Why Dry Firing and Repetition is the Key to Shooting Well?

By George Emanuel We often hear our instructors admonish us to dry fire. They will encourage us by stating that it takes thousands of repetitions to train our bodies to perform the various steps needed to shoot at a level of competence. You positively need to dry fire between range visits. How much, I’ll give you a formula, 500 dry presses for every live fire round. Want to do less OK? 100, 50, 20. How much time can you spend and how badly do you want it? They will exhort us with chants, “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” These are not mutually exclusive both are true, but which should I adhere to? The answer is more complex than A or B. If you will read to the end of this article, however, you will understand with a little effort exactly why they are two edges of the same blade. We need to begin with our cerebral cortex. And then onto the nerves, and finally achieve the result we wish to achieve. You tell your brain that you want to perform the “X” function using your right hand. This fires the synapses which activate your nerves. There are billions of nerves in our brain that process our requests and put into effect the motion we tell the brain we want to accomplish. There are many more nerves between our nerves and our trigger finger for example. That nerve finds a path to the next nerve, and that to the next, and so on until the action is completed This involves countless nerves along the “pathway” to completion. These pathways which convey the action signal are known as “neural pathways.” There may be several options, but one will be optimal. If we use the Identical neural pathway each time we perform that specific movement a wonderful substance called myelin envelops the nerves and isolates them for that specific movement. This “coating” is akin to the insulation on an electrical wire. It insulates the nerve path from going astray on its way to the desired destination. Bit by precious little bit the myelin is built up to do its job of keeping the order on track for execution. Now that you understand that the fun begins. The more myelin is built up on the neural pathway, the faster the signal can reach its destination. It takes a lot of precise repetitions to insulate the pathway to achieve the result time after time, and even more to build speed. Boys, and girls, this is not Rocket Science. It is just this simple, but please think of the above process as you ponder the following advice from your instructor. “It will take thousands of repetitions to be able to do this (pick something like the correct trigger press or reset) repeatedly time after time. Now let’s go back to the “baby” for an illustration. In learning to walk, a baby pulls themselves up somewhat tentatively to a standing posture. Then Boom, down they go. They don’t give up though, they know they are not meant to crawl forever. So, what do they do? They get back up and try again. After a time they can stand, though somewhat wobbly as they have built some myelin, but need more. So they keep getting up, they fall, and they get up. Finally, they stand pretty steadily. Next, they get adventurous and take a step, and down they go. Each day they “practice” the first step is a day closer to the second. It’s not long before they are running around the house and terrorizing the family as they laugh a giggle. If you figured they were developing myelin as they fell and got back up, you’d be correct. They continued to build it and now they have enough to send those signals from the cerebral cortex at the speed of light, through the correct neural pathway to be able to run all over the house. They laugh and giggle because they are happy. Happiness comes from success, and success comes from work. The baby can’t speak, but he knows he succeeded. We know he succeeded because he did not give up, he put in the work. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. The moral of the story reverts to being a baby. Don’t quit, keep going, fall, get up, rinse and repeat. Each of us is different, and success will come easier to some than others, but it is within everyone’s grasp. I never criticize a student who is working hard and struggling, rather I will reach out to help, and encourage them. Ask for my help if your homework is distasteful and undone. I will put my foot up your ass and tell you not to waste my time. Instructors do their best and should not be expected to accept less than their students’ best in return. If I am not challenging my students, I am not doing my job. It’s not that you are not good enough for me, it IS that you are not as good as you can be for yourself. By challenging you your success proves I was right.