Part of this training session is to figure out a way to set up and align yourself in relation to the target in such a way that you end up in the middle every time. This is an ongoing process which, over time, will be refined. Have a look at this post for some tips on how to make it easier. Training on this should preferably be done at the beginning of the season or during off-season. Since it’s related to the position, any changes to it might also mean changes to how you set it up. Come back to this from time to time, especially when you find yourself too far off aim when starting a training session or competition.
Preparation
- Read through a couple of past training journal pages for any important notes to use in this training session
- Warm-up/stretch
- Make sure all equipment are placed within reach
Training session in blocks (90 minutes if each block is 15 minutes)
- Get into shooting position and train for 15 min to make sure you have it set up correctly. Use a familiar lane or range.
- When you feel that everything works like it should, step out of position and set it up again. Be careful to align the position correctly with the target and pay attention to what cues you go by. That is, what reference points and system you use to align yourself both in accordance to the target and your body parts. Shoot for 15 min and make the appropriate adjustments in case you ended up off-target. The goal is to end up exactly where you left off.
- When you are back and comfortably shooting in the center, step out of position again. Set it up, shoot 3 pellets, adjust if necessary and step out of it. Do this as many times as you can over 15 min without rushing it. The goal is to continue shooting at the same place each time (preferably the center) and any mis-alignments should be taken care of directly.
Focus above has mainly been on consistency in foot placement and hip-aligning and figuring out a system to use in this area. For the second half of the training session we will focus on aligning the body with the target.
- Move to another lane or move 1 meter left or right. Set up the position and shoot until you are back in the center again, you might have to make adjustments until it’s perfect. When you are back in the center it’s time to move to another lane (or 2 meter in the other direction). Continue moving around and setting up the position for 15 min. Figure out a system that works and continue improving upon it.
- The next step is to move outside of your comfort zone by changing surroundings completely. Do not shoot in this block for safety reasons and stay away from aiming at dangerous situations. So, either have someone telling you to aim at a specific point on the wall or find one yourself. It should preferably be in a strange surrounding where your normal system won’t work perfectly. For example; turn around and aim on the back wall or move to another room. (and again, absolutely no discharge of air or pellets – in fact, unscrew the cylinder to make sure of this). Set up the position as you would, align it correctly and start aiming. When you are in equilibrium, close your eyes and count to ten, open them and have a look at where you ended up. Make adjustments and repeat. Once you end up in the center, find another point on the wall and start over. Without the normal cues on where to stand (target, target carrier, bench etc), it forces you to adapt to the situation and fine tune your system of setup. In the end it will teach you to find solutions to every strange shooting range you might encounter. Do this for 15 min.
- Go back to the lane and finish the session by shooting for 15 min.
After training
- Write in the training journal
- Stretch if necessary
This session will take 90 min in total (all blocks are counted as 15 min each). If you want to reduce the length, either reduce the time for each block or take away the second and the last training block.
Make sure you write down anything new you added to the routine so to not forget it until next training session.
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