Motor Learning and Firearms Training: Why Good Reps Matter Most
In September, I taught several blocks of instruction at the ConcealedCarry.com Guardian Conference focused on vehicle defense. Video clips made their way onto social media, and one in particular generated comments that warrant further discussion.
The Danger of Short Form Content On Social Media
By their nature, clips are taken out of context, and you as the observer must keep that in mind. When watching short-form content, you should always seek more information, especially if you disagree with the message you think is being conveyed. Context is everything, and 30 seconds out of a speech, lecture, or presentation does not provide it.
Regardless of language or dialect, human communication has four universal parts: sender, message, medium, and receiver. When you see only a brief excerpt from a lecture or class that you were not present for the entirety of, you as the receiver are missing critical information about the other three parts.
Disagreements run rampant on social media largely because the medium — sound bites and brief video clips — excludes a lot of essential context about the sender and the message. Consequently, the receiver perceives the already limited information through a series of filters formed by their own biases, prejudices, and privileges, often resulting in angry, insulting, or completely off base replies.
Fight Through The Bad Reps
In the particular clip from my class that generated a buzz, I told my students not to complete a bad repetition to avoid fouling their motor programming. Many people vehemently disagreed with what I said in the comments (instructors should be wary of reading the comments).
The combative comments were posted for one of two reasons: 1) The commenters and I disagree on the science, with my educated opinions being rooted in the very well studied and documented science of motor learning and sports psychology, OR 2) they were missing the specific context that was well covered in the class.
Many moons ago, I was taught in the Marine Corps to “fight through it because you don’t get a second chance in combat.” Much later in life I learned this methodology to be not only flawed but extremely detrimental to building skill.
When it comes to training lifesaving skills, specifically with regard to firearms, let’s get on the same page. I avoid the words “always” and “never” because there are often exceptions. Those particular adverbs of frequency are rather absolute, so using them in a learning environment is usually a bad idea. In no way was I telling the students to never complete a bad rep. My advice was specific to the training that was taking place and the practice I suggested they do later.
Training – Practice – Testing
Allow me to define some important terms:
Training is the acquisition or refinement of a skill or skill set under the direction of a qualified teacher, coach, trainer, or instructor.
Practice is the focused and intentional repetition of skills or skill sets with the intention of building a deeper level of competence.
Testing is the application of a compelling force, pressure, or influence to quantify or qualify the depth of competency in that skill or skill set.
When we are learning a new motor skill during training, completed repetitions have long-lasting impacts on how that skill will be performed. This is why new skills need to be broken down into component parts and drilled with intent before being practiced as a whole. Then the whole must be practiced deliberately before any level of pressure testing. The primacy and recency of completed repetitions of a skill are the greatest predictors of success or failure under pressure.
When training or practicing some skill or skill set, DO NOT COMPLETE BAD REPETITIONS. This is not an opinion; it is a repeatedly observed principle in motor learning across a wide variety of disciplines from music to basketball, and most assuredly shooting.
The place for completing a repetition regardless of quality is under testing pressure. That pressure can be something as simple as video recording a timed iteration or performing in front of an audience of peers, or as stressful and complex as “competitive/non-consensual” interpersonal combatives (see Craig Douglas of ShivWorks for more on that).
Under these stressors, we uncover what makes the target skill set fall apart. We learn how deeply the skill in question is anchored in our brains and how to problem solve. Stress also helps us find weaknesses and deficiencies so we can refine those skills in training with our coach, then anchor those refinements with more practice.
Train > Practice > Test.
Repeat forever.
Deeper Dive Into Motor Learning
If you’d like to take a deeper dive into motor learning:
Outstanding perspective on bogus social media comments. Dan you have a wonderful way of articulating training skills to teach what really matters. Keep up the great work !
Concur. My experience, of which I’ll spare you, is too many “gun guys” are nitpicking opinions morons who of low intelligence who can’t discern context. That’s why we have so many lawyers in the USA, too many need them, being dummies an’ all. Was I too subtle?