Why Mental Training?
by Michael J. Keyes, M.D.

If a beginner asked me which of the three aspects of competitive shotgunning (Technique, Mental Training and Fitness) I suggest they focus on, I would surprise myself and say, "Technique." This may sound a little odd, considering I write a column on mental training, but I don't think anyone will disagree with me. You can't shoot in competition if you can't shoot at all.

But once you begin to taste shooting in matches, the rules change. Matches turn shooting into performance, which in turn means you are going to meet up with match pressure. And technique alone will not do.

Over the years, there has been a natural reluctance to apply what seems like mumbo-jumbo to shooting any target sport. The tendency was to think if you only "shot harder" (whatever that means) you could overcome any jitters that occur. In addition, it was not appropriate to talk about fear or anxiety on the field or even to acknowledge it exists. Real men didn't have the jitters, even though it was obvious virtually everyone was affected by match pressure.

Nowadays, this seems to have changed. Virtually every individual sport and many team sports realize that, in order to reach the top of the heap, you have to have a way to deal not only with match pressure but with all the attendant problems that come up that are not solvable by good technique alone. Stress is the great confounder in all performance. And, because every sport takes place in a performance setting (i.e., in front of others), match stress is inevitable. Those who can deal effectively with it have a leg up, one that is not only legal but very effective, if applied well. Hence, the advances in mental training.

The term "mental training" is all-encompassing. It not only involves the basics of relaxation, visualization and self-talk, but as a shooter improves, it also involves analysis, planning and a large body of knowledge that helps the shooter learn to improve efficiently and swiftly. As a shooter advances, mental training becomes more prominent, especially after the shooter has learned the basics to the point they become automatic.

By basics, I mean both the technique basics and the aforementioned mental-training basics. The first step in mental training is to learn the basic techniques; the second step is to learn to use them automatically.

Photo by Johnny Cantu

Let me back up a little. One of the main objections I used to get about learning mental-training methods 25 years ago was people didn't want to have to learn "weird Zen stuff" just to shoot in competitions. And that was from a group of shooters who were immensely talented and very successful in the U.S. but had never won much on an international level. Only after one of their own won a medal using mental training as part of his regimen did mental training become accepted as just another tool.

But mental training is not a foreign concept. We all use the basic techniques in our lives; we just don't identify that we do unless someone points it out. In addition, some of us are much better at it than others and some of us will never learn how to use it. Those in the latter category don't shoot in competition.

One story I have mentioned in other columns came from a world-champion shooter who not only did not believe in mental training but actively spoke out against it. He was probably the best natural relaxer I ever saw and one of the most mentally tough shooters ever. He was never off-focus, and the only time I ever heard of him making a mistake in a big match, he tied the world record. He was right; he did not need mental training — he had all the mental skills in abundance. The rest of us are not like that.

There is a talent for the various mental-training techniques, just like there is talent for the techniques of shooting a moving target. Each of us starts out with a level of talent we have to recognize and develop, just like the physical side of the game. It is a lot easier to see technical talent in a shooter, because they will be able to hit targets with ease if they have it in abundance. It is a little harder to see if someone has the ability to relax in the face of stress until they are seen in that situation. But it can be done — military boot camps do it all the time. Mental training expands this talent.

Competition shooters are a self-selected bunch. While shooting targets is fun, shooting matches is usually not the same kind of fun. If you don't do well, the incentive to continue is not as much. In fact, a lot of shooters stay in the game not because they are really good at it but because there are other incentives to keep them there, such as the social aspects of the game. They generally reach the limits of their talent and are not interested in going any further, but they love shooting, love the game and love to be with others who do. Shooting games are not just about competing; they encompass a lot of other goals, much like golf. It is only at the top levels where entry depends solely on ability.

The vast majority of shooters have a lot of talent compared to those who don't shoot. This may seem like a silly argument — that shooters are better at shooting than non-shooters — but I suspect there are not many people who can shoot a moving target under stress. During World War II, aerial gunners were hard to find, and only a small percentage of highly trained fighter pilots were capable of hitting a moving object on a regular basis. The talent was not common. One way to find it was to have people shoot skeet, often from a moving car set up for the test.

"If I only had a brain."

Ray Bolger in Wizard Of Oz

So, even the least of us is in a very small percentage of the population as far as this specific talent goes. If you have the talent, you can develop it. The question then is how far can you go and how willing are you to work at developing it. Most of us are willing to go the first mile and learn how to shoot. There is no reason we shouldn't develop our mental capacities, too.

We learn the "head on the stock, eye on the rock" techniques by practicing them. With a coach, if we can. We learn the proper stance, proper start and swing areas and when to make the shot and have the best chance of hitting the target. We learn to follow through. In the process, what starts out as many separate steps becomes one fluid motion in which we only look at the target and the shooting takes care of itself. What we often don't realize is we are also incorporating relaxation, visualization and self-talk in this process.

We don't realize it because we naturally tend to do these things when we focus on any task. Our abilities to do this reflect our natural talent for it, just as the ability to hit a target with some rudimentary training reflects our natural talent for shooting a moving object. The more we realize what we are doing — be it relaxing into a shot or tracking a target — the better we will get at it as we learn the finer points and the techniques are subsumed into our unconscious.

If we really want to improve, we need to work on all aspects of the game, including the mental tools we bring into it — hence, mental training. It doesn't take much to knowingly take that breath before the shot, visualize the path of the target and focus as you call for it. After awhile that, too, becomes second nature, and once it is second nature, you can move on to more sophisticated applications of the basics, just as you will with the technical aspects of your shooting.

If you only rely on your talent level to shoot and want to improve, the chances of it happening are not as good as when you deliberately apply an increased work rate and common sense toward improving yourself. But most of us don't do that. Still, we are too competitive to just let things lie. So, we work on the things obvious to us (like technical skill) and do not pay as much attention to those things which are not so obvious. Once you realize you are not working on all aspects of your shooting, you may want to reevaluate and change for the better.

Mental training is an essential part of shooting. By choosing to pay attention to the basic tools used in mental training, you will find you will improve at a more rapid rate than if you ignore them. In the long run, you will be able to continue your improvement when mental training becomes a more prominent part of your shooting.

Dr. Keyes has written over 200 articles on mental training for Shotgun Sports and authored the book Mental Training For The Shotgun Sports here. He is a former physician for the U.S. Shooting Team, retired Colonel from the Army Reserve and a veteran of Viet Nam and Operation Desert Storm. A Tennessee state pistol champion and coach of several national championship teams, he currently practices in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. You can e-mail him at mikeyes@charter.net.