6 Tips that are guaranteed to boost your personal protection performance.
Last time, we reviewed some principles, that if followed, will build a training regiment capable of increasing your personal protection performance (if you missed it click HERE to read it). This time I would like to talk about some useful tips on how to maximize the time that you have in order to achieve better personal protection performance. I figured that most of you are like me and having lots of time to do whatever you want to do is a thing of the past. So, this newsletter is for you. There was a time when I made fun of people for being "too busy" to train, and I scoffed at their "excuses" as I trained to my heart's content. I have been involved in training in one form or another my entire life, and professionally for over 16 years, but it hasn't been until these last few years that I realized my ignorance and that life can genuinely become busy enough to make training seem impossible. But, where there is a will, there is a way, and I want to share with you some things (both abstract in nature and concrete in nature) that I do to get my training in.
Tip number one...know WHERE to begin and WHY you train. One of the biggest obstacles to beginning a training regiment is knowing WHERE to begin. Last time we talked about having an assessment done so that you know where your weaknesses are. If you know what your weaknesses are then you can use that as a guide so that you know where you want to go. Don't skip this step! Knowing your weaknesses is important because that is where you need to focus your training efforts. Weakness biased training is one way that is guaranteed to increase your abilities quickly, because you don't waste time training on what you already excel at. Remember, time is something that you don't have a lot of, so don't waste it! Start NOW and work on your weakest areas. Also, know WHY you are training. The why behind the training is important as well. The more emotional attachment that you have to your training the more likely you will be to stay motivated. I stay motivated to train because I picture my family and their dependence upon my abilities for their safety. Find something that truly motivates you deeply and keep that in the forefront of your mind when training.
Tip number two...think of training differently. In my earlier years, training took on the form of marathon sessions and maximum intensity efforts. As I have grown older (and wiser), I have learned that breaking training down into mini or even micro sessions allows me to continue to grow as a shooter or personal defender, and not disrupt my other day-to-day necessities (family time, work time, etc.). Mini sessions are training sessions that last 15 mins or less and micro sessions are sessions that last 5 minutes or less. So, HOW in the world can you accomplish good training in such a short time? By planing your training ahead of time in specific "chunks", executing the training on time, and making the training convenient so that you will do it all of the time. You should add things to your everyday environment that make training convenient and allow you to train on the go if necessary. Here are a few of my favorites: having a SIRT pistol on my desk so that I can do a few perfect (train for perfect reps not a set amount of time) dry fire reps of a particular skill every hour, having a grip strengthener in my car and using it on the drive home or when in transit somewhere, taking a pen out and doing specific eye exercises (I will cover these on a later date), groucho walking down the hallway with a cup of coffee in my hand (great way to learn to do it correctly because the coffee spills if you don't), switching near/far focus from my steering wheel to the license plate of the car in front of me, doing walking lunges down the hallway, dropping and doing 20 pushups on the floor of my office periodically. The idea is to find ways to work on my weaknesses whenever I can and wherever I am. You should get creative and use things in your environment to work on physical skills that help you shoot or fight better. You might get some funny looks, but your abilities will improve guaranteed!
Tip number three...emulate the best performers you know. Watch them perform and study the way that they move, what they say, how they teach, etc. You can learn from their experiences and try to mimic what they do (very slowly at first). Watch specific skills repeatedly until they are ingrained! Don't be afraid to look stupid (which is sure to happen at first), because the only way to improve is to make mistakes. It can be tedious but if you are serious about getting improvements then you will do it.
Tip number four...practice in an environment that is inspiring. People tell me all of the time that they have no need to join the gun range because they have land to shoot on. Having a place to shoot is NOT the same as having a place this is DESIGNED to from the ground up to be a training environment. I have a home gym, but I can tell you that me best workouts don't happen at home. I always end up getting distracted. Why? The ENVIRONMENT! When other like-minded people are around me I always go harder and get a better workout. It is no different with shooter or other self-defense arts. If you need a great place to shoot check out Brothers N Arms Gun Range HERE.
Tip number five...use "chunking." Practice small chunks of material and perfect them before you move on to something else. Once you have perfected the parts, practice connecting them into larger pieces. Aim for perfecting one chunk a day or one chunk every few days. Your ability to focus on one chunk at a time will dramatically speed up your learning.
Tip number six...use dry weapons training. Dry weapons training should be the foundation of your firearms and other self-defense training. Dry weapons training allows you to safely practice all of the fundamentals of shooting or other self-defense art in a safe way at home or other place. Also, you can do more advanced and tactical types of training with a dry weapon that you could never safely do with a live weapon. Another positive of dry fire training is that it can be fun and challenging which are sure to keep you coming back for more. I will discuss much more detail about dry fire training in a future newsletter/blog.
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Dry fire training tools like this SIRT training pistol are invaluable to your shooting training regiment. Remember tip number six? This is what I use to do most of my dry fire training. A lot of progress can be made with dry fire training and you should not neglect it. Check out Next Level Training website to find this SIRT pistol and get ten percent (10%) OFF using promo code CQC1.
Just in case you didn't know (my attempt at sarcasm), shooting is a visual sport and your eyes' ability to focus will greatly affect your shooting ability. This is a brock string and it is used to help train your eyes to focus better. Check out our store HERE if you would like to pick up a brock string. This training aid isn't cost prohibitive. Check it out and do some research on it. I have some other eye exercises that I do that I will share at a later date, but this is simple to use and works well.
