I’ve got a sample dry fire drill from Upgraded Shooter that I want to share with you today that combines a few valuable skills into a single drill…
- It’s a shoot-don’t-shoot drill that is truly random that you can do at home, on your own, with friends, or at a live fire range (if they’ll let you)
- It’s a discernment drill to help develop your ability to think and shoot at the same time.
- It’s a drill to help you shoot and communicate at the same time.
- It’s a drill to help you purposely drop, hold, or throw whatever is in your hand when you need to shoot.
- And, as a bonus, it will help with coordinated movement of the eye and improve your proprioceptive system.
These are all skills that are incredibly valuable in a real-life shooting situation that most shooters rarely get to practice.
If you’re not on a live fire range, make sure you’re using a SIRT Dry Fire Pistol, a firearm that you’ve rendered inert, some other dry fire training platform that is incapable of firing live rounds, or an airsoft or pellet pistol with a safe backstop. In addition, remove all live ammo from the training area and follow the dry fire safety rules here.
You don’t need a laser to do the drill. You can do dry fire reps and call your shots by paying attention to where the sights were pointed when you pressed the trigger. You can also do the drill with a pellet or airsoft gun using projectiles, as long as you have a safe backstop.
Keep in mind, this drill looks very simple, but it’s a very challenging drill for many shooters. The ability to speak is one of the first things that many people lose when a situation gets challenging. In addition, it’s very difficult to drop or throw something that you’re holding when you have a sympathetic reaction unless you’ve practiced it in advance. But these are both very valuable skills to have in a gunfight.
If you have to think about ANY aspect of what you’re doing when it comes to shooting, the additional cognitive load that this drill adds will probably make your performance drop off quite a bit. It’s good to find this out at home dry firing rather than in a fight for your life so you can improve your performance before lives depend on your performance.
It’ll all make sense when you see the video, but here’s what you do…
You’re going to have 4 standard 3″x3″ post-it notes on a wall, 10-15 feet away. They’re going to have a circle, square, triangle, and star on them. Between you and the wall, you’re going to have a wiffle ball on a string, hanging from the ceiling so you can toss and catch it. The wiffle ball will have 8 shapes on it…4 red and 4 blue (circle, square, triangle, star).
Before you start, decide whether you’re going to throw, drop, or hold on to the ball after you catch it.
You’re going to start by tossing/swinging the wiffle ball away from you. To make it random, you may want to spin it as you toss it.
When the ball swings back to you, catch it. You’re going to say “friendly” if the shape facing you is blue and “threat” if the shape facing you is red.
Do whatever you decided to do with the ball–throw, drop, or hold.
You’re going to have 4 post-it notes on the wall 10-15 feet away from you with the same 4 shapes. If you have a red star facing you, you’ll say “threat. red star” and dry fire shoot the red star.
Go slow, get your hits, and if it’s too much, I’ll tell you how to simplify after the video. This is a drill that you’re going to want to set up and do tonight. Watch the video HERE.
How to tell if the drill is too complicated:
If the drill causes you to miss the post-it note (with a laser, airsoft bb, or pellet) or you can’t do the drill and keep your sights aligned on the target as you’re dry fire pressing the trigger, then slow down and simplify the drill.
Start off by not verbalizing, shoot whatever shape you see, regardless of color, and do the same thing with the ball every rep (drop, throw, or hold). When your accuracy is back up to where it should be, then start adding complexity back into the drill.
Like I said, this is a sample video/drill from Upgraded Shooter. Upgraded Shooter is where I share some of the most cutting edge firearms training techniques on the planet today…and best of all, you can do almost all of it at minimal cost in the comfort of your own home.
The drills there are completely different than what most people think of when they think of at-home firearms training…It’s quite a bit more powerful than sitting in front of your TV and shooting bad guys, putting a dime on top of your front sight, or other one-dimensional drills that are so common.
And smarter training means more improvement in less time with less cost. It’s kind of a no-brainer if time or money are important to you, or if life saving performance with a pistol is something you value.
Upgraded Shooter is way more than just dry fire drills. It includes cutting edge neurology to help you improve faster with less effort, techniques for reducing perceived pain so you can enjoy shooting more, a step-by-step process to reprogram your fight or flight response so that it works better for high stress shooting performance, and more…a LOT more.
Check it out now by clicking >HERE<
Questions? Comments? Fire away by commenting below.
by Mike Ox
Mike Ox is an avid defensive and competitive shooter who has co-created several firearms training products, including Dry Fire Training Cards, https://se965.infusionsoft.com/go/dftcmedia/loadout
Dry Fire Fit, 21 Day Alpha Shooter, and See Faster, Shoot Faster. His brain based training focuses on accelerated learning techniques for shooting as well as controlling brain state and brain chemistry for optimal performance in extreme stress situations. Learn more about dynamic dry fire training for defense and competition at www.DryFireTrainingCards.com/blog
Photo courtesy of Travis Pike
