Every so often the Department of Agriculture undergoes a spasm of self analysis and ends up changing the way they present nutrition to the public. The most recent manifestation of this is the new food pyramid that emphasizes an individual approach to eating in a healthy manner and is a lot more sophisticated than the old one.
Of course if you look at the so-called "pyramid" it really is a triangle but I suppose "food triangle" is not as intriguing a concept. But that is beside the point, the reason that the FDA changed the presentation was based on years of research and the growing conviction that not all of us are the same.
This is true of shooters too. While it is clear on an objective level that we all have varying levels of talent, training, and abilities, we all tend to train as if those differences don't exist. As a result our training regimens look alike and for a lot of us that slows down progress. I am willing to wager that the vast majority of shooters train for matches by shooting courses of fire on a regular basis. So you might go out to the club once or twice a week and shoot 50 to 100 shots of trap or skeet and then go home knowing that you are still shooting your average. If you are preparing for an important match you might go out three times that week.
The drawback to that method is that there is very little training involved. Training implies analysis, planning and goal setting and applying those to develop new or better skills. You can see the problem.
But more importantly shooting a round does not take into account the specific set of qualities that make you a shooter. Each of us has specific needs, weaknesses, and strengths that require an individual approach to training, so just shooting a round doesn't do very much to advance the cause.
Not that shooting rounds doesn't help, it teaches you the game and it does allow you to shoot. The problem is that only a small percentage of your shooting is devoted to solving problems or learning how to shoot.
At the elite end of the spectrum shooters put in a full day of training and shooting. It's a job and those shooters live, breathe and eat shooting. I can guarantee they don't just shoot rounds. Elite shooters have a very good idea of their level of talent, weaknesses, and strengths. And so do you, you know their talent levels (high), their strengths (many), and their weaknesses (few) so why don't you know the same about yourself?
Most of us are perfectionistic workaholics who can't stand error or non-perfection when it comes to shooting. Over time we have developed a capacity to ignore those things in our competitive life because there are so many of them. We psychiatrists call that "denial" which for the most part is a good trait to have in these kind of non-pathological circumstances. The problem is that it impedes our progress.
The difference between an elite shooter and all the rest is that the elite shooter knows his or her weaknesses and strengths because it is in his or her interest to have knowledge of those things that help or hinder. Once you are aware of your profile, you can minimize weakness and maximize strengths. But first you have to be aware or you can't change and you might as well just shoot rounds in "practice".
All of this is self evident and I am sure you are aware at some level that there has to be some self analysis or you will not improve. The problem is how do you go about doing this? This is where the pyramid comes in.
Those few of you who remember geometry (there are two kinds of people in this world, those who love geometry and the vast majority of the rest of us) will remember that a pyramid is a three dimensional figure whose base is a square and whose triangular sides come to a point somewhere above the base. The height of the pyramid is dependent on the size of the base, the larger the base the higher the pyramid. It's a pretty good image because it incorporates a lot of ideas into one picture including the need to develop a good base if you want to be your best.
Since the publication of this article is in the November issue of Shotgun Sports, most of you have probably ended your competitive season (or at least cut back) and the major events of the year are over. Now is a good time to look at the past year and renew your training plans and goals. It is also a great time to asses yourself and use that analysis in your future planning. Here is where the training pyramid comes into its own.
Learning to be a competitive shooter is a complex task. There are numerous skills and tasks that have to be learned and not all of us are good at them. And then there is the question of talent.
If you were going to build a pyramid, you would need to build a solid base. Unfortunately, talent is a major component of that base so not all of us will have the ability to reach the elite level. It's a fact of life. But there are other base building blocks including basic technical skills, basic mental skills and fitness levels. So if you have only average talent (and most of us do, otherwise it wouldn't be average) you can supplement that with skills. These are called "basic" skills for a reason, for they are the base upon which all else is built.
The size of the base determines the height of the pyramid so you need to make sure you are as solid as you can be before you start to build. Once you achieve this base you start the hard work. And building a pyramid is hard work, just ask any ancient Egyptian, and it may take a long time. The trick is to make sure you lay down the building blocks in the right order and at the right time. Otherwise you will have an unbalanced structure that will come crashing down and never reach the projected height. Each layer has to be carefully and thoughtfully laid down before the next one is started.
I like this pyramid image for several reasons. For one thing it represents your training efforts and ability assessment in the same image. It also gives you and idea of how much work and time in involved in completing the project and it allows you to look at the various levels of training to see if they fit in the over all plan. It gives you a clue as to your final state (the point of the pyramid) and the analogy of everything coming to a point is similar to the idea that all of your training not only points to one direction, but it gradually all merges into one simple entity at the end after a lot of complex work and planning.
Another aspect of the pyramid image is the relation of the structure to the goals of the game. It is not uncommon for shooters to be able to shoot perfect scores in trap and skeet. Think of that score as a ceiling which the pyramid is capable of going through. Most of us have the talent and basic skill levels to build a pyramid whose peak is above that ceiling. Trap and skeet are set up for the average shooter to be able to hit every shot offered. The trick is to be able to do it consistently in a match environment. This is where pyramid building skills come in.
If your base is faulty it will either be too small to reach the proper height or too weak to support building the complete building. Granted you only have so much talent, but if you have persisted in shooting competitively, it is most likely enough. The trick is to make sure you have good "head on the stock, eye on the rock" technical skills, that you are able to shoot with the same muscle groups without tiring, and have the same mental approach to each shot. If you can do that you will expand the base started by your talent. After that each level of the pyramid is built on the previous one and you learn more sophisticated methods of shooting, tactics, dealing more effectively with match stress, and how to deal with success. But without a solid base you will never have the potential to reach the heights you want.
So how does this image help you prepare for the future? It gives you an easily understood way to asses your situation. You can look at your talent level (I used the percentage method of designating my talent level by at how many targets I hit when I was starting out; mine was 50%), have someone look at your technical skills, and look at your specific and general fitness. If you are not solid, you will not be able to advance as much as you want. Next look at your progress during the last year. This can give you a pretty good idea of how well the layering process is going. If you are consistent but not at the level you want to be, it means that you are stuck at one level but probably have a solid base and prior level. If your scores are all over the place (and you are not a beginner) it probably means that you are learning skills in a hodge-podge way that does not take advantage of the base you are building. Both will need planning and work to change what is going on, but they are totally different things. If you don't recognize that you will not do well in the next year.
As you advance an interesting thing happens. You become more efficient and more consistent. Basic skills become more important and you find yourself concentrating on them more but now with a greater knowledge and focus than when you were just learning. Each layer has to be more precise and is harder to lay down because there is so little left of the pyramid to grasp onto. So that last 2% of training work load may be as hard as the prior 80% or so. The image lets you keep this in mind.
Remember, the pyramids of Egypt were not built overnight and they managed to do it without the technical advantages we have nowadays. No matter where you start or when you start, it can be done.
Take a look at your training pyramid this Winter and see what you can do with it.
MJ Keyes
23 July 2005