There’s a line of thinking in shooting, combatives, and sports that if you do more of the same thing with greater frequency and intensity, you’ll get better results.
But what if there’s a smarter way to train?
Grip intensity on a pistol is a great example of this.
On one hand, we know that the closer your grip is to that of a gun vice, the better you’ll be at managing recoil and multi-shot strings.
As a result, there’s a LOT of emphasis on gripping the snot out of the gun…but not everyone’s got forearms like this guy:
We’re taught things like “meat on metal”, “fill the gaps”, a 50/50 grip, a 60/40 grip, or a 100/100 grip.
And popular thought says that if you grip the gun harder, you’ll shoot better.
I used to do this.
I used to teach this.
But as I’ve learned more and more about the neurology of hand movement, I’ve found a more efficient and effective approach to grip that works for shooters of all strengths and sizes.
I want to make sure you understand that grip strength DOES matter.
It’s a great predictor of overall firearms proficiency and it can cover over a lot of bad technique.
With all things being equal, someone with the ability to generate a 120 pound grip is going to be able to manage recoil quicker and more consistently than someone who can only generate 50 pounds of grip force.
They’ll get on target quicker for their 2nd, 3rd, and subsequent shots.
But they may not hit anything.
You see, the more firmly you grip your pistol, the harder it is to isolate the movement of the trigger finger.
And the more likely that you’ll throw the shot low-left because of sympathetic flexing from their other fingers and sympathetic flexing at the wrist (when shooting right handed.)
So, one of the first things that I do with shooters who are shooting low-left is to have them ease their shooting hand grip and apply more rearward force low on the grip with their support hand.
They usually end up shooting faster (because you can run your trigger finger quicker when your hand is relaxed), they come back on target quicker, and they shoot tighter groups.
As a bonus, they’re able to shoot comfortably and effectively for a longer period of time because their hand isn’t getting tired.
Does this mean you should limp-fish the gun with your shooting hand?
Absolutely not!
It just means that you need to do a little bit of exploration and figure out your performance envelope…
-How quickly can you run the trigger before you start pushing shots low-left?
-How firmly can you grip the gun before you start pushing shots low-left?
Over time, as you improve trigger finger isolation and grip strength, the grip intensity that you can use will increase without a negative impact on accuracy. This will not only improve your 2-handed shooting, but it’ll have a dramatic impact on your multi-shot one-handed performance.
This is another example of why shooters are able to get such quick, dramatic results with our training…with less effort than it takes with other methods.
Think about it this way…
If you had a sports car with a dragging parking brake, clogged injectors, and clogged fuel filter, you could get a HUGE boost in performance by releasing the parking break, cleaning your injectors, and replacing your fuel filter.
It would be the same car, but you would have unleashed it’s potential with minimal effort and cost.
And that’s what I want for you…to show you how to unleash your potential with a defensive pistol with minimal effort and cost.
So that if/when that day comes and lives depend on your ability to put rounds on target, you’ll end the day being thankful rather than full of regret.
This week, I’m doing a little test and you can try out one of my best selling self-defense pistol programs for only $1 for the next 5 days.
If you own a gun for self-defense, you really need to check it out now by clicking >HERE<
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