Sensory Shutdown
"Let’s look at an aspect of sensory shutdown we all have to deal with when performing in a pressure situation: making a decision when the adrenaline is flowing and your heart is pumping. A healthy person’s heart rate is a good indication of general fitness levels,...
Pressure Increases … Awareness Decreases
“When the pressure we are under increases, it is natural for our awareness to decrease. This change might be almost imperceptible at first, but as the pressure increases, our peripheral vision narrows and so too does our hearing, and, as a result, so does what we...
“If you’re thinking, you’re stinking!”
"If you're thinking, you're stinking" Here is a perfect example. I have had eight to ten shooters call in the past weeks after Nationals who took lessons from shooters in their area. Their scores rose to 83-85. They were told by their shooter coaches to go shoot...
It’s Like Public Speaking
Learning to shoot at higher and higher levels is like public speaking. We can all talk, but how many of you could have a conversation about what we are discussing with 30 shooters? 100 shooters? 500 shooters? I can, because I have done it. I have put myself...
Tips for a High-Volume Shoot – Bolivia 2019
I'm home from Bolivia. Gil and I had a great week seeing old friends, making new ones, and instructing in the field on how to best take the dove and pigeon shots. Everyone did their gun mount homework. Slowing the birds down was big for most. But...
Kentucky, Colorado, Bolivia and Argentina!
We went to a new (to us) club - Jefferson County Sportsmen's Club in Louisville, KY. The flight over was interesting. As much as we travel, we haven’t had the pilot come on the speaker and say we needed to stop for fuel due to the bad...
Train with Prediction
Let's say you're approaching a shot under pressure. If you have trained it hundreds of times with prediction and execution of the prediction, it becomes easy to trust it. Hello! This is what practice is for! This is why I said in another post that you are not practicing...
Allow the Brain to Anticipate
The brain understands skill as a sequence of events. Through repetition, the brain allows it to see the sequence as one event rather than a series of events. This allows the brain to anticipate ahead of what you are about to do. It can then take...
Greater Commitment
In the end, it takes a greater and greater commitment to train longer and at higher levels to achieve higher and higher successes. Sooner than later, that commitment is not met with the desire of shooters to put in the time. This leads to looking for...
Skill-Building in the Brain
There is a lot of shooting advice out there. But few, if any have studied skill-building in the brain as much as we have. Focus is an evolving phenomenon from beginner to Master Class. The conundrum is that the better you get, the less you must see to...