Comments on: Training, Practice, and Testing

By: Training, Practice and Testing « Training for Life LLC’s Official Weblog

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:48:05 +0000

[...] Practice and Testing Posted on April 23, 2009 by trainingforlifellc Brillianter.com has a piece up defining learning to shoot handguns as as being split up between training, practice and [...]

By: Mostly Genius

Mostly Genius — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:52:57 +0000

Tam:

Competition is where you work on your shooting. Work on your tactics in Force-on-Force or the shoothouse.

Actually, that isn’t accurate. Competition can certainly be “tactical.” Force-on-Force may or may not exercise tactics, all of that is driven by how the competition or simulation in question is setup.

…the gunfight is the one where the targets shoot back.

Not if you are doing it right.

By: Mostly Genius

Mostly Genius — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:42:12 +0000

pax:
You are absolutely right. “Education” would be a good definition of books, video, etc. I will try to update the post when I get a chance.

By: Tam

Tam — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:44:25 +0000

pax r smart.

Listen 2 pax.

By: pax

pax — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:11:25 +0000

You need one more category!

Reading a book or watching a video is education, not training. To educate someone is to provide them with facts about something. To train them is to teach them how to do something. When I learned to drive, I took Driver’s Education (sitting in a classroom taking notes) and followed it up by taking Driver’s Training (ain’t dual brakes grand?). College education is followed by on-the-job training.

Firearms schools generally provide both education and training, because you need both. But of the two, training is the most critical. If your education is lacking, you might mess up your own life because you lacked mental knowledge of what you could do, and so broke a law you didn’t know existed or failed to engage when you should have. But if your training is lacking, you might kill someone by accident, because you lack the physical skills to run the gun safely.

The distinction between education and training is very important to people who, like me, tend to be self-taught in most things. Education is very easy to acquire on your own, but by definition, training requires the active feedback of another human — and defensive handgun is one of the relatively few subjects that requires just that. Very little of what a defensive handgunner needs to know can truly be learned from books, videos, or websites. Like most physical skills, defensive handgunnery is best learned through hands-on training.

By: Tam

Tam — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:59:41 +0000

“Most of the trainers I train with agree that IPSC or IDPA are good for shooting under pressure, but only as long as you stay true to your training, and don’t game it.”

Competition is where you work on your shooting. Work on your tactics in Force-on-Force or the shoothouse.

To help you distinguish between the IDPA match and a gunfight, just remember that the gunfight is the one where the targets shoot back.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:51:48 +0000

Most of the trainers I train with agree that IPSC or IDPA are good for shooting under pressure, but only as long as you stay true to your training, and don’t game it. Don’t go to the stage walk through, use your carry pistol and concealment leather, use “cover” properly, etc.
No, you won’t win any matches, but you will perform adequately in a real world situation.

By: Snowflakes in Hell » Blog Archive » Training, Practice and Testing

Snowflakes in Hell » Blog Archive » Training, Practice and Testing — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:12:23 +0000

[...] Brillianter describes the difference between the three. [...]