The reality behind "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast."

[rob_s]

I say Frank Proctor is on my short list of people to train with.

Conventional wisdom is you can be a gamer, or a timmie, but not both. I am very interested to see how Frank navigates between technical shooting and tactics.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. He applies the fundamentals,that are applicable to the situation, in the best way possible.

But I bet what you'll find is that even he doesn't know. My guess is that he falls more into the rarified air of the Miculek,/Butler/Stoeger group of people that simply possesses the correct natural abilities to excel at shooting gun games.

I'm way more interested in learning from normal people, that face the same challenges I do or, failing that, at least someone who has had training or schooling in how to teach people, and by that I do not mean the military method.

[NETim]

Seems pretty straightforward to me. He applies the fundamentals,that are applicable to the situation, in the best way possible.

But I bet what you'll find is that even he doesn't know. My guess is that he falls more into the rarified air of the Miculek,/Butler/Stoeger group of people that simply possesses the correct natural abilities to excel at shooting gun games.

I'm way more interested in learning from normal people, that face the same challenges I do or, failing that, at least someone who has had training or schooling in how to teach people, and by that I do not mean the military method.

TLG and Vogel I don't consider "normal" shooters but I learned a great deal from both of them in their classes.

[JHC]

I didn't appreciate just what an athlete Vogel was fully; until last week seeing a video shot in a hotel lobby of him clowning around with a celeb female competitive shooter.

They each went into a handstand and then raced down the long lobby walking with their arms! Vogel won by a mile but both were quite impressive.

[NETim]

I didn't appreciate just what an athlete Vogel was fully; until last week seeing a video shot in a hotel lobby of him clowning around with a celeb female competitive shooter.

They each went into a handstand and then raced down the long lobby walking with their arms! Vogel won by a mile but both were quite impressive.

Vogel stood up next to a benchrest table and jumped up on top of it in my class. Yes, I'd say the man is an athlete.

[imp1295]

The saying is obviously interpreted differently by man. But, my old Ranger Regt vet SGM used it all the time and I think we all understood it to mean: When you are having issues with performance, slow down, get the CNS understanding how to do it right to build unconscious competence.

But, many here already know that. I have been working my way back through Todd's SACS Warren 1911 test and ran across this again

Along very similar lines, my endless battle with reloads got a boost from the same “slow down and do it right to be faster” approach. In particular, I’ve found that taking the time to get a solid visual lock on the front corner of the magazine well during my reload and slowing down the insertion to a speed where I can guarantee a smooth single motion has greatly reduced the number of fumbled reloads I’m causing. The long term goal, obviously, is to build up enough reps that neither the visual index nor the moderated pace are necessary. But for now, while my best reloads are a tenth of a second or so slower, my average reload is a quarter second faster.

So, I guess even at an elevated level of mastery slowing down can speed you up.

[rob_s]

TLG and Vogel I don't consider "normal" shooters but I learned a great deal from both of them in their classes.

I'm not saying there isn't something to be learned, I'm saying that thinking they can teach you to be exactly like them is probably misguided.

[ASH556]

I'm not saying there isn't something to be learned, I'm saying that thinking they can teach you to be exactly like them is probably misguided.

That's true regardless of the instructor. There's a guy that's been coming in our range for probably 6 or 7 years now. He owns several Kimber 1911's and probably shoots 500+ rounds a week. He also heads up the pin shoot. When he's not shooting pins, he's practicing pins by shooting a set of 5 2" bullseyes spread left to right. He's paid for at least one pistol instruction class and I've helped him out ad hoc when he's asked for it. Despite the number of rounds he fires and despite "knowing" what to do, he still struggles a lot to execute. The battle is in his own head and nobody else can win it for him.

[Clobbersaurus]

I say Frank Proctor is on my short list of people to train with.

Conventional wisdom is you can be a gamer, or a timmie, but not both. I am very interested to see how Frank navigates between technical shooting and tactics.

Ernest Langdon does a very good job with both. I really hope I get the opportunity to take his advanced pistol course.

[Surf]

I have no issue with the "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" mantra when explained with the correct context of what we are trying to achieve. I personally do not use it, but I rather use the word "deliberate" along the lines of "Correct and deliberate execution with repetition leads to high degrees of proficiency even as speeds increase." I do have a method of training which includes speeds that go from very deliberate with 100% execution, all the way up to the point where the "wheels fall off". Of course there is an "optimal" training range where I use a ballooning effect to continually induce improvement.

As for the whole competition thing, I have no ratings and do not compete in "official or sanctioned" events but I commonly shoot typical "competition" types of courses of fire on a regular basis, even with a couple of the top guys in this state that I frequently have access to. I will note that I have ZERO problems identifying between a sport and defensive or combat shooting. I have been a competitive athlete all my life and I understand what a recreational or competitive "game" is all about and I will attempt to win that "game" utilizing any equipment or techniques allowed within the rules.

On the flip side I have been teaching advanced defensive, combat, tactical or whatever you want to call it shooting courses within Local, State, Federal LE and Military for about 15 years. In general you don't get into my courses without having an experienced background, solid skill sets and were hand picked by your agency / organization to attend. My program is extremely successful and I use a lot of take offs from the competition world and infused it into a combative shooting program. When I am done with my students they are downright scary to face off with and it wouldn't matter if it was on a weekend IDPA match or a real life critical incident. Is this the norm? No, but with time, resources, a skilled instructor who understands and is highly skilled in both shooting genre's and it is not hard to accomplish it. The problem being is that you don't have a lot of high level instructors who are truly in the drivers seat when it comes to both competitive and combative shooting.

[Dagga Boy]

Surf, if there was a like button, that would get me pressing it.

Earlier someone mentioned "Demo Speed". That is a good analogy to what we are often after. As instructors, when we demo a drill, we usually do not demo at wheels off the bus speed. We tend to demo at a speed and process where we are using proper application of all skills and at a speed where we can guarantee textbook hits so we don't have to explain why we screwed up. I always looked at this as the goal for street work. As fast as you can guarantee work and solid execution. Demo stuff tends to be efficient all the way around, and that is the goal. We will also demo at full speed just to show students how much room for error or how easily a small error can cause a big issue.