July-August 2010 - New Zealand Clay Target Association

Mental TrainingQuick Fixes by Michael J. Keyes, M.D.The way to success in any sport isthrough hard work, long hours ofpractice and a modicum of talent.Or is it?We all know shooters who appeared tohave overnight success after they boughta new shotgun, took a new supplementor changed glasses. It doesn’t make sensethat one small change should make such alarge difference in performance. So whatis happening?The Motivation to ImproveIn the first place, whatever you are seeingis probably not due only to the one changethe shooter made. Performance doesn’tchange out of context. Something elsepreceded that change, and that somethingprobably involved work and practice.Second, the shooter was trying tochange. The shooter had one goal in mindwhen he or she bought that new gun orthose new glasses – scoring better. Thetrigger for buying a specific product ormaking a lifestyle change may have comefrom an article in Shotgun Sports, but themotivation was to improve.In theory, the reason for picking aparticular change should be based ona scientific study of the problem andelimination of all possible answers exceptthe one that will work. In practice, thisnever happens because a) there are veryfew scientific studies on what works andb) most people don’t work that way, theywould rather have a quick fix. The ironicpart is “quick fixes often work, but not forthe reasons given by those who sell or usethem.”So, if we don’t have a scientific way tochange our behaviour during competitionor practice, how do we go about makingour choices? We look to the experts andemulate them.If you ignore the fact some expertshooters get paid to shoot a particularshotgun or use a certain product, copyingthe experts is a good thing. After all, theyare good shooters because of what they doand what they use. Some of the productsthey use may not have much bearing onhow they shoot (a truck, for instance), butyou have to assume any shooting productor training program an elite shooter useshas value for that shooter. By shootingthe same shotgun or using the same30 gunshotammunition, you let your favourite shooterdo all the research work and you reap thebenefits.Another way to let someone else do thehard work is to read as much as possibleabout any product or system that appealsto you. While writers may suffer from thesame lack of research you do, they havean interest in finding out what they canabout a product or system. In addition,they are able to interview those who use orsell the product and find out from otherswhat their experience has been. Whilewriters and editors don’t like to give badmarks to products that may be advertisedin a magazine, they also don’t want to ruintheir reputations. So, for the most part,writers like positive reviews and will avoida bad product. Again, there is no sciencepresent, but the chances of giving youpoor information is not very high.Lastly, if a product works it sells. Whenyou see 75% of the shooters on the lineusing a product, you can be pretty surea lot of shooters like it. Let’s look at whysome products work for some people.A New ShotgunProbably the most common time aperson notices a “radical” change (meaningthey won a class or did a lot better) is whenthey start to use a new shotgun. Shotgunsare among the more expensive items in theshotgun sports. If you borrowed a gun, youare not able to make modifications to it,and if it was borrowed or handed down, it islikely your shotgun is of lesser quality or notdesigned to be a specialised sporting arm.A new shotgun usually means you havecommitted to the sport and want to have ashotgun you use only for competition. Thismeans a shotgun with a different balance,longer barrel, quicker lock time and farmore adjustments. It also means the gunwill probably fit a lot better.So, right off the bat you have a betterfitting,more expensive shotgun designedfor the sport you are shooting. Just thinkabout that. You made a decision to delvedeeper into shooting by spending severalthousand dollars on a shotgun you cannottake hunting. This means you haveconfidence in your shooting to the extentof that investment (at least), and you geta tool that not only fits you better but isbetter for the job. Longer barrels meana longer sight plane and better followthrough.A better fit means you are moreconsistent each time you shoot and nottired out from fighting the gun. In itself,these factors can add two targets or moreto your match.As you progress, you learn more abouthow to shoot your shotgun and takeadvantage of the features it offers. Mostshooters buy a target shotgun withouttaking into account all the advantagesa target gun offers. Manufacturershave designed these guns to shoot claytargets and have taken advantage ofthe experience of expert shooters andobservations over time to perfect theirproducts. It’s no wonder a lot of shooterssuddenly do better with a new, well-fittedshotgun.There are a lot of other products thatwork because they do what is advertisedand more. They are often bought for areason that is not the most importantone (because everyone else has one, forinstance), but because they are effective,they will help a shooter achieve his or hergoal.The Placebo EffectThere is a long history in medicineof acknowledging the “placebo effect”.Placebos are often called “sugar pills” andare used in research to be the neutraltreatment against which an experimentaltreatment is measured. Early on, researcherslearned placebos have effects that occurby just being there. It is not clear whetherthe context of treatment causes changesin a person’s physiology/neurophysiologyor if there are other mechanisms, but wedo know there are changes that occur inpeople when they think an active processis going to occur. Placebos have been usedfor years to help people cure themselves.In fact, there used to be a product calledObecalp (read it backwards) that wasnumbered according to the colour of thepill.I am sure there are a lot of productsthat have no significant effect on shotgunshooting but do trigger a placebo effect.While this may seem trivial, the placeboeffect is one of the most powerful inmedicine, and there is no reason to think itis not just as powerful in any performanceendeavour.Continued on page 37