by Chris Cerino
Many of the people I have trained over the years have told me that when they shoot, whether for qualification, competition or fun, they hear my voice in their head. My voice, telling them to do a specific thing in order to improve their shooting or even save their life! This may sound funny, but I too have had voices in my head in the past. The voices of great instructors and colleagues with whom I have had the pleasure to train! Those voices, over time, have turned into my own voice.
Most days now, the voices, including my own, seem to have just faded away.
Mostly because I have begun to perform better with less effort or need for internal self talk.
Whether it is perfect scores on qualification or saving their life, or the lives of others, students regale me with stories of the voices in their heads and I love to hear it. The most impressive was a life and death situation with an officer being attacked by a determined man with a knife. The officer fired two quick shots immediately after drawing from his holster. Although the shots hit, they did not stop the attacker. The suspect continued toward the officer.
“How about aligning the sights and squeezing the trigger?” is what the officer told me he heard. It was my voice in his head from training several months earlier. Two rounds followed.
The officer put one in the suspect’s throat and the next in his eye. Confrontation over! Never underestimate or pooh-pooh self talk! While working the range during classes, I individually coach shooters.
What I try to do is pick the fundamental they are most lacking in and repeat some phase or mantra over and over while they shoot. Usually the shooter will shoot better while I whisper (yell) in their ear what they need to focus on.
Once I’m satisfied or feel I need to move on to help another, I leave them to their practice.
As soon as I walk away they inevitably go back to doing things wrong. Why are people so averse to talking to themselves while they shoot? Why can’t they continue saying what I was saying in their ear that made them perform so much better? When I start to shoot or perform poorly, I know that the voices need to return from time to time.
What it takes to hit and why we miss is what I’ve been teaching for years.
When I start to miss I know exactly what I need to do. For me jerking the trigger or lack of focus on the sights is what can cause big misses. Those two things are easy to identify and the voices know exactly what to say. Sight issues are handled with, “How about using the sights?” or “Front sight!” or even “Cover it up and shoot it.” Whatever, I need to focus on to improve performance. Trigger issues present when, no matter how good the sight alignment and sight picture, I continue to miss. “PRESS THE TRIGGER!” usually comes to mind.
Years post training I continue to get calls from students who have increased performance on demand by bringing these mantras back. If you’ve ever trained with me you’ve heard most of the following: Front sight! Damn it! Pressure wall, squeeze! (Slack out and fire the shot from the reset.) The gun is empty! (We rarely flinch if the gun is empty) What are you…scared? (Does it hurt when you shoot? Why flinch?) Breathe! (Blurry sights? Holding breath!) Follow thru! (See the sights when the gun goes off.) Shoot one shot at a time. (Don’t rush to the next target before you shot the first one.) Quick, sure, quick, sure! (Quick to the gun, sure on the grip, quick to the target, sure on the sights and trigger.) Don’t look down range until the shooting is done. (Avoid the urge to see how you did too soon.) There are so many more. These little phrases are what most shooters, including myself, need to hear to keep performance up.
For some, these tips may be a refresher for training we have done together in the past. For others, it may be a validation of something they are already doing. For many though, these tips may begin to be the voice in their head that brings them to a higher level of understanding and performance the next time they head to the range.
It’s all about the fundamentals!
Chris Cerino is a nationally known firearms instructor and competitor who’s been training law enforcement officers and military for more than 12 years. Chris has worked in peace-keeping positions for municipal, county, state and federal agencies spanning more than 20 years. A majority of those years have been spent in tactical and firearms related fields. Literally immersed in pistol training for years, his skills are founded in life experience. Chris is the director of training for Chris Cerino Training Group LLC, teaching in a “do as I do” fashion. Chris is a current peace officer and remains immersed in the firearms industry by teaching, competing and working across the nation. To contact him: phone: 303-608-6415, or email: chris@cerinotraininggroup.com
