Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

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jeep45238
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Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

I'm starting a journal to help me stay focused on my shooting goals, and get feedback as others see fit to give it.

As a backdrop I shoot IDPA, maybe soon USPSA and these will be my focal points. Concealed carry really isn't an option for me for a while. I work on a trucking crew on a college campus, do the national guard thing, and at the end of the month should be at the base full time until I go back to school in the fall.

Previously I shot IDPA before active duty and was usually in the top 15 out of 40-60 in local matches. Platforms varied between 1911s in 45, MPs in 9 and 45, and Kahrs in 40, probably some other platforms I don't remember. I didn't shoot for most of my time active duty, as I was shoehorned away into a SCIF.

I've finally realized over the years that the Indian is more important than the bow, and have settled on a Beretta 92G. I went with this for familiarity with the M9 for deployments, ease of maintenance, durability, and to be a much better shooter at the end than I would be sticking with a striker or 1911. The last match I shot was over the weekend, and got 14/48, and 9/33 in the stock service pistol class. The match was dominated by Glocks and XD variants with some M&Ps for good measure.

Practice time is limited for me, and I'm putting a few dry fire sessions a week in with live fire every few weeks. I'll have a .22 to do accuracy work with in a couple weeks. My up front goal is to chase the accuracy, and let the speed follow. Physically I'm 180 pounds, 6 foot, and get in over 9 miles on my feet daily. My current weight lifting is focused on building strength, and my diet is relatively clean with minimal processed foods (wife is a dietitian, so the good food thing is pretty well reinforced thankfully)

So, here we go.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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TSiWRX
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by TSiWRX »

Awesome! I'll definitely be following this thread! :)
Allen - Shaker Heights, Ohio
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by Brian D. »

I'll make this brief: Great vision is better than good vision. Find an eye doctor that happens to also be an avid shooter. Experiment with different color sights and shooting glasses. Competition rules mandate eye protection anyway, so make the best of it. Until lately (don't know if it's just age, or I'd been missing something all this time) I didn't have any vermillion lenses in my gear. Lo and behold, there are indeed certain times outdoors where they serve me best.

Just mentioning the subject, everyone's needs are different. Told you I'd keep this short.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

********************************************************************************
1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

It's been a busy week physical wise, and honestly lacking on the gun side of things. Hopefully I'll get some dryfire and live fire in this weekend, but otherwise it's been limited to cleaning/lubrication the 92G and cleaning/sorting cases from the last two months at the club.

I discovered that my phone will track miles walked and flights climbed at a reasonable accuracy level, which is good for this job since I leave it in my pocket and have Five Finger Death Punch play to keep me going throughout. None of the buildings I've been in this week have elevators, so I've been hauling everything from rolling chairs to ranges up stairs this week (most buildings are 3 stories plus the basement, and we unload in the basement). Tally for the work week is 48 miles on my feet, and not counting time playing baseball or doing jody runs through town. Yeah.....I'm that guy I guess.

At the gym the exercise I'm focusing on the most are deadlifts, bench press, and squats with other exercises to support those motions. Historically speaking my upper body strength is my major limiting factor, but my leg muscles are much larger than your average bear. This comes from riding bicycles for 20 years, with some races and multiple summers with 100+ miles a day on a loaded bike. I was also the guy that portaged the canoes with a dry bag on my back and chest to balance things out, so you can take a guess where the muscle mass is distributed. That said, my goals for the gym are long term improvement, and I'm not a fan of putting get to XYZ poundage for my needs. As long as the weights go up I'm good.

Excercises are using 80% of your max as a starting point, add more if possible, slightly drop if you can't get the reps. I did mess up on a few rep counts, but for the most part it's been a solid week that I'm still feeling badly. Bar weights aren't figured into the poundage, and standing calf raises are done with a barbell, no machine or smithy.

Monday:
Squats 115x8, 110x8, 100x5, 110x5, 120x5
Leg press 180x4, 230x5, 230x5
Leg extention 180x6, 210x6, 235x6
Romanian deadlift 160x5, 160x5, 170x5
Lying leg curls 95x5, 100x6, 100x6
Standing calf raise 200x6, 230x6, 250x6
Seated calf raise 180x6, 180x6, 280x6

Tuesday:
Bench press 75x5, 70x5, 70x5, 75x5, 75x5
Incline dumbell press 35x5, 40x5, 45x5, 45x5
Dumbbell flies 35x3, 40x3, 45x3
Barbell shoulder press 25x5, 30x4, 25x3 (shoulder did NOT feel good - halted short to prevent injury)
Side lateral raise 15x8, 20x8, 15x8
Face pulls 150x8, 160x8, 160x8
Barbell Shrug 200x8, 220x5, 230x5
Close grip bench press 30x5, 50x5, 50x5
Dumbell tricep extention 45x8, 45x8, 45x8

Thursday:
Deadlift: 180x5, 180x5, 180x5, 180x5, 200x5
Bentover barbell rows 70x6, 80x6, 90x6, 90x6
Widegrip lat pulldown 150x5, 130x6, 130x6, 120x6
Straight arm pulldown 130x8, 120x8, 110x8
Barbell curls 15x6, 30x6, 40x6
Incline dumbbel curls 30x6, 30x7, 25x8
Preacher curl 30x8, 30x8, 40x6

Cheat meal for the week: double quarter pounder with a coke
Morning suppliments: zinc, magnesium, D3, fish oil
Workout suppliments: 1 scoop generic whey, 1 scoop creatine
Water intake: 5-7 quarts daily
Friday AM bodyweight 185
Friday AM fat % 15.3
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Didn't get any dryfire or livefire in this weekend, forgot about graduation parties and had an old neighbor stop by to say hello. Friends first in my book, so not a weekend lost. I cleared my calendar after the gym tomorrow, so I'll be headed to the range to do some work on accuracy work and grip techniques with dot torture. Also going to experiment with calf engagement and how that effects sight tracking.
The link for the targets and drill is here for those that don't know - http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Breakfast was 2 turkey sausages and a bananna, decaf coffee. Lunch was a bowl of applesauce and reheated mexican quinioa my wife made for dinner, had to leave before I could get my 2nd bowl of quinioa in. Dinner will likely be leftovers as well, and a big diet change coming. Wish me luck on that front!

Had a beautifully warm/humid day today, but thankfully the workload was light. Commuted on my bike doing the home/work loop 3 times, and hopped over to the gym for leg day (it's so much eaiser to get a squat rack on Mondays than it is on Fridays). Hopped on the scale with 184 pounds on me and 13.5% bodyfat, so that's going in the right direction.

Today's squat lifting was focused on range of motion, not sheer weight. My form needs a bit of improvement, hence the reduction in plates.

Leg Press - 255x5, 255x5, 240x5
Deep barbell squat - 50x5, 70x5, 80x5, 90x5,100x5 - 100 was about the limit for butt to the ground squats right now. Also had to do after legpress because reasons.
Leg Extentions - 240x6, 245x6, 260x6
Romanian Deadlift - 170x6, 17x6, 170x6
Lying Leg Curls - 105x6, 110x6, 115x6
Barbell Standing calf raises - 250x6, 270x6, 300x6
Seated calf raises - 190x6, 190x6, 200x6
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Hit the range to do a little experimenting with grip, calf engagement, and sight tracking. I'm content with my grip at the moment, though it has a slight right bias, and will refine it a bit over time. The range I go to is set up in a East-West and I shoot in the afternoon, so lighting changes and gives it's own challenges. To that note, I can't wait to replace the stock rear sight and I need to get some orange paint on the front. Gun wise I think I'll get a recoil spring that's one poundage up, an extended mag release, new rear sight, put the right side decocking lever back on and reprofile it, maybe play with some grip tape on the front and rear strap and filing the stock grips down a tad in thickness.

I shot the dot drill three times at 4, 4, and 3 yards without any time pressure and focusing on making my hits. I definately have some work to do weak and strong hand only, and with few exceptions only shot when the sight picture was where I wanted it. I did have one shot that landed nowhere near where I thought it would go, and I absolutely snatched the trigger on that one. The other misses were all called. I'll make my standard for moving the yardage out as three 45 or greater scores in an effort to make it possible, but increasingly difficult.

D represents double action
S represents single action
number represents the string on the dot

Image
First string, shot cold. Didn't have the sight picture discipline I needed after I walked up to score it.

Image
I called all misses on this one, and on dot 10 string 1 my grip wasn't secured and I decided on the fly to shoot it anyway and see what the impact would be with a botched grip versus a good one. Results speak for themselves, way high - and string 2 I snatched the trigger low and quick.

On a positive note, my da/sa transitions were decent though grips show vertical stringing. I'm coming from rifles with a 6 oclock hold, and the Beretta is drive the dot. I'm sure some of it is mentally switching to make that happen, but the rest of it is likely going to be grip refinement.

Image
At 3 yards I did much better, and had several dots with multiple bullets in one hole. I had finally settled into a good mental groove with the exception of one shot, but was starting to feel like I was grinding away at a job and didn't want to start getting bad reps of the trigger in. Sort of like feeling your back start to give in while dead lifting; better to stop than to cause damage.


All in all I did better at this than I thought I would, and anticipate doing dots once a month as a performance tracker for accuracy work. I need to do a lot of one hand dry fire. Some minor hardware things need to be addressed, one major hardware thing (sight picture). Big time software updates coming down the pike.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by TSiWRX »

This thread is inspirational! :) Keep up the good work!
Allen - Shaker Heights, Ohio
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Try the dots without a timer Allen, it's a bit humbling in my opinion. I thought I was on the better side of mediocre, but my ego was checked the whole way through
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by TSiWRX »

Dude, Dot Torture has put me down so many times. :lol: Every time I think I'm anywhere near better, I just whip it out and let it humble me. :oops:
Allen - Shaker Heights, Ohio
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Breakfast of 2 turkey sausage patties, western omlette, and 2 scrambled eggs with decaf and water.*
Lunch was a really interesting, and delicious chicken/cauliflower chopped salad with onion, carront, celery, ginger, mushrooms, zucchini, peas, and cabbage.* 

Dinner was 1/2 a chicken, two bowls of rice, two bowls of green beans with mixed berries for desert.

Preworkout suppliment was 2 servings of C4 taken 5 minutes before the workout started.
Body fat measured at 13.2% - to note I'm using one that measures via electrical currents, so hydration status has massive impacts on readings.

Bench press 80x5, 80x5, 75x5, 75x5, 75x5
Incline dumbbel press 50x5, 50x5, 50x5, 45x5
Dumbell flies 25x8, 25x8, 30x8
Barbell shoulder press 30x5, 35x5, 35x5
Side lateral raise 20x8, 20x8, 15x8
Facepulls 170x8, 180x8, 180x8
Barbell shrug 230x5, 230x5, 250x5
Close grip bench press 60x5, 55x5, 50x5


Strong hand and weak hand focused dry fire is in the works for tomorrow after the gym.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by revred »

What size paper is the Dot Torture target printed on? 8.5 X 11?
"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free, because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything that I do." Professor Bernardo de La Paz in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

"What are we going to do tonight, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Yes, straight out of the printer
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
revred
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by revred »

Thanks! I'm going to have to print some up and give this a try. :)
jeep45238 wrote:Yes, straight out of the printer
"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free, because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything that I do." Professor Bernardo de La Paz in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

"What are we going to do tonight, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

Had a bit fo a setback on Thursday, hand got caught between furnature and a steel door frame. Nothing broken, but an hour later I couldn't hold a glass of water. The swelling went down a lot over night, and thankfully nothing is broken. That put dryfire and livefire back until today, and eliminated the gym. Still tender, so I don't think loading up a barbell is the smartest thing until the swelling is gone.

During lunch I started working on the dry fire base setup described here: http://pistol-training.com/archives/5185" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Specifically I focused on the strong hand and weak hand only shooting, as that is what I struggled the most on.

After work at the range I ran my first F.A.S.T drill (http://pistol-training.com/drills/the-fast" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) on a reduced target. Target was scaled 75%, so I shot it at 5.25 seconds. Since I'm working on fundamentals/techniques I shot without concealment, so my time isn't exactly valid. My first time was 8.07 seconds, clean, second run was 7.29 clean.

I shot a couple 26662 drills ( http://pistol-training.com/drills/26662-drill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) and finished with a dot torture again for kicks. Shot a 49 out of 50 at 4 with dots, so time to move it out to 5 yards. One hand shooting has improved a lot with moving my elbow down and in a little, which helps keep the gun recoiling up and down for me. My thumb is flagged up and forward just shy of the slide applying pressure to help keep the pistol in place.

The biggest place I can see improvement for me is on the draw and working on the press-out. I did some press out dry fire and it's far easier to run the double action this way for me, and produces smaller groups. I just need to make it muscle memory, as when I'm looking back at video I don't see the hammer cocking until the gun is settled down completely on target. After that, I'll start to push the time and trigger a bit more.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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jeep45238
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Re: Jeep's getting back into the groove - a training journey

Post by jeep45238 »

https://youtu.be/A7z9cCnJ_BY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any inputs would be appreciated!
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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