Last year I hosted Frank Proctor for a carbine course. Frank is a special forces dude and USPSA ranked Grand Master level competition shooter. The first thing Frank asked us out of the gate was by a show of hands who there wanted to be a better shooter. Frank raised his hand too.
That’s an important statement. That a dude at that level is still working, still drilling, still looking for improvement. Still doing the work.
“There are certainly problems within all this training business, but for the record…again…they are really NOT what many people believe them to be.
Mostly, we definitely, absolutely, do NOT have a ‘not enough stuff’ problem…contrary to what all those people constantly seeking the next magic trick seem to think.
However we surely DO have a ‘not good enough at stuff’ problem, with people fooling themselves into believing they will achieve outstanding results with mediocre performance.”
Monday after work I hit jiu jitsu, train through 2 classes, hit open mat. Tuesday strength training, squats, press, deadlift. Wednesday is a heavy no gi day, self structured BJJ followed by fundamentals and intermediate no gi. Thursday was shooting day, USPSA practice, about 2 hours and 250 rounds of ammo. Friday Im training in the gi through 2 classes and open mat. Saturday is squat, bench, row, maybe have a few friends over to train. This past weekend I had two separate stand up weapons based grappling sessions fighting a dude with a training knife, drilling duck under, arm drags, tie ups. Sunday I shot a USPSA match, then trained at home with a buddy, sometimes me and the wifey hit open mat and go out for some quality time.
I’m not training for “good enough”. I’m not just passing by on this path. I’m here to do the work, sometimes that means every day, sometimes that’s one more round when I’m gassed and spent. This isn’t the path for everybody, and I’m not saying it should be or needs to be. But its the path for me, and for those walking along it with me understand what its like.
The “outstanding results with mediocre performance” is often what I see hustled in the self defense industry. The notion that with a quick weekend you can learn “one weird trick” or that with minimal effort one can overcome a much larger attacker that has taken us by surprise. Bullshit. Skill can overcome size and strength, have no doubt, but to have that kind of skill takes hard work over time.I’m a bit driven at the moment. I want to get better. I want to defeat the me of yesterday. That translates into some long days at times, but today I got a call that one of our guys owned a in car evolution in
ECQC , he buys dope in cars for a living and we’ve spent a lot of time in the car. That gets me all fired up!
Another training partner came in second after me at the match today. He’s out working me on the shooting piece right now. I gotta up my level! He’s coming for me!
These guys are always making me better, always raising the bar.
This is a lifestyle, its a journey with many milestones and no end. Its every day. And its worth every moment.
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