Tips on Pistol Shooting

[brihacharan]

[SNIP]
> In fact had sent AGN these a week ago - he must be practicing these.
Briha

Started on pranayam; in fact found that I could "drop" BP better when it shoots up. Also on some free hand ones.

> Great AGN! Keep practicing it and soon your body will start listening to you.
> And when that happens you are in full control of your faculties - although you're right handed, here's a tongue-in-cheek aphorism "Pistol chalaana ab apke baye haath ka khel ban jayega"

Briha

[airgun_novice]

hey agn
i am not an expert on mental strength but the experience of the last three competition, especially the disastrous one in jodhpur has certainly made me feel mentally stronger. i guess it is like forging iron. the mind seems to strengthen when one takes positives from an adverse experience and then prepares harder to face such challenges in future.
what do you say

Dear Jitu et Brihji,

Beg to differ on Jitu's example - though not totally. Somewhere I feel the line branches off like Karjat-Kasara. Now would a debacle at Capt EZ make me weaker or stronger ? After a few good practice matches right down to the day before, I went for a toss in the actual. Lots of reasons mental (F v/s F syndrome, Mom's biopsy report etc.) and medical (blood salt/ sugar levels etc.)

Frankly it made me only wiser for Aurangbad. I took care of peripherals - proper salt-sugar in blood, a walk of 4 km (2+2) to set the lumbar region that was cramped and ached due to 8 hr CC seating etc. My performance was still just about the same as for practice sessions (actual 87 v/s 88-89 in prax). In prax I follow the same drills and sometimes have crossed 90 in max of 3 cards out of 4 - so what stops me from being consistent with the 4th ?

Not technique which needs to be improved anyway but which does not deteriorate during those 75 minutes. Why do I say so ? The <90 card comes 2nd or 3rd or even 4th but not always 4th! So can't blame the fatigue. So then what ? Sometimes I shoot two in 90s and two in 80s out of which one is 88 or so but the other dips <85. Why does this happen ? Simply because I am not mentally strong enough.

Physically I may not be among the fit but am definitely among the endowed ones. I, in fact might get a better part of training due to hvji guruji's lessons and interaction on these couple of threads with you guys and due to personal & timely attention of tirpassion and brihji as compared to other 70+ shooters, so what stops me from crossing the Rubicon of 90+ or even hitting the podium ? And that too when I believe I have left most of my impulsiveness and ego far behind. Not lack in tips or technical training - but mental weakness some place.

Consider this, after a lot of bungling by powers that be I finally made to Aurangbad. The day I caught the train in the afternoon was my son's birthday - so I wished him prior to his leaving for school early in the morning. But obviously he felt bad as I was not there for cake-cutting in the evening. Even the "Angry Birds" book which I had ordered for his present had not arrived. I had actually switched off the cell phone after informing them that I had checked into the hotel to avoid distraction and that "sorry feeling". In fact that was the only thing that weighed on my mind, if at all, during the competition. Add to this the time, money and efforts and mental irrittion just to get that MQS- which fortunately I did. But had I gotten stronger mentally, I should have gone all the way for the Nationals MQS or even a medal but then why didn't I ? Where was that "killer instinct" which should have arisen within ? Hence my confusion and the quest.

[jitu sati]

am eagerly waiting for the exercises to reach me so that i can emulate agn soon
hey tir
did my first 60 shot 9 ring drill. not very good. kept hitting 1/2 8s in every 10 set. so ended up hitting 10 8s and shamefully one seven( waited too long in the zone). the SOA % was just 65-70%. it is not as easy as i thought it was. one thought and the SOA goes for a six. need much more concentration

[airgun_novice]

[SNIP]
> And when that happens you are in full control of your faculties - although you're right handed, here's a tongue-in-cheek aphorism "Pistol chalaana ab apke baye haath ka khel ban jayega"
Briha

Jaani, hum daayaan-baayaan nahin dekhtein - dekhtein hai toe sirf SA dekhtein hai !

[tirpassion]

Dear jitu,
you have till the 29th of July to achieve your 100% in SA hold in 60 holds . It is a challenge for you. Stop everything else in shooting and do it everyday if possible to achieve the goal. You know that yo can do it, so do I. So a mental game is playing now. It is time to show yourself how you can overcome this barrier. Once done, you will narrate the whole story to us.
I am silently reading all the post all of you have been writing both in the Mental Training thread and this one. Please be aware that we are working on your mental strength.

best regards
tirpassion

[dev]

Wouldn't knowing that you can shoot a good score in a state level tournament, boost mental strength?
Or does nothing beat practice and more practice...specially dry fire.


Regards,

Dev

[brihacharan]

Wouldn't knowing that you can shoot a good score in a state level tournament, boost mental strength?
Or does nothing beat practice and more practice...specially dry fire.
Regards,
Dev

> How would you know that you can shoot a 'Good Score' in any competition, unless you have practiced to perfection?
> Mental Strength / Confidence comes from "Self Belief" - I Must Do It - I Can Do It - I will Do It
> It also comes from "Not Carrying a Baggage" of past failures.
> Let me quote "THE HEIGHTS BY GREAT MEN REACHED & KEPT WERE NOT ATTAINED BY SUDDEN FLIGHT" - THEY WERE THOSE WHO TOILED THROUGH THE NIGHT, WHILE OTHERS SLEPT"
> The will to win should be a compulsion from within!
Briha

[dev]

I would know that I can shoot a great score by having shot a great score in a tournament.
So you are saying that perfection is attainable?
Or is knowing that you have made certain basics stronger a moot point?
If practiced perfection exits then please explain why people on this thread are still struggling to qualify for the GVM over the last three or more years?


Warm regards,

Dev

[tirpassion]

Dear friends,

I would not relate the word 'Practice to perfection' to scoring. The practice to perfection for me is attaining 100% in box drills. If one attains that, scores will follow and I am sure that qualifying for the Nationals or scoring 550+ or even around 560 regularly in AP is not difficult. One needs to put in practice all the determination and mental power used to attain the 100% in the box drills. As a matter of fact, we are also taking a long, very long time to attain 100% in those box drills

The score is the reflection of one's 'Technical, Physical and Mental' performance on a particular day. The score varies if any of the three aspects are not up to the mark, the most important being the mental performance because it plays a direct role on the technical performance. So the priority is to keep the mental form optimal for regularity in scores.
The mental performance also increases with maturity and experience provided it is worked properly.

best regards
tirpassion

[brihacharan]

I would know that I can shoot a great score by having shot a great score in a tournament.
So you are saying that perfection is attainable?
Or is knowing that you have made certain basics stronger a moot point?
If practiced perfection exits then please explain why people on this thread are still struggling to qualify for the GVM over the last three or more years?
Warm regards,
Dev

> The reasons could be many & it varies from individual to individual.
> Like an old saying "What is sauce for the Goose - May not be so for the Gander".
> That's why even leading world class shooters - resort to the advice of a ' Personal Coach' - who watches, studies, understands, analyzes the behavior of the shooter and trains then 'step by step' to attain perfection.
> Its not easy / simple, Eg: Reading books / instructions & trying to adopt & adapt the right techniques & so on.
> One can discuss this endlessly - but the bottom line is consistency of performance through endless hours of practice / dedication / perseverance & persistence.
> Some achieve success in a relatively shorter period of time, while others take longer.
> Ultimately everyone has a level of competence - which one has to come to grips with - that's reality.
Briha

[jitu sati]

sorry tir
was out of town. read your post just now. ok for one week i will only do 60 holds and let you know the result.
brihaji
i have recd the exercises and i am supposed to do only those which you have marked with a tick and highlighted, correct?

[brihacharan]

brihaji
i have recd the exercises and i am supposed to do only those which you have marked with a tick and highlighted, correct?

> Yes Jitu, the ones that are marked.
Briha

[tirpassion]

Guruji and all friends,

I tried your phone in the evening but may be it was too late for you. Here are some updates on my work on the FP.

- Achieved the 100% in SA hold in 90 holds (Already informed about it) in the 2nd attempt.
- Working on the 90 dry shot box drill. The maximum achieved till now is 95% (3 times), the least being 90% (the first day).
- Working meticulously on the gripping and visualization of the shot cycle as you told

I must admit that the workout is doing good to me. I have gained a lot of confidence in my hold and the zone.
Our 50m range will close definitely on the 29th of July. So, I could not help but shoot one last time today.
I shot a practice match of 60 shots with SOA box drill. The drill came out with 85% and the score 522. Even if it was a practice match and it should not be paid heed to, this is the highest score I have ever achieved in FP. To add to the difficulty, I did not shoot any sighter shots.
Thanks a million for your help.

I took a lot of time to shoot the 60 shots. 1h30m. I fought out every shot with meticulous attention to every step of the SOA. The series came out as under.
87, 86, 89, 85, 89, 86
After shooting a 10 in the 59th shot, I shot a bloody 5 (I still can not pardon this immaturity) in the last shot, the only shot on the white. There were
13 tens, 26 nines, 13 eights, 7 sevens & 1 five.
As I said, i had a lot of confidence on my hold which on the contrary, delayed my shot breaking. I do not think that I could let the shots break within 2 seconds as you had asked for earlier. It was not too long either. The shot breaking was like the AP almost, within 3 to 5 seconds. I understand that a lot and a lot of work has to be done on the FP. But I found myself on the right positive path. What do you say?

best regards
tirpassion

[airgun_novice]

Dear tirpassion, You have broken that 510 barrier with your 522. In fact if a 7 had been turned into 8 or up and that "bloody 5" had been an 8 or up - you would have inched closer to 530 which is the confidence hvj1 Guruji has reposed in you. toe lage raho - congrats and good luck. Now that you have yourself set the benchmark, turn it into the "floor" and set a new one for the tops.

Dear all, I can now get into Padmasan for 15 min (don't dare go above that in case strain my knee muscles or ligaments) and in it actually tried lifting my body on hands (like modified tulasan) at the sides. Could do for a count of 5, i.e. may be 3 seconds. Kids were thrilled; so was I. Now shall combine Padmasan with Pranayam this week on. Last week (15th) also achieved first target of 110 kg - dropped 5 from 115kg. Many thanks to "the One who has walked many steps" in helping me take my first step towards fitness. Next milestone - 105 on I-Day. On technical side - still in the 88 (estimated) zone. Did not count #9 or # 10; only the off shots and the rest multiplied by 9.5. Will hit the range again on 29th - have to do "follow-through" on a few other things till then.
regs,
A.

[jitu sati]

hey tir
have been practicing the 60 hold. last prac yesterday was exciting but am yet to achieve the tgt. yesterday i could get 100% in first 40 holds but the foresight suddenly went up on the 50th hold and on the 53 it dipped. shoulder tiring? i dont know. but i will keep trying.