Mike Hughes Blog

This page is dedicated to providing information on various training subjects. The objective of each post is to provide training value in a particular topic. You can search the topics by clicking on one of topic listings below. If you have any training information that you would like to share, send it over! mike@nextleveltraining.com
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AM Training: Forward Movement Drill

February 22nd, 2012

Early morning, cold (in every way), hit a drill right of the rip without warm up. You won't have a warm up when you shoot when you need it so practice and see where you are at cold. This Drill is a simple drill where you have to decelerate from a forward run which taxes your fundamentals. It consists of two shots at each position of 25 yrds, advance to 20 yrds, 15 yrds and finally two shots at 10 yards. It is harder than it looks. Be sure to be 100% cold, no warm ups, sight picture, dry run or dry fire. Just grab the gun and go!

There is something challenging about decelerating from a forward run and shooting. The 25 yard shot right off the rip can be very humbling. At that distance it is about sights and trigger mechanics. However, as you finish at the 10 yard line, push your self, by this time you can use more natural point of aim and your transition time should be lower (faster).

High Speed Camera Analysis of Recoil Management

December 15th, 2011

This video looks at the cycling of the live fire gun at about .15-.17s shot splits with a high speed 1000 fps camera. The results are quite interesting.

Starting Out: Refresher of the Basics

November 7th, 2011

Have to start with the basics. Fundamentals are critical and before starting high volume training we must have the best technique possible. Grip and stance are absolutely fundamental. To test grip and stance we strongly suggest engaging in rapid shot drills to validate grip and stance. The Heckens videos go through the the fundamentals with a slant to providing information for instructors. The series of 6 videos are directed to shooters whether they are starting out or experienced. A few of the queuing points are useful to get you body in a versatile shooting stance and grip.

Training Cardio with Pistolcraft

November 2nd, 2011

This video shows working some AM cardio with a SIRT Pistol. You don't necessarily need a gym to do some of these movements. It is important to remember that a fitness regimen needs to be complete, this video is focused on cardio. An example of a pure focused power and strenth training is shown here.

See the other tactical fitness videos such as the integrated pistocraft-cardio video the integrated pistocraft-cardio training post by the American Heros Champion SWAT Team. If you are a CrossFit fanatic, check out the pistolcraft skills integrated in a CrossFit workout. Stay tuned and take a look at the tactical fitness training modules for other training modules that integrate pistolcraft with strength, cardio and physical training.

Scotti Files: Week 2; Session 2: Setting up and shooting.

September 27th, 2011

Week two, training fourth training session overall! This training first addresses movement where Scotti trains decelerating into position and breaks a shot as soon as possible. this

Poul Ups!!

September 16th, 2011

Poul Ups are one of the first pure strength movements that can be properly combined with fine motor skill movements and body control with pistolcraft. Poul Christensen of Denmark came up with this concept and it is nothing short of brilliant. The movement is a derivative of horizontal pull-ups but with one hand and torqueing the body to an upward stable position while breaking a shot. Poul is former Danish Military and distributing the SIRT and providing training with his business partner Lars Hagemann in Europe.

Although this movement requires a great deal of strength, the fine motor movements require exceptional trigger control. The sight will not stay very steady as the body gets tired. Therefore the shooter has to execute solid trigger mechanics to break the shot as sight picture becomes acceptable. Generally sight picture is only acceptable for a short window so we have to break the shot on demand and not disturb the muzzle (or sufer a miss!).

Training in Georgia with Dave Sevigny of Sevigny Performance

September 11th, 2011

Here are three videos training with Dave Sevigny. Sevigny shows how to drive an open gun (a gun with red dot scopes, muzzle compensator, etc.) while maintaining acceptable accuracy. The latter two video illustrate driving a gun to get good hits while under time pressure. The swinger is activated by the falling steel. It takes some time for the swinging target to be visable, so there is a brief window of opportunity to shoot the two static targets (with 2 shots each). If you expand the videos to 720p full screen you can see the bullet impacts coming through the targets!

Training Points:

Be delibrate on the steel target. Don't pull the gun off early, have solid follow through.
Snap the eyes to the next targets.
- When targets start moving it is easy to not see what you need to in order to make quality shots
Fundamentals!
- Stance, grip, sights, trigger control... all critical to making the shots under time pressure.

Really not a lot different shooting moving targets from static, but the fundamentals have to be dialed in. Shooting activating targets are great to ensure that we can execute the fundamentals under increased pressure.

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 2; Drill 2; Video 4 Shooting on Move --> Back to Trigger Control Work

September 6th, 2011

This final video circles back to the underlieing skill set to train in this drill, trigger control. The skill sets trained are:

Shooting on Move
1. Training to pull trigger on mid stride.
Trigger Control:
1. Shooting on the move disturbs sight picture so trigger control has to be exercised on demand (with a short window to break the shot).
Knowing limitations of natural point of aim and when to transition to using more sights and trigger.

This video touches upon the concept that mastering the transition from using natural point of aim to sights and trigger is a 1000 mile journey. It takes a lot of reps. The good news is thought the repetitions can very fun and not expensive.

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 2; Drill 2; Video 3 Both Eyes Open

September 6th, 2011

Now we get into the action. The last video introduced the drill, now let her roll! As predicted Scotti was a little bit undisciplined with her muzzle awareness, nothing too bad but still, it needs to be pointed out. This video demonstrates:

Safety!
1. Teach muzzle awareness to new shooters. Don't sweep others or themselves.
2. Get finger off of trigger and indexed on frame when not engaging targets
3. Make new shooters aware when they screw up the above two rules. Get away from just shooting behind a table.
Shooting with bothe eyes open.
1. Getting both eyes open and start training to hit the correct target when shooting with both eyes open.

Shooting both eyes open is not easy at first. It takes time and a lot of reps to get the eyes working right!

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 2; Drill 2; Video 2 Shooting on Move, I Mean Trigger Control Work and Safety

September 5th, 2011

Safety!
1. Teach muzzle awareness to new shooters
2. Get finger off of trigger and indexed on frame when not engaging targets
3. Make new shooters aware when they screw up the above two rules, if they have attitude, crush them.
Trigger Control:
1. Shooting on the move disturbs sight picture so trigger control has to be exercised on demand (with a short window to break the shot).

We generally introduce breaking the shot mid-stride, but introducing this advanced technique can be info overload. I threw it in but in hindsight, I could have left this out and introduced it later. It didn't seem to screw her up to bad though.

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 2; Drill 2; Video 1 Shooting on Move, I Mean Trigger Control Work

September 5th, 2011

So its day 2 with a beginner. Of course I want to hit the fundamentals hard core, so what do we jump into? Shooting on the move. This may sound strange, but after working heavy on grip and stance (by pretending to work on draw), shooting on the move really works trigger control. Training points in the video are:

Safety!
1. Teach muzzle awareness to new shooters
2. Get finger off of trigger and indexed on frame when not engaging targets
3. Make new shooters aware when they screw up the above two rules, if they have attitude, crush them.
Trigger Control:
1. Shooting on the move disturbs sight picture so trigger control has to be exercised on demand (with a short window to break the shot).

Ironically, we don't really care about shooting on the move. The drill is just a conduit for grinding in muzzle awareness, trigger finger safety discipline and trigger mechanics/control.

Trigger control is one of the most difficult fundamentals to master. Trigger control is basically pressing the trigger straight rearward (and a little bit up since the triggers pivot about a pin for non 1911s) and not disturbing the sights. Once we feel good about ourselves in slow controlled fire, when the heat turns up and we have to break the trigger on demand, mechanics go to heck.

When we shoot on the move, there is inherent sight disturbance. When the sights get on target (particular at further shots) there is a brief window to break the shot. Therefore, real trigger control is being able to break the shot on demand with quality of movement. Sounds simple but difficult to master.

With Scotti we through her in the thick of it and trained shooting on the move for two purposes 1) to observe her trigger mechanics and 2) get her muzzle aware and her finger off of the trigger when not engaging targets. Honestly, the SiRT is awesome for these drills. The green laser sweep tells a us a lot as to what the trigger is doing and because the SIRTs are inert (can not fire a round), we feel comfortable going down range from another shooter. Unfortunately, Scotti was using a SIRT Trainer with red shot indicating lasers. Although we could see her hits, the film did not pick them up.

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 2; Drill 1; Video 1

September 3rd, 2011

Day 2!!! We start right off with some live fire. We need a baseline. We are working on trigger control and sight alignment. The target is a reduced size steel auto resetting popper at 20 yards. Not an easy shot.

Ports!! Loosen Those Hips Up

September 3rd, 2011

Derrick Dotson and Mike Hughes get after it and work the port drill. Basic drill, we get a lot of training dry and then hit it live.

Training Points

Loosen Hips Up
Work Trigger Control
Get Quality and Volume of Repetitions

Overview of Eight Fundamentals with Drills Using the SIRT with Instructor Heckens

September 3rd, 2011

This series of videos show the various drills where the SIRT Training Pistol is utilized to help coach the 8 fundamentals. Below is a sample training video of the sight alignment and the shooting off the reset, but click the title or here to see the entire collection of concise, to the point, useful videos.

These draft training videos get to the substance quick and cover:

Stance
Grip
Sight Alignment
Sight Picture
Breathing
Trigger Control
Follow Through
Recovery

...click to see all videos…

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 1; Video 3

August 30th, 2011

This is the third of three training videos on day one of training Scotti. This segment of the first training session focuses on the how the grip should feel and gives practical queuing points on the knuckle overlap of the hands, the palm pressure and getting high on the gun.

This first serious of three videos focuses on stance and grip, but the to train these we talk about the draw. By focusing on the draw, we can establish technique to getting into the proper stance and grip. Also by being distracted by the draw we are working relaxation and loose muscles. This video deals with draw grip and stance.

Coaching Points:

Divide and Conquer
- Cheat the stance and be in the final stance
Minimize unnecessary movement
- Less is more. As Bruce Lee said, "hack away at the un-essentials.
Be loose, relaxed, don't take yourself too seriously
- Loose muscles are fast muscles
Pick you battles to focus on
- A lot is thrown at Scotti but not too much.
- Issues like focusing on the front sight, or relying on natural point of aim are dealt with later.
- Right now she has awareness of the muzzle alignment when she breaks the shots and that is good enough for now.

Basically this serious on day 1 focuses on grip and stance, but moreover, the mindset of being relaxed and fluid. Once relaxed muscles and fluidity are established in the ground, technique can be built thereupon.

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 1; Video 2

August 26th, 2011

This is the second of three training videos on day one of training Scotti. This segment of the first training session focuses on the how the grip should feel and gives practical queuing points on the knuckle overlap of the hands, the palm pressure and getting high on the gun.

Scotti Files: Introduction

August 25th, 2011

This is the introduction to Scotti! The wonder girl that wants to be a USPSA Master Class shooter in 12 weeks. Skip ahead to the first training video to see the training in action. See the entire Scotti Video Series as videos are added daily!

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 1; Baseline

August 25th, 2011

To measure growth we need a baseline. There are many things we can measure, but to start out , we focused on the draw in this video.

Moreover, we can analyze her technique, tightness, hand-speed, etc. A baseline is important to measure improvement and give Scotti motivation when she earns gains!

Scotti Files: Week 1; Session 1; Video 1

August 25th, 2011

Right out of the Gates. This is the first of three training videos on day one of training Scotti. This first serious of three videos focuses on stance and grip, but the to train these we talk about the draw. By focusing on the draw we can establish technique to getting into the proper stance and grip. Also by being distracted by the draw we are working relaxation and loose muscles. This video deals with draw grip and stance.

Coaching Points:

Mike Hughes Top Shot Train Up Videos #2

August 24th, 2011

The two week train up was fast and ferious. Here are two videos taken the week prior to going down on Top Shot Season 3. In these videos I am focusing on training with an open gun. The open gun has a red dot optic mounted to the slide. This handgun has muzzle compensator so it shoots flatter (muzzle lifts less when fired). This video shows some training related to driving reloads fast, pushing the guns limits with controled pairs.