Solo Training...

John McCreery - Suarez International Staff

First, let me discuss what I mean by solo training. I'm defining solo training as someone who took a class/seminar and is working the skill set. They may have started with a video and found that they were not getting some of the intricacies of how the skills flow. So, they make the jump and get the training. Here they will hone what they learned in the video and take it to a deeper understanding. The small things that may not come through on the video come alive when you are there practicing timing, distance and pressure. On the flip side, the video is a great way to refresh after a course. Sometimes we get caught up and only really pick up a few nuggets while in class. A quick review of a video will trigger things you may have almost forgotten by the time you get home.

Here are a few examples from my own experiences in the last few years of how working with someone can make a difference in the efficiency of the learning curve. First, Richard Coplin worked me through a Murphy T-shirt drill. With out his guidance and working the small details, I probably would have destroyed half of my wardrobe and spent countless repetitions and ammo flailing about trying to figure out how to best work though this wardrobe malfunction. Second, a small adjustment to my understanding of how to use a live hand from Mike Janich to sweep an arm through when you are caught inside. I'd seen it, practiced it on my own solo but, did not have true understanding until working it with someone live. I've also experienced these eye opening moments from Tom Sotis, Roger Phillips and Gabe over the last few years.

Self taught would be how I would describe much of my early "combat shooting." I see a lot of it when I'm at the range now. People who want to buy a gun and go out and just fling lead until they hit something. I was mediocre at best and like many, was willing to settle at that. Later as I discovered videos and other people who had skills I wanted to emulate, my understanding and skill set began to grow by leaps and bounds. Do I still try to be self taught? At times, yes. But, to become truly efficient, I find spending time with someone who understands more makes me better.

Being self taught is better than doing nothing at all. Start with the video. Find some friends who want learn and spend time with them. Watch the video all the way through. Go back and freeze frame and move it forward slowly to get the footwork or body mechanics. Then, get off the couch and do something. Try out the new stuff.

Intensity and Visualization

Situations will arise which are not of your own choosing.
You must be fully prepared to meet them with confidence.
No matter what they may be..." Leonard Hector Grant-Taylor

How do you build confidence and know you can handle whatever threat might turn your day upside down? Practice! Too simple right? Part of the practice should be as hard and intense as you can make it.

Solo practice

Many times our friends, families and training partners are just not available to practice so we have to do some solo training. Katas? Kinda. The trap many people fall into with kata and solo training is lack of intensity and visualization. We just walk through the steps. We give no thought to what we are actually trying to accomplish. It's just a bunch of moves that we do because we were told to do them. Some of our skill sets allow us to train with better visualization and intensity because we know the goal of our training is to destroy our foe. Come on John, how do you solo train with intensity? Ever looked at photos of Gabe when he is teaching and training. You would have a hard time telling there wasn't someone there he truly disliked and had intent on killing.

Firearms

Your visualization and intensity should include shooting at life like targets. Sure, bullseyes will let you work on the perfectly pinpointed shot; but, will it help you move past the mental barrier of drilling a human being between the eyes when the need arises? Will you be so ingrained with the idea of shooting little circles that you loose focus because there is no X to focus on in the center of mass?

Visualization can be used in live fire or dry fire. Either way picture yourself winning. Make yourself angry. Get primal. These people are here to kill you and rape your child/wife/girlfriend! Still willing to walk through your training?

Yes, basics come first. You must learn the techniques/mechanics. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. But, if you stop there you will never realize your full potential. Now do it as fast and angry as you can. Work some over-speed training into it. Now you are angry/intense and fast. Cold War Scout generously shared an article with me on visualization (NAME OF BOOK) It uses the term "Crisis Rehearsal." It discussed how visualization can be like a small movie in your head. This is similar to how athletes use visualization to walk through a course or plays etc. They cited an example of a Vietnam POW that played 36 holes of golf in his head everyday while in captivity. He played better after his return than before he left.

From the article:

Visualization and mental practice allows you to

1. Over learn tactics and techniques so they become second nature
2. By familiarizing yourself with the look and feel of a crisis situation, it diffuses the impact of the stress-shock phenomena. And
3. it imprints learned response patterns on your system so that under pressure they guide your physical reactions instantly and successfully without conscious thought.

Practice multiple scenarios with the outcome of you always winning. Visual the perfect draw stroke, the perfect index of the gun, how the recoil feels, ingrain it into your mind.

Visualization is not a substitute for practice and role playing or force on force. It is will supplement it and put you ahead of someone who finds themselves in the middle of a stressful situation with no prior practice.

Knife and H@H

These skills cross over to knife and empty hand as well. Walking through techniques and mechanics will work the same. Use the same targets as mentioned above to give you a visual target to work angles etc. Now do it fast with intensity. Get the basics down and move on to working strikes on bags, training dummies etc. Go as hard as you can. As Mike Janich said, "Careful, this might feel like exercise." Again, solo training with visualization will not replace working on a resistant opponent that will change distances, speed and timing but, it will help you be better at it.