TargetTalk

Another topic thats often talked about, but not a lot of details given. Who keeps Journals and who doesn't, what do you write in them (give examples). How do you use it?

I've struggled with journal keeping, I do it for awhile then sort of fall out of the habit. I started off recording more techinical stuff then more recently went to recording more inner type stuff (ie how things felt). I've tried different forms of journals including the journal that Basham sells.

I'd prefer if people shared their true feelings on journals, not just the party line that journals are good and should be kept. I've seen different levels of journal keeping from to WC class shooters and they seem to range from none to very detailed note (some even take notes between every shot in the final.

Like you I keep a journal. What I record is number of shots, score's, whether its a practice session or a match. every now and then I record how I felt, what my focus was etc etc. It has helped to go back and see what worked and what didn't.

Lou

I use to keep a shooting journal back when I was a much more active competitor, I find it helpful if I had something I want to work on or expermenting with in mind when I go to a pratice session.

Lets say today I'm going to take a break every 10 shots instead of my normal 20, or adding more weight on the pistol and so on, when I recorded in the journal afterward, more often than not, other aspect of the pratice session comes to mind, It could be something may or may not relate to the object of the pratice session, for example my feet got tired very soon today and such.

The important part is to write it down, once it become a routine, you'll be more able to articulate and elaborate the mental aspect of the game. As for what to write down, I've seen shooters wrote pages and pages right after pratice, others went home, have supper and sat down at thier desk and wrote, some will gave a very detail run down and descriptions of the days session, other only a few words whats working whats not. The critical part is the shooter must think through the entire pratice session, record and evalute the results, jotting down something like " today I tried to break my shots under 5 sec. and everythings seems fine " is rather meaningless, to reap benifit from the pratice and journal, one must analysis the resuts and record them in clear langauge.

Going back to the above example entry of " breaking shots under 5 sec. " How helpful is this entry? I'm afrid not much, because it did not evalute and analysis the outcome, since theres no record of what specific result or how did it change the mental and physical performance.

I understand what you say regarding write down inner part of shooting, it seems we all suffer from " writes block " from time to time, for myself, it helps if I had a sepcific purpose in mind before hand, once I start to write, quite often, thoughts just pour out, however I' try to keep it brief, usually no more than one page. On the other hand, if I can't think of anything to write, I wont force myself either.

Like you said, amongst shooters of varying degree of skill levels, usage of shooting journal vary greatly, its up to you to find out how a journal can be of benefit, at the very least, there should be a record of the physical specifications of your equipments, like what size and weight of pellets shot best etc. etc.

I hope this help.

Tony C.

I would be very surprised if every single coach didn't insist on all their shooters using a journal. I use one and mine tends to be quite detailed. The 2 main sections in it are training and comps, but I have a couple of other bits as well.

For training I write down my training goals. Mine are things like "slow lower into the aiming area" or "follow through" - I typically have 2 or 3 goals. I then rate those goals - say 8/10. Next I look at what went well - I could for example have kept a good level of focus or concentration. Lastly I note areas to work on, those that I felt went less well. These I will use as targets for the next session.

In my competitions section, I will do the same. I may however focus more on mental than technical goals but it all depends really, on the specific comp I'm doing and at what level.

I also have a section with an annual calendar that I mark on training sessions and comps. Then lastly I write my seasons and long term goals - again these will not be score orientated.

Rob.

Yes write down what you do right. In order to shoot a new world record I believe you should be able to write a better book on how to do it. Besides writing that book will be a tremendous aid to what you are doing right now. You fix in time how you are shooting right now, That is the base line that you will use to improve your technique and perfect the things you will need to exceed that record. Good Shooting Bill Horton

I've kept a journal split in three different parts:

• in an A4 folder using preformatted templates (from here: http://www.wilkinstowntargetshootingclu ... Templates/ )
• in a little moleskine notebook for the really "good grief, did I just do that?" stuff I don't feel like sharing (which these days isn't much)
• in a blog ( http://sparks.journals.ie ). This one's handy because if I say "I'm going to hit 570 in the nationals", I've said it to lots of people and I get the resulting pressure, which is useful. I've also found it to be handy for the shooters I was training in DURC as well.

A written journal is usually a compiliation of bad phenomenon that the shooter has experienced. It is a path to disaster. Why write scores, values, etc. (negative items) when the shooter should be reinforcing good technique by using the mind during training sessions. Writing down past information must be performed in a very careful manner to avoid remembering bad occurrances. If you are training regularly and often, there should be no need whatsoever to attempt to record history. How many Army shooters keep logs?

Anonymous wrote:A written journal is usually a compiliation of bad phenomenon that the shooter has experienced. It is a path to disaster. Why write scores, values, etc. (negative items) when the shooter should be reinforcing good technique by using the mind during training sessions. Writing down past information must be performed in a very careful manner to avoid remembering bad occurrances. If you are training regularly and often, there should be no need whatsoever to attempt to record history. How many Army shooters keep logs?

I think you have completely the wrong idea of what a shooting journal should be and is. It is absolutely not a collection of bad results and failures. Talk to any coach and they will tell you to keep a journal. It needs to be heavily positively biased, but we all have areas that we can improve on and without a journal it's near impossible to keep track of them, and our work towards solving them.

I won't touch on the last point, it is totally irrelevant.

Rob.

One important item you can put in a log is write down range conditions and personal or equipment settings you found necessary to allow you to shoot at that range.

When I was shooting rifle I kept a large 3 ring binder full of notes. I shot 3 different rifles and I kept track of rifle settings at different ranges, filter setting for sites. Switching to pistol I went more simple and used a 5x8 notebook that was basicly a calendar and wrote down stuff from scores, traing notes and match notes. If I needed more space I would write more a on a piece of paper and insert it into the right spot.

An example would be you shoot at the national championships once a year and you do not have a good memory or you shot one match at a range and you do not go back to that range for several years. In your log you can put down what the range was like. Were the benches too tall or too short to you liking? What was the lighting like? Then you can record what you did or would do differently next time so you are better prepared for the next time to visit that range.

It is important to put down what you did and what your mind set was like on the day you had a really good performance so you can help duplicate that every time you shoot. You should also keep a record of what did not work so you will learn.

I do agree you need to be positive about the statements you write down. Try and avoid comments like I shot 5 8's. Write down what you did to recover from a string of poor performance to return to shooting 10's.

I was reminded of something written in one of the post about keeping the jourmal positive in overall nature. I think i've mentioned that I refuse to even post a 9 to my score book. The posts are all tens and Xs,with blanks when ever I shot a 9. Good shooting and keep a good log Bill Hotron

Bill, Funny I do the same thing in air pistol I write down total shots and how many were 10's with the goal to keep the # of 10's above 55% until I raise the bar.

I do. Its a great help.

I dont bother , my memory hasn't failed me yet . I do keep notes on settings on my AR , that way I can restore things to default in the event I try something new .

Chris

I keep a journal, what I write in it changes a lot though, I haven't quite decided what I should be writing. When I first started a few years ago it was just how my shots, scores and that type stuff, nothing about mentality or even position. Then I moved to where I did more about some of the physical aspects, so I would write if I was tired or if my balance was off or NPA or things like that. Now scores very rarely make it in there, unless it is a PR or something. Mostly about what I felt, if I tried anything new my initial impression and thoughts on future possibilities, and if it was a problem, position balance and NPA as well. Mental stuff takes up the most, that will usually be nearly the entire entry now. I don't read my journal, though my coach says I should, I generally don't remember too and when I go back and read important days I usually can't pick up as much information as I would hope from the amount of time I put into journaling, I am probably not focusing on the right things when I am writing, but I'll figure it out sometime.

from 2X Olympian Ken Johnson, Dear Diary
http://www.pilkguns.com/kjdiary.shtml