Light Based Dry Fire That’s Better Than Live Fire

I’ve got a cool video of a light-based drill that will show you (again) how dry fire training can be so much more effective than live fire training when it’s done correctly.

I just shot it quick yesterday with my iPad propped up on a shelf and did a quick edit today…nothing fancy…just some REALLY powerful training that goes way beyond “normal” training.

It’s just another example of how, oftentimes, you can do BETTER training for real world situations at home than what is allowed (or safe) to do with live fire at the range.

The drill stacks A LOT of factors together…

-Shooting based on visual input rather than a beep…because the real world doesn’t use a shot timer.

-NOT reacting to decoys is just as important as acting quickly to real threats.  You don’t want to get used to being so keyed up and primed to go that you engage non-threats…you want to see that there is a visual stimulus (in this case, light), look at it, make a choice as to whether it is a threat or non-threat, and take no action or appropriate action.  But you don’t want to train yourself to react to any movement or any sound by shooting.  The vast majority of shooting situations require more judgement and discernment than that.

-Training yourself to NOT focus-lock after you shoot…but looking with a purpose.  Do you have the ability to look around your environment quickly and with purpose to avoid trip hazards, pick up keys, a phone, or something else that you may have dropped, move in different directions, keep awareness of potential threats and act regardless of which way you’re moving or how your body is oriented?

-Incorporating random movement and decision making into your shooting drills.  You’ll see that the drill fed me a lot of awkward shooting angles, body positions, and orientations.  If you only do squared up shooting with a perfect stance and real life throws you a curve ball, it’s going to suck.  You want your training to allow you to shoot quickly and accurately across as many non-ideal conditions as possible.

-Increasing cognitive load to test/deepen automaticity of core shooting skills.  This is a biggie that I cover more in my new book, but if you’re not increasing the complexity of your drills while expecting the same results as before, there’s a good chance your skill will start slipping due to the way the brain prunes unused/unchallenged circuits.

-Switching between 1-handed and 2-handed shooting as needed rather than as-dictated by a stage or course-of-fire

Let me know your thoughts below and, if you are interested in 60+ drills with & without lights that will help you do dry fire training at home that’s more effective than what is allowed (or safe) at the range with live fire, check out my Dynamic Gunfight Training presentation >HERE<

And, yes…if you thought those looked like Self-Aiming Splatter Targets in the background, they are 🙂 and they’ve been selling like hotcakes!

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