Recent Posts
The More Times You Create the Pattern the Same Way
We see shooters who are practicing just trying to break the target. When the broken target is a result of a detailed preload and happens just like the preload, you can believe it and begin to trust it. You cannot trust what you cannot see in your mind's eye. Your performance depends more on your attitude and the correct number of reps that any other one thing. Does your practice do these four things?1. ... Read more…
Defining Mental Representations
Creating long-term memory is defining mental representations: a visual image we see when a phrase is introduced to our brain. Long-term memory enables the brain to process enormous amounts of data in a fraction of a second. The pattern recognition via repetitions in deep practice makes the patterns more and more obvious to the brain. This enables the brain to fill in more and more precisely, allowing for the athlete ... Read more…
Deliberate Practice: Three to Four Basic Moves
I went to range Thursday night and shot three boxes. I missed some easy shots but stuck with the program and did not get emotionally involved. I went back to range on Saturday and shot seven boxes and it all came back. While I had a couple of hiccups, all in all, I really felt in control of the targets. I just had a little problem with a long, slow curler left to right and was not giving it enough lead. But I was at... Read more…
Your Brain Needs a Mental Representation
To do anything, the brain must have a mental representation of what it is about to do! The better the mental representation, the better the shot. The better the shot, the better the mental representation, and so on and so on. It becomes a virtual circle when you predict and commit to the prediction! This is what deliberate practice is all about and why there as so many shooters who have spurts of success but never r... Read more…
Predicting with Deliberate Practice
Deliberate practice is about predicting what you are about to do and committing to do just that. The more detailed the prediction, the clearer it becomes for both sides of the brain to be comfortable with the task at hand. Then they become so much better at doing what you want them to do because they have done it together so many times! This is how you build a library of sight pictures that you can access at any ti... Read more…
