Controlled Process Shooting helps Target Panic. What is target panic? And how do you go about developing control to overcome these for good? It is a known fact that your mind does not like high-stress events. Shooting any form of weapon system is a high-stress event in your mind. Some form of release of energy (explosion) happens, and your mind wants to keep you safe from that. Therefore, your mind attempts to link bracing movements to whatever movement causes the explosion. That’s what we, as shooters of any discipline, are experiencing on a mental level.
So, there you are on the range shooting your bow. You are doing well, but you know deep down inside that you are not controlling the trigger quite as well as you know to be right. You know you are flinching a little bit or punching the trigger faster than you would like. But your accuracy is fair, and you believe it’s good enough to be successful in your big tournament that’s coming up. Enter target panic! That little flinch or trigger punch you felt at the range has turned into an efficient monster. Now you have adrenaline in your system, and your heart rate is through the roof! You are hoping that all the training you did on the range will somehow carry you through this stressful event. The issue is, it WILL carry you through, but not in the way you were hoping for. With the adrenaline, your mind will be on overdrive. Its goal is to get you out of the stressful situation in the fastest and most efficient way possible. You have trained the physicality of the shot that is about to happen, but not the mentality. Your heart is racing, and the shot process is entirely handed to the subconscious because that’s what you have trained it to do. The subconscious does not know shot control; it only knows efficiency and how to punch the trigger. This all equates to you shooting the arrow or bullet the instant your mind believes the aim is complete, or at least it sees the aim as good enough. Some people black out and do not recall what happened during the stressful event. They may not remember drawing their bow. If the shot is fired in this instance, it will be linked to pre-ignition bracing movements. The mind sees this rushed shot as a success. The solution to this common problem is to train in the mentality of the shot. Establishing a blueprint for your 'controlled shot' is of utmost importance. However, before you can fix the problem, you must be aware there is a problem. You must realize the little punch of the trigger at the range that gave you a minimally satisfactory level of accuracy as you are practicing your own failure in a high-stress event. At the range, you allowed your subconscious to take the shot, so why do you think you will all of a sudden have conscious shot control in a high stress event? Shot control never happens by accident. It will never suddenly find you at your moment of truth. Shot control takes precise decisions to increase your presence and your consciousness in a high-stress shooting event. When you practice the mentality of the shot, then and only then can you start to figure out what is happening in an event. Controlling 'a shot' is asking your mind to handle an explosion. This is just shy of impossible. It is impossible if you have not practiced the conscious override of your central nervous system. When you know exactly how to control your shot, you can focus on systems that will allow you to remember the shot process. You can concentrate on your breathing to keep your heart rate down. When you keep your heart rate down, you remain in the cognitive brain where your shot process lives. If you’re breathing and heart rate get out of control, you will go into your midbrain, where fight or flight responses rule the day. Practicing a controlled shot is practicing a controlled mind.
Shooting Straight with Control,
emmanuel