Due to work circumstances I am unable to train for months at a time. One of the problems this causes is flinching when I return. Since there seem to be a lot of people that were forced to take time off from training due to Covid I thought I'd post one of the drills I've developed to help with this.

This is a variation of the standard Ball and Dummy drill. That drill is still applicable and I still run it, but over the years I've noticed it's effectiveness waning as the flinch/anticipation becomes less obvious. This drill came into existence as I was testing woods carry ammo and accidentally loaded a Lehigh Penetrator round into a mag of regular training ball.

You need at least one box of +P+ ammo. I use Lehigh Defenders from Underwood, but the only requirement is increased blast and shockwave. I'm not interested in discussing the effectiveness of various ammunition, that's not what this is about.

Materials: One 3x5 card, one Dot Torture or similar target. 6 15 round magazines, one 20 rd box of +P+ ammunition, the rest your training ball.
Range: 3, 5, or 7 yds.
Drill: Load two rounds of the +P+ ammo into your magazines randomly mixed with the ball. Load three rounds of the +P+ ammunition occasionally as well. Start your Dot Torture or a similar drill as normal. When you hear the BOOM of a +P+ round, breathe in sharply while transitioning to the 3X5 card at the head. Fire two rounds as smoothly as possible, then transition back down to your dot or other target and fire one more round while breathing out.

This seems to smooth out my anticipation and flinch better than the Ball and Dummy drill. I still think the Ball and Dummy drill is the best for working on beginners flinch, but after running it multiple times it seems to lose effectiveness for me. Flinch and anticipation are very personal and subjective, so the breathing, round count, etc. might need to be modified for you. As usual, stop and do some dry fire reps if you flinch/anticipate.