This week on the podcast, I talk about the idea that there is no such thing as a perfect match. First, as a competitor: you’ll never have a match without flaws, and that’s fine. Second, as a match attendee: there will always be something imperfect about the match, and all you can do is let it go and shoot the challenge in front of you.
#67: Offseason
This week on the podcast, I talk about shooting my first match in two months, and how moderate expectations led to a good performance. I also go into why I think an offseason isn’t that important early in your shooting career, and becomes more valuable the more you practice.
#66: 2019 Production Nationals
This week on the podcast, I talk about the 2019 Production Nationals in Frostproof, Florida. I talk through my thoughts about the match compared to previous years, review my personal performance, and raise my two big concerns with the way Nationals are being run in recent years. Match video of all 21 stages is here.
#65: 2019 Carolina Classic
This week on the podcast, I talk in depth about the 2019 North Carolina section match, the work that went into it, the things they did differently, and how it turned out.
More Reps?
At a match last weekend, while our squad was shooting the classifier, a friend who practices a lot but only gets to shoot one match a month asked me: “How do you guys reload like that? I try and practice reloads, and mine are never that smooth.” and then he mimed fumbling a reload as I started to consider what he was asking. “What do you do?” he asked. “Just more reps?” Now, I don’t know what other guys do, just what’s worked for me. But here’s what I told him: More reps won’t fix doing the wrong thing. All … Read More
“Just Go Shoot”
This summer, one of the changes I’m making to my practice is to live fire at least one evening a week. Last year, I would live fire every weekend I wasn’t shooting a match, which was two practice sessions most months. This new schedule gives me four a month, with as many as six if I go on the weekends. This is much more in line with the typical practice schedule for someone who wants to be competitive at the GM level. The First Practice Last Friday, June 22nd, was the second week of this new routine. It had been … Read More
Lesson From Practice
Another example of why you have to look for patterns in your practice and not just score the targets, from my practice this past weekend: Technically this run on Ben Stoeger’s Practical Accuracy was all 6 hits, none even really cutting it close. And the time was fast. A few hundredths faster than the runs before it. But it was also sloppy and bad technique. I felt myself pulling the trigger with my whole hand, and so it’s no coincidence that 4 of the 6 shots clustered low left. So for the next rep, I focused on gripping the gun … Read More
#63: Ego In Competition
This week on the podcast, I talk about the ways that ego can get in the way of developing yourself as a shooter.
#62: Why I Compete
This week on the podcast, I talk about what keeps me in the sport and the lessons that have transferred from competition over in to my life off the range.
#61: Shooting Through A Match
This week on the podcast, I talk through my recent experience shooting through an 8-stage club match in two hours.
#60: Do Not Try To Go Faster
This week, I talk about my experience with making speed gains, and why they usually don’t come just by trying hard or trying to go faster.
Reading Targets in Practice
During my practice session at the range on Saturday, I shot a lot of dots, all at 7 yards. I’m still working out these changes to my grip and trigger pull, but I can feel the progress, I just have to make it repeatable. But in the targets I shot, I saw an interesting example of the value of reading the pattern in the targets, not just scoring them. (Also a major theme of Ben Stoeger’s “Breakthrough Marksmanship” book.) Here are the first and last sheets I shot of the day: The first sheet is all over the place. You … Read More
#59: Event Driven Shooting
This week on the podcast, I talk about how I visualize through stages, the exact details I visualize in, and discuss why the speed of my visualization isn’t all that important to me.
#58: Half Of What You Know is Wrong
This week on the podcast, I talk about having breakthroughs when you realize that something you took for granted turned out to be wrong, or at least only true in some contexts. I post videos from my matches at youtube.com/BenBerryUSPSA. If you’d like to support the podcast, consider buying a shirt at berryshooting.com/shop .
#57: Myths About Being A GM
This week on the podcast, I talk about misconceptions that people have about being a GM or shooting matches as a GM, and why it’s not really all that different. If you want to support the podcast, consider buying a shirt at www.berryshooting.com/shop .
#56: South Carolina Section Match
This week on the podcast, I talk about how the South Carolina Section Match went and the lessons I’m taking away from it going forward. My video for the match is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFyYBQKS94 . If you want to support the podcast, consider buying a shirt at berryshooting.com/shop .
#55: South Carolina Section Prep
This week on the podcast, I talk about my mindset and preparation going in to the 2019 SC Section match this Saturday, including how I’m setting my expectations for my performance and the key things I want to include in each visualization. I also talk about the recent announcement of the 2019 NC Section at Sir Walter Gun Club in October of this year. I post my match videos online at youtube.com/BenBerryUSPSA.
#54: Match Recap
This week I recap the stages I shot at a few local matches and try to draw some lessons learned from them.
#53: Lightning Round
This week on the podcast, I catch up on a few different things I’ve been thinking about. I talk about USPSA not printing paper rulebooks anymore, setting aside my opinions when shooting matches, 3 minute stage walkthroughs, and answer a question about the uspsa.ninja shirts.
#52: Mastery
This week on the podcast, I talk about the book Mastery by George Leonard. I talk about some of the reasons I’m always in the process of re-reading it, and try to give you a sense for what the book is all about. Here’s a link to my recommended book list including Mastery and others.