08-09-2016, 01:37 AM
OK, now I am comfortable that there is more to Arnold than a few generic steps that are simplistic at best. I am keen to hear more about relaxation and centering techniques and we can forget about focussing on the person and his exploits.
The distinction between fine and gross motor skills are familiar to me. Certainly in IPSC handgun shooting where there is a conscious effort at elite level to focus on the trigger finger which requires fine motor skills while the rest of the hand/arm/body using gross motor skills requires less conscious attention. Bearing in mind fine motor skills degrade in situation of nervous tension (combat, competition) along with other physiological responses such as elevated heart rate, adrenaline, sweating, shaking and ocular occlusion (Tunnel Vision). When we are stressed we lose peripheral vision, replaced by Tunnel Vision' which is the brain deciding to focus only on what you are directly looking at when the body 'attends' (psychology definition meaning to move you body posture to best effect when encountering a stimulus that triggers the IAOR response; Involuntary Association Orientation Reflex. IAOR = anything that is a potential threat, novel, unusual or surprising. The IAOR is a reflexive action that is a vestige of our role in the food chain as an apex predator). This would explain why competition trigger weights might not be a good idea for combat shooters and hunters. A case study of this is the NYPD decision to adopt a trigger bar in their Glocks that mimicked the 12lb pull of their previous revolvers. It is called a New York Trigger however was only used in the transition period. A standard Glock has a 5.5lb 'Safe Action' pull; Safe Action being half way between a long double action and a short single action trigger. The theory being that if a person trains for most of their career with a 12lb trigger then in the heat of a real scenario when stress causes fine motor skills to degrade the officer does not notice they have pulled their Glock trigger beyond 5lbs in preparation to fire, with all the potential for accidents to happen. There are now two NY Triggers; NY1 and NY2. I understand one is 8.5lbs and the other 12lbs with departments deciding what is the best compromise between safety and accuracy vis-à-vis the quality of their personnel. The lightest after market trigger from people like Ghost lowers the Glock to 3.5lbs which some departments deny operators access to.
Returning to my training and how this applies to long guns is the notion of the shooter consciously separating the motor actions of the trigger hand. The trigger finger is isolated from the three fingers below. The three fingers utilize gross motor skills pulling the rifle horizontally back into the shoulder or vest. The focus then should be on the trigger finger which requires fine motor skills to function in stressful situations. Familiarity with stressful situations does reduce exaggeration physiological symptoms as operators become inured and familiar with how their body works.
Nice video Montana. Your friend certainly has smooth actions. 'Slow is smooth, smooth is fast'. I used to watch these guys choreographing their moves before a match, simulating when they would change mags, which targets to engage and when; on the approach, when stationary or when reversing. Not often does Prac Pistol entertain 'Hidden shoots' where no knowledge of the target and no rehearsal is permitted. That tends to sort out some who rely on reducing the activity to a choreograph of unrealistic steps.
The distinction between fine and gross motor skills are familiar to me. Certainly in IPSC handgun shooting where there is a conscious effort at elite level to focus on the trigger finger which requires fine motor skills while the rest of the hand/arm/body using gross motor skills requires less conscious attention. Bearing in mind fine motor skills degrade in situation of nervous tension (combat, competition) along with other physiological responses such as elevated heart rate, adrenaline, sweating, shaking and ocular occlusion (Tunnel Vision). When we are stressed we lose peripheral vision, replaced by Tunnel Vision' which is the brain deciding to focus only on what you are directly looking at when the body 'attends' (psychology definition meaning to move you body posture to best effect when encountering a stimulus that triggers the IAOR response; Involuntary Association Orientation Reflex. IAOR = anything that is a potential threat, novel, unusual or surprising. The IAOR is a reflexive action that is a vestige of our role in the food chain as an apex predator). This would explain why competition trigger weights might not be a good idea for combat shooters and hunters. A case study of this is the NYPD decision to adopt a trigger bar in their Glocks that mimicked the 12lb pull of their previous revolvers. It is called a New York Trigger however was only used in the transition period. A standard Glock has a 5.5lb 'Safe Action' pull; Safe Action being half way between a long double action and a short single action trigger. The theory being that if a person trains for most of their career with a 12lb trigger then in the heat of a real scenario when stress causes fine motor skills to degrade the officer does not notice they have pulled their Glock trigger beyond 5lbs in preparation to fire, with all the potential for accidents to happen. There are now two NY Triggers; NY1 and NY2. I understand one is 8.5lbs and the other 12lbs with departments deciding what is the best compromise between safety and accuracy vis-à-vis the quality of their personnel. The lightest after market trigger from people like Ghost lowers the Glock to 3.5lbs which some departments deny operators access to.
Returning to my training and how this applies to long guns is the notion of the shooter consciously separating the motor actions of the trigger hand. The trigger finger is isolated from the three fingers below. The three fingers utilize gross motor skills pulling the rifle horizontally back into the shoulder or vest. The focus then should be on the trigger finger which requires fine motor skills to function in stressful situations. Familiarity with stressful situations does reduce exaggeration physiological symptoms as operators become inured and familiar with how their body works.
Nice video Montana. Your friend certainly has smooth actions. 'Slow is smooth, smooth is fast'. I used to watch these guys choreographing their moves before a match, simulating when they would change mags, which targets to engage and when; on the approach, when stationary or when reversing. Not often does Prac Pistol entertain 'Hidden shoots' where no knowledge of the target and no rehearsal is permitted. That tends to sort out some who rely on reducing the activity to a choreograph of unrealistic steps.
