[skropi]

I never believed that someone can have a bad day in shooting. I simply can't accept that going through the same motions, can yield a different result from day to day.
Now, obviously, I had, and have, my fair share of bad days. Sometimes it's the bands, which is easily rectified, but sometimes it's something else, not easily explained.
In any case, I refuse to accept this fact.
Today started as a typical bad day. Flyers, random shots, frustration, etc etc. My bands were tired so I replaced them. I carefully measured the new set, to make sure everything was ok. I even sanded down my finger, which took as much time to reach healthy tissue, as if I sanded a frame.
The result? Mediocre to really bad. I have many bad aspects, I admit, but one of them, my never ending persistence, turned out as an advantage.
I decided to shoot like the way I described in the kyudo thread, as I was becoming complacent lately, due to my improvement, and.......YES! Hit after hit after after hit! I seriously expected nothing out of it, but voila, the whole "bad" day issue, was simply terrible technique.
What happens is this. When we reach a certain point, and we are no longer complete amateurs, but serious amateurs, like me, and above, we can sometimes disregard certain technique issues, because we can hit the target even when all is bad. Then, when our consistency suffers, we just think that it's a bad day, as we still hit, just not often as usual.
Maybe it's different for others, I can't really say, but there is a recipe to regain our consistency, and it's simply what we always strived for anyway.....good and consistent technique....

Ps* It's the first time in 5 months that I actually have feeling in my index finger...guys....it's weird ????

 

[oldmiser]

well shootin every day is great...But make it a short session..say 10 minutes..as your muscles get tired..As for my self I shoot 4 differt times in a day

now I have been shiitin for many years....For my self now if I miss the target 3 times in a row...I quite...come back later..cuz your not going to

improve any more....so if you miss 3 times & keep shootin & still are missin....quite....your muscles need time to regenerate..rebuild..you used up

all the energy they have..come back later..in about 4 hours..you will do much better..as for shootin '' judt keep lookin at the target..forget every thing else

just the target..it will all work out....so whe ya start missin 3 times in a row agin ..quit.....hey it suppose too be fun remember.....

just my opinion what does work for me....it may work for others as well.....

akaOldmiser

 

[skropi]

I totally agree that taking a break to recalibrate is necessary! I just take shorter breaks! ☺

 

[sailorruss]

IMHO you can refuse to accept it. but it doesn't mean bad days don't exist. If you can get out of bed on the wrong side in the morning (or in my case the afternoon) then you can have a lame day shooting. Granted I'm new to getting into this.

I am an avid fire arms guy and musician. Which you wouldn't think match up. I have had days where my guitar playing is terrible. Makes people run. And other days I'm spot on. Same with shooting. Some days I'm Clint Eastwood and some days... not.

But breaks! Oldmiser is spot on with that. You can reach the point where your mind wants to do well and you get frustrated, lose your cool, known or not, and then it all falls apart. I'm the same with all kinds of things.

Slingshots are a blast too. So you want to keep going. I'm fanatical when I start doing something. I have to stand back, take a breather... maybe even call it a day and watch some TV.

Or you can do something involving slingshots too. Putting on new bands, check out some You Tube video. It can keep you in a good mindset, you can learn some stuff and keep positive about it all.

Might just fix that bad day.

(I was going to say that was my two cents but I can't find a place to make change so you can have the whole dollar's worth.)

 

[skropi]

@sailorruss
I never get up in the wrong side of the bed ????
Seriously now, till now, everytime I had a bad day, I managed to turn it to a good day, through arduous contemplation, and by just being patient! This is considering accuracy, because if I feel a bit down, there's no cure for that, but I keep on shooting no matter what!
Oh, I did play music too, till I found out slingshooting....then all other hobbies got erased for good ????

 

[Bill Hays]

There's basically two things at play when shooting.... the physical and the mental.... inside and outside forces can and do work to influence both.

For example, when I drive a lot and then try to shoot... well, my nerves are basically screwed up and it takes a day or two for me to get over the drive before I can even begin to start shooting even a little bit close to normal... The harder or more stressful the drive, the longer it takes for me to get over it.

For other people it can be other things that mess with their performance... but the main thing I've seen is performance anxiety in front of a crowd.

When it's difficult to concentrate, or if it's hard to stay on target because of other things... having a mantra consisting of basic steps to help center yourself can really help out.

If I find myself unable to concentrate or if my nerves are simply to jangled to shoot well, I go through these steps in my head and try to follow with my body:

1) Look at target, bore eyes through the center...

2) Take stance while targeting with eyes...

3) Load pouch taking care to center the ammo while breathing in, pushing stomach out to completely fill the diaphram with air...

4) Begin the draw low, pulling back all the way a little before anchoring or finding the pouch holding hand's hold point, while relaxing the diaphram slowly and under control...

5) Target should be a little above where Point of Aim and Point of Impact intersect, so raise to center of target while holding breath.... If there is to much shake, bounce up and down slightly taking control of it, if there's no shake or very little, simply release when everything is lined up and it appears you're on target...

6) The release should be as smooth and under control as possible, as Tex says "release like you're holding a butterfly".

7) After release, hold slingshot in place for about a second and then drop it to your side in a relaxed manner.

If the shot went where I wanted it to go... then I keep the same stance if shooting the same target... if it's a different target, I change up the stance to compensate.... then I simply repeat the steps...

In the past, I have even gone so far as to make a recording of myself going through the steps and then repeating it for a whole shooting session... but now I've got it all pretty well memorized and can do it without to much effort or really thinking about it....

BUT, if I find myself simply unable to center on the target, and rest is not an option... then I do find that making myself go through the steps does seem to help.

 

[skropi]

Good advice Bill! I was having a nightmarish session today, and only when I did what you said, when I went through the motions in a deliberate way, did I find my center. What ms weird is that after I found my center, no more did I have to be deliberate about it, I just shot well without further thought. That means that most of it is simply psychological.
What I have no experience with is crowd anxiety. I mean, I've shot in front of some friends, or my uncle, who has top accuracy to boot, and I was not having a hard time, but I imagine that shooting in front of more people, or competing.....well, probably that needs a ton of experience to manage to shoot well!
If I manage to ever come in the US for a competition, I don't care how I'll shoot though, it'll be enough to experience the event and meet up with all of you guys! (yeah, my aim will be to win the event of course , but I am not admitting it publicly ????)