The Everyday Marksman

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What does that mean?

Recently, the American Pioneer Corps wrapped up their 5th annual Warfighter Challenge. I'm not actually a member of the American Pioneer Corps, and I should probably rectify that. Their mission is very much in line with my philosophy here at The Everyday Marksman, and I even think a lot of their founding members are local to me. But that's besides the point. What sparked this post had to do with the planning cycle for someone who might want to attend next year's Warfighter Challenge, or maybe one several years down the road.

So what do I mean by planning cycle? More importantly, how might we organize our training into different "seasons" that support success in such an event? So let's dig in.

Long-Term Thinking

One of the five principles of the Martial Marksman training philosophy is "Play the Long Game." There were two key points to this. One was that we should always prioritize mental and physical health. Sometimes that means holding back from pushing the edge in training in order to prevent injury and ensure we can train again the next day.

The other point had to do with the fact that we cannot improve all aspects of our capability at once. Rather, we need to focus on one or two areas at a time, then shift emphasis on to the next weak link.

This is not a new thing. In fact, the other day I was reading John Jesse's 1974 book, Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, and there was a small excerpt that resonated with me. It was a quote from Jesse Owens, who took home four gold medals during the 1934 Olympics. In it, he's discussing his first coach, Charles Riley.

He first told it to me when I was a rusty grammar school kid who'd just been convinced by him to come out for the track team and who wanted to quit because my legs looked like pieces of straw next to other guys'."I'll never make it this year, Mr. Riley." I said to him dejectedly."Who says we're trying to make it this year?" he answered. "You're training for four years from next Friday, Jesse."It was fine in high school when I started breaking records, except the time soon came when I couldn't improve on my past performances and even dropped down a bit. I was like the show business star who has nothing left for an encore, who's afraid of today because of yesterday's success."Where do I go from here?" I finally asked Mr. Riley."Keep training," he'd answer."For what?""Why, for four years from Friday, of course."I took his advice. Four years from Friday turned out to be the Olympics.

Where We go Wrong

The problem that so many of us run into is treating everything like a sprint. We tend to act as if success with anything is achievable if only we buckle down and work hard enough for six to eight weeks. The world is so full of these kinds of Couch-to-5k programs and bootcamps that we balk at the the mere idea that a particular capability needs practicing for six to twelve months before we move on to the next lev...