Navy SEAL Chris Sajnog Shooting Series: Rule #7 – The Importance Of Constant Feedback

By Chris Sajnog, Author Navy SEAL Shooting

Think about any other sport. Now, as you picture that sport’s practice sessions — is there any supervision? Is someone watching them? Coaching them? Of course they are! Any instructor who doesn’t require a supervised practice program is either not serious about making shooters better or doesn’t know any better. In other sports, practices are supervised — all of them.

Can you imagine an NFL team running plays in practice without its coaching staff on hand? Do you think Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics by swimming laps on his own every day?

No! Athletes improve with prescribed programming and feedback. If you want to be a New Rules Shooter, you must do the same thing.

You can practice twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week but if you’re doing it wrong — you’re wasting your time! It’s even worse than wasting your time, you’re making it harder to learn correctly in the future (remember those neural pathways?). But by having someone watch you (or by using video to watch yourself) you can avoid that trap and get better with each and every iteration you perform.

Not only is this vitally important as a New Rules Shooter, its also super easy. If you don’t have an instructor to watch you and give you feedback, then ask one of your shooting friends or buddies to watch you. They don’t even need to know how to shoot — just tell them what you want them to look for and let you know if you do or don’t do it.

For instance: If you’re working on drawing your pistol and you’re isolating (chunking) the movement from out of the holster to a fully mounted position, you could say, “I want you to make sure I’m driving the muzzle straight to the target and not pointing it down at the ground like I’m bowling or up in the sky like I’m fly fishing. If I do either of those, stop me and I’ll do it over the right way.”

If you do this, you’ll ensure that every repetition you do is perfect, and you’ll move along the path to perfection much quicker.

If you don’t have any friends, you can do it yourself with a video camera or mobile phone. Just set it up and record yourself doing the movements. It’s important to make sure you keep checking to ensure you’re training the right way and not building bad habits. When you’re done perfecting your skills, go find some friends!

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I use the slow motion setting on my iPhone a lot with students to slow down high-speed moves so I can show them where they are making minor errors. As you get better, speed will be the natural by-product of a smooth path and you may find this useful.

There are also many other ways you can and should be getting constant feedback as a New Rules shooter. You can use training tools like laser targets, or when you’re at the range, actually assess each round you shoot and use it as feedback for perfecting your technique. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re finding a way to monitor yourself and your training. If you do, you’ll be amazed at how much faster you’ll progress.

One final note is that as soon as you notice a mistake or someone points it out — STOP! Don’t finish that movement if possible. If you do, that’s one way you’ve just taught your body to do something and you’re going to have to overwrite that path as you build a new one. Just stop and either start over or move one step back in the sequence.

So for instance if you were doing a magazine reload and when you went to put it in the magazine well, you missed and hit the side of the magazine well. If you just adjust and stick it in, you just taught yourself to first hit the side of the magazine well then put it in.

BETTER: Stop. Bring the magazine back to the pouch (one step back) then insert the magazine in one perfect movement. You’ve just taught your body that is the ONLY way to do it.

New Rules Review: CONSTANT FEEDBACK

Make sure you have a way to collect feedback every time you train.
Ask friends, family, shooting buddies or use a mobile device to watch you.
As soon as you realize you’re off the path — STOP. Take a step back and start again.
If you don’t have any friends — come find some at chrissajnog.com!

Hopefully I’ve convinced you by now that using the New Rules of Marksmanship, will not only make learning to shoot easier, but it will also save you a lot time and money along the way. Here’s a review of the New Rules of Marksmanship:

BONUS: HERE ARE THE ACTION STEPS FOR BECOMING A NEW RULES SHOOTER:

Read the New Rules series again. Commit them to memory.
Spread the New Rules virally by forwarding this post to as many shooters and friends as you can. Revolutions are easier with more people!
Click on this link and print out the document titled New Rules of Marksmanship Checklist. Go through every step in the list. You will get better!
Start an improvement program using the GPS method outlined, and watch your shooting improve.
Above all other skills — learn to train your mind. Focus it like a laser beam!   Tell your instructor how important this is to you. This is the ultimate antidote if you are extremely frustrated with shooting. If you don’t have an instructor, I’ll be your virtual instructor. Shooting is easy when you train properly and I can teach you online, from home.
Join the discussions in the members Team Room and be part of my community of New Rules shooters and instructors.
Sign up for the New Rules of Marksmanship Online Memberships and Firearms Training Courses.
Thank you for taking the time to read the ideas in this series and consider whether they will be beneficial to you. The Internet has created the most democratic forum there is for spreading ideas that make a difference and letting ideas die that don’t. I will know very soon which one it is for the New Rules of Marksmanship. As I said earlier, the power is in your hands. In shooting, that is where it should be.
Sign up for my free firearms training newsletter.
I look forward to hearing your feedback and knowing about your successes.

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Please welcome Chris as a contributor to The Daily Caller.

Chris’s book goes on sale August 31. Take a moment to check out his book – Just click here to preview.

From Chris: If you’re ready to become a New Rules shooter, you can sign up for one of my memberships at http://chrissajnog.com/membership where I offer low-cost access to all my premium training content as well as the Team Room where members can post questions and get answers they can trust.