THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN FIREARMS TRAINING - "THE FLINCH"

Our bodies are made up of vibrating molecules that are sensitive to environmental disturbances like those produced by the shock wave created by the firing process of a gun.  When a shooter fires a shot, the release of pressure from the compressed gasses escaping from the muzzle creates a sound wave that is not only heard but also felt throughout the entire body.  The sound wave disrupts the natural rhythms of the vibrating molecules within the body, the neuro receptors become disrupted and go into a protective mode, creating a Startle Response which activates the sympathetic nervous system within the shooter.  (A fight, flight or state of paralysis response.)  According to the most recently published studies on the Startle Response by Jill Taylor, Ph.D. a Harvard trained "Brain Scientist" and author of the book, "My Stroke of Insight"; a Startle Response biochemically only lasts for 90 seconds.  After 90 seconds the conscious focus of the individual is what continues to perpetuate the continued flow of hormones; cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine.   As I'm sure you are aware as a firearms instructor, it is this startle response that creates the anticipation and aversion to the recoil; "THE FLINCH".  It affects an officer's ability to remain in control of their emotions and their accuracy when shooting.

Under a sympathetic response a shooter's muscles will tighten. He will experience vassal constriction which reduces blood flow and sensitivity to the trigger finger, and because of this, he will experience a loss of fine motor movement.  His eyes dilate and it becomes difficult to get focal acuity on the front sight. 

In traditional firearms training, the method to counteract the startle response and aversion to recoil has been to expose the shooter to repeated gunfire, (hundreds of rounds of ammunition) thus inoculating and entraining the nervous system to accept the recoil and effects of the firing process to the nervous system.

WHY DO STUDENTS FLINCH ?

Students flinch because they project themselves into the future and anticipate either physical or emotional pain, or both.  Whenever a student projects themselves into the future, the brain will always fill in the unknown with worst case scenarios, thus creating a negative emotional state.  Every time they compress the trigger, they go into a protective mode and anticipate the firing process.  It is the emotional state (their mood) that drives the behavior.  The key is to create a positive training experience for our students by helping them create a positive emotional state.  We can do this by preventing the student from projecting themselves into a negative future that does not represent a real threat.  Someone once told me that FEAR stands for:
F - False

E - Evidence
A - Appears
R - Real

Traditionally, we have had to build up immunity to the firing process in order for our bodies to become accustomed to it.  It is a lot like treating a person who has allergies.  Expose them to low or intermittent doses of the allergens so their immune system creates a resistance to it over time.  With the traditional method of firearms training I have found that it isn't until the third or fourth day of the exposure to gunfire and shooting hundreds of rounds of ammunition that the average student begins to accept the firing process.  The symptoms of the aversion to recoil will slowly diminish when utilizing this type of desensitization process but in most cases is never fully eradicated. 

There is a way to accelerate the entrainment process using the traditional method of firearms training.  You can have the shooter use a larger caliber or much hotter loads during the initial entrainment process.  (WARNING: Make sure the grips of the gun comfortably fit the shooter's hand.  When the grips don't fit the contour of their hand, it can produce pain.  This can create a full blown phobia and this association with shooting and pain can become generalized whenever they shoot any gun.)  After shooting the heavier loads, have the shooter utilize a lighter caliber or load.  The aversion to the recoil will generally be minimized.  This process shocks the nervous system into overload and makes the shooter much more accepting to the recoil of the lighter loads. This process should be staggered and can be done over a period of two days thus cutting the entrainment process in half.  Although this process can work, we don't recommend it. If the student is really sensitive to the recoil it may turn him off to shooting completely and increases the costs of training.

OVERVIEW OF INSIGHT'S REVOLUTIONARY NEW PROCESS

If the instructor uses our advanced teaching process to take the focus off the recoil, the entrainment process becomes a moot point and the aversion can be eliminated immediately and completely.  One of the keys to this process is to preload the students mind before entering the range environment.  In the classroom portion of our program we use a Power Point Program and go into great detail as to how and why the firing process disrupts the nervous system and the shooting process.  Then we teach a block of instruction that teaches the student how to control their emotions.  They learn how to "detach" emotionally.  They need to know what it feels like to be emotionally detached, and how to enter that emotional state on demand.  Once the student understands all the elements of marksmanship and how to control their emotional state, we take them out onto the range.

THE RANGE PROCESS

Below is a summary of the neuropsychological process we use on the range to "bypass" recoil so that students can shoot with precision accuracy in less than one hour.  (1-hole groups consistently.)

The solution is as simple as: A B C D E

Absorb the student's attention

Bypass the conscious mind

Create a state of detachment

Direct the behavior

Engage

Steps A B C D are processes which enable any student to bypass the aversion to recoil.  Step E stands for Engagement.  This is where we integrate precision accuracy into different simulated Engagements.  i.e. Force On Force.

A - Absorb the Student's Attention

When you focus or fixate your attention, the mind begins to delete outside stimuli and begins internalizing the process.  When you become fixated on something your mind "internalizes" the sequence of the synaptic responses that create changes in the brain's physiology.  This creates a feeling which alters their state of consciousness and creates an emotionally detached state. 

If the student's fixation is on the recoil, that will put the student into a Negative State.  (When we refer to a "state", we are referring to the quality and type of "emotional state" that the student is experiencing.)  The key is to guide the student's conscious mind into a resourceful state which allows the student to bypass the aversion to recoil.

Picking a spot on the target where you want the bullet to impact is the first step.  Have your student fixate on that spot.  If there is no fixation at the beginning of the process, then the student will project themselves into the future and their focus will be on the recoil.  By shifting their focus visually to the exactspot where you want the bullet to impact, the focus of their conscious mind will assist them in disassociating from the firing process at the unconscious level.

We then use "Fractionation" which is a process that breaks up a person's attention.  By changing their focus from the target to the front sight and having them deeply focusing on the front sight GIP, the student becomes even more detached from the firing process and the recoil.  We use suggestions; "The more intensely you focus on the GIP the more detached you will become."  The key is to create a positive pattern of behavior that empowers the student at the unconscious level and bypasses the conscious mind.  
Remember this: "Where attention goes, energy flows."

B - Bypass the Conscious Mind. 

Students are not "conscious" of unconscious behavior such as flinching.  To correct this problem, the key is to interrupt the negative pattern of behavior by bypassing their conscious attention to the recoil. 

We want to disrupt what is happening below consciousness at the feeling level.  It is the emotion,( i.e., a feeling), that is creating the "aversion".  Aversions happen at the unconscious level based on what they are consciously focused on.

Since the student's focus determines his perceived "reality," we need to guide their conscious focus of attention.  The way to mitigate this is to "Bypass the Conscious Mind." This can be done through several techniques but for the purpose of this article we will share one of the easiest.  We use "Mind Bending Language" as a distraction method to take the focus off the recoil. This will send their conscious mind spinning which will allow us to talk directly to their unconscious mind.  This bypasses the conscious mind and the anticipation to the recoil.  Below is an example of just one Mind Bending Language Pattern: 

"Notice how you stop consciously thinking about anything else, as you remember what were you feeling then, that's anyway but like this, and how much more you can detach now, that's anyway but like that?"

Notice how your conscious mind just entered a void.  We totally interrupted the train of your conscious focus.  (You went back and tried to read that again didn't you? . . .How did I know that?)  You just experienced one of many advanced mind bending language patterns that can be used to bypass the conscious focus on the recoil. It's in that void where the student is fully in the present.  Their unconscious mind opens so you can create change in their behavior.  It's when they are in that void that you can talk directly to their unconscious without conscious interference and guide the student into creating a state of detachment. 

Let's take another look at this language pattern so you can gain a full appreciation of what and how we are affecting the conscious and unconscious mind.  I have underlined the imbedded commands in this language pattern so you can see the real communication behind the process that is understood by the unconscious.

"Notice how you stop consciously thinking about anything else, as you remember what were you feeling then, that's anyway but like this, and how much more you can detach now that's anyway but like that?"

We have told the conscious mind to "stop consciously thinking" and suggested to the unconscious that "you can detach now". 

Now we can control their behavior because we have them where we want them.  They are in the void without conscious focus on anything else.

CONTINUED BELOW . . .

C - Create the State of Detachment

Learning how to create or "enter" a "Detached State" is one of the most important steps of the shooting process in order to achieve precision accuracy.  If your students can learn how to remove their emotions from the shooting process, then they will transform into a biological atomatron and they will produce machine-like accuracy. 
KEY:  "A person's emotional state drives their behavior." 

If the student is afraid or bothered by the firing process, then this fear will create a negative emotional state which results in an aversion to recoil.  If you change their "Emotional State," then you will change their behavior.  The instructor needs to know how to assist the student in creating an emotional state that will dissociate them from the firing process, recoil and all outside distractions.  It is called the "State of Detachment".  The student needs to know what it feels like to detach, and how to enter a state of detachment prior to going out on the range.  One of the ways to do this is to utilize a technique used by Sports Psychologists and have the student take on the persona of a machine.  This metaphor of a machine can be accentuated by using visual images of machines performing precision movements in your PowerPoint Presentation, i.e., pictures or video clips of machines in action.

Once we have bypassed the conscious mind and the student is in the "Void", we use the seeds planted in the classroom and suggest; "That's right, feel yourself transform into a machine and notice what you are NOT feeling on the inside."

CONTINUED BELOW . . .

D - Direct the Behavior

The next step is to use the "Void" you created with your mind bending language in conjunction with the resourceful emotional "state of detachment" you created by stimulating their unconscious with the machine metaphor so you can direct their behavior.  Have them fixate on the on the front sight "GIP" and have them begin sensing what they are feeling on their trigger finger as they gently compress the trigger. 

By using fractionation and interrupting the conscious mind you will get your students to be more compliant and they will follow your directions and instructions at the unconscious level.  You will be in control of their mind.  When they are not consciously focused on the effects of recoil they will instantly bypass the firing process completely.  This will produce machine-like precision accuracy, so the student will perform with machine-like accuracy without the negative effects of the firing process or any external distractions.

If you teach to the student's unconscious mind by using this neuro psychological process that controls emotions, creates a highly focused state, and directs the behavior, the student will shoot with precision accuracy starting with their very first shots when you are working with them on the range.  From then on, the unconscious mind will drive the student in machine-like ways, building their confidence and improving their ability to achieve peak performance and they will continue to shoot with precision accuracy from that point in their career.

E - Engage in Different Situations

Once the student can shoot precision shots with consistency, the next step is to use a progressive training method.  This will reinforce application of the ABCD process and to "Engage" the officer in different situations to generalize the skills so it transfers into any context on the street. 

Remember: If an officer can NOT shoot accurately in a sterile controlled range environment, their accuracy is only going to get worse during force-on-force training or on the street where their survival could be left to chance.

SUMMARY

The Law Enforcement Instructor I spoke to gave us a commitment to attend our training even if his department wouldn't pay for it.  He wants to make an investment in himself and in his career.  We have received an overwhelming amount of feedback from those who have attended our training and have utilized this new process. They have all stated this revolutionary method really does work and they are getting the same results we achieve!  We are so confident in this revolutionary new process that we guarantee it with a "Money Back Guarantee."  We can honestly say that; "We have had a 100% success rate. Everyone and I do mean everyone we have taught to shoot has been able to shoot 1-hole groups in less than one hour using this revolutionary new method." 

Please take a moment and review what other Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors have said about this fantastic new teaching method and I hope to meet you in one of our upcoming programs.