Posted 29 October 2008 - 02:58 PM
I find for myself, I am always faster if I feel the beep surprises me. DonT's advice to just clear your mind and listen for the very start of the beep is good stuff. I think you're onto something with the "waiting around slows me down" thing. There can - though there doesn't necessarily have to - be an involuntary buildup of tension in the muscles while waiting for the beep that slows you down. Instead of using that time to get tense, use it to relax. If you clear your mind you can't, by definition, anticipate the beep.
Also to expand a bit on what DonT said. On the 3GM DVD, Max Michel says something to the effect of, "Remember, there are four letters in "Beep." B. E. E. P. What you want to be listening for, and going on, is the 'b' in Beep." That seems to be a good way to think of it - it works for me.
Pride and fear are emotions, which hope for an outcome. Outcomes take your attention from the present, where the shooting happens, to the future. It is totally impossible to do anything in the future, because it hasn't happened yet. The key to shooting your best is to be present as the witness of the shooting. Do not judge, do not give yourself anything to live up to. We can only shoot as well as we have trained ourselves to shoot. To try to shoot only induces stress. Be content with your current ability. And accumulate practice to improve that ability. Consolidate, build strength where you feel weakness. We cannot raise our ability until we accept our current limitations. Practice dissolves limitations. Matches simply define where the current limits exist. The game of shooting is all about redefining our limits.
- Sam
Amateurs do it til they get it right. Professionals do it til they can't get it wrong.
"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
- Paul "Bear" Bryant
"The only reason why Everest is the highest mountain ever climbed is because it's the highest. If there was one higher, I bet there'd be people trying to climb it."
- Jack Barnes