Tests and Standards 2 Day Course (John Johnston)

Just some thoughts after this weekends class with John Johnston at @ballisticj.
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I learned things that I wasn’t expecting to learn. A lot of what I expected to learn was grip, trigger prep and presentation from the holster. What I actually wound up learning was a whooole lot of foundation. I learned that as a small and petite person I cannot cut anyyyy corners when it comes to technique.
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So we started with my stance. There’s soooo many things to work on being more deliberate about: widening my stance, knowing what muscles to use and choosing to intentionally activate them, keep my shoulders down, keep my head neutral (not down or forward), and the list goes on.
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Something I wasn’t expecting was the amount of time we spent actually discussing our own issues and tendencies as shooters. Going into this class I was very much aware that I am the type of person who gets in their head. I’m the queen of negative self talk and it affects my performance directly. John said something that I heard, and internalized really well and that was essentially: Would you tolerate ME talking to you the way that YOU talk to you yourself? Would you put up with that? Absolutely not. If I can’t talk to you that way, then you most certainly cannot talk to yourself that way.
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I’ve had people say, “don’t get in your head”, “don’t be mean to yourself”, or “just don’t worry about it.” For me personally those words meant for encouragement always went right over my head. The way John put it actually really helped me get out of my own head, and I was able to actually focus on the task at hand.
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I’ve never felt like I got it “right” all at once before. Obviously getting it “right” looks differently depending on where you’re at in your training, but during the class I had a couple moments where I felt like all of the things came together and I punched several rounds into the same hole. That felt good. All and all...I feel like I may have caught the training bug haha. I can see sooo many areas where I can improve, and I’m excited to those things. Shooting is pretty cool. It can teach you things about yourself you didn’t know, and if you do it right, it can really humble you.