In my movement classes, I often say, “Toes are the gas; heels are the brakes!” Whatever angle you use to apply force to the ground is equal and opposite to the angle that the ground applies that force back. If you are digging in your toes and running with your legs behind you to accelerate, the ground is pushing you forward as that energy travels back up your legs in a forward direction. A mistake people often make when running is allowing their heel to strike the ground first. When this happens, yes, there is a short burst of forward energy from the heel strike that travels forward to your to ..read more

The mental game is such a huge part of our sport. I’ve had an unusual vantage point to observe this at the top world level in competition. What is the mental aspect that makes the difference between champions and weekend warriors? If you’ve ever had the timer go off and forgotten your stage plan, that’s totally normal. If something went wrong in your stage plan and it all fell apart after that, that’s totally normal, too. It’s what you do with it after the first time that happens to you that separates the wheat from the chaff. Do you make excuses about why that happened? Do you blame your equi ..read more

Wait, did I already shoot that target? Where am I going, what am I doing?! Memory Stages. What tricks do you use to help you remember your stage plan? In USPSA, you can walk around outside the fault lines and count targets. Get a round count from outside the fault lines, then count again from within the fault lines. If the numbers don’t match, you have a problem. If there is a particular target that you can’t figure out where it’s available from, stand in front of it and look back at the fault lines. Wherever you see an opening in the fault lines, that’s where you can shoot it from. If a targe ..read more

Wait, did I already shoot that target? Where am I going, what am I doing?! Memory Stages. What tricks do you use to help you remember your stage plan? In USPSA, you can walk around outside the fault lines and count targets. Get a round count from outside the fault lines, then count again from within the fault lines. If the numbers don’t match, you have a problem. If there is a particular target that you can’t figure out where it’s available from, stand in front of it and look back at the fault lines. Wherever you see an opening in the fault lines, that’s where you can shoot it from. If a targe ..read more