Weekly Training Tip: Glass half full?

Objective:

This weeks training tip is designed to help you keep your gun still while shooting on the move.

Required equipment:

• Tall skinny drinking glass
• Tap water
• Water resistant training surface

     Today's training tip is all about fluidity.  In order to shoot well on the move you need to be able to hold the gun level while you're moving about.  A great way to practice this is to find a tall skinny drinking glass and fill it nearly completely full with ordinary tap water.  A double shot glass works fairly well.  How full your glass is will depend on your current ability to shoot on the move.  The more you fill the glass up the greater the risk of spilling the water is and the more "stress" you can create.  The stress created will not match that of the buzzer going off at a match, but it can't hurt.

     After you have located a suitable glass and an adequate amount of water it is time to start the training.  One key part to shooting on the move is bending your knees more than you would in a standard freestyle shooting stance.  The more you bend your knees, the better your lower body will be able to absorb the vertical movement cause by walking/ running.  Grab your glass in a grip that replicates that which you would use with your pistol, squat, and start a slow gentle movement.  Maintain a sharp focus on the top plane of the water level as you move about with a soft focus on all the hard objects in the room.  You want to replicate the same focus that you would achieve on the front sight of your pistol.  As you get a feel for how much knee bend works best for you, start to move faster as well as practice turning.  Practice sidestepping and negotiating obstacle, such as the toys your kids left out from the night before. ;)  Most importantly, have fun and stay safe.

Keep shooting,

Dave