Recommended Reading: Thinking Practical Shooting

For most complex activities, the learning curve is steep and riddled with plenty of chances to strike off in the wrong direction. "Back in the day" (which, for our purposes here, means pre-2005), most of us picked our way up the curve through trial and error, question and answer, and lots of fits and starts as we discovered that we were on a dead-end path. Things like match preparation, understanding the implications of the scoring system, maintenance schedule for our equipment, stage and match tactics - all of these things were passed down through word of mouth, and many times learned through hard experience.

In 2005, author and international top shooter Saul Kirsch changed all of that with the release of his book Thinking Practical Shooting (well, changed it for those who bothered to read it and digest it, anyway). If I'd had this book in 1992, when I started shooting IPSC, it would have saved me a lot of time and energy. Saul's giving away all the "secrets", and for that reason, I highly recommend Thinking Practical Shooting as a "must read".

To read the whole review, hit the DR Performance Shooting main site!

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What do I need to practice?

Making a decision about what skills you need to practice is crucial to seeing your best performance improvements. Most of us go to the range and practice the things we like to do - after all, the whole point is to have fun, right? Usually, though, what we like to do is what we're already good at, leaving the neglected skills we don't enjoy (cause usually we're not already good at them, or they're not as "fun" as the other skills) languishing in the dust. Those skills show up on match day, too - and many times they can make a difference between winning or not.

So, how do you figure out what to practice?

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The end of Winter Break

With the season opener - the 2008 Florida Open - coming up fast in two months, its time to start dusting off the gear, running drills, and generally getting things back in order after a well deserved Winter Break. With a sport that seems to have no well defined "off season" (as opposed to, say, baseball, or football), it might be curious to some folks why you'd really want to take a break. I mean, the next big match is always right around the corner, right? And what do you do with that time off anyway? Doesn't that mean a lot more work to get ready when you're done slacking off??

Let's take a look at why taking a little vacation from our favorite obsession can actually mean an improvement in performance level, and help avoid everyone's favorite condition: burn out.

Read the rest of the article on the DR Performance Shooting site!

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Versatile target arrays for practice

Efficient drills that you can use to track progress from practice session to practice session are important. The vast majority of us don't have days to spend on the range moving targets and other range props around - efficient use of time is really important. With just three target stands and a few targets, you can run a wide variety of drills, with varying degrees of difficulty, and basically never have to move the stands.

It all starts with this:



Read the full article on the DR Performance Shooting main site!

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The Role of Fitness in Practical Shooting

For a lot of folks, the terms "shooting" and "fitness" don't usually seem to go together. Mention shooting to your average Joe, and he gets this image of Larry the Cable Guy running around in the woods, decked out in camo, beer in hand, blasting away at anything that moves (and some stuff that doesn't move, too). Not the pinnacle of fitness, obviously. Mention fitness to most shooters (the vast majority of whom thankfully don't resemble the drunk redneck type the general public has in mind - no offense to drunk rednecks), and they just stare at you like your either nuts, or from another planet. What has fitness got to do with anything? This is SHOOTING, man!!!

To read this article, hit the DR Performance main site!

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Why a shooting blog?

With all the various shooting related resources out there, why would I want to fire up yet another one - one that I have to maintain, and put effort into? There's no simple, short answer. But, if you'll read along, I'll try to highlight what I'm doing here, and what I hope to get across to you, faithful reader, on this little blog journey...

2007 saw a lot of progress in my shooting, without a doubt. While my results at the Nationals don't appear to show it, 2007 was really something of a landmark year for me. I knocked out several big goals, and opened the doors for several others. As I'm moving into preparations for the 2008 season, it seems like a good time to go Web 2.0 with the shooting thing, too.

As much as I enjoy sharing my knowledge and skills over in the Benoverse, I wanted a place where I could make notes, share ideas, show my progress, and, of course, shamelessly promote myself - without the (necessary) clutter that a forum brings with it.

My objective and intentions for this blog are to share with you some of the things that work for me with my shooting - drills, exercise, nutrition, mental management, etc - and also serve as a sort of electronic notepad for me on ideas and innovations, random thoughts, and the all important results. Comments are welcome, via the blog or via email, take your pick.

I'm planning on using the principle of "public nakedness as a form of motivation" along the way - don't expect some lightweight, cheap, flimsy content (though, undoubtedly, there'll be some of that). You may not like the answers, or the questions, I touch upon along the way - but maybe it'll get you thinking and moving, and if so, then maybe I've done my job....

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