Video Yourself Shooting?

D

Dave McC

Staff In Memoriam
Q: A buddy told me that videoing myself shooting can help me pick out the things I've doing wrong.

What's your take on this?

A: a qualified Yes is the answer.

I've taped myself and others shooting just to show form glitches, This can work for many, but some folks cannot stand to see themselves in pics.

Stage fright can be a bear under these circumstances.

Bad body image comes into play, and the message gets lost in the emotion. Others have trouble ID'ing the glitch, and focus on something else that's not a hinderance to them.

Good instructors often use tape to improve effectiveness. If I were doing so, I'd use a variety of positions(SAFE ones, of course) and let the shooter know I wasn't going to tell him/her anything until I viewed and analyzed his/her performance.

A few things that video works best on would include stopping the swing and headlifting. These are the most common form faults.
 
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I've used video in the past when teaching. It supplements but does not replace a good instructor. Aside from the drawbacks you've mentioned, it's hard for folks to "self-coach" when they don't know the standards.
 
Trapshooting instructor Phil Kiner uses the video camera in his lessons. It is easier to step back and see what you might be doing wrong then it is to have somebody try an explain to you one dimensionaly. I have had the taped lesson in other sports such as golf but the instructor wanted to make too many radical changes to my form for me to fully instigate his sugjestions. So as my golf scores were higher than my trap average it became apparent that trap was more fun and I had a better chance for improvement.

The best coaches try not to change everything you do, at least not at the same time.
 
Video WORKS!! Just as in golf it will help identify form errors that are taking place at a rate hard to see with the naked eye. Until you KNOW what went wrong video can be a great coach.
 
I've had friends video tape me shooting in various competitions.

Invariably the first thing I say is: "Dang, I need to lose some weight, Honey do I really look that big?" Followed closely by "Gee whiz, I sure do look goofy when I run." :)

But I think that the video has really helped me. Sometimes it is easy for us to play mental tricks on ourselves. We shoot the stage and think, yep that sure was one slick reload. Until you watch the video and you realize that your "slick" reload looks like a walrus having a seizure.

Video has helped me find and correct a few flaws in my shooting.
 
HEE-HEE! Can't help laughing as I remember last year... a new shotgun owner had asked some of the Sporting Clays shooters at a local range to take him round the course and give him some pointers. Three of them did so, and one of them brought along a video camera to film the shooter and let him see for himself any errors in his technique. I was in the clubhouse when they left, and saw the cameraman coming back ten minutes later, soaking wet and scowling like a thundercloud. Apparently the clay had burst as it left the trap, and the largest fragment had veered right, over the head of the cameraman... and the shooter, following the clay with his shotgun, had panned right onto him, with his finger on the trigger! The cameraman took a flying leap backward, forgetting that at Station 3, there's a nice little pond at the edge of the shooting bay... :D :D :D
 
Video

Yeah, I've tried it..... working to improve my form. I don't yet have the grace or stage presence of Rob Leatham.
 
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