Mental preparation before and during a shoot

[Les Fraser]

Hopefully this topic will generate some debate i hope.

Prior to a match what mental preparation do you do before and during a match. What are your thoughts on visualising the perfect shot etc. There are a lot of books on the subject and one that comes to mind is by Lanny Bashem gold medalist 22rimfire 3 positional shooter- with winning in mind.

Have you thought about setting goals in the sport what achievements do you want and how are you going to achieve them.

Control your thoughts control your outcome.

Working hard in the reloading room is only half the battle the confidence to produce good results shoot in shoot out comes from conditioning your mind to let you win.

I am sure this will be a great debate...........

Les  

[Anthony Hall]

I certainly agree that it is important to be mentally prepared, focused and confident in everything you have done during the preparation and that you can trust your equipment and loads on the day.

Going to the Pub with other shooters the night before is probably not a good plan :) but....hey it happens.

Confidence.... whatever you need to do to be totally confident is my tip.... doesn't matter if that is generated by what you do in the warmer period...bench setup & technique..... what you do with bullet sorting, pointing or trimming.... case prep..... weighing powder charges, load development or any other thing...... You need to KNOW that it is all right for the day.

To win, I believe you need to have the confidence that you can.....

Cheers

Anthony

[Michael Bell]

This is a huge subject and I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more comment..

I agree with Anthony in that it's probably not the best idea to go to the pub the night before and get hammered!..... I owe you a massive head ache Anthony!

Les asks if other shooters visualise.... I was lucky to have a father who was committed to the idea of the power of the mind having great influence over the body. He used a range of mental techniques to improve his abilities as a salesman and as a sportsman and was  somewhat before his time in regional Australia. "Visualisation" was uppermost in his methods and a little has rubbed off on me.
It's a fact that imagining an action engages the same senses within the brain that are involved in physically doing it!  Concert pianists can get almost as much value from playing a piece in their heads as they can by playing it with their hands. Scientific studies have proven people can strengthen their muscles by simply imagining their exercise routines.

If you're bored with all the crap that's on TV these days why don't you try this....

Close your eyes and imagine you're over your rifle at the range.....you're concentrating on the wind flags...as usual they're being un cooperative  showing 2 reds & 3 greens...What do you do??... have a guess & let one off just to see or do you wait?   I choose to wait...the flags slowly start to change...those 2 reds are now stationary....now they've swung to green and the tails are picking up.....now they're all close to identical...NOW.. let  one off.....  Imagine you're pulling the trigger with correct technique as you know it...feel the recoil....push forward with your shoulder and reload....eyes back up to the flags and repeat the process.

You can shoot an entire match this way if you like,....you can even use this after a match by replaying in your mind that F#$%ing shot that went left out of the scoring ring...recalling how the flags were at the time and cementing on your mind ( for a short while if you're like me ) just how much effect that wind pick up meant!

Combine a little visualisation  at home with an anal approach to loading your rounds and plenty of testing at the range and your scores will have to increase.

 

[Les Fraser]

Agreed belly i thought this would be a great topic and one that everyone who is trying to get the lead in their sport should try. Mental preparation is a coordinated approach to controlling ones mind to train positive thoughts to keep out those (should i shoot now? no wait, the clock is ticking). Lenny Bashams CD on mental management are fantastic and i have listened to them over and over. Each time i am subconsciously learning something new.

I have pictures of my record fly targets all around my reloading room as well as high placed trophies this to me is my focusing time. When i do my case and bullet prep i can recall each round and how it weighed and was put together. As a main part of my prep for a match i will have in  my reloading box all cases that are batched exact by weight, bullet, charge and as i take these out of the box i take them out in an order. However when i am finished shooting the match all rounds are just dumped in together that way i have to do the whole process again. (to prep reloads for a match takes me about 2 weeks all up. not all at the same time mind you just about 1 hour per night) Some may say this is excessive but for me personally it is my match prep time.

Goal setting is a very strong mind controlling influence. Each shoot i attend i right down in a diary what have i learnt from this shoot (usually a day or after the match).

You should try and set yourself goals in stages, something like "i want to get all five shots in the 6 ring or closer on two of my targets today" this is an achievable goal and once you have achieved it then so ok three targets today and so on.

The mind is the most powerful tool you have, There is no such thing as the perfect shot but their is the minds perception that this is achievable. Our bodies are fluid moving continously so you cannot hold a rifle absolutely still nor can you control the external influences such as conditions, other shooters, muzzel blast from a cannon next door. How you deal with these issues is what will define you as a shooter.............

[Nick Aagren]

Thanks for your insights on this topic. It's an area I thought must be important to help perform consistently in fly shooting but wasn't sure where to look. I've located a copy of Lanny's book at the library and being written by a champion shooter and mental management expert, would appear to be a good place to start. The book has got a lot of 5 star reviews on Amazon.

[Les Fraser]

Hi Nick the books are great but the 6 CD's are much better and easy to follow i listen to them on the way to shoots for small bore, full bore, short range benchrest and the fly. You will be well served to type in lanny bashem on the internet he has his own site call mental management. There you can get all your resource information and away you will go.

The mind is a very powerful instrument the more you think positively the better you shoot the better you shoot the more confident you become and so on good luck mate.
cheers Les

[Les Fraser]

Prior to the call of commence fire what are you thinking about ?????

Are you thinking about what the conditions are doing, looking down range collecting your thoughts and prepare for that first shot on the splash plate .... Or

Are you thinking i am going to hit the fly at least once this target....Or

Are you thinking am i in the lead am i last god this is bloody hard.....

Once you fire that first shot don't over analyse it... it's gone if it is way out of the area you think adjust and move on.

Interestingly Anthony on another thread said that he waits for a condition and fires the 5 br hot shots on the target whilst if he was shooting his 284 he would still be recovering from the recoil of the second shot. I totally agree with this aswell however it is not firing accurate quick shoots it is knowing when to stop!!!!! a lot of great targets have become waisted targets by getting trigger happy and going for it.

Once you have got your rifle shooting well then you just have to have the guts to make a decision and roll the dice like everyone else.

It would be interesting to find out from other shooters what they are thinking about pre and post shots fired.......


cheers Les

[Anthony Hall]

Some good points....

I agree fully that quick shots are good to be able to do...and you will do well if you can get them all off before  a condition changes... or if you have picked the right time start,...... but the shot you don't fire when conditions have changed is usually the difference between a great target and a write off......  

Many times I have been 1/2 way or more into a very quick string and just not pulled the trigger on the 3rd or 4th shot as conditions have changed...  That is where your own flags right in your line of sight and at least 2 of them in the scope will make the difference....  I have also fired 4 inside the 9 ring and seen say a left condition start on my flags and gut feel has said hold 1" right and  1" low and let it go, and proved to be correct.... other times my gut feel has said stop..... so I do that and wait again... use the last sighter and go again.

My routine is not to think too much before I sit over the rifle....... just have a good time and enjoy the company, but once I sit, I place my rounds where I want them, check my elbow pad tracking and rest adjustments etc and then watch the flags intently pretending the clock is running... that way I am 1 minute or so into it when the insert bolt and commence fire comes....then just back my gut feel on when to start and my read on the flags... watch where the sighters go and make a decision.... I believe that the shot will be inside the 9 ring....

You can also over think everything and be too indecisive and slow and end up chasing shots all round the target.

My opinion is to concentrate before the commence fire.... and from there just go with your gut feel.... if you are having a good day, feel and the balls to go with it will beat over thinking everytime.

Cheers

Anthony