Deep Dive with Matt Burkett on the US Rifle and Shotgun Challenge
Matts Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/burkettcustom
If you would like to ask Matt a question: matt@neurio.ai
Chapter 1. Mental Aspects of Training
Embrace Every Challenge
The road to mastery in any discipline begins with a mindset that welcomes obstacles as pathways to growth. In the context of the US Rifle and Shotgun Challenge, each stage, each target, presents a unique challenge to be overcome. To approach these challenges with a mindset that relishes the opportunity to test skills, to push beyond current limits. It’s not merely about competing against others; it’s about competing against the version of one’s self that stepped onto the range yesterday. Improvement, then, becomes a daily pursuit.
Visualize Your Victory
Visualization has been a cornerstone of my preparation for as long as I can remember. This process involves more than just picturing success; it’s an immersive mental rehearsal. Visualize every detail: the weight of the gun in your hands, the texture of the grip, the sight picture as you aim at the target, even the sound of the shot and the smell of gunpowder. This mental rehearsal helps bridge the gap between the physical and psychological aspects of shooting, ensuring that when the moment comes, your body and mind are in perfect sync.
Finding Focus Under Fire
The ability to maintain focus amidst the chaos of competition is what separates the proficient from the truly great. Developing this focus requires a methodical approach. It begins long before the competition, in the quiet of training sessions. Practice tuning out distractions and channeling my attention to the task at hand. During competition, rely on a pre-shot routine—a series of steps that help me center my focus on the present shot. This routine is both a physical and mental checklist that prepares me to execute with precision.
Learn and Adapt
Every shot fired, whether in training or competition, offers valuable data. Successes reinforce effective techniques, while misses provide clues for adjustment. The key is in the debriefing process. After each session or competition, take the time to analyze my performance in detail. What were the conditions? How did I feel? What was the outcome of each shot, and why? This analysis is not a critique but a constructive review that informs my training focus and adjustments for future performances.
Resilience is Key
Resilience, in my view, is the backbone of any successful competitor. It’s the ability to face setbacks with the same determination as successes. Building resilience involves a conscious effort to maintain a positive outlook, to set back into perspective, and to focus on the long-term goals rather than short-term frustrations. It’s about understanding that the path to mastery is a marathon, not a sprint, and that perseverance is just as important as any physical skill.
Purposeful Practice
Your approach to practice is strategic and intentional. Every session has a goal, whether it’s improving accuracy, speed, transitioning between targets, or managing recoil. Design your practice sessions to mimic competition conditions as closely as possible, incorporating various scenarios and stressors that you might face. This purposeful practice ensures that when you encounter these conditions in competition, they’re familiar, and you are prepared to navigate them successfully.
Stay Present
Staying present is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the mental game, yet it’s the most critical. The present shot is the only one that can be influenced. Worrying about past mistakes or future pressures only detracts from the ability to perform in the now. Train yourself to focus solely on the task at hand, treating each shot as if it’s the only one that matters. This single-minded focus ensures that my energy and attention are fully directed toward achieving the best possible outcome.
In conclusion, mastering the mental game for the US Rifle and Shotgun Challenge, or any competition, requires a holistic approach. It’s a combination of mental preparation, focus, resilience, and purposeful practice, all aimed at achieving not just technical proficiency, but mental and emotional readiness for the challenges of competition. This comprehensive approach to training and competition has been the foundation of your success, and I believe it can help any shooter elevate their performance to new heights. Let’s embrace these challenges together and achieve our personal best.
Chapter 2. The Blueprint of Success
Before you load up or even step foot on the range, start visualizing the stage. Go over the course layout, picturing each target, their distances, and angles. Mentally run through the stage, seeing yourself execute each shot flawlessly. This mental mapping isn’t just about the lay of the land; it’s about embedding the course into my psyche, making every move second nature by the time you physically walk through it.
Gear Check: Precision Tools for Precision Work
Next, it’s about ensuring your gear is as ready as you are. Meticulously check you shotgun or rifle, from the action to the barrel, ensuring everything is clean, lubricated, and functioning flawlessly. Ammunition selection is key— choose your shells or ammo based on the stage specifics, considering factors like target distance and the need for tight versus wide spreads. This gear check is a ritual, setting the stage for a confident performance.
Walkthrough: The Physical Rehearsal
Once on-site, walk the stage, translating my mental visualization into physical steps. You are not just walking; you are rehearsing. Where will you reload? How will you transition between targets? Each movement is practiced, deliberate. Identify key landmarks that will trigger specific actions, ensuring that during the actual run, your body knows exactly what to do on autopilot.
Dry Runs: Muscle Memory in the Making
With the stage fresh in my mind, do dry runs. No live ammunition—this is about honing movement and mechanics. Practice your stance, you presentation of the gun, and particularly your transitions between targets. This is where the mental meets the physical—you are embedding each step into muscle memory, so when the pressure’s on, your body executes what my mind has envisioned.
Live Fire Practice: The Final Rehearsal
Now, it’s time for live fire practice. replicate the stage conditions as closely as possible, focusing on the rhythm of the shots, the feel of the recoil, and the pace you need to maintain. This practice isn’t about volume; it’s about precision. Each shot is an opportunity to refine your approach, to adjust based on feedback from my performance. You are listening to the gun, the targets, and your own movements, fine-tuning the performance.
Mental Reset: Clearing the Mind
Before stepping up for the actual stage run, take a moment for a mental reset. Clear your mind of everything but the task at hand. This moment of calm is crucial—it’s where you will remind yourself that you are prepared, you are capable, and ready. Visualize one last time, seeing myself execute the stage perfectly.
Execution: Where Preparation Meets Performance
As you step up to the line, everything fades away except the stage in front of me. The buzzer sounds, and it’s go time. Move through the stage as rehearsed, your body and mind in sync, executing each shot with the precision and confidence that come from thorough preparation. Each target hit is a testament to the work done long before the match began. A note here: your start signal is the “standby” command, not the tone of the buzzer.
Chapter 3. The Continuous Cycle of Improvement
After the stage, win or lose, debrief. What went right? What could be better? This reflection is as much a part of my practice as pulling the trigger. It’s how you continuously refine my approach, ensuring that with each stage, you are a better shooter than you were before.
This approach—visualize, prepare, practice, execute, debrief—isn’t just how you practice for a stage; it’s how you approach the sport. It’s about more than just shooting; it’s about cultivating the discipline, the focus, and the resilience that define not just a great shooter, but a great competitor.
Confidence, to me, is the cornerstone of shooting excellence. It’s the invisible ammunition in your magazine, the foundation upon which every successful shot is built. Let me share with you why I believe confidence is not just important, but essential, to shooting and how it has shaped my approach to the sport.
In the world of competitive shooting, where milliseconds and millimeters separate the winners from the rest, confidence is your best ally. It’s what allows you to stand before a target, a sea of spectators behind you, and execute a shot with the precision and calm of a practiced hand. But confidence isn’t something that comes out of thin air; it’s cultivated, nurtured, and tested, time and again.
The Birth of Confidence: Preparation
Your confidence on the range is born long before you step up to the line. It begins in the countless hours of practice, in the meticulous review of every shot, and in the relentless pursuit of perfection. Every round fired in practice, every technique refined, and every scenario rehearsed, contributes to the well of confidence you draw from in competition.
This preparation is twofold: it’s about honing your skills until they’re razor-sharp, and it’s about building a mental reservoir of success. When you’ve seen yourself succeed in your mind’s eye, when you’ve visualized your shots hitting their mark time and time again, you step onto the range not just hoping to hit your target but knowing you will.
Confidence Under Pressure
The true test of confidence comes under pressure. It’s easy to feel confident in the comfort of a familiar range, with nothing on the line. But in the heat of competition, with your heart racing and your hands sweating, that’s when confidence becomes crucial. It’s the steadying force that reminds you that you’ve faced this shot a hundred times in practice, that you’ve overcome challenges before, and you can do it again.
Learn to channel the adrenaline, to transform the pressure into focus. This ability doesn’t come overnight. It’s the product of putting yourself in those high-pressure situations again and again, learning to trust in your preparation, your skills, and ultimately, in yourself.
The Feedback Loop of Confidence
Confidence is self-perpetuating. Every successful shot reinforces the belief in your abilities, while every miss provides an opportunity to learn and grow stronger. This feedback loop is vital. It’s about celebrating your successes, no matter how small, and using your failures not as a stick to beat yourself with but as a ladder to climb higher.
There have been times in my career when a miss could have shattered my confidence. Instead, I chose to view each as a lesson, asking myself not “Why did I miss?” but “How can I ensure I hit next time?” This mindset shift, from self-doubt to constructive analysis, has been key in maintaining and growing my confidence and it will be yours as well.
The Ripple Effect of Confidence
Confidence in shooting goes beyond the range. It seeps into every facet of life, teaching lessons in perseverance, in the value of preparation, and in the power of believing in oneself. The confidence you gain through shooting will make you not just a better shooter, but a stronger person.
In closing, confidence is more than just an aspect of shooting; it’s the heartbeat of it. It’s what drives us to the range day after day, what steadies our hand when the shot counts, and what picks us up when we falter. To my fellow shooters, I say: Cultivate your confidence with the same care you give to your equipment and your skills. It’s your most valuable asset in the quest for excellence.
Chapter 4. Practicing with Purpose
Practicing with purpose isn’t just a concept; it’s the core of how you approach your training to ensure every minute spent on the range is moving me closer to your goals. Let me walk you through my process and mindset when it comes to purposeful practice.
Setting Clear, Achievable Goals
Every practice session starts with a goal. It could be as simple as improving my draw time, working on trigger control, or as complex as mastering a new shooting technique. These goals aren’t just plucked from thin air; they’re carefully considered objectives that address my current weaknesses and align with my broader ambitions in shooting. Without a clear goal, you’re just sending lead downrange. With it, you’re carving a path to improvement.
Analyzing Performance with Brutal Honesty
The foundation of your practice is an honest self-assessment. After every session, you should review your performance, identifying areas where you excelled and, more importantly, where you fell short. This isn’t about being hard on yourself; it’s about being realistic about where you are versus where you need to be. This analysis directs your focus for the next session, ensuring that my practice time is spent addressing the most pressing issues.
Utilizing Deliberate Practice
Once you have set your goals and identified your focus areas, engage in deliberate practice. This means breaking down complex skills into manageable, repeatable components. If you are working on improving my accuracy at distance, don’t just shoot at long-range targets. Focus on the fundamentals: stance, grip, sight alignment, and trigger control. By isolating and honing each element, you build a stronger foundation for overall performance.
Incorporating Dry Fire Drills
A significant portion of your practice doesn’t involve live ammunition at all. Dry fire drills are a critical component of my training regimen. They allow you to work on technique without the distraction of recoil and noise. More importantly, dry firing allows you to practice anywhere, maximizing your training time. It’s about making every movement second nature, so when you do live fire, you can focus on refining rather than relearning.
Embracing Technology and Feedback
To practice with purpose, leverage technology and feedback. High-speed cameras, shot timers, and even simple smartphone apps provide quantitative data on my performance. This technology helps you identify micro-improvements that might be invisible to the naked eye but are crucial for competition. Feedback, whether from a coach, a peer, or video review, is invaluable. It provides an external perspective that can pinpoint issues you might have missed.
Balancing Volume with Intensity
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that more isn’t always better. It’s not about how many rounds you fire; it’s about how much you learn from each round. Balance the volume of your practice with the intensity and focus of each drill. Every shot is an opportunity to improve, and treat it as such, focusing on quality over quantity.
Reflecting and Adjusting
The final step in practicing with purpose is reflection. After each session, I take time to reflect on what I’ve learned, what I’ve improved, and what still needs work. This reflection isn’t just a mental exercise; it’s a written record. Keeping a training journal allows me to track my progress over time, celebrating the victories and recognizing the trends that might require a shift in my approach.
Practicing with purpose is about more than just shooting; it’s about approaching each session with a mindset geared towards improvement. It’s about setting goals, working diligently towards them, and being willing to adjust as you learn and grow. This approach has not only made me a better shooter but a more disciplined and focused competitor in every aspect of my life.
Chapter 5. Understanding Time and Motion in IPSC Shooting
First, let’s clarify what we mean by time and motion studies in the context of IPSC shooting. It’s about analyzing every movement and decision you make on the course to minimize wasted time and effort, thus improving your speed and efficiency without sacrificing accuracy.
Breaking Down the Basics
Start with Video Analysis: The first step is to record your runs. Video allows you to observe your movements, transitions, and reactions in real-time and slow motion. Pay special attention to how you move between targets, reload, and enter/exit shooting positions.
Identify Key Phases: Break your shooting process into distinct phases: drawing, aiming, shooting, transitioning between targets, moving, and reloading. Analyzing these segments individually allows for a more focused approach to improvement.
Measure and Quantify: Use a timer to measure the time spent on each phase. The goal isn’t just to shoot fast but to make every motion count. Efficiency is your aim—reducing the time between shots and movements without rushing and compromising on accuracy.
Applying Analytical Thinking
Critical Observation: Watch your videos with a critical eye. Look for any unnecessary movements, such as excessive gun movement, inefficient footwork, or slow target acquisition. Ask yourself, “Is every action purposeful and efficient?”
Compare and Contrast: If possible, compare your videos with those of more experienced shooters. Notice the differences in how they manage their time and motion. What do they do differently? How do they transition between targets? How do they position their bodies?
Experiment and Adjust: Based on your observations, make adjustments to your technique. This might mean practicing a smoother draw, working on quicker target transitions, or refining your footwork for better balance and speed.
Implementing Changes and Practicing
Drill Specific Skills: Use dry fire and live fire drills to practice specific improvements. Focus on one aspect at a time, such as minimizing movement during reloads or optimizing your draw for speed and consistency.
Incorporate Movement: IPSC isn’t just about shooting; it’s about moving efficiently. Practice entering and exiting shooting positions with the minimum necessary movement. Work on your footwork to reduce the time it takes to get from one position to the next.
Continuous Feedback Loop: Keep recording your practice sessions. Analyze the changes and see if your modifications are yielding improvements. It’s a continuous process of tweak, practice, and review.
Emphasizing Mental Rehearsal
Mental rehearsal complements physical practice. Visualize your movements and sequences in your mind, focusing on efficiency and smoothness. This mental practice helps reinforce the physical changes you’re making.
Conclusion
Time and motion studies in IPSC shooting are about efficiency, economy of movement, and minimizing wasted time. By being analytical and methodical in your approach, you can significantly improve your performance. Remember, the goal is to make every second and every movement count. As you become more experienced, this analytical approach will become second nature, allowing you to continuously refine and improve your technique.
Matt