# Training for specific tournaments



## Padgett (Feb 5, 2010)

For me training for indoor I have to just get into local leagues as much as possible so that I can get used to having a hip quiver on my belt and shooting close to other people, once I do this for a few weeks I am good to go and have a routine. Now as far as preparing my nerves I like to shoot with both types of shooters, people that I am better than where I should easily win because this is a certain type of pressure and I also shoot with Sam Woltius which is world class indoor guy that is going to kick my butt unless I shoot a 60x because he always shoots a stinking 60x. 

Last year I showed up and he totally missed two x's early in a round I think because he didn't have his sight set correctly and he shot out the top two times in a row, That night I shot clean for 40 or so shots and then I dropped a x and now I am only one freaking point ahead of Sam. I had to shoot the last 20 shots clean to beat him and for me that was the hightlight of the season to get him and I was so freaking nervous on the last end.

As for daily training for indoor I like to go into the bow shop and just pound x's without doing scoring rounds and changing hinges and firing engines and just enjoying hitting them for days at a time without missing.

I have been reading and watching reo wilde stuff and I have heard him say on more than one occasion that he scores everything weather he is shooting vegas or 5-spot or outdoor fita he is shooting a scoring round. I have been debating on doing this all winter now that I have built up my confidence by just shooting x's but I haven't decided yet.

Another thing I have been doing is no warm up, I have learned from asa 3d shoots that relying on a good warm up is a really bad thing because many times the bags are full of hundreds of shooters or the fog rolled in and it is freaking dark until shoot time or something happens and there is no warm up. So basically I work on showing up at local 3d tournaments and league nights and I don't warm up and shoot cold. I do this all the time and I have really became confident in my ability to shoot at my best rigth from the start.


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## Padgett (Feb 5, 2010)

I will sat that this season has been a success for me on the mental nerves thing, last season I had more than one disaster shot or round where my nerves got the best of me. The preparation I have done by surrounding myself with the top shooters in my area has really helped me step up and make a strong shot week after week this year, I didn't hit all the 12's but I picked a good distance and I shot my shot with a smooth approach that I am proud of. This is something I couldn't do just a year ago.


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## yeroc (Jan 11, 2007)

I love reading padgetts posts!!!


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## Donjr721 (Mar 25, 2013)

yeroc said:


> I love reading padgetts posts!!!


Me too. Makes me feel like a celebrity just posted on my thread. 
Awesome story too.


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## Donjr721 (Mar 25, 2013)

I'm stuck around 295-299 mid 40x range. I'm shooting outside, no indoor areas close. 
I do pound out the x's at ten yards inside the house, just isn't the same. 
But I'm working on it.


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## WhitBri (Jan 30, 2007)

I will preface this in that I only mean to help and no disrespect is meant at all. 
Now on an nfaa face with an open setup dedicated indoor bow a 300 should be easy. If not you have a form flaw to fix or a bow setup/ draw length issue. Search out the above and fix it. The form flaw won't be something unnoticeable more than likely if it is that. May be a combo of more than one as I have found in archery most issues have a compounding affect. 
For you I would suggest perfecting form then short yardage games to ingrain it.


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## Donjr721 (Mar 25, 2013)

WhitBri said:


> I will preface this in that I only mean to help and no disrespect is meant at all.
> Now on an nfaa face with an open setup dedicated indoor bow a 300 should be easy. If not you have a form flaw to fix or a bow setup/ draw length issue. Search out the above and fix it. The form flaw won't be something unnoticeable more than likely if it is that. May be a combo of more than one as I have found in archery most issues have a compounding affect.
> For you I would suggest perfecting form then short yardage games to ingrain it.


it seem like I only pop a 4 when the wife comes out. she makes me nervous. 

I really think I have a glitch somewhere in my shot execution. my 4 or 4's usually won't come until the last game. last night it was my 7th in the first game. I saw the back door open (I shoot parallel to the house), so I paused during my sequence last night, I should have let down, but I knew she would stay on the porch, so no fear of hitting her. but it was a minor distraction (hot blonde in a tank top). 

so I will blame last nights only 4 on her. 

I really think my biggest issue is not taking enough time between arrows. I should use a timer, but I don't, I will from now on. after the 4 came last night, I started counting to 25 between each arrow. I had no more 4's and my x count went up for the last two games.

so maybe, that is one flaw. the other thing I notice, is that my shot breaks sooner sometimes, and later sometimes. this only happens when I'm shooting at 20 yards or greater. at 10 yards my shot breaks at 5-7 seconds consistently.

Any thoughts on that? my misses are usually a little low or a little left.


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## WhitBri (Jan 30, 2007)

Taking enough time between shots is huge. Atleast 15 seconds between to let muscles get back what they just lost. Let down the bad shots. Don't let yourself shoot them. Learn what your good shot execution feels like and try and repeat. If something feels off let down. Shot clock in you head expires past the 5-7 sec you said is normal let down. Mentally praise yourself for well executed shots (doesn't matter where the arrow goes). Discourage the poor executions even if the land inside out. From what you wrote my guess is the 4s you shoot you know they were god awful shots before they made it to the target. First eliminate the horrible shots. Then eliminate the poor shots. Then work to eliminate the ok shots. And so on until you are left with all perfectly executed shots


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## Donjr721 (Mar 25, 2013)

WhitBri said:


> Taking enough time between shots is huge. Atleast 15 seconds between to let muscles get back what they just lost. Let down the bad shots. Don't let yourself shoot them. Learn what your good shot execution feels like and try and repeat. If something feels off let down. Shot clock in you head expires past the 5-7 sec you said is normal let down. Mentally praise yourself for well executed shots (doesn't matter where the arrow goes). Discourage the poor executions even if the land inside out. From what you wrote my guess is the 4s you shoot you know they were god awful shots before they made it to the target. First eliminate the horrible shots. Then eliminate the poor shots. Then work to eliminate the ok shots. And so on until you are left with all perfectly executed shots


thank you. I have almost your exact words written in my notes that I keep when I practice. I'm getting better letting down more, definitely need to take more time in between shots. a lot of times I will start to think let down, but continue, but I really wanted to let down, but arrow already gone. dammit. I am working on it though.

I love it when I get good advice on this forum. extremely awesome. when I find stuff I definitely want to keep, I print it, and put it in my binder. 
thanks again. every little bit I get helps


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## N7709K (Dec 17, 2008)

I train for the end result at hand... So fita it's in 15 arrow matches, Vegas it's a 900 and then 12 inners... Or it's shooting 90 arrows a session when I only need to shoot a 60arrow qualifier(nimes, usaa nationals, etc). If and I mean if I break out a blue face it's about hitting the right inner count to play.

Shoot up close and put some 60's under your belt and get the form soothed out


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## dwagoner (Sep 27, 2007)

N7709K said:


> I train for the end result at hand...
> 
> Shoot up close and put some 60's under your belt and get the form soothed out


and confidence builder too...which is huge in target competition.... if you can nail a perfect round at 15 then you can work back yard at a time, and know you can do it....

AND to OP.....remember when you make a bad shot, forget it....! its over and done with, go on to next arrow, theres nothing you can do about a shot after its in the target.....if you can master that and keep previous bad shot emotions out of the next youll do alot better, as its easy to ride confidence when your drilling shots in the center, but alot harder to let go of bad shots....


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## Ned250 (Aug 10, 2009)

Donjr721 said:


> it seem like I only pop a 4 when the wife comes out. she makes me nervous.
> 
> I really think I have a glitch somewhere in my shot execution. my 4 or 4's usually won't come until the last game. last night it was my 7th in the first game. I saw the back door open (I shoot parallel to the house), so I paused during my sequence last night, I should have let down, but I knew she would stay on the porch, so no fear of hitting her. but it was a minor distraction (hot blonde in a tank top).
> 
> ...


This sounds like a confidence issue to me. You sound like you're trying to 'not miss' instead of trying to 'hit the X'. You have to put in the time in the shorter games to develop the confidence that your shot process is going to result in an X every single time. A shred of doubt in that process will derail your round every......single......time.


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## Azzurri (Mar 10, 2014)

Donjr721 said:


> I'm stuck around 295-299 mid 40x range. I'm shooting outside, no indoor areas close.
> I do pound out the x's at ten yards inside the house, just isn't the same.
> But I'm working on it.


People often focus on makes instead of misses. You're obviously pretty good with the makes. Think about why you dropped those points and work on equipment or technique solutions. Fatigue means fitness work, a piece of equipment that acts up or could be better leads to a Lancaster Solution, inconsistent form means maybe less target work and more just drilling the same form into a bale.


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## Azzurri (Mar 10, 2014)

There is a happy medium in terms of shooting days. You want to feel fairly fresh shooting a tournament. The elite shoot pretty much daily. You need to see what works for you, your work schedule, and your energy. At some point if you practice too much you start showing up to competitions tired and results suffer. Conversely, too little and you're using part of the round to knock off rust. The one caveat on that is keep your practice schedule the week before the tournament if you don't want to be rusty. This is my first year and I found myself sometimes taking a few days rest like an athlete trying to show up real fresh. But in archery, you have to be technically sharp and too many days off that starts to slip. So if you usually shoot Thursday or Friday stick with it even if the tournament's that weekend. Just maybe back off the volume some.

A league can be helpful in giving you practice that still counts.

I suggest doing lots of tournaments where the pressure becomes second nature and you find coping mechanisms that work for you.

Each shot counts on its own, let bad ones go, remember particularly in NFAA it's just 1 x or 5 points. Don't get too up or too down, try to get a repeatable, smooth shot, and do it over and over.

Get your equipment setup where you just assemble a known set of stuff and don't panic about where things are.

Don't be afraid to let down. At the top end it's about knowing when to let a bad shot drop.

Last, your challenge is not to match practice -- though that hints at potential -- but to be 1x or 1 pt better than last time in a tournament where it counts. Most people are better in practice and that will only stress to compare. But knowing you won't be as good, do better in competition than last time.


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## steve morley (Dec 24, 2005)

Indoor rounds are really about Form and concentration, Form as in no excuses for terrain/weather and concentration in shooting 5 arrow ends on a shooting line that may have more than your normal distractions, I've been bumped and poked more than a few times.

Once you get past a certain level you have to switch off from the score and keep focus on the execution, otherwise those scores will mess with your head.


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## Azzurri (Mar 10, 2014)

I agree, I'm pretty good with mental math and it is not necessarily ideal to follow your math progress too closely. I think it's more useful to think about ends in terms of an acceptable end score, or a good one. That also has the virtue of creating a context to flush individual bad shots from your mind. OK I shot that 1, but I shot 3 5s and a 4 so I got 20 for the end. That end was salvaged, that end is over, time for the next end.

String together solid ends without blips and you usually get a good score, even if your x count isn't great that day.


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## Azzurri (Mar 10, 2014)

Now that I've read more thread, 3d is more like FITA than NFAA. Fewer shots per target/end. More emphasis on precision. Archery is always precision but 5 arrows in NFAA or 6 outdoors is easier to find a groove within either an end or the tournament (as long as you're not compound needing to shoot 300 60x). I feel like the isolated shots of 3d or 3 arrow FITAs are a more demanding technical exercise because the technical and mental switch has to flip each time. You need to be "on" and have a good ritual.


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