Learning - Your Take?

[Chris Rhines]

From an old edition of Nygord's Notes:

"One important aspect not commonly recognized is to schedule uninterupted time and concentrate on a single element. New studies show that if you try to learn more than one thing in a day, your learning efficiency goes down! It seems that it takes the mind/body combo some significant time to integrate what it is trying to learn. So, when you "train", pick one element of the technique, focus on it, work to perform it perfectly and don't try to do anything else in that session."

I used to have a little routine for practical pistol dryfire that I would do in the evenings; some draws, some one-hand and weak-hand stuff, et cetera. After reading the above essay, I decided to change my training around a bit, and started focusing on a single aspect of shooting every night. Mondays I work on draw speed, Tuesdays on natural aim point, so on, so forth.

This past week, in fact, I've been working on my draw times exclusively - breaking down my draw into components, videotaping my draw to find wasted movement, that kind of stuff. I decided to focus on nothing but draw speed for a solid week. Result - I'm at 1.2- and 1.3-sec draws at seven yards, down from 1.6-1.8 a week ago.

So, what's y'alls take on this? Good advice or wrong-headed?

- Chris

 

[Ankeny]

I guess it depends on your temperament, experience, and learning style. I suppose it would also depend on your pupose. Are you learning a new skill or improving existing skills?

At my experience level, I think it is very important to practice with a purpose, but only working on one thing per day is bogus. Good grief, I dry fire every morning practicing the draw from surrender, draw from hands at sides, a turning draw, and reloads. That is my minimum routine.

This morning I spent several hours at the range practicing on movement (after I shot the little THR mail in match). I shot the "Devil's Trangle" several times then a box to box drill on a plate rack. I took a break, analyzed my shooting, and made some mental notes. I then shot another drill for shooting on the move. I finished up with a couple of Bill Drills and two five shot groups for precision. Total rounds fired was around 200 (about max for me) each of them fired with a purpose.

On the flip side, when the new shooter showed up I had him work only on the elements of the draw, followed by some transition practice. At his level, too much information would lead to information overload.

 

[Jeeper]

I agree with the post above.

The statment you list does have some merit in that beginners cant focus on everything at once. They need to "pick their battles" and areas to focus first. I think limiting it to one is a little ridiculous though. THe key is to have an actual plan and not just go blasting. For example most people can do a quick draw but their draw times slow down when they fire 2 instead of one shot. Sicne two shots is what happens 99% of the time in USPSA or IDPA then the one shot draw doesnt seem as usefull. I think a good point that can be taken from the article is to focus on areas to improve. I disagree that an entire session should only be speant on one thing.

 

[mattburkett.com]

Ron posted a great question "Are you learning a new skill or improving existing skills?"
I think that maintenence also needs to be added. I think it would be very effective to work on a single issue per week in live fire, but, add a daily dryfire maintenence routine that addresses all the basics.

Jeeper, just a note kind of off topic. Have you tested your times for a one shot draw vs a two shot draw? I have noticed in my students (and a lot of the time in myself) a significant difference in the initial draw time when more than one shot is fired. On a 10 yard target for instance, the draw usually slows down .20 or more. Thought it was kind of interesting.

Take care,
Matt

 

[Correia]

Matt, I've noticed that myself. Draw with 1 shot is faster than draw with multiple shots. I have seen it in myself, and I have seen it SOing in many matches.

Psychological? Maybe if we know it is going to be for multiple shots we acquire a better grip? Beats me.

 

[280PLUS]

interesting,,,

that draw times increase when multiple shots are anticipated

it HAS to be psychological

being somewhat of a musician i know that perfect muscle memory is achieved by repeating the motion desired very slowly and precisely correct at first, until it can be performed flawlessly each and every time

only then can the speed of the motion be increased

once you get to a speed at which you cannot perform flawlessly, you stay at that speed until you can

then you increase again

the object is to prevent the introduction of any flaws during the process of learning the motion

this is where everybody makes their mistake

they try to push the speed before they are ready and inadvertantly add flaws to the desired sequence of motions because they are making errors at the speed at which they are trying to perform

when you make an error you input incorrect data to your muscles

by repeating that error you reinforce the bad data and once this occurs it is much tougher to "unlearn" the bad data and relearn the correct data

this is what is sometimes called "bad habits"

its much easier to learn it correctly the first time

so how does this relate to drawing your pistola?

first off, if 2 shots is what you need to do, that and that alone is what you should practice

forget one shot shooting if you dont really need it, its just a distraction

go back to the beginning and start VERY SLOWLY until you can grip the pistol correctly, draw, aim and fire 2 controlled, accurate shots using the exact same sequence each time

once you can do this flawlessly then AND ONLY THEN is it time to push the speed up

when your groups start getting wild again you are at the speed at which you need to stay and work on till your performance is again flawless

see if this helps, but you have to give it time and be patient with yourself

i think you might be pleasantly surprised

m

oh, and nygord makes a lot of sense, one day work on trigger pull, another one just pulling and aiming without firing, one day just the hold, break it all down into steps and work on each separately, say for the first 10-15 minutes THEN move into your live fire practice

it WILL help



as always, just my $0.02 of course

 

[VaughnT]

I agree with everybody.

I just got back from an IDPA comp and the one thing I saw that I need to work on is sight acquisition for that first shot. Sure, I could be smoother on the draw, but picking up my sight is a real pain for me. Finding that solution will be a quantum leap for my speed and accuracy.

One thing I try to teach my coworkers is to be fluid in your movements. Break each skill down into its smallest movement and work on just that one phase until you have it smooth as water down a gutter pipe.

Take your time. Practice the little things. Go slowly into that great world.

Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Fast is good!

I would also note that you can break your training time into splits like weight-lifting. Work on something in the morning and then something different in the evenings. Works for me.