01/09/2022
Every day a Training Day..
All of us have heard this statement, but many don’t quite understand what it means, so I am going to run through a couple types of “training”.
FIRST OFF: Follow the 4 Fundamentals of Firearm Safety!
1) TREAT ALL fi****ms as if they are loaded.
2) Do not point the firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy ie: Do not point at yourself or anyone else, unless you need to shoot them..
3) Keep your FINGER OFF the trigger until your sights are on target and you are ready to fire.
4) KNOW your target, what is in front of and behind the target, and make sure you are safe to fire.
PHYSICAL MANIPULATION DRILLS: This is where you actually physically training with the tool or technique. If you are practicing your unarmed techniques this would include shadow drills (NOT actually making physical contact with your training partner..) and sparing (“touch” drills or full contact physical strikes).
With your firearm, this can be dry fire drills, drawing / re-holster drills, magazine exchange and clearing drills. This also would be going out and putting rounds down range.
Dry Fire Drills: OK.. FIRST RULE of Dry Fire practice.. . Make sure you have NO LIVE AMMO in the room you are training in. Check and re-check.. If you are training with another person, have them also check the weapon. I used to “pat down” students to make sure there were no “loose” rounds on them, their mag pouches, IN THE CHAMBER..
I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who have had negligent discharges from an “empty” firearm.. hmm Mr. Baldwin.. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure the weapon is empty, no rounds in the magazine, no rounds on your person..
LIVE FIRE DRILLS: This is where you go to the range and shoot live rounds.
FOLLOW THE 4 Fundamentals of Firearm Safety listed above!
Have a plan before you start. I typically write down what I want to accomplish, which takes a couple of minutes. This might be, “7 yd line, from the holster, draw and fire 2 rounds, center mass in 1.5 seconds..” or similar.
It does not take many rounds to have a successful shooting session. There are times where I will spend 2 hours at the range and only shoot 30 - 50 rounds.
MENTAL PREPARATION / CRISIS REHEARSAL DRILLS:
This is probably the most misunderstood part of your daily training, but is actually the easiest to accomplish. This is where you “walk” yourself through a scenario.
We call this “What IF or WHEN This happens..” thinking.. or what am I going to do if / when this happens..
It might be while you are washing the dishes (my favorite chore!), and “what would I do if someone kicked in the front door right now..”. Do I have access to a firearm.. do I have edged weapon skills and can grab a knife.. do I grab the cast iron skillet and go to battle!
I also like to read the news or articles about those who have had to protect themselves and think about what they did.. good, bad.. or ugly.. Fighting is an ugly business, no matter if it is physical fight or a gun fight.. when you “walk” through the scenario, take it to completion ie: LE is responding, what are you going to do?.. do you have the skills to perform first aid on the suspect or self aid, if you are injured? Where are your first aid supplies.. how are you going to call for help?..
As a gunfight survivor, LAPD Sgt. Stacey Lim says, “Mental preparation is preparing the brain for where the body is taking it..”. If you train frequently, your “body” will take over.. your brain will be a couple steps behind TRYING to catch up. It sounds strange, but that is the best way I can explain it.
If you want to read a story of survival, read her story. Put yourself in her position.. NOTE: Her shooting was Off Duty in front of her house.. ANY of us could end up in her position. She was not targeted due to being an Officer.. but because she was driving a nice truck..
Training never stops.. it is constant.
Stay safe and healthy!
SPAR Tactical, LLC
We train on fundamental skills to build into Advanced Skills from Basic Handgun to Advanced Modern Sporting Rifle courses.
