Keeping Your Skills Sharp
Staying current in self-defense training
Formal training from a reputable source such as Gunsite Academy
is a critical first step to shooting success regardless of the discipline.
Many times, while teaching at Gunsite, I get asked how often a person should be training to not only stay sharp, but to build on the skills they just learned. While I wish there was a perfect and easy answer of “shoot this many times and this many rounds and you will always be sharp and ready,” that just is not reality. Skills related to the use of a handgun or rifle are perishable. Just like when you achieve a level of fitness, you must continue working out to keep at that level. Then, if you want to increase your skill level, you have to push yourself even harder.
Let me illustrate this for you. We all remember, way back in high school, when we had to take the dreaded foreign language class of our choice. For me it was Spanish. After taking the class, off into the real world I went, never using it in any meaningful way. To this day, other than the common everyday words, the only words in Spanish I remember are lechuga and cebolla, which is Spanish for lettuce and onion. I hate these two things on my cheeseburgers, which probably explains why I remember them. All kidding aside, when you don’t use a skill, you lose much, if not all of it. When it comes to the use of a firearm, this is extremely problematic, even more so if you are using this firearm in the defense of yourself or another.
Training should be an ongoing and lifelong process. Good shooters
are constantly taking new classes and training to keep their
fundamentals sharp while gaining new abilities.
Stop The Rot
So how do you prevent this from happening? First get a good solid base for your first organized training. The first training you get is what you remember the most and it provides the foundation on what all other training is layered on. Now, when you are building the initial base, make sure the training is constructed on the fundamentals of marksmanship. Those fundamentals are really what make your foundation strong for you to build upon. I was so blessed my first formal training was the police academy, which had been based on the modern pistol technique established by Colonel Jeff Cooper.
Keeping the base you have built and keeping it sharp can be done in several ways. Making yourself get to the range consistently is the biggest part but only part — once there, it is important to get in good quality repetitions to build on the shooting skills you have learned.
It is also important to work on the skills you struggle with and not just the ones you’re good at. Shooting head shots at three yards may impress ourselves and can be done consistently with little effort or practice. However, you need to practice the not-so-fun skills so you can be a well-balanced shooter.
When you ponder “what could I possibly need to work on,” when did you last practice malfunctions or support-hand-only shooting? The skills we struggle with are what we don’t want to do because it’s hard and we have to work at it, which makes it even more important to push those items to the top of our training plan.
When practicing on your own, focus on the things you don’t do well
such as support-hand shooting or reloading. Of course, take it
slow at first and keep it safe!
The Next Step
How — if you are regularly maintaining your skills, making it to the range as much as you can and working on those not-so-good techniques — can you take it further and get even sharper? The first suggestion is to take the next level class from your trusted training academy. Upper-level courses will challenge you with things like tighter time restrictions, multiple targets and maybe even force-on-force training where you can apply your shooting skills against another human who can move, react and force you to engage your brain, not just your trigger finger.
Another way to make your skills even sharper is by participating in shooting sports/competitions and club events. There is something that clicks inside all of us when we add a timer and competition against others, giving us that added stress that forces us to get better. Keep in mind that competition shooting is a different skill set than defensive shooting, but the added stress helps keep you and your skills honed.
So, unlike Grandma’s cookies, there is no secret recipe to staying sharp. It comes down to consistently getting to the range for good-quality practice time. Then, find ways to challenge yourself as a shooter, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to get even better.
Stay sharp and when are you coming to Gunsite?
About James
A Gunsite instructor since 2020, James Queisner is a retired 23-year police officer who held various assignments including SWAT, Riot Control and teaching firearms for the police academy. Since retiring, James continues to work in the firearms industry and writes for several firearms-related publications.
