A Training Plan

Training
I just went through a 3 week training course for my job. It covered many things I did know, but some things I had never dealt with. All in all it was a good experience. But it was still interesting and also at times boring. Training is not always exciting and fun. Most of the time it is work. Training with a gun is no different. It’s not always shooting at the range, although that is the ultimate ingredient. Dry firing is an easy, cheap, part of training. Many people start the New Year trying to set up exercise or eating plans. I would suggest you look at your gun training and commit to taking some more formal training and stepping up your training/practicing plans. At this time a year I usually evaluate my program and step it up. Adding drills, dry fire or range time, changing the frequency of your plans, all of these things should be considered. If it’s been a while since you’ve been to a class, maybe you should consider taking another for a refresher. I recommend anything from Gunsite Academy but there are many reputable, good schools around the country.
Here are some things to get you started.
Mindset
Find ways to develop a mindset that will help you to practice ADD (avoidance, deterrence, de-escalation). Also learn and practice good situational awareness.
Presentation
Learn grip, stance, and draw. These are basics but should always be looked after. Stance is not such a big deal since you may have to shoot from any number of positions.
Drawing is probably the most important part of presentation. It’s not so much of a quick draw, although sometimes it can be, but getting to your weapon. If you can flawlessly draw from concealment then half the battle is won. Practice clearing your clothes and any other hang-ups. If you can consistently draw your gun, then you can try drawing from cover or concealment. That might entail sitting, kneeling, laying, or clearing a seatbelt while sitting in a vehicle.
Reload and Immediate Action Drills
Learn to reload and clear malfunctions quickly and smoothly. I will sometimes randomly load magazines with snap caps to simulate a malfunction. If you don’t really see it coming you will be able to realistically react.
Distance
Distance can be your friend if you’re being attacked. But if you must fight, close and engage. Do most of your training from 7 to 12 yards but don’t completely neglect training from 15 to 20 yards.
Different Barricades
In combat, or in any armed confrontation for that matter, you may find yourself unable to stand flat-¬footed and shoot rounds like you have practiced at the range. Getting shot at will wake you up if you are lucky enough to survive the first volley.

The smart person seeks cover or concealment as fast as they can, but the fight isn’t over. You must get back into the fight, quickly. This is where a nine-hole barricade comes in as a training tool. This is the 4 x 4 board you’ve seen with several different shaped holes cut out of it at different levels. You can buy one or make one.

Drills

There are many drills out there to improve many different aspects of shooting. Accuracy is not everything. Especially under fire. Sometimes you fire just to keep the enemies heads down, and that’s called cover fire. Shoot, move, communicate. In self-defense you will not need this. But getting to the trigger fast is equally as important as accuracy. Drills can help you. So can dry fire. I will admit that dry fire is boring. But so is cardio in my workout. But we do what we have to do. Dry fire is easy, cheap, and can be an important part of your training. Drills are designed to challenge you or to help you to repeat some actions over and over. They can help build muscle memory weather they are on the range or dry fired.

Movement

In basketball how you move on the court without the ball is as important as how you move with the ball. Defense is similar in that movement can be a great advantage. Be sure you are moving cover to cover and not just concealment. Concealment is very useful but if the enemy knows you’re behind concealment then they will shoot right through the concealment hitting you. If you keep the enemy changing then you change their OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) and that advantage may be all you need. Granted, most gun fights don’t last very long. So there may not be a lot of time to move off the “X”.

Putting together a good training plan is an important part of self-defense. I would suggest coming up with three or four routines to mix up in your training. This way it will be fresher and more varied. I get less bored working on things I don’t like and less stagnant.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn