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View Full Version : Closing the cold and warm performance gap



JV_
06-07-2012, 08:08 AM
What tips/tricks do you have for making your cold performance closer to your warmed up performance?

TheRoland
06-07-2012, 08:12 AM
What tips/tricks do you have for making your cold performance closer to your warmed up performance?

I don't think I have any good advice for this, except first make sure to quantify how much difference there really is. Despite my first stages feeling slow, I have trouble actually identifying this in the match results (possibly due to overall not-great performance).

JV_
06-07-2012, 08:14 AM
I agree on the tracking/quantify tip. I try to start my range sessions with the same drill, I'll also shoot it again mid session.

For many drills, there's a 20% difference, especially if my cold run is clean.

JConn
06-07-2012, 08:21 AM
The difference between the two is primarily mental, as the muscles required do not really need a warm up to function very close to 100%. Do you have a pre drill routine? I know that in the real world you don't get a routine, but in an academic sense, building a routine you go through right before you shoot could help get your mind into a warmed up state. Athletes do it, musicians do it, and I'm guessing competition shooters do it. Really its just about getting into the right frame of mind.

Edited to add: definitely easier said than done.

JV_
06-07-2012, 08:26 AM
Do you have a pre drill routine?Nope. I swap the mags so I'm not shooting my carry ammo, put up a target, and run it.

I'm not looking at this in terms of running a better first stage (ie. not match oriented), if I can make the overall cold performance better, it will may/should translate to a better first stage.

ToddG
06-07-2012, 08:28 AM
There are two different factors that lead to reduced performance when shooting cold. One can be ameliorated to an extent, the other really cannot.

The first issue is mental. Most people are not as mentally focused for their first cold run. They're not thinking about the little things (drive to the gun! or frontsightfrontsightfrontsight!) because they're still dealing with the big picture. As they get warmed up and the brain starts to move some of those things to the preconscious level it becomes easier to focus the conscious on the mistakes you made in previous runs.

The second issue is physical. The muscles and tendons that are involved in many of these skills, particularly pressing the trigger, do benefit from literally warming up. If you've ever tried to shoot without gloves in very cold weather you understand this. Our fingers don't have the same speed and dexterity when they're cold.

For example, I know that when I reload from concealment, unless I'm thinking about it I tend to take too lazy a movement to the magazine. I don't drive hard for it and don't drive it to the gun as fast as I can. I can solve that on a cold run by thinking about it in advance and telling myself to drive to the mag. But it's an artificial solution because that "cold run" is still expected and planned. That makes the result unreliable and not representative of what I'll actually do cold, unprepared, off the range.

JConn
06-07-2012, 08:30 AM
True but the more we drill our body to do those good things when cold, even when planned, the better chance they will happen when really needed. A mental checklist may be a good solution for range time.

ToddG
06-07-2012, 08:43 AM
But that's it exactly: the more we train, the better we get, the better both our warm and cold performance becomes. So keeping with my example, the key step in my reload improvement process right now is making that "drive to the mag" step happen preconsciously. That's going to require practice.

JConn
06-07-2012, 08:53 AM
So essentially the answer is.... Just get better?

ToddG
06-07-2012, 09:21 AM
So essentially the answer is.... Just get better?

No, I think there definitely are things you can do to help with, for example, your first stage at a match. But that's essentially "warming up" without really shooting. For example, you'll see guys practice their draws and trigger pulls at the safe area. Air gunning, visualization, etc. are also techniques people use. It's just important to remember that none of those things will be available to you when you go from condition yellow to "in the middle of a fight" in the blink of an eye.

John Hearne
06-07-2012, 09:32 AM
Daily dry practice.

JConn
06-07-2012, 09:35 AM
That's what I meant. For true cold performance in a real dgu the only thing you can do is increase your overall skill level.

beltjones
06-07-2012, 11:23 PM
Fantastic advice on this thread. Daily dry fire (or live fire) practice means you're less cold when it counts, and it raises your overall skill level. It's win win in this case.

DonovanM
06-07-2012, 11:32 PM
Daily dry practice.

Totally. Also, I would submit this: doing 2 15 minute sessions AM and PM instead of, for instance, 1 30 minute session. If logistically feasible.

This will double your reps "starting cold".

GOP
06-08-2012, 01:02 AM
Fantastic advice on this thread. Daily dry fire (or live fire) practice means you're less cold when it counts, and it raises your overall skill level. It's win win in this case.

Totally agree.

I try to dry fire 2-3 times a day for shorter periods like Donovan mentioned, I find that this keeps me more warmed up, it gives me more time cold, makes each session more productive, and keeps me mentally fresh. I can shoot for hours on end, but dry firing for even 60 minutes straight is so mentally taxing to me.

Other than the dry fire thing mentioned above, you can shoot more often (even if the sessions are shorter) so you are always more fresh and you have more time cold. You can build your overall skill level (duh). I think that at a certain level, cold performance becomes less mental and much more of a physical issue. As Todd said, your joints and trigger finger actually needs time to warm up, and I also believe that your eyes also require some time to adjust to picking up the front sight at hyper speed (at least in my experience).

Mr_White
06-08-2012, 02:35 PM
I very much agree with what's been said so far.

My feeling is that frequency of practice is a key way of keeping your 'cold' condition from being as 'cold' as it otherwise might be.

I realize that I have opportunities to safely dry practice with a frequency that many do not. But, by practicing as often as I can, even if it's only for five minutes, or even one minute or one repetition, and by concentrating on draw to first shot, it's never been very long since I last rehearsed drawing, aiming, and pressing the trigger on my pistol. Ask me when I last practiced, I'll ask you what time it is...

The downside of this is that anytime I take even one day off from practicing, I feel like my edge is dulling.

Over time, as I get better overall, I think that I have noticed an increase in my ability to just jump right in cold at full speed without the wheels coming off.

For example, lately I have been working on pushing my pace again, but with the increased care for precision that I've been trying to develop since I started participating on pistol-forum. So, in my recent dry fire sessions, I'll start out drawing to a 7, 10, 15, or 25 yard upper A, 3x5, lower 1/2 A, or 8" circle with a .7 PAR time. I certainly don't beat that all the time, especially on the smaller or more distant targets where I almost never beat it, but pushing the pace like that while maintaining mental and visual patience and physical precision seems like a worthwhile thing to work on, whether I do or don't beat the PAR. I also do that as an attempt to use the timer, but not be so wrapped up in the results on the timer, and instead be wrapped up in the quality of hits on target, or the quality of what I saw in the sights.

I've been applying this same idea with my dry slidelock reloads too - starting cold with a distant target and 2.0 second PAR, working the descending-PAR, descending-distance drill I detailed in my training journal. My slidelock reloads aren't nearly as developed as my draw, but it seems to be working well to try things this way at least some of the time.

Surely, there must be a lot of wisdom in doing slower, more controlled dry fire. I also do that, though I am sure not as much as I should. But, I've found value in experimenting with jumping in full speed with a tough PAR, cold, just to see what happens.

What really slows me down, is mental stress and tension, like I have felt on the first stage of the two USPSA matches I've attended so far, or when it's otherwise a pressure situation or I really care a lot about the outcome. Then I get the slow hands of stress.

JHC
06-08-2012, 03:32 PM
I've shot well in a couple of GSSF matches where I did actually warm up on another range and it seemed to help esp on the plates. But that's not really the point of the thread. I assume the best competition shooters would all do that as a matter of routine.

My sense is that precison ie 25 yds slowfire suffers the most ice cold whereas my cold fast drills upon arrival don't seem to suffer as much. But I get amped for those when I start there. If I bung one up it's like Todd noted, snagging on the reload mag retrieval.

I have a half assed theory that if I can get a little pissed or more accurately "visualize" being pissed and of malevolent intent - I can start off stronger cold on a closer range speed drill. I've seen that enough times to believe its a factor but not enough times to prove it.

MDS
06-08-2012, 07:00 PM
I have a half assed theory that if I can get a little pissed or more accurately "visualize" being pissed and of malevolent intent - I can start off stronger cold on a closer range speed drill. I've seen that enough times to believe its a factor but not enough times to prove it.

I have the same theory! For me, it has to be visualized, and it has to be like a worst-case scenario kind of threat. Like Sumdood himself is charging my wife, knife in hand, naked and on bath salts. (I used to think that was a really far-fetched scenario...) Anyway, it felt kind of stupid and I haven't done it in a while. But in the context of the cold/warm performance gap, it seems reasonable enough to try to measure it.

I was planning on running the FAST cold next time I'm at the range - I think I'll try this technique then. Thanks for the idea! :)

JHC
06-08-2012, 07:46 PM
I have the same theory! For me, it has to be visualized, and it has to be like a worst-case scenario kind of threat. Like Sumdood himself is charging my wife, knife in hand, naked and on bath salts. (I used to think that was a really far-fetched scenario...) Anyway, it felt kind of stupid and I haven't done it in a while. But in the context of the cold/warm performance gap, it seems reasonable enough to try to measure it.

I was planning on running the FAST cold next time I'm at the range - I think I'll try this technique then. Thanks for the idea! :)

[on second thought, might be a story better left untold ;) ]