PMCI - March 2021

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?
Once again I find myself in the hot seat as PMCI enters yet another
exciting year, and the challenges that face the team internationally
continue to be just that… challenging!
Whilst certain parts of the world are much freer when it comes
to the ongoing global pandemic, the UK/Euro members of the
team are still very much constrained by legal guidelines that tell
us exactly what we can do or not, and whilst all of us fall very
much into the “free-thinking, freedom-loving” category we also
understand that these restrictions are for the greater good of all.
Does that mean we are inactive? Of course it doesn’t, as
inactivity is anathema to us! Our entire ethos is about taking
individual responsibility for our own actions, of having a “drive
on” mentality that keeps us pushing forward when others might
begin to fade, and the current situation is just another challenge
for us to adapt to, and ultimately overcome!
It is true that our usual training regimes have undoubtedly
needed to adapt; where I write in the UK we have been in
“lockdown” it seems for ever and a day, but although I haven’t
been able to travel to one of the many ranges I shoot at in
“mainland Europe”, or indeed even to my usual Tuesday morning
at my local shooting club, my “6mm Training” has picked up pace
to ensure that my “muscle memory” doesn’t erode completely.
My little 10m “Short range” at home has never seen the use
it has done in recent months, and in many ways this has kept
me feeling good, and active, even in the hardest of times. I am
lucky that I’ve survived my personal battle with the “Big C”, and
even though I’m only in my mid-fifties I’ve already had my first
shot of the vaccine due to that, so the future beckons like a bright
new land, and I want to be on top of my game when that future
reopens fully!
EDITORS
COMMENT
It’s all too easy when times get tough to not bother with your
normal training routine, to think that because gyms and ranges
are closed that you can take your foot off the gas a little, but my
question stands, “if not now, then when?”
Now is the time that you need to engage your brain and do
some serious “headwork” to come up with solutions to how you
can train both mentally and physically; whilst I’ve continued
with my stretching, weight routine, long walks with the hound,
manipulations and short range drills I’ve also spent a lot of time
reading, hopefully re-learning some skills that I haven’t used for
a while, and also picking up a few new ones that I look forward
to putting into practice when things open up again.
There’s an old saying that goes “don’t put off ‘til tomorrow
what you can do today”, and now seems the perfect time to
abide by that. Don’t think about training, do it. Don’t sit and let
the “lockdown days” drift idly by, but prep your gear and learn
something new.
Trust me, when all this is Covid-stuff is a memory you’ll be glad
that you did something positive. Bring it on 2021!
EDITORS COMMENT