Dani's Rebel Log

[Dani_Shugart]

Anyone else overdo the caffeine to the point that it starts to have the opposite effect? I think it may be time to back off and re-sensitize, so that when I do reintroduce it, it’ll have a positive effect again. That is not going to be fun. But feeling immediately tired after having it is also not fun.

Still had a decent full body workout this morning, minus any isolated ham work. For some reason, doing full body each session has me revved up and excited to lift again.

The Coolest Accuracy Drill

I can’t stop thinking about this, so I’m sharing it here. The women’s class last week was full with about 9-10 other gals. These women are mostly ages 60 to 80, but there’s one 14 year old, who’s just incredible. And I think we all might’ve progressed pretty significantly in one single session.

Anyway, our instructor had us take a 9x11 piece of paper and move the target out to 5 yards, then shoot three rounds with the tightest grouping we could get.

Then he had us fold the paper in half and shoot another three rounds at the same distance.

Then fold the paper in half again for another three rounds.

Then do it again and again until we were aiming at a teeny-tiny square of paper five yards away.

Then once we shot that, we’d get a fresh sheet of paper and do the same thing all over again at 10 yards. (Shoot and fold until your paper is tiny.)

Then same thing at 20 yards.

Then again at 25 yards.

Then the same thing with the target moved all the way back to the furthest position downrange (27.3 yards). So we did that with a full sheet of paper.

My full sheet of paper the furthest downrange a target can go: 27.3 yards or about 82 feet.

Then we folded it in half and that’s where I stopped. You can see my grouping in the pic way above.

I didn’t fold it again after that. For some reason my ability to focus and aim goes to poop after enough rounds or range time. (Maybe that’s a nervous system thing?) But this drill is incredible at getting ANYONE to hit the target at distances they never thought possible. I sure didn’t expect to do that.

[Dani_Shugart]

A couple weeks ago I heard a fitness podcast where the hosts said women need to train exactly like men because there’s no difference in their capabilities. And at the time I thought, wow, that’s a trendy thing to say, but it doesn’t line up with what I’ve experienced over the past 23 years.

So I was glad to see this from Renaissance Periodization.

Why Men And Women MUST Train Differently

Why Men And Women MUST Train Differently

Every time I come across a video from Dr. Mike, he reaffirms what I’ve always suspected. And usually what I suspect goes against what’s popular to say in the fitness industry.

If you’re a female dropping by, I highly recommend watching that video. Dr. Mike is brilliant.

[TrainForPain]

@Dani_Shugart

For some reason my ability to focus and aim goes to poop after enough rounds or range time

That’s a (relatively) well-established phenomenon. About two hours was the maximum rule of thumb back when I paid any attention. It was way better to do an hour or so every day than it was to have one or two long days (unless you were trying to create stress situations, but that wasn’t to train your shooting, per se).

[Dani_Shugart]

@TrainForPain

That’s a (relatively) well-established phenomenon. About two hours was the maximum rule of thumb back when I paid any attention. It was way better to do an hour or so every day than it was to have one or two long days (unless you were trying to create stress situations, but that wasn’t to train your shooting, per se).

Whoa. That explains so much. I’m guessing scenarios where you shoot, then wait your turn, then shoot again, might alleviate some of that stress, like during a practical / competition set up.

[TrainForPain]

I dunno… I was spending your money, so nobody ever had to wait for a turn!

I think frequency helped mitigate stress. It was just practice, like anything else. Like shooting a basketball vs. scrimmaging.

[Dani_Shugart]

Haha that makes sense!

@TrainForPain

I think frequency helped mitigate stress. It was just practice, like anything else. Like shooting a basketball vs. scrimmaging.

That is a really cool idea. And now I’m thinking of ways to apply that elsewhere.

[TrainForPain]

I think to reduce stress, you also have to detach consequence somewhat. Like when you’re trying to get into a unit, shooting is stressful because you might not make the team. When it’s your daily work, and you can’t lose your job because of it, it’s no biggie.

You see this play out even in pro sports - dudes that thing they might not keep the starting job play poorly.

[Dani_Shugart]

@TrainForPain

you also have to detach consequence somewhat.

I’ve gotta let this marinate a bit. That’s incredible.

The thing I really want to be better at is shooting competitively. There’s no consequence or reward for it either way. So why on earth does my brain freak out when that beeper goes off? It just feels way more serious than our fun classes and drills.

[TrainForPain]

Well, there is consequence because you want it. I think one way to get around it is to practice whatever the tables are frequently (do you know what they are in advance?) to kind of lessen that impact.

[Dani_Shugart]

I think it’s a surprise every time. When I did it the first two rounds required a lot of one-handed shooting and then switching to the non-dominant hand. I’d had a bit of practice with that, but not much. And somehow had a stovepipe malfunction like this:

It should’ve been easy enough to rack the slide and clear it, but my mind went blank and I lost a lot of seconds.

@TrainForPain

Well, there is consequence because you want it.

Oh good point. LOL

[TrainForPain]

Ah! I remember doing weeks where we’d have someone load a dummy somewhere in your mags so you’d have to deal with that.

I’m sure you’re killing it. There’s just some amount of stress associated with the things we care about. How many folks struggle to get 3 plates on bench (or whatever) and then once they finally do, they’re doing like 335 the next week?

[atlas13]

@TrainForPain

someone load a dummy somewhere in your mags so you’d have to deal with that.

Oh god, this reminds me of a story.

We were running some CQB in a kill house, where they had the guys running the course loaded with sim rounds, and other dudes with sim rounds meant to be the red team. It was a training course, so the red team wouldn’t really shoot at you, but they would pop off some rounds to get you startled.

Well, apparently they have dummy sim rounds. I didn’t know that was a thing, but I guess it is. So a friend of mine was running the course with me, we were the first team to go through. Clear a few rooms, all went fine. Go to clear another room, he is the point man. He goes in, sees a red team guy, fires a round, gun jams due to dummy round that none of us were tracking. (They handed us the mags loaded already, so we didn’t see the dummy’s)

It’s at this point I should mention my friend was a linebacker for Navy football. 6”3, easily 230 lean. Without hesitation, he dropped his rifle and freaking PILEDRIVED the red team guy. I mean just took the absolute wind out of this dude. They immediately called a training time out and some of our cadre were laughing so hard that they couldn’t even correct us for a solid minute. Red team guy was very much not amused lol. My buddy to this day will swear that his “unconventional tactics” were effective, and we definitely still tease him about it everytime the boys get back together

[TrainForPain]

@atlas13

unconventional tactics

Isn’t that exactly what you’re supposed to do? He was just actually built for it

[Dani_Shugart]

@atlas13

Without hesitation, he dropped his rifle and freaking PILEDRIVED the red team guy. I mean just took the absolute wind out of this dude.

Kinda wish I could see that! Great story, as always.

If you started a thread of interesting stories, you’d have a crowd of dedicated readers.

[Dani_Shugart]

@TrainForPain

There’s just some amount of stress associated with the things we care about. How many folks struggle to get 3 plates on bench (or whatever) and then once they finally do, they’re doing like 335 the next week?

So dang true. Thank you for the great conversation and encouragement!

[TrainForPain]

@Dani_Shugart

If you started a thread of interesting stories

You should do that @atlas13. I think there’s enough vets/ frontliners here everyone could contribute something pretty amusing. I’ll offer the legendary tale of dysentery and suitcases…

In fact, let’s Canterbury Tales this and kill a wannabe bard at the end! Too much?

[Dani_Shugart]

@TrainForPain

In fact, let’s Canterbury Tales this and kill a wannabe bard at the end! Too much?

Not too much. Do it!

[TrainForPain]

Feels like we’ll see this message again after subpoena

[atlas13]

@TrainForPain @Dani_Shugart honestly, that does sound like kind of fun, I might throw something together this weekend when I get a free minute. Good idea!

[Dani_Shugart]

Today’s Workout

Full body workouts are my favorite thing right now. But what I’m doing could probably be organized better, so I might test out something more like this: Full Body Training For Advanced Lifters

I alternate exercises for different muscle groups every other session so that I’m not doing the same exact routine every workout, but here’s what I did today.

Straight arm pulldowns: 2 x failure
Tricep pressdowns: 2 x failure
Seated cable row: 3 x 10-12
Arnold Press: 3 x 10-12
Leg press: 4 x 10
Booty machine: 3 x 15
Strict, full ROM push-ups: 3 x 10
Rear delt flyes: 2 x failure
Lateral raise machine: 2 x failure

The SWAT Team Test

The instructor for our women’s class is a former SWAT team guy, who created the test his men would have to pass four times a year, with a score of 90% or above, in order to qualify for duty. And we got to take it!

It involves distance shooting, accuracy, and speed.

But your goal is to make a torso or head-shot within a certain timeframe on every round (round in this case is not a bullet, but a timed session). You’re not aiming for those numbers and shapes that are on the paper. You’re only aiming to make a hit within – or on the white line – of that coke bottle shape on the man: a torso or head-shot.

So the target starts at the furthest position away from you. And you must shoot 5 rounds standing and 5 kneeling.

Then you get to bring the target a couple yards closer and do six rounds with your dominant hand and six with your non-dominant hand. One handed shooting with your non-dominant hand is something else!

Then bring the target closer. Do two shots to the chest and one to the head.

Then closer… and the instructions change every time.

But at the end of all these timed rounds, we each spent 50 rounds (bullets).

And then he counts how many bullet holes you got within the coke-bottle shape – or on the white line surrounding it – on the paper and how many outside of it. And that’s how he graded our shooting.

So he gave me a 92% and said I qualified for the SWAT team. Woohoo!

(Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do the round where the lights are out because none of us had a special gun flashlight, like what the pros have.)

Also, a word of warning. My training partner yesterday was in her mid 80s and she’s really good! So never mess with a sweet old lady… she could be packing some serious heat.