You want to be prepared for war, prepared for a mugging, or prepared for your next IDPA match … and that is why you practice so much. Right?
Wrong. You practice because you enjoy shooting and you enjoy the results of the practice. Practice, for most people, is fun. But therein lies a trap. Too many shooters choose to practice only the fun stuff. Shooting at longer distances, for most pistol students, is unfun. Shooting strong- and weak-hand only is unfun. Doing just about anything that is hard, or that we’re not good at already, is unfun.
This past weekend, I taught at the pistol-training.com Practice Session (held every month at the NRA Range in Fairfax, Virginia). We had a record low turnout. Why? In large part because this month’s practice topic was strong- and weak-hand only shooting. A lot of shooters — the ones who really need to practice SHO and WHO — just didn’t sign up. Because SHO/WHO is unfun.
Who did show up? Most of the regulars who are already strong shooters. These are the guys who want to get better at everything, not just the fun stuff. And if the results at the end of the night were any indication, they did indeed get better. More importantly, though, these are the guys who will take the lessons and drills we worked on and incorporate it into their regular practice.
It’s a simple truism in teaching adults: they want to have fun. Being a good instructor is partially about being able to shoot, partially about being able to impart knowledge, and partially about entertainment. Keeping students engaged, excited, and motivated is a key responsibility of any instructor. The more fun a shooter is having, the harder he’ll work and the more he’ll just plain enjoy shooting.
So from a student’s perspective, remember that working on the things you’re not good at is the only way you’ll get better at them. And from the instructor’s perspective, think about how you can make your lessons more interesting, more challenging, and more fun. Trust me, the result will be not just happier students, but better shooters.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Very true stuff. I have a core group of guys who shoot with me after work in our range. Every week I ask them – speed or accuracy? Obviously, every week they say speed.
My solution has been to make them train accuracy without knowing it. Recently I bought a CMMG .22 Conversion kit for my AR. I have them blast 20rds off CoM, then transition to the pistol for five slow, one-hole group head shots at 3-5m. They have a blast, thinking they are burning it up, when they are actually having to slow it down and focus on accuracy. Little tricks like that keep them coming back for more training without knowing they are getting better.
Great point. The fact that we’re preparing FOR the “un-fun” should be the first clue! Perhaps most range jockeys have forgotten the reason we train. For those of us who took up a gun as a result of an extremely “un-fun” event in our life, it’s much easier to remember that preparation is the point of our practice.
I actually make it a point to shoot at least five rounds strong hand and five rounds weak hand out of every 50-rounds shot. As for distance, I practice at least out to 20-yards during every range session. I actually enjoy shooting out to distance since it is my weakest area. Those paper plates sure get small passed 20-yards. Excellent topic, Todd. I guess the truth does actually hurt.
good job todd, last week I shot out to 50 yds, “just for fun”
heading out tonight again… we’ll see what we can run tonight.
Great feedback, guys.
What are some other skills/drills that you see people avoid because they’re not fun?
I’ve always enjoyed working drills that I particularly felt I was weak at. When I first downloaded the Dot Torture drill, I thought, “piece of cake.”
Boy, I got real frustrated with the weak hand stuff. I guess I never really tried shooting weak hand with any degree of precision. I mostly shot at big steel targets or for the A-zone in USPSA targets. However, trying to hit that little dot, ahhhh!
If I lived on your area, I would try and be at every practice session you offered. What a valuable resource that would be.
God Bless,
David
Todd,
In response to your question, the greatest skill/drill that I see avoided (please pardon the grandstanding here…) is good old fashioned PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. I’m talking about training from a highly qualified professional under the authority of a reputable organization. Not some Yahoo who calls himself an “instructor”….
Please note, I am NOT an instructor. I have nothing to gain in these comments other than to help others. After 22 years carrying a pistol and training w/ professionals, I STILL need training and practice under the aid of those gifted to help me become better. Having taught all 4 of my children to shoot, I still turn them over to professional training for further skills development. And unless one of them becomes an instructor who eats, drinks, and breathes this stuff, they too will remain “Students of the Pistol”.
I just think a little humility goes a real long way in life. Staying teachable will always keep us growing.
Take this to it’s logical end and we have instructors such as yourself who will help us see the benefit of the “unfun”.
BTW, if my wife and I shoot 4 cases each this year, 1/2 will be w/ our week hand. Guess where I learned that??? Correct, a PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTOR!
Thanks for letting me grandstand!
Stephen
Ooops…. I meant “weak hand”! Apparently I still need a spelling instructor as well 🙂
It’s the SHO/WHO skills that make/break the students at Rogers.
“We are the best in our department by far, and when we come here, we find out we suck.”
That self-assessment largely resulted from not training with one hand only. One hand shooting is work and requires ego deferment.
Great practice session as usual, Todd.
Unfun drills that people avoid? Long-range group shooting. Shooting from awkward positions (rollover prone, barricades, etc.) Malfunction reductions? Weak-side long-gun shooting?
Gee I like off hand shooting. Maybe it’s because I’m not as accurate nor as fast as many of the guys at the range. But I can out shoot most of them in the unfun styles because I practice them.
I also love shooting at 50+ yard targets.
A friend of mine thought I was nuts a while back when I had my son load up some mags for me with an occasional dud round mixed into the mag. I have a batch of old hand loads that do not feed well in my Smith M&P 9mm, but once properly chambered will fire OK. I also have him put in rounds that are only shell and bullet with a spent primer to simulate a miss fire. I save these rounds to use them occasionally to practice shooting when things aren’t working perfectly.
I experience the exact same turnout for my weekly shoots when I announce unfun drills. But as you say, it’s the dedicated shooters that show up. Of my students that almost always the ones who carry a gun for work. My competitive students make up a small showing on those nights. and it showed, for all of us, this weekend shooting our IPSC Nationals. almost everyone had difficulty on the 8inch plates at 45 yds. I know I did.
Great minds think alike … see this post at GunNuts.net about the author’s own experience learning to work on the skills he’s worse at instead of the ones he’s best at.
I enjoy pistol shooting because it is challenging. There is nothing easy about it, even if it comes naturally to a person. There is an amazing amount to learn and I find that I need to balance the challenge of drills with my current ability to make it tough enough to learn from yet not so difficult that I will get frustrated and not enjoy myself.