Focus - blast from the past (old BE-L)

FOCUS



Someone told me, and I can't remember who, about some national champion shooter, and I can't remember who for that either, that when the national champion felt he was at a plateau or in a slump, would change something about his gun. Different sights, grip, different gun, whatever. He did this because it made him focus on the fundamentals again.
Convoluted sentence, but the idea is simple. When things are routine, you can get too comfortable. When you get comfortable, you can get lazy. When you get lazy, you don't focus. If a change in the routine makes you focus, it might get you out of a slump or off a plateau. 


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My suggestion would be to try and change how you approach the shot. I would try and think of the shot not only as holding and firing but add on follow through also. By thinking about following through, you will lengthen how long you are focusing on the shot. What might be happening is you are focusing so hard on taking a shot when your hold is good that at the last second you are so anxious to see what the shot value is that you may loose your concentration for that split second, thus resulting in the 7s and other unwanted shots as well as "loosing your sights" as you put it. Don't know if this will help you, but for me, especially on electronic targets, it is very helpful for me to think about following through instead of flying off the rifle to look at the screen. [an air gunner]


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I had the same problem - losing focus and concentration on the front sight. After some observation, Coach Buljung suggested I was holding the sight picture too long. In his opinion, this causes attention loss for a variety reasons - one of which could be depletion of oxygen. He made the following two suggestions which helped immensely: I'm not sure if one or the other worked or if it was the combined result that did it: 1. Part of your shot plan should include taking in several deep "cleansing" breaths before taking in your final breath which you will hold and carry you thru the shot. Doing this ensures maximum intake\availability of oxygen. 2. "Stop screwing around and holding so long especially when bringing the gun up or down to your aiming point. Get it there, get it settled and initiate positive pressure on the trigger. If something breaks the shot plan - PUT THE GUN DOWN and start over you dope" Suggestion number two is the verbatim instructions he gave me. Feel free to leave out the "dope" part if you adopt any of this advice.
Good shootin to ya

Very good advice. That first one reminds me of Dr. Darius Young.

I would add a little bit to the "cleansing breaths" part above.  CO2 is what triggers our reflex to breathe.  It is more effective to include deep exhales than deep inhales, to ensure the greatest amount of CO2 is exhausted.  Be sure to include the exhale part in your cleansing breaths.

Ed are u encouraging us to be a global warmer?

Jack H wrote:Ed are u encouraging us to be a global warmer?

It's good for the plants...