Another cliche that I look sideways at is the old B.R.A.S.S. (breathe, relax, aim, sight, squeeze). This works when teaching fundamentals and you should always have it in your training tool kit, but getting stuck on it ignores other fundamentals that are equally if not more important. I've seen students holding handguns in some crazy ways, but they can hit the target (once) if they slow down and "B.R.A.S.S". Teaching the correct grip mechanics is far more important. In a stressful situation no one is going to remember B.R.A.S.S. Building good muscle memory for a correct grip is far more useful. That takes a lot more repetition than most people think, which brings up another cliche I've come to hate:
"It takes 77 (or some other number) repetitions to build muscle memory." Wrong answer. Like any other skill, constant repetition is the key. I'd rather have someone go to the range one hour a week and get 50 good solid live fire repetitions of a skill supplemented by daily dry fire than have them go to a class at Thunder Ranch and fire 1,000 rounds on one weekend a year. You go to Thunder Ranch to learn what skills you need to be practicing, not as a substitute for constant practice. That's the place of classes led by a competent instructor, learning the correct skills. It also simulates stress a bit more accurately when you're standing in front of a group of strangers, fumbling with your equipment and trying to meet a time hack. Classes are important, but training is what happens when you're not in a class. The time and attention to detail you invest there is what counts.
Great points here. Like I said in the podcast, it's not that these phrases are wrong per se. They come from a good place, but they're context dependent. I've seen them become counter-productive when abused, misunderstood, or misapplied. Your points on the importance of consistency are on point. Building "muscle memory" is good, but it's futile if you don't exercise consistency to maintain it.
Good methods are abused and hyper-extended. Yes. Every decent rule of thumb becomes part of the “lesson plan” etc.
The problem at core is managerialism-bureaucracy wants to have a “process” for every moment of life especially for any physical movement.
Especially violence.
And no one is to blame ever for results as the core of managerialism is none to blame except the hands on perhaps.
They just find “mistakes were made” and need to change the “process.” Shuffle committee deck and move up or retire.
This is why I keep saying “charismatic leadership” is too easy now - leaders take the blame and people will follow you anywhere, cuz they are so starved for leadership. I say take the blame because “seek and take responsibility” has been abused past the point of usefulness, no take the blame.
Agree. I do dry and MantisX weekly, the range at least several times a year depending on time.
This comes to thousands of repetitions over time. Sometimes I will go back and slow it down, especially with dry or dummy prop fire. As in; 20 with prop gun, 36 snap caps, then 20 with MantisX and feedback, and time/range dependent live. If I see the MantisX feedback or target slipping go back to slow.
Absolutely slow to perfection CAN impact say live fire training, hemmed me up in a group * refresher training couple years ago, so 2 days in I went with the flow and people were less nonplussed. I was just trying to get the move as perfect as possible, but don’t slow down the rest.
* a group, not “group”.
Yes I know I should shoot live more- and have- but it’s not my job and time, money limited.
Love my MantisX. I also have a SIRT pistol. It's just become a matter of habit to pick that pistol up and practice a few minutes every day. All this training equipment costs money, but it pays for itself over time. One thing that the Mantis BlackBeard on a rifle and the SIRT pistol allows you to do that nothing else can is to practice shooting at a living, breathing, moving person. I started teaching my wife how to shoot years ago, but when I got a SIRT pistol we started practicing with me across the room just walking toward her. The first few times, she got nervous and fumbled the draw. After a few minutes of repetition, she was getting the SIRT out and doing failure drills on me. You don't need a huge, sophisticated facility to get some realistic training in if you just have a few tools and some imagination.
It's much easier on the budget too, after the initial purchase. Your ammo is basically a battery for the laser. I've incorporated the SIRT into hand-to-hand scenarios, something that no class I've been to can replicate with safety and realism at the same time. Using a little creativity can keep your training from becoming boring which is important for consistency.
You hit on everything I’ve heard, witnessed firsthand, and verified my journey. Including taking an XDS .45 (EDC THEN) To my first 4-day training. In my late 60’s. It was an ass whipping.
Training alone the majority of the time required a timer to confirm and push for realistic goals.
*Digesting. Agree on point 1 and with Progressive steps of skills.
Nice touch, don’t call it Crawl walk run, call it Progressive. Yes.
*Allow my Cranial nooks and crannies to process and digest, pardon me mixing of anatomical metaphors, I could be more anatomically aligned but it’s Sunday.
Another cliche that I look sideways at is the old B.R.A.S.S. (breathe, relax, aim, sight, squeeze). This works when teaching fundamentals and you should always have it in your training tool kit, but getting stuck on it ignores other fundamentals that are equally if not more important. I've seen students holding handguns in some crazy ways, but they can hit the target (once) if they slow down and "B.R.A.S.S". Teaching the correct grip mechanics is far more important. In a stressful situation no one is going to remember B.R.A.S.S. Building good muscle memory for a correct grip is far more useful. That takes a lot more repetition than most people think, which brings up another cliche I've come to hate:
"It takes 77 (or some other number) repetitions to build muscle memory." Wrong answer. Like any other skill, constant repetition is the key. I'd rather have someone go to the range one hour a week and get 50 good solid live fire repetitions of a skill supplemented by daily dry fire than have them go to a class at Thunder Ranch and fire 1,000 rounds on one weekend a year. You go to Thunder Ranch to learn what skills you need to be practicing, not as a substitute for constant practice. That's the place of classes led by a competent instructor, learning the correct skills. It also simulates stress a bit more accurately when you're standing in front of a group of strangers, fumbling with your equipment and trying to meet a time hack. Classes are important, but training is what happens when you're not in a class. The time and attention to detail you invest there is what counts.
Great points here. Like I said in the podcast, it's not that these phrases are wrong per se. They come from a good place, but they're context dependent. I've seen them become counter-productive when abused, misunderstood, or misapplied. Your points on the importance of consistency are on point. Building "muscle memory" is good, but it's futile if you don't exercise consistency to maintain it.
Good methods are abused and hyper-extended. Yes. Every decent rule of thumb becomes part of the “lesson plan” etc.
The problem at core is managerialism-bureaucracy wants to have a “process” for every moment of life especially for any physical movement.
Especially violence.
And no one is to blame ever for results as the core of managerialism is none to blame except the hands on perhaps.
They just find “mistakes were made” and need to change the “process.” Shuffle committee deck and move up or retire.
This is why I keep saying “charismatic leadership” is too easy now - leaders take the blame and people will follow you anywhere, cuz they are so starved for leadership. I say take the blame because “seek and take responsibility” has been abused past the point of usefulness, no take the blame.
Agree. I do dry and MantisX weekly, the range at least several times a year depending on time.
This comes to thousands of repetitions over time. Sometimes I will go back and slow it down, especially with dry or dummy prop fire. As in; 20 with prop gun, 36 snap caps, then 20 with MantisX and feedback, and time/range dependent live. If I see the MantisX feedback or target slipping go back to slow.
Absolutely slow to perfection CAN impact say live fire training, hemmed me up in a group * refresher training couple years ago, so 2 days in I went with the flow and people were less nonplussed. I was just trying to get the move as perfect as possible, but don’t slow down the rest.
* a group, not “group”.
Yes I know I should shoot live more- and have- but it’s not my job and time, money limited.
Love my MantisX. I also have a SIRT pistol. It's just become a matter of habit to pick that pistol up and practice a few minutes every day. All this training equipment costs money, but it pays for itself over time. One thing that the Mantis BlackBeard on a rifle and the SIRT pistol allows you to do that nothing else can is to practice shooting at a living, breathing, moving person. I started teaching my wife how to shoot years ago, but when I got a SIRT pistol we started practicing with me across the room just walking toward her. The first few times, she got nervous and fumbled the draw. After a few minutes of repetition, she was getting the SIRT out and doing failure drills on me. You don't need a huge, sophisticated facility to get some realistic training in if you just have a few tools and some imagination.
It's much easier on the budget too, after the initial purchase. Your ammo is basically a battery for the laser. I've incorporated the SIRT into hand-to-hand scenarios, something that no class I've been to can replicate with safety and realism at the same time. Using a little creativity can keep your training from becoming boring which is important for consistency.
Agreed
Great practical advice here. Thanks for breaking down the do’s and dont’s here!
Thanks for your feedback. Sometimes I wonder how some of these episodes will land. This one's getting quite a lot of engagement.
That’s what happens when shots are fired!
You hit on everything I’ve heard, witnessed firsthand, and verified my journey. Including taking an XDS .45 (EDC THEN) To my first 4-day training. In my late 60’s. It was an ass whipping.
Training alone the majority of the time required a timer to confirm and push for realistic goals.
Good stuff, thanks!
Nice! Glad you liked it. More to come.
*Digesting. Agree on point 1 and with Progressive steps of skills.
Nice touch, don’t call it Crawl walk run, call it Progressive. Yes.
*Allow my Cranial nooks and crannies to process and digest, pardon me mixing of anatomical metaphors, I could be more anatomically aligned but it’s Sunday.
Haha. Fair enough. Thanks for listening.