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View Full Version : Getting into Rut/Time Off or Shoot Through?



ErnieB
07-09-2012, 11:20 AM
As I have mentioned in previous threads, I am starting to shoot matches regularly again. I took a few years off due to work commitments and I am enjoying getting back on the horse. Here is my latest issue... I have been practicing ALOT lately. I have been disciplined about my practice and trying to as efficient as possible to make the best use of what time I have at the range. Though I have made some good progress in certain areas, I find that I am going backwards a bit. In addition, I am developing tendonitis or some some soreness in my forearms and elbows from shooting/dry firing. WAAAAAY back when I was a competitive cyclist if these types of things started to happen I would take some time off and let my body heal and get my mind focused on something else outside of the sport. I am having a hard time doing that as there are SO many things I would like to work on from a competitive shooting perspective. I am finally getting comfortable with my ability to break down stages efficiently and effectively. However, my footwork could use some work and my reloads from my 4th and 5th mag pouch (Production) could be better.

How do YOU handle a slump? Shoot through or take a break?

JV_
07-09-2012, 11:26 AM
How do YOU handle a slump?I went through a big slump late last year. I didn't quit shooting, I just cut my range trips by 75% and I stopped bringing the timer and writing down my results. It was the right choice for me.

ToddG
07-09-2012, 11:42 AM
It really depends on the situation. If you are injured then healing up is the first priority. Aggravating an injury will not only lengthen the period of sub-par performance but can in many instances lead to more serious (even permanent) problems. In your case, since footwork is something you want to work on, you could still do that without further troubling the problems in your arms. Don't worry about pulling triggers or even getting a full strength grip on the gun. Just run through the footwork exercises or set up problems with multiple shooting positions and work through them. (my knowledge of footwork for games is pretty limited, though, and others with more focus and experience could have better advice there)

When the issue is one of mental fatigue or boredom, I'd first try JV's approach: dial the volume of practice way down. A lot of serious shooters will find that they really miss the range time and quickly get right back into. Instead of long dry fire sessions, simply try to handle the gun for five minutes a day. Instead of three range sessions a week, go once every week or two. Will it cause a downward dip in your performance? Quite possibly... but for many people it actually does not. Regardless, it's a temporary situation. Better to take one step backwards than become so burned out that you don't want to try anymore.

Another thing that I've found helps me a lot, fwiw, is to switch guns once in a while. Playing with a different caliber, brand, action, etc. for even just an hour will provide a different challenge to think about and, at the same time, provides sort of a new data point that I want to compare with my "real' gear. Along similar lines, you might think about focusing on a different shooting game, working from a different type/position holster, or whatever else breaks you out of the focus you've put on your gear and your approach to one aspect of one sport.

Regardless of your approach, understand that there's nothing unusual or wrong about taking a break when you need it.

Jared
07-09-2012, 04:55 PM
I'm glad someone else mentioned "overuse" type injuries, as I thought I was losing my mind the other day when I decided that the soreness in my left middle finger was coming from the daily dry fire and the tight squeeze I use with that hand as my support hand. I took a couple days off from the dry fire (it's been too hot here the last couple weeks for range work), and it's gone now. Dry fire practice today showed no loss of trigger control. I was worried about that, as I feared that putting the gun away for a couple days would set me back something fierce.

Also, thanks guys for the recommendations for when things get stagnant. I went through that last year when I was shooting a lot, and never did try to change things up, just kept banging my head against that mental wall until I got to where I didn't enjoy shooting, then I sat around not practicing at all. When I got ready to go again, I'd lost a lot of the skill I'd built last year, or so it seemed. I really didn't have the best practice routine last year, nothing like the stuff I've learned from this site.

Shawn.L
07-09-2012, 07:46 PM
Ive gone through this a few times as far as mental fatigue and drop in performance when "over training" . Ive also gone through this with tendinitis . On the physical part, yes, 100%, like has been said, heal up.

The advice given to me by a good friend and amazing shooter (I dont just toss that around, we are talking Master pushing for GM, has won at the state level, multi gun, ect) was to go to a different gun (as in rifle, shotgun) and get off the pistol and come back to it in a month. His advice was go shoot CMP , or skeet, and then come back to pistol. Its prob not much different then Todd's change to another type of pistol advice, and I found it worked for me, and Im about ready to go to it again right now.

The issue for me is I always feel like I can just crush it out, force my way through, head back out tomorrow and shoot until Im better. But really Im shooting frustrated and just doing bad reps beating in sub standard performance. I need the decompression, the change of focus, and then to come back refreshed and ready to move ahead.

hedjam
08-17-2012, 05:44 PM
Ernie, Do you still dryfire in the garage dressed in boxers and a plate carrier? Your ocd with guns/competition just may contribute to the problem. Ihave no solutions other than ice and advil. Drop the ice in a glass with gin and tonic and chase the advil w/ it. Pulling for a quick recovery.

mike r.

x-rayted
09-14-2012, 11:33 PM
I quit shooting about 4 months ago. Not because I was burned out on shooting exactly. I live in a rural area and years ago built a range that could handle about 60-80 shooters. After 15 years of 3 matches a month and everything that went along with it I had enough and stopped hosting matches. It was for me the end of an era that went from coming up with simple IDPA stages to getting Eric Grauffell to teach a 3 day class here.

For it seems like years I wished I could just go to a match and shoot, I mean really focus on my shooting.

I have a hectic work schedule but today got home early. I heard one of my neighbors get out his AK and practice, then another neighbor start shooting a pistol, and another neighbor start shooting some kind of huge rifle. (I"m lucky all my neighbors enjoy shooting)

Then I really wanted to go out and shoot some. I started testing some loads for my AR that I reloaded several months ago, kept it simple, wrote down my dope out to 400 yds, had a ball doing it. Tested some slugs and birdshot pattern. Set out a dozen poppers, texas star and plate rack and shot seversl pistols. Had a lot of fun, I find I missed shooting.

Sunday there is a 3 gun match only 80 miles from here, I"m a gonna go and whoop all of them.

After my experience in hosting matches, I will get there early and help set up. I will pick up not only my trash but any trash I see. I will stay and help put away all the range supplies. I will take away trash from the range and dispose of it.

I"m really excited.