Are You Adding more “Suck” or “Skate” to Your Training? by TX2Guns

TX2Guns is the man behind The Tactical Hermit and poses a very good question regarding training philosophy and as usual, he’s spot on. As anyone who’s been in the Scout Course knows, the suck factor can get pretty high. Its pushing through it. We learn the most from the severest school. -NCS


I got asked this question the other day by a very close friend of mine and it got me to thinking seriously about my current combative training routine. (and understand when I say “Combative” training routine I am referring to my ENTIRE martial training: Empty Hand, Stick, Knife, Gun.)

Now before I jump into this let me explain one other thing for all my non-military readers. The terminology “Skate” is military jargon that refers to a person who is SHIRKING their duties when they are supposed to be WORKING. To put it simply, SKATE=LAZY!

OK, so first things first, and this is important to answer in any training scenario:. WHY are we wanting to make our training more difficult? Is it to pet our ego? Is it to impress our friends? No, of course not. We are making our martial training more difficult and challenging because that is the way the world works.

The Real World is Brutal! Keeping your training REALISTIC (but at the same time PRACTICAL) ensures that you are going to be in the best SHAPE (both physically and mentally) to not only face what this crazy world throws at you, but also kick’s its ass.

STRESSORS

OK, so one of the most practical ways to add REALISM to any training drill, regardless if it is with a firearm or not, is to add STRESSORS to the drill.

STRESSORS typically fall in one of three categories:

  • ENVIRONMENTAL: This is anything to do with the environment around you where you are fighting. Weather conditions (Cold, Hot, Rain, Snow) Condition of the Ground, Condition of the building where you are at, etc.
  • PHYSICAL: This is anything to do with your physical body. This can include increased heart rate, tunnel vision, loss of hearing, being wounded, etc.
  • TIME: This is the most practical stressor used in firearm drills. By adding time we create the need to be fast but efficient and accurate in our movements and shots. Competition shooting uses this stressor (via a shot timer) as the baseline in which to measure shooting competency.
  • DISTANCE: Most folks believe this stressor is unique only to firearm drills, but it also works with empty hand and knife drills as well.

Here is a clip from Pat McNamara where he uses all Four of the above stressors together to create a very realistic handgun drill.

*Notice how the simple use of MOVEMENT with dumb-bells adds an increased heart rate, which effects the mechanics of making a good shot, combine this with DISTANCE (when you have to shoot more accurately you have to shoot slower) and this drill can be a real ass kicker.

So we can see very clearly that by keeping in good Fighting Shape (strength and cardio) we can not only rest assured we will be able to fight somebody more than 2 minutes without becoming winded but also be able to make good solid hits on target after moving.

Remember when Stress floods our system, our heart rate increases, which in turn increases our breathing, which as we all know, is one of the main factors effecting accuracy with a firearm! *Bear in mind anytime we use DISTANCE as a stressor it will effect the TIME it takes to make an accurate shot.

In the next article I will discuss Square range versus Real World Mentality and why Movement is so important.

Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

3 Comments

  1. Phelps April 15, 2020 at 12:11

    Additionally, stressors break into two categories:

    Distress — stress that harms you
    and
    Eustress — stress that prompts a physiological improvement.

    If you go out and get some sun, you get tanned. This is eustress. If you go out too long and get burned, this is distress. The key to training is to promote eustress and avoid distress. You lift heavy weights to the point of exhaustion, and you get stronger. You lift heavy weights to the point of injury, and you do not.

    One of the best examples of eustress I’ve ever seen was on one of those “amazing warriors” shows where they have kickboxers and tai chi people both hitting stress sensors and stuff. For this one, they got a former Navy SEAL to do an experiment. They had him run a course where he runs climbs some plastic and then makes 3 shoot/no-shoot decisions at the end and timed him.

    They wanted to show the effects of hypothermia, so they dunked him in a ice water bath with a probe up his ass to measure his core temp. When his core temp dropped a degree, they wanted to send him through the course again. The problem is, his core temp wouldn’t go down. He had so much cold water eustress is his adaptation, after 15 min his core temp went UP because his body was adapted to it. When they asked him how he felt he said it was better than BUDS training because there was no sand in his ass crack. They pile on more ice trying to get his temp down until the doctor on hand called it off after 30 minutes. His temp was back where it started when he climbed out to run the course a second time.

    He went and shot the course FASTER after that. Turns out that he needed a little eustress to put him on the razor’s edge to get his actual performance on the clock. That’s how eustress and adaptation works. If it isn’t actively harming you, you are improving when you are uncomfortable. And the more time you spend uncomfortable, not only will you adapt to it, you will perform BETTER in those situations of (what is to you) mild stress. Comfort is literally defined as nonstressful.

  2. Anonymous April 15, 2020 at 19:47

    5

  3. DVM April 15, 2020 at 22:15

    This guy is a real inspiration. Just like you guys at AP. God bless.

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