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Old February 1, 2010, 04:30 PM   #1
Jedburgh
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Skill Atrophy

I posted this on another site, but thought some of you might be interested here.

You train hard, perfect your skills and develop new ones. You’re a modern day warrior poet, a gunfighter. Always remember:

Is not life a fleeting existence in the present?
A split second separate the past from present,
The present from the future, now and unknown.
The past gone, the present now, future unknown.

Life is fleeting, and so are your skill at arms. Without regular maintenance, how long until your hard-fought skills begin to atrophy? Which skills will degrade first?

A Navy study on the degradation of skills of their Aviation Anti-Submarine Operators showed that the skills and knowledge had “degraded significantly” when tested after 29 days. Interestingly, both the factual and computational portions of the test showed similar levels of atrophy while the classification portion of the test showed no loss. Obviously, I’m not comparing being a pistolero to being a Navy geek but I’ve personally experienced a similar phenomenon. If I’ve gone a month or more without training I can still classify different parts of the pistols and discuss fluently the fundamentals of pistol marksmanship. The loss occurs on the line when I’m engaging “threats.” Both accuracy and speed suffer from the time away from the range.

The Army conducted a similar study on Nurses in an attempt to understand the retention of both Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Following certification in both skills, the nurses in the study (133 nurses assigned to Fort Sam Houston) were retested 3, 6, 9, or 12 months later. The findings show that while theoretical knowledge of both BLS and ACLS skills remained strong, performance skills suffered greatly. The basic skills were retained at a higher rate and tended to atrophy at a slower rate. 63% of nurses retained BLS skills after 3 month and 58% after 12 months. Only 30% of nurses passes ALCS after 3 months with just 14% after 12 months. My takeaway is that your basic firearms skills will degrade more slowly than your advanced skills. My guess is we tend to practice our basic skills more often. Basic skills tend to be easier to train on at most ranges. Many ranges specifically prohibit skills needed to maintain advanced weapons proficiency. Drawing, rapid fire and shooting while moving can be difficult to train on because of range constraints. The result is that we’re all better trained on basics than advanced skills.

There has also been several studies that discuss the general decline of “skilled work” in our industrialized and computerized society. The craftsmen and artisans of 50 years ago are being replaced by technology, lasers, and robots. Is it possible that it’s becoming more difficult to develop true skills in our modern society. Not necessarily apropos for the current discussion, but still fodder for discussion around the squad or team room.

So how do we develop a firearms training program that will maintain the highest level of proficiency? It will obviously have to represent a realistic commitment. We can’t spend all our time working to be good at our job. Whether we like it or not, we actually have to leave the range from time to time in order to do our job.

Just like in other areas of our life, we have to prioritize and focus our efforts on our needs even at the expense of our wants. There’s a natural tendency to work on things that we like to do, and we tend to have better skills at the things we work on (because we like them).

We won’t be assaulted at the time or place, or in the manner of, our choosing. In order to best prepare a solid foundation of basic skills needs to be developed. Built on this foundation will be the advanced skills necessary to dominate and survive a violent encounter. Shooting while moving, shooting from barricades, shooting at moving targets, shooting “disadvantaged” (i.e. shooting after being hit by your attacker), and shooting from alternate positions should all be the focus of your program. The advanced skills will atrophy at a faster rate than basic skills. To counter this trend, spend minimal time working on stationary targets from static positions.

Don’t train on what you want. Train on what you need.

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Old February 1, 2010, 05:24 PM   #2
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One of the more demanding jobs I can think off is that of an Airline Pilot. Pilots must perform a certain number of take off's and landings within the preceding 90 days and a certain amount of instrument approaches within the preceding 6 calendar months. In can be assumed that skills begin to decrease to a level where retraining is needed if those imposed time limits are exceeded. Once those limits are exceeded, is it going to take all pilots a certain amount of predetermined time to "get back up to speed.?" Certainly not. It depends upon each individual person/pilot. However, for the sake of uniformity and standardization, the FAA sets these limits to cover all Airline Pilots.

Shooting a gun with a fair degree of marksmanship is a motor skill which includes eye/hand coordination and muscle control to hold the gun and to squeeze the trigger. These skills must be practiced to be maintained and a certain amount of degradation will be noticed if not done so on some sort of regular basis. That's not to say that one will forget how to shoot as most certainly it as basic as riding a bicycle after not having ridden one for years. The key in this discussion is marksmanship and it's associated functions such as target recognition, decision making, rapidity of draw, and analysis of the situation before and after the first rounds are fired.

I am of the opinion that degree of performance is directly related to the length of time one practiced to reach a measured skill level, how long it has been since that skills were exercised, and the mental fortitude and physical dexterity of the individual. To summarize, it depends upon each individual and cannot, in all likelihood, be directly lumped into a blanket statement.
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Old February 1, 2010, 05:53 PM   #3
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One little bit of personal experience I'd like to add,

It might be alone in this but when I take a break from something for a while (such as shooting) I usually come back a little rusty but after a few regular practice sessions I find that I am better than I was before I slacked off.

Just an observation of mine, anyone else experienced this?
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Old February 1, 2010, 10:29 PM   #4
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Same here

GSUeagle1089~I've found that I tend to be the same way. I've experienced this more than just with shooting. I use to play gold avidly, virutally everyday for the first 3 months of warm weather. Then I would get a little burned out on it and would walk away for a month or so. Towards the end of summer I would realize that the season was ending and needed to get a couple more rounds in. When I came back, I generally shot some of my best scores of the season in the next few times out. It's been the same thing with my firearm skills. I don't shoot everyday, but I do as often as possible. With the birth of my second child it took much time away from getting to the range. When I finally got back out there I shot some really nice groups that first time back, the 2nd and 3rd were even better. Now, with that being said, I never took more than what I consider a small break before returning to whatever sport it was. I'm sure a 3+ month break would have negative affects, for that matter I don't know if the small break idea would produce those results repeatedly. It may have just been that when we practice, practice, practice, we begin to overthink the process. Maybe we put so much effort and energy into perfecting what we're doing that our brain gets in the way of what our body knows how to do, maybe not. Without question I believe that continued and recent training IS the way to hone our skill sets though.
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Old February 1, 2010, 11:58 PM   #5
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A little dry practice goes a long way in maintaining some level of skill. 20 minutes at least 1-3 times a week (if done properly) is enough to remain reasonably proficient after proper training. Once or twice a month is better then not at all. Live fire verifies that dry practice is being done right.

That being said, I'm often guilty of neglecting to dry practice on a regular basis. When I live fire (at least once a month), I usually start off with a couple/few single, aimed shots without any rush. Then, a few slow, controlled pairs- sometimes with a precision followup shot. By the end of about a box of ammo, I'm doing fast double taps and I'm pretty happy with the "verification" of my level of skill. But really, the only way to "verify" that the skills have been retained would be to haul off & do a double tap as fast as I could at the beginning, cold.
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Old February 2, 2010, 12:08 PM   #6
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A more interesting question is how folks who are not pistoleros can maintain reasonable competency without way of the warrior prose.

Also, do we have evidence that most DGUs are unsuccessful and that can be tied to training issues?

Interesting human performance issue. The average user isn't interested in the intense gun fight - like some of us or training for such.
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Old February 2, 2010, 01:57 PM   #7
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Due to my work schedule, it can be sometimes a few months or more between range sessions.

I've found that a few targets set up in my garage and a gas blow-back Airsoft does wonders for keeping my skill level up. It also allows for practice of certain techniques often not allowed at ranges, along with FOF drills.
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Old February 2, 2010, 04:28 PM   #8
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Quote:
The average user isn't interested in the intense gun fight - like some of us or training for such.
Every gunfight is extremely intense Glenn. Would you rather survive by the skin of your teeth, or would you rather totally outclass your assailant? In either case, the psychological trauma from a violent assault will be the same. Perfect practice makes perfect, and you must train realistically.

45Gunner - I disagree about the discussion being about marksmanship. I would consider marksmanship a basic skill. Once you can be accurate, you work on speed, engaging targets that move and react, and other advanced skills.

The blanket statement I'm making is that, over time, skills degrade. The research indicates that the advanced skills will degrade more quickly than basic skills. This will be true for all shooters.

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Old February 2, 2010, 04:42 PM   #9
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Degradation of skills is a common theme to athletes, really to everyone. I used to drink for free in college, because noboday could touch me at the dartboard. Then again, i played about 4 hours every single day. Now, i'll have an occasional hot streak where i regain form, but for the most part, i'm just a lttle better than average now.

Golf might be a better example. Contrary to some beliefs, it takes a high degree of both gross and fine motor skills to do it well. Playing every day, i once was actually pretty good. Now, playing at most once a week, and none at all during the hunting season thru winter, I am just a little better than average.

So why wouldn't shooting skills also degrade? although, my belief about gun fights is different - in that it's point/shoot. how often in a gunfight would you have time to take careful, aimed shots? That's a snipers job, not a pistolero. Like many who are gainfully employed, i can afford to shoot but don't have enough time to do it nearly enough.

Hopefully the point/shoot will work if i ever need it, like that occasional bunghole i can still toss with the darts...
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Old February 2, 2010, 06:38 PM   #10
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I'm a realist about training. By intense gun fight - I meant a civilian being a rampage situation or the like as compared to a single mugger who is usually deterred. I agree that all situations can be psychologically intense.

However, some of us make the decision to acquire a skill base and keep it up. For example, I have a CHL and shoot IDPA several times a month and carbine when I can. I train if I can make and can afford it. I go to an intense event like the NTI or Polite Society if I can. But that's unusual for the typical gun carrier. Most of my gun toting and talking friends (outside of the crowd like me) are lucky to punch paper once in awhile or shoot at a rock at the ranch.

So, how can you maintain the basics which might be good enough for the low intensity (in terms of single mugger vs. rampage) event and folks who worry about that? They aren't going to do the regime some of us do.

Some of suggested that KISS skills for grip and target acquisition might suffice. Many folks don't redo complex driving skills for example or have any training in such.

If we are talking about skilled folks practice is it. IIRC, in dogfighting, the pilots with the most time win. The USAF has had a hard time with opposition friendlies in training that fly more.

Interesting question - if you split the populations.
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Old February 2, 2010, 07:11 PM   #11
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Quote:
However, some of us make the decision to acquire a skill base and keep it up. For example, I have a CHL and shoot IDPA several times a month and carbine when I can. I train if I can make and can afford it. I go to an intense event like the NTI or Polite Society if I can. But that's unusual for the typical gun carrier. Most of my gun toting and talking friends (outside of the crowd like me) are lucky to punch paper once in awhile or shoot at a rock at the ranch.
I have spent around $1000 a year for the last three years on private training. Several of my shooting friends all ask "Why?"
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Old February 2, 2010, 09:50 PM   #12
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Because you didn't decide to buy a Harley for your mid-life crisis.

Sorry, this is personal reference to some folks I know who went motorcycle rather than guns, like I did.
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Old February 2, 2010, 10:21 PM   #13
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Guys,

First off just as most gun owners are not gunfighters, neither are most crooks gunfighters! So don't become overwrought over skill atrophy. BGs get that to.

Now if you are a training junking like me you are not worried about skill deterioration. But this argument really goes back to just how much training is 'enough'. And we have to ask, 'enough for what'?

We can look at stats all day but the best I can say is you practice as much as you can afford both in time and money. Some can practice every day, some once a week, others once a month. But even one good practice session a month, if done right, will keep your hand in. And it don't cost an arm or a leg (unless you are slow on the draw but fast on the trigger.)
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Old February 4, 2010, 04:40 PM   #14
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45Gunner - I disagree about the discussion being about marksmanship. I would consider marksmanship a basic skill. Once you can be accurate, you work on speed, engaging targets that move and react, and other advanced skills.
Above quote by Jedburgh.

I think you misunderstood my meaning of marksmanship. I think what you are referring to is a broad definition of pointing the gun downrange and hitting a target. My definition, which I did not state, is all the skills required for expert marksmanship, something that takes time and repetition to acquire and will degrade without consistent practice.
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Old February 5, 2010, 08:27 AM   #15
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I think this is an interesting issue but it also points out the differences in opinion about shooting skills. Training and practice, which are not necessarily the same, are problematic for a lot of people, myself included. Time, money and opportunity are always limitations and no one has unlimited time, money and opportunities. There are things that can help if actual shooting isn't possible, too.

I think there are different ideas about what good training and practice is and what it should make you ready to do. You don't need to be a trick shot or an accomplished target shooter to be competent with your gun. That's my opinion, of course. Elmer Keith thought otherwise and for that matter, many well known law officers who had actually been in gunfights were also competitive target shooters as well as trick shooters (demonstration type shooting) and hunters, sometimes. In any case, real experience will be something rare and policemen who have been in more than one shooting incident are exceptional. So it's no wonder there's a lot of different opinions about being competent.

Some have even stated their belief that any form of competitive shooting was bad, though that seems to be an extreme opinion. But I guess they had their reasons. I personally don't think a great deal of shooting is necessary to remain reasonably competent. The unfortunate thing is that most people will be at a disadvantage because they don't have the same mindset that the criminal has. It is said that the police in D.C., who are better than they are given credit for, have tracked down someone wanted for a murder to find them asleep in bed. For whatever else I might think of myself, I'm sure I don't have the killer instince and I'm likewise certain that puts me behind the eight ball, in a manner of speaking.

Be all of that as it may be, I think it is important that an individual be very familiar with their handgun. That comes naturally with frequent handling, frequent shooting, though long sessions shouldn't be necessary, and a good understanding of just how the thing works. Paying close attention to your ammunition might be a good idea, too, since that's where the real action is. Someone said they didn't think stainless steel guns were a good idea because then people would pay as much attention to their guns.
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Old February 5, 2010, 11:12 AM   #16
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Lots of different ways to practice though

Paul Weston described an office who practiced by taking a tennis balls and lobbing them underhand at a target - helped the officer whose name escapes me to draw and aim his pistol. I'd be inclined to distinguish gun handling skills and fighting skills - gun handling can be kept on a very slow decline with dry firing exercises and .177 pellet guns but it takes I think real imagination to practice fighting that way.

One of the great pianists - given Google I could look it up but I won't - said that when he didn't practice for a day he knew it, for two days the critics knew it, for three days the audience knew it.
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Old February 5, 2010, 01:32 PM   #17
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Quote:
Deaf Smith: First off just as most gun owners are not gunfighters, neither are most crooks gunfighters! So don't become overwrought over skill atrophy. BGs get that to.

Now if you are a training junking like me you are not worried about skill deterioration. But this argument really goes back to just how much training is 'enough'. And we have to ask, 'enough for what'?
+1

While I agree that in general the more training the better, there are other factors. In the few defensive situations I have been in I was amazed later at the clarity and automatic responses, even doing things I had never trained to do. So you can be surprised at how well you respond. On the other hand, I would not rely on this hope! But it is something to consider.

In other situations, like sessions at the range, it seems all of a sudden nothing works right. A faithful pistol starts jamming. Or, I fumble with a pistol's controls I have not used in some time.

Some things to consider:

- Keep everything as simple as possible. I think it is better to have one stance, pistol, draw down thoroughly then to train sporadically on several different handguns and scenarios.

- Practice the basics as much as possible. I think front sight focus and trigger control are 90% of any shooting. If you don't have those down solid then all other moving, stances, drawing, etc. is for naught.

- Get away from the 25 yrd line. I have taken to shooting at a gravel pit so I can shoot in any position, "approximate ranges", reactive or various shape/size targets, etc. It also exposes me more to the weather conditions. Try shooting in cold rain, bundled up wearing gloves and you get a whole new appreciation of keeping it simple.

Back to the original point, most crooks are not Wyatt Earp. If you have better basic skills of front sight and trigger control then you are way ahead of most attackers you will ever confront. And if you have a totally proven reliable firearm you are also ahead of most attackers that likely are using something they is being passed around or was stolen.

I've never been to a training school like Thunder Ranch but I plan to someday. Practicing the fundamentals gives me an advantage over 90% of the attackers I may ever face. Advanced training would make that more like 99.99%.
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Old February 5, 2010, 02:16 PM   #18
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I posted earlier that it is often a few months between training sessions. A while back I went right around a year between training classes with zero range sessions in between due to massive overtime at work. I didn't notice my skill level had decreased that much.
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Old February 5, 2010, 02:51 PM   #19
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I dunno. The kill rate from local drive-by's has skyrocketed the last few years. It used to be "29 rounds were fired at 3 people and one was hit once in the arm". Now it's more like "6-8 rounds were fired at a group of 5 individuals. 3 of them were killed, one was released from the hospital with minor injury and one remains in critical condition". BG's seem to be wising up that "spray & pray" doesn't work very well, they *have* to have discovered the front sight & are actually putting it on their intended target.
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Old February 5, 2010, 03:51 PM   #20
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In my experience there are skills that have diminished simply from the ravages of time. I never seemed to have a problem hitting what I aimed at but my biggest concern was always getting the gun into play quickly and reliably. Consequently, I practiced for hours drawing and removing the safety until I could almost will the gun into my hand. I'm a great believer in"muscle memory" but I'm under no delusion that I am as fast as I was 30 years ago and it's highly unlikely that regardless of how much I practice I could ever approach that performance again. Add to that the fact that I never timed myself I have no way of quantifiably comparing the two. At the end of the day you can only be as good as you can be, no better.

When I went to a plainclothes assignment it necessitated a new round of practice that differed greatly from a duty rig to a basically concealed carry. Since I used the same type holster with a thumbreak and basically the same tilt it was just a matter of honing in on the gun being closer to my body. Of course that and clearing a cover garment first.

For some reason or other, last year I took out my old duty rig and let out the buckle several notches and put it on. I put my old Delta Gold Cup in. I tried a few draws and the old muscle memory kicked in. Time could not erase the thousands of repetitions I had practiced years ago. The difference was simply how fast my old hands could move.

So I think there are certain valid comparisons to old bike riding adage. Yeah, you can still ride one, just not as fast.
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Old February 5, 2010, 04:11 PM   #21
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Quote:
It might be alone in this but when I take a break from something for a while (such as shooting) I usually come back a little rusty but after a few regular practice sessions I find that I am better than I was before I slacked off.

Just an observation of mine, anyone else experienced this?
Sort of, without the rusty part.
The best comparison I can make to that is in guitar playing. When I'm stealing a lick from somebody that I want to be note for note it starts out painfully slow. Once I figure out where my fingers are supposed to go then I have to make them go there. Once I make them go there then I have to make them go there fast. In a practice session sometimes I can actually get the lick perfectly a few times and invariably as I try to pound it home and perfect it to where I can do it reliably, I'll begin to falter and can't come anywhere near it again.

Many times, I simply leave it alone for a day or two and when I come back to it, it's there from the start and I can proceed to put it into muscle memory.
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Old February 8, 2010, 02:30 PM   #22
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To be really competitive, no matter what the competition might be, or to at your peak performance, so to speak, you have to "warm up." That doesn't mean yesterday or last week, that means in the last hour. But a handgun carrier, that is impossible. That doesn't mean you lose all your skills either. No one can be in their absolute peak condition all the time and I'm afraid I have to agree with those who point out that humans get old. My eyesight isn't so great any more and I remember my father making the same complaint.

I am pleased that others have pointed out that other factors are present as well. I'd also point out that most of us have more natural skills than we realize, present simply because we've lived and had a lot of things happen to us already. So we have a lot of automatic reactions, sort of. They aren't exactly built in but just well practiced. Like throwing out our hands if we trip or reacting in a split second in a traffic incident. Sometimes it is the pure instinct for self-preservation, other times more a case of keeping a cool head. Easy to say, a little harder to describe.
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