Ask ten shooters what real purposeful practice is and you will probably get 15 different answers!
Most shooters who practice would probably call shooting the course with their friends or shooting a problem target over and over ‘til they “get it” practice. But they would be mistaken and will likely find themselves in a slump sooner rather than later.
Our research shows us the folly of that action, which is why most shooters eventually reach the score plateau of 65-75 and for some reason unknown (to them) they just can’t get over the hump into the 80s. Just simply going through the motions and shooting a round will not optimize your range time. In fact, doing so will leave you with a false sense of accomplishment.
There are two types of practice, blocked and random. In all the skill building research we have studied, as well as our 31 years of being professional coaches, we’ve found that random practice far outweighs blocked in any arena.
Blocked practice occurs when your plan is to go shoot the same teal target that you had trouble with at the last tournament over and over and over in the same breakpoint from the same shooting position until you “get it.” It is easy to get trapped into this kind of thinking, because it makes sense that if you can hit a target eight to ten times in a row after shooting at it for 15-20 shots, then you have got it down.
Research has proven that while you might gain some skill in breaking that teal, it will be short lived. After the first two or three hits, when you hit it five more times in a row, your brain was just firing the same sequence over and over. Little is really learned despite the good feeling. Chances are that if you were to see the same teal target the very next day in a tournament that you will have the same difficulty you had before you practiced it the day before.
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