Zak Smith
Member
There have recently been a couple threads over on ARFCOM about competition and training, and neither were as civilized as this one. I am glad to see that THR as a forum sort-of has its collective brain wrapped around the issue of this thread.
Some of the salient points:
* It is possible to get bad habits from competition. It's possible to get bad habits from just about ANY training or practice, unless one pays attention to WHAT he's doing and WHY.
* Competition is an excellent place to develop superior gun-handling, marksmanship, and speed skills.
* Competition shooters in any class tend to have superior gun-handling and shooting skills, which can allow them to focus on the "tactical" part and less on the tools.
* Competition in the form of IDPA/IPSC is a cheap way that virtually all pistol shooters can get regular practice.
* Competition involves shooting stages and challenges set up by someone else. This helps stay out of training "ruts" (IE, you practice the same 5 drills all the time).
* Competition is NOT training, but can (or even should) be an ELEMENT of a good training regimen.
* The mental processes involved in "gaming" a stage are similar - in my opinion - to the "What If..." mental cycle people should be using throughout the day. When I shoot force on force, I want to WIN and SURVIVE every encouter, by doing anything possible, NOT what the assailent expects. To me, this is the same "find the advantage" process, except competition has more constraints.
* Real defensive situations are extremely varied. The tactics to survive any particular situation are going to vary just as much, and there are often many tactics that may allow survival in each situation. Thus, saying that Tactic X is always the right thing to do is probably not productive.
* Employing the same tactics every time will get you shot. Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. Force on force will teach you that.
* This whole debate is really about MINDSET, not necessarily about competition vs. training. There are both competition and "tactical" folks who have screwed up mindset, and great mindset.
* If you take any training regimen and add IPSC matches, I believe the "trainee" will be better off for it, simply because of the complexity of the shooting problems he will have to solve regularly
* Guns and gear that worked great in "practice" often fail in high-volume classes and relatively low-volume matches
Some of the salient points:
* It is possible to get bad habits from competition. It's possible to get bad habits from just about ANY training or practice, unless one pays attention to WHAT he's doing and WHY.
* Competition is an excellent place to develop superior gun-handling, marksmanship, and speed skills.
* Competition shooters in any class tend to have superior gun-handling and shooting skills, which can allow them to focus on the "tactical" part and less on the tools.
* Competition in the form of IDPA/IPSC is a cheap way that virtually all pistol shooters can get regular practice.
* Competition involves shooting stages and challenges set up by someone else. This helps stay out of training "ruts" (IE, you practice the same 5 drills all the time).
* Competition is NOT training, but can (or even should) be an ELEMENT of a good training regimen.
* The mental processes involved in "gaming" a stage are similar - in my opinion - to the "What If..." mental cycle people should be using throughout the day. When I shoot force on force, I want to WIN and SURVIVE every encouter, by doing anything possible, NOT what the assailent expects. To me, this is the same "find the advantage" process, except competition has more constraints.
* Real defensive situations are extremely varied. The tactics to survive any particular situation are going to vary just as much, and there are often many tactics that may allow survival in each situation. Thus, saying that Tactic X is always the right thing to do is probably not productive.
* Employing the same tactics every time will get you shot. Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. Force on force will teach you that.
* This whole debate is really about MINDSET, not necessarily about competition vs. training. There are both competition and "tactical" folks who have screwed up mindset, and great mindset.
* If you take any training regimen and add IPSC matches, I believe the "trainee" will be better off for it, simply because of the complexity of the shooting problems he will have to solve regularly
* Guns and gear that worked great in "practice" often fail in high-volume classes and relatively low-volume matches
