You must train what you are weakest at to grow as a shooter!

Some of the greatest advice I can give you from a person who just loves to shoot and wants to grow as a marksman is...you have to avoid falling into the trap of just shooting what you are the best at.  We all want to do well and show off our skills.   We all want to leave the range fulfilled and feeling like we are actually good as something.   But unfortunately, that is not where growth happens. You must make an effort to train what you are the weakest at in order to grow as a shooter!

When I was younger and wanting to grow my skills and level of marksmanship, one of the biggest benefits to me was to come away from an event with a new position or stage that I have never done or seen before.  And I blew it.  And, although, int the moment, it felt awful to blow a stage of a match, that to me was always worth its wait in gold.  As strange as it may sound, I was always excited to get home and face this new challenging shot or position to improve upon it.

You see, when at a match I didn't care about the stages I did well on.   I always looked for things I didn't do well on.  I loved it when I came away from a stage scratching my head and saying "well that was something new." Mentally, it would go in a notebook for when I would get home as to something I wanted to practice, study, learn, then,  improve on.

I think for most shooters, shooting prone or off a bench is where they shine.  But be wary of always getting into the habit of shooting that position all the time.  In real world hunting or match shooting in the field, get ready for the brow beatings.  Because you will be outside your comfort zone and your shooting and score will show it as will your results hunting.

I think comfort is a good word to use because we don't want to do things as human beings we are not good at.  If you are terrible at one sport but like to be considered an "athlete," you are going to drop that sport like a bad habit and be on the hunt for something that you will be more of a natural at or at least a competitor at.  And for the record, although there are some who take the sport of shooting well, I do not believe most are just "naturally" good at it.  To be at the top of their game, good shooters have to practice and practice a lot.   And I am sure through the learning curve, they have had some losses and some embarrassing shots along the way.

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A case in point and what led me to this blog.   We had a Police Sniper team here training with us recently.  And I cannot say how much I was impressed on their abilities to shoot off of a tri-pod.   Their lead shooter said one of the wisest things I have heard in quite sometime. He said "we do not train prone as the likelihood of that shot being taken in a real world situation is little to none.  So, we train at our weakest skill set and one that will probably have to be used in the field someday, and that is off a tripod.  So, 90% of our training is off one."  Well said, well done and for the record it showed.  Probably one of the best groups I have even seen shooting from tripods bar none,  

If you want to start placing and winning in matches or if you want your hunting trip to have a better chance of ending with success, then you merely need to become a well-rounded shooter.  You do not have to be the best at any position. Work to be average or above in all positions and you will move up the ranks every time.   You may be beaten with a sling by a world-class cross-the-course shooter, but just hold your own with him.  Because the next timed stage or  position he may just struggle with and you will make up lost ground like crazy.  Most shooters shine at something,  some position, some hold.  Few can stay middle of the pack in every position.   To do so, you simply have to constantly train on your weakest positions, not your strongest.     Do this long enough and the results will amaze you.