#greybeardactual

Quality Over Quantity “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Will Durant It’s all to easy to think that more is simply better, especially where training is concerned. This has long been a struggle of mine. That’s partially because of my personality type, and partially because of the nature of much of my early training, both military and even earlier in the dojos of my youth. It’s a flawed paradigm though. As others have said, practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent. Or at least it makes long-term. I have damaged my shooting, and other skills, in the past by practicing incorrectly. Especially because of my tendency towards a more is better mindset. Don’t misunderstand my point here. Volume is absolutely necessary, as is frequency. No one ever truly masters a skill without a large amount of frequent and focused effort. But it has to be the correct effort and intelligently applied. Simply throwing sloppy effort at a skill will never get you to the level that quality practice will. Each repetition, each training session, must be purposeful and mindful. Every press of the trigger, every round fired, every step of footwork, should be a lesson learned. You need training volume and frequency to improve, but quantity alone won’t get you where you need to be without a commensurate focus on quality effort. Quality over quantity. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #trainlikeanathlete (at The Way) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfG2HgdrQqK/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Only two slots left for this class. It’s sure to sell out, so if you want in better grab it now! #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #firearmstraining https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce0vD-7uXWr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Weapons Retention “Remember the first rule of gunfighting... have a gun." - Jeff Cooper Weapons retention is crucial for anyone carrying a firearm. In law enforcement management circles, this is all too often addressed solely through mandating holsters with multiple levels of retention rather than through effective training in combatives. At its heart, weapons retention is a software issue, not a hardware one. Situational awareness and combatives skill trump kit selection where this is concerned. In the military, until relatively recently, weapons retention hasn’t received enough attention, especially in conventional units. Now though there are realistic training programs such as the jujitsu-based MACP and SOCP system that effectively address weapons retention. In this though, as in so many other aspects of the profession of arms, it simply isn’t enough to rely on the training your department or unit provides. You need to seek out training on your own. Regardless of whether you are a policeman, or a soldier, or an armed citizen, weapons retention needs to be trained, and it needs to be trained realistically and effectively. I’m a proponent of basing weapons retention techniques off of jujitsu. If you look at the classical development of jujitsu, it developed in a weapons based environment and included techniques for retaining your weapons and stripping an opponent of theirs. It has been explored for modern application and remains as effective now as it was in feudal Japan. If you combine this with a study and practice of Filipino martial arts such as kali and arnis you can develop a solid level of applicable skill. The SOCP and MACP programs of Gregg Thompson, the Shivworks training of Paul Sharp and others, the excellent ECQC courses of Craig Douglas, and other training can help provide a framework, but the truth is that skill requires regular practice. Seek out that practice and frame it in ways applicable to your environment and weaponry. Develop a solid foundation of combative skill and it will serve you well. As always, the way is in training. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #jujitsu #kali #shivworks #ecqc #socp #weaponsretention (at The Way) https://www.instagram.com/p/CewJAPCLo1R/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

The design for our official target is finalized, thanks to @rileyconcealedcarry and @nationaltarget, and they should be available for sale on our website soon, and used in my classes. The target has a B8 Center for accuracy work as well as three 3” circles for my trademark drills and my 3:45 Skill Card. The rest of the target uses my “gunfight hit factor” scoring zones. Upper half of the USPSA body A zone stays an A, along with regular head A zone. The C zone is extended down to pelvic girdle and up to head A. Rest of head and body is the D zone. Idea is that in a gunfight these reflect optimal, acceptable, and unacceptable hits more realistically than standard USPSA targets. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #hitfactor (at The Way) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ceo8-MMOO7U/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Permission To Fail “Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time.” - Lou Brock One of the biggest flaws I see in institutional training, both military and police, is a zero-defect mentality. This idea that we can never miss, even in training. I understand where it comes from. It’s rooted in the doctrine, fundamental to our professional culture, that we are accountable for every round fired and cannot afford collateral damage. And this doctrine is valid, when it comes to the application of our skill. The problem is that, except when testing skill, carrying over that doctrine to the training environment will prevent us from ever reaching our potential. To improve, we have to push ourselves to the failure point when developing skill. This is especially true when developing speed in our shooting. No one ever became truly fast without training at a pace where they couldn’t guarantee success. One of the cliches of institutional firearms training is the admonition to “slow down and get your hits.” The problem with this is that when you slow down you are no longer challenging your skill. You don’t get truly good at anything by staying in your comfort zone. Instead of “slowing down to get your hits,” maintain that challenging pace and learn to make your hits without backing off the speed. Continue that process, and in short order you will drastically improve your performance. You’ll make a lot of mistakes along the way, but the point of training is to get better, not to feel good about your current level of skill. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #gofasttobefast #performanceshooting #firearmstraining (at The Way) https://www.instagram.com/p/CegcDhCLAvv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

@ttpoa routinely brings the industry’s best instructors to Texas for the training it offers. I’m honored to be included in that company and have the following offerings on their schedule for 2022: Pistol - August 17 - El Paso CQB - August 18-19 - El Paso Pistol/Carbine - October 26-27 - Pasadena Pistol/Carbine - November 3-4 - Rockwall Pistol - November 15-16 - Hutto Carbine - November 17-18 - Hutto Vehicle - December 5-6 - San Antonio You can sign up for these classes on their website, and you don’t have to be a member to attend. Any LE or military can train through them. See you in class! #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #ttpoa #swat #tacticaltraining #firearmstraining (at Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeBR0rwrJUY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I love teaching because I love training. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort learning how to construct my own training for maximum efficiency. Now I enjoy passing along those hard earned lessons to others. Come to a class and learn the best ways to train and shortcut your learning curve. Our course offerings are filling rapidly, both for open enrollment and LE-only, so don’t wait if you want to attend one of our classes. You can see the current class schedule on our website at the link in my bio. If you’d like to bring us to your area for an open enrollment class, or set up training for your unit or agency, contact Angela - @vixen_actual - at [email protected]. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #swat #firearmstraining #specialforces #tacticstraining (at The Way) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8DnXPOgyj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Here are the open enrollment classes for summer and fall that still have slots available. If you want a slot, grab one before they’re gone: 23-34 July - Pistol/Carbine - Waterman IL 6-7 August - Pistol - Elizebeth CO 27-28 August - Vehicle - Waterman IL 12-13 November - Pistol/Carbine - Temple TX Sign up on our website at the link in my bio. #thewayisintraining #greybeardactual #firearmstraining #tacticstraining https://www.instagram.com/p/CdpH6-MMNMU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=