Paper at 5-7-10-15 yds (2 open, 2 hard cover) Mini popper at 12
There's a huge difference between going shooting–what most people do–and what real training/practice should look like. Having a plan for the day and understanding which specific skills you're trying to develop and how to develop them.

The out of your comfort zone training pace, the exploratory nature, the deeper level of understanding of what's happening with you and the gun, the many mistakes, the difference between focus and awareness, the incremental improvements, the frustrations, how to measure progress, and when things are clicking how to make them consistent. This is just to name a few.

This is training/practice. And where consistency, repeatability, and true proficiency come from. If you're not improving and don't know why, it may be because you're on the wrong road, just going shooting. Listening to influencers masquerading as coaches instead of people putting in the work passing on how to succeed and how not to fail.

Learn how to train, and the improvements will come.

Spent some time on transitions isolating the vision component with this 13 rd setup I put together. Targets staggered with short and wide transitions at 7, 10, 15, and 20 yds. Focus was on confirming some things from dry fire. Keeping my eyes moving very aggressively from target to target while trying to omit any tension and have the sight land where I'm looking with no correction or over confirmation. This was a good test of shooting my vision and playing with different levels of confirmation on the fly.

The longer COF also tests grip durability. Does my grip feel the same at the end as it did on the beep? There's a difference between going shooting at the range and actual practice. You should understand what that difference looks like.

Do you know how well you execute cold with no warmup and in the cold weather?
These factors below can have a serious effect on your on demand execution and be a wake up call that you don’t want. These details should be tested out on the range for any deficiencies to set you up for success in your everyday carry.

29°
Accessibility, flexibility with multiple layers.
Hand and finger Dexterity
Grip, connection to the gun

25 yds - T1 (2 rds) T2 (2 rds)
15 yds - T1 (2 rds) T2 (2 rds) T1 (2 rds)
7 yds - T1&T2 (2 rds each) T1&T2 Head ( 1 rd each)

Time: 17.02
14 Alphas
2 Charlies
HF : 4.46

See you on the range!

Small easy setup with a huge return on skill development. Focused dry fire is paying dividends building on demand skills.
- Improvement on draw speed from the .80s to the .70s with a consistent index.
- More awareness in picking small spots on the transitions, keeping the gun up, and holding consistent grip pressure. Resulting in better performance with higher accountability. Faster and more accurate is a total win regardless of context.
- Vision barrier for added challenge and fun on transitions.
- Reloads on the move are smoother and becoming faster, more efficient, and consistent.

Keep putting in the work.

Personal practice day working transitions and movement from concealment.
4 targets (2 hardcover)
6-inch knockdown plate
Vision barrier
Distances at 7-10-15 yds

Added some doubles and a transition awareness drill to round out the focused day.

Personal cold drill before class starts. Berserker Bill (pistol version)
Time: 25.65
27 Alphas
3 Charlies
HF: 5.61
Train and practice until your cold run skill set mirrors what you're doing after you're warmed up.
Be capable of aggressive shooting with accountability if the context warrants it.

Dry fire work paying off. I've been putting a lot of focus on the vision component. Also, staying connected to the gun through longer COF. This designated target drill confirmed my dry fire.

All I saw were focal points and the awareness of the dot landing softly on each of them. No overcorrecting was needed, nothing but predictable behavior out of the gun, and was solidly connected throughout. My goal was mid 3 seconds consistently for 10 rds on 4 targets randomly spaced. Distance to target was 10 yds. The random spacing and the shorter distance provided some good close to mid swings on the transitions. HF - 13.55

Stay uncomfortable. Push past perceived boundaries. Know your capabilities.

Designated target. The focus is on confirming some dry fire work. Aggressive vision, hard target focus, eyes ahead of the gun, having the dot land on my focal point without having to over correct. I'm looking for where the minimal level of confirmation I need for repeatability and accountability lives. Next is maintaining a consistent connection throughout the COF. A grip pressure that allows me consistent return and predictable behavior.

Pushing the pace in speed without entirely disrespecting the more challenging setup of targets.
- Mini ADAP steel at 15 yds
- Open and hardcover target at 10 yds
- Partial, No Shoot target at 5 yds

Time - 5.78

10 Alphas
HF - 8.65

Your skill set must be accessible on demand and under stress, or it is not a skill set you own.

Two main skills that I'm focusing on:

1. I'm working at a training pace pushing the speed to develop a faster, higher level of visual processing. To know what I can see and where the wheels come off. At this pace, mistakes will and do happen. That's the point. Two things that immediately reveal deficiencies in your shooting – speed and distance. Most things work when you're shooting slow and are close.

I want to see what mistakes I'm making at speed and then correct them at that same speed. Then, if and when, it's necessary to come off the gas to an engagement pace it will seem dramatically slower and more controlled while still being very fast and aggressive on the timer. This translates to a much higher level on demand skill set.

2. With the aggressive movement, aggressive times, vision barrier, and transitions, staying consistently connected to the gun is challenging. This is something I know can be a weak spot for me during longer courses of fire. Therefore, it is a focus during practice.

The only way to get better and develop a higher default skill set is to stay out of your comfort zone and push the pace to where you are uncomfortable throughout your practice.

Refining skills: Vision and movement
- What level of confirmation is needed for available target
- Eyes ahead of the gun on transitions
- Initiating movement while shooting exiting target 2
- 100% sprint between positions
- During deceleration, eyes and gun up on focal point waiting for acceptable confirmation to shoot target 3 while entering into position
- Not overconfirming any sight pictures

Execution of foundational hard skills at the highest level possible is the goal.

Working with 3 targets at 10 yds ,12 rds total with a 180° turn, one hard cover, two no shoots, and a reload. My focus was on being aggressive and accountable. Aggressive vision, keeping my eyes hard target focused, not dot focused, and ahead of the gun on the transitions along with consistent grip pressure. Times were pretty consistent in the low to mid 7's. Lost some time on the reloads that I can definitely tighten up.

For me, working these classifiers is like anything I else I practice on the range. It's about being process oriented and working and developing specific skills. Understanding the path I took to get there and all the details within that. Skills that can then be consistent and repeatable in any context I need. It's not outcome oriented shooting that is merely chasing a time or standard and missing everything along the way. This strategy is in no way repeatable because you have no idea how you got there.

Practice with purpose.

- Aggressive shooting with accountability
- Strong gun handling
- Aggressive visual processing
- Transitions
- Fast, efficient reloads
- Working under a time constraint

These are some of the necessary hard skills for any application or context you need. Stop buying gear to improve skill.

Working on some classifier stuff today. The "boring" work of dry fire and very focused live fire is manifesting into solid improvements and measurable results. No theatrics, no nonsense. Just dedicated practice and development of hard skills for on demand performance under stress in any context needed.

To me, this variation is one of the more challenging I've come across. Still figuring out where the speed and accountability meet. This exploratory pace was doable but was walking the line as far as how fast I could process what I was seeing.

- Very aggressive visual processing keeping eyes ahead of the gun moving from target to target.
- Having the dot land on my focal point.
- Not overdriving the gun.
- Not outrunning the headlights and getting the level of confirmation I need for each target.
- Maintaining consistent grip pressure.
- Trying to remain tension free.

You don’t need a fancy setup to get quality practice in. Working on making transitions a bit more challenging with an open, a partial, a tuxedo, and the debut of the ghetto port.
Skills focus for me was primarily on:

- Vision, vision, and vision

- Keeping the gun up when hunting targets. Working on blending and flowing smoothly.

- Maintaining consistent grip pressure and not getting lazy

The focus here was working on flowing through transitions with some vision barriers for an added challenge to the vision component. The addition of the head box at the end was to force a change in aiming scheme after more aggressive shooting with movement. I'm working on disconnecting what my lower body is doing from the upper body and just shooting my vision.

Another old habit that is finally being broken is lowering the gun or bringing it to a ready position when it's unnecessary. Keeping the gun up, transitioning, and hunting for targets is the way. No jerky movements, just flowing through and shooting when I have the level of confirmation I need for the available target.

You can be much better and shoot much more aggressively and with accountability than you think. Or have been previously led to believe. Challenge what you think you know.

Primarily working visual processing speed for this drill. I was looking to see how far I could push the speed and maintain accountability. The goal was sub 3 seconds consistently. I wanted to know where the wheels came off. A few misses on steel was due to not grabbing a small spot and overdriving the gun. Good learnings.

One interesting note was the change in height between the steel and paper. Because the targets were only a yard apart, the fast shift between the two made finding a precise spot that wasn't too low more challenging. Grip pressure here became even more important. Any changes resulted in the loss of the dot and time wasted.

I'll keep saying this over and over and over. You should see the performance value and defensive utility to these skills.

This drill has performance value and defensive utility. Development of hard skills to the highest level possible to be used in any context you need.

Key components for this drill are:

- Physical stress. How fatigue affects your ability to implement and maintain hard skills.

- Rebuilding of proper grip structure and pressure due to disconnecting from the gun so often. Does accountability suffer?

- Picking up focal point and getting gun up early as you're entering into position to be able to shoot sooner. Knowing what aiming scheme you'll use and what level of confirmation you need for your skill set at each distance with movement.

17 rds total
HF scored
Distances at 5, 10, 15 yds
Cones are spaced 8 yds apart in a diamond pattern
Watch video to understand sequence

Very aggressive and challenging drill. While the MXAD works multiple components, my focus for this day was trying to get faster transition times between targets while maintaining accountability. This goal was achieved while also gaining faster draw speed times and overall Bill drill times with a personal best of 1.69. There are many fast changing variables that could deteriorate your standard shooting performance either in competition or during defensive use. Acclimating yourself in practice to shooting aggressively, out of your comfort zone, and being capable of processing what’s happening at the fastest pace possible is a great asset. It leaves you with plenty of skill to fall back on if those negative variables start to unfold.

Blake drill
10 yds
Exploring what's possible to see where the wheels come off with speed, and where the consistency lies.

This is what practice looks like. The road to proficiency is a minefield of mistakes, it's not highlight reels.

Succeed/fail
Assess
Learn
Develop
Implement

Being able to know what you did wrong is great, but knowing what you did right so you can make it repeatable is better.

First day out live with the new comp rig. Spent the day focused on aggressive vision and transitions with some movement aspects that I was trying to polish up. Good day of development seeing what's possible. Aggressive shooting with accountability.

PCSL targets @ 5 yds
Mini ADAP Steel @ 15 yds
Distance between PCSL targets @ 10 yds

My focus for this drill is solely aimed at EDC (Everyday carry) and is part of my EDC Assessment (available for download in the workshops section in the training menu.) I want aggressive shooting with full accountability. I'm shooting at a pace where I can essentially guarantee that for real-world application.

The proficiency benchmark begins but does not end for this drill with 5 rds in under 5 seconds at 25 yds from a concealed draw. This isn't meant to rival a Bill drill in terms of speed but to assess your on demand skill set for EDC in common areas like grocery store aisles, churches, atriums, and big box stores.

Adding some complexity like a 90° turn is a great way to push you out of your comfort zone and get your vision working more to elevate your skill set. Give these a try and see where you fall on the sliding scale of the EDC Assessment. This can help inform your practice in areas that may need work.

Back to work with a pistol focused personal practice day running the In and Out drill. One of three things focused on for the day. Drill is extended slightly by 3 extra rounds using paper instead of steel for the farther target. But I like this addition. I was happy hovering in the low 7 seconds consistently. Trying to break 7 today was not to be and felt too sloppy. This drill is no joke. Fun and super challenging with a bunch of skills being worked.

Cold drill was a designated target drill with targets at 5, 15, and 25 yds.
Going to the range with a plan is mandatory. I run drills that will help me develop proficiency in specific skills that I want to work on for that day.

Vision:
- Target focused. Not getting sucked into the dot, particularly at the 25.
- Eyes in front and ahead of the gun hunting for the focal point.
- Paying attention and looking for the level of confirmation I need for each target. Efficiency. Not just chasing speed.

Changing aiming schemes on the fly:
- No guesswork.
- Knowing exactly how aggressive I can shoot at different distances and adjusting for that on the fly.
- Not out shooting my vision. Being patient, relaxed. See what I need to see. Don't overconfirm. Shoot.

Work skills. Don't just chase drills.
Skills can be implemented into any application you need.
Striving to constantly refine my skill set for complete confidence in my capabilities on demand and under stress.

The focus was isolating aggressive vision with transitions and movement. Added some vision barriers to the mix to up the challenge. And yes, on the timer, for those of you in the back row. Because time is not a luxury you have from an EDC perspective. Learn to deal with it and be capable of performing under pressure. This is not slow fire bullseye target shooting. This started as a cold drill, but because of the utility in isolating each of these skills and the ability to run it in numerous ways, there was a lot of time spent here. In the cold with a fun snow squall. Solid day of learning, some mistakes, and strong personal growth on the range.

No range theatrics just learning how to run your gun hard with a skill set you can call upon on demand and under stress. This is the way.

Gloves can be particularly challenging. If you choose to wear gloves I recommend investing in a more “tactical” style glove like PIG or Mechanix. When assessing gloves pay attention to these key factors:

- Can you clear your garment quickly, safely and efficiently?

- Can you get a solid strong hand purchase on the draw?

- Can you fit your finger in the trigger guard?

- Can you obtain a proper grip to withstand firing multiple rounds?

- Can you manipulate all fire controls like the trigger, mag release and manual safety (if applicable)?

- Can you perform reloads and clear malfunctions without any issues?

- Can you rack the slide without excess glove material getting bound up between the frame and slide?

You can’t do something you’ve never practiced and expect good results.

This was an end of the day drill with some remaining ammo. You can pull a lot of value out of a limited ammo, simple drill like this.

Here I'm getting practice with:

- Various distances
- Different levels of confirmation
- Reactive and Predictive shooting
- Movement (One hand and two hands on the gun)
- Getting the gun up to shoot sooner
- HF scored (HF - 3.10) for speed and accuracy

End of the day movement drill.

Ran this new one starting at 15 - 10 - 7 - 5 - 3 yds with angled movement to get practice turning toward the targets from both sides instead of a straight run. Targets were spaced 1 yd apart. 1 rd on each. It turned out to be a fun HF scored drill that was challenging enough after a long day. Test of hard skills with some specific focus for me.

Show your hits. Show your mistakes. Show the learning process. Nobody dropped from the womb knowing how to shoot well.

Social media isn't reality. Practice is work and learning. It's dry fire, it's mistakes, it's frustration. It's not being afraid of those mistakes or embarrassed by them. It's a learning process that will get you to a higher skill set and that can be passed on to help someone else reach their next level of proficiency.

If you're a newer or experienced shooter and struggling, DO NOT GIVE UP. The road to proficiency is not found on social media. It's in the work that nobody sees. The dry fire sessions in your bedroom. The focused personal days on the range.

Normally, 2R2 is not something I spend a lot of time with, but having lately put more work into my reloads from concealment during dry fire, I wanted to confirm live. Unless you're trying to conserve ammo 1R1 is not beneficial, in my opinion, because it allows you too much room to give mistakes in vision and grip a pass.

Layers of complexity, performance value and defensive utility.

Adding layers of complexity to drills you may already practice regularly can prove to be deceptively demanding. Bill drills are a great hard skill test of vision, grip and recoil management. Add a layer of complexity like movement and you have a Retreating Bill. This adds performance value and defensive utility. There are countless videos showing real world defensive use with a pistol that mirror this drill. Adding movement takes you out of the static prepped position and makes the vision, grip and recoil management pieces more challenging. As you progress you can begin to introduce more layers of complexity like 90°/180° turns, different hand positions with eyes off target, forward movement then retreating and some realism like single hand draws carrying a baby. This will greatly improve the level of performance in your skill set while holding significant defensive utility.

Things I'm paying attention to:

- Vision piece. Target focus, locking on to a focal point as I'm coming into position, minimum confirmation level necessary. Splits were at a reactive pace low to mid 30's (lots of doubles work has been immensely beneficial)
- Two hands on gun for short bursts, longer run strong hand only
- Enter/Exit in a solid stance, ready to move again, efficiency of movement, no unnecessary steps
- Getting gun up as I'm coming into position to shoot sooner
- Keeping grip pressure consistent (lots of doubles work has been immensely beneficial)
- Fast aggressive movement between cones
- HF scored, aggressive, accurate shooting with urgency
- Hardcover for added challenge

This drill helps develop hard skills for on demand performance while also having crossover defensive utility. A layer of complexity with the 180° turn on the draw gets you out of the perfect stance, staring at your target. Instead, you're forced to move, find your focal point, pay attention to efficiency of movement and execute a fast, safe, and efficient drawstroke. The turn also adds the defensive component of a realistic reaction time to an unforeseen threat. Since the turn adds time to your draw, it's especially important to train yourself to turn and lock onto a spot quickly. Because it is for hard skill development and defensive utility, I challenge myself to not simply accept A zone hits. Groups must be in the fist size range for accountability. Speed, accuracy, and accountability at 15 yds is a good step towards pushing you to learn to shoot more aggressively at farther distances. Adding some mental stress in the form of a timer helps mirror the urgency of a real-world application.

Like the standard drill, this is a great addition to hard skill development as well as having real world defensive utility. Adding layers of complexity like movement, 90°/180° turns, reloads, and malfunctions to tried, and true drills are a great way to improve your overall skill set and keep challenging yourself. Give these a try!

One of my go-to drills for practicing pistol hard skills that also has realistic crossover defensive utility.

Hard skill components worked:
- Concealed draw, consistent index
- Vision, finding focal point, maintaining target focus
- Grip durability, structure, and pressure
- Trigger speed
- Recoil management
- Build confidence in aggressive shooting

Defensive utility:
- Immediate threat
- Severely limited reaction time
- Maintaining threat focus
- Fast, safe, and efficient draw and index
- Urgency, not wasting time overconfirming sight picture
- Accuracy and accountability
- Unknown amount of rounds to stop a threat, confidence in your aggressive shooting skill set because it was established during range practice.

Working close to wide transitions from concealment in my practice session.

My distance to USPSA targets - 10 yds
My distance to 6 inch knockdown plate - 17 yds
Close targets spaced - 1 yd apart
Wide transition spaced - 12 yds

While I was trying to keep the COF under 3 seconds, the speed wasn't my main focus. The higher priority was keeping my eyes out ahead and in front of the gun, being able to visually process everything with the minimum level of confirmation needed and staying relaxed and tension free.

Working from concealment at 30 yds on a 6 inch knockdown plate. Identifying the threat, drawing from concealment, building your grip, finding a focal point, and indexing on the target. Then, pressing rounds off accurately and with urgency while paying attention to your background. To say nothing of the stress of the moment. This is a skill that needs to be practiced because these distances are a reality. Grocery store aisles, churches, atriums, parking lots, big box stores, etc. Build confidence in the capabilities you do have and recognize the skills that need work.

I'm trying to push the speed to see what's possible and where the wheels come off. I want a clean, single hand draw with solid purchase on the gun. Consistency in indexing on the target and only the acceptable level of confirmation needed. This drill was not just about raw speed or precise accuracy. This is not a suggestion to shoot single-handed unnecessarily. It was with a forced (my arm is injured) defensive utility in mind, so urgency and speed with an acceptable level of confirmation and accuracy as the goal. Don't be afraid to push yourself and see where it starts to unravel so you know what's possible and you understand what your actual capabilities are. Then you know where to put in work. Confidence in your skill set comes from work and proven data and performance on the range.

Cold drill – Shooting on the move. What does your on demand pistol skill set really look like? Are you basing your answer on actual data and performance or is it just theory and what you've convinced yourself you can do? If you're carrying concealed every day, this is something you want to be able to answer with confidence. Adding movement to your shooting adds a layer of complexity. Some things that are affected are vision and your perception of the target, importance of a focal point, dot/sights behavior, grip structure and pressure and points of impact. This is a skill that must be practiced and has real world application.

Aggressive and very challenging drill. Skills that are highlighted are visual processing, draw, grip, trigger control, recoil management at speed and trying to remain tension free. One of the most important goals for me is consistency and repeatability. Consistency of gun handling overall, draw speed, Bill drill time, overall time and accuracy of hits. Consistency equates to on demand performance which benefits not only hard skills but the crossover utility for self defense.

A significant amount of our time is spent performing everyday tasks in areas where distance is a factor such as grocery store aisles, big box stores, churches etc. Learning to shoot aggressively at these distances should be an on demand skill set you own. Adding in some complexity to your draws in the form of 90°/180° turns is a great way to enhance not only your technical skill set but also add a bit of realism.

Working at three different distances, 10, 25 and 50 yards. My focus is primarily grip structure and pressure, focal points on targets, and adjusting how fast I shoot based on target distance and the level of aiming confirmation I need from each target.