply won’t advance as fast as the person who puts regular time in on the range building upon the lessons he’s learned.
I’ve actually gone so far as to recommend to a few students that they take a sabbatical from classes for 6-12 months and instead spend the time and money saved on frequent practice.
Are classes beneficial? Obviously I think so. But they’re not a substitute for practice.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
While it might not be good for business, I completely agree.
I agree!
A skill set only becomes fixed or permament when it’s been reinforced. And you do that through perfectly repetitions. Taking too many classes will only serve to make you a “jack of all trades, master of none.”
I am admitted training junkie. Guilty as charged.
Yeah, Jimmy, that’s your problem… you don’t practice enough to get good. Shame on you.
For many the only way to practice some of the skills is during a class as the local shooting range will not allow the things you want to practice. Having said that, classes alone are not enough as there is much you can practice on the square range.
OK, here’s a question to go along with this–my only formal firearms instruction is what I got in the military, which wasn’t good.
I started shooting USPSA about six years ago (I’ve had about 20 months of time sprinkled in there where steady practice was impossible), and I’m starting to see my gains slow down.
Is it worthwhile for me to take a class at this point?
Its a difficult question to answer without knowing what your looking to improve. Target shooting, revolver, home defense, personal defense, carbine, etc, and then research who provides quality training in your area and within your budget.