Learn › Track 04 · Training & analysis

Training sessions & the logbook

Two shooters each get 90 minutes on the range, three times a week, for a season. They fire the same number of pellets. By the end, one has improved far more than the other. The difference is not talent. It is what they did with each session.

Think first: Which kind of session is likely to improve your scores most over a season?

  • Shoot a full 60-shot match every time, and try to beat your best
  • Warm up dry, take sighters, then shoot blocks of 10 with one technical focus each, calling and logging every shot
  • Shoot until you get a good series, then stop on a high

The shape of a live session

A good session has a beginning, a middle and an end, each with a job.

Why blocks of 10? Ten shots is enough for a pattern you can read, and short enough to keep one focus sharp. A match also comes in series of 10, so the rhythm carries over.

Think first: If blocks of 10 train technique so well, why also shoot a full 60-shot, 75-minute simulation each week?

  • To get a score to post online
  • To practise pace, concentration and breaks across the full match length, which short blocks never test
  • Because sighters are only allowed in full matches

How much shooting?

There is no validated benchmark for how many shots a pistol shooter should fire. The best comparison comes from another precision sport.

Think first: You train 3 times a week, 50 shots a session, every week of the year. About how many shots is that a year?

Working figures, not tested prescriptions: beginners 2–3 sessions a week of 40–60 shots; national-level shooters train 5–6 days a week. Some national camps report 8–9 hours a day.

A week, laid out

Dry fire, live fire, rest and conditioning all have to fit somewhere. Here is one way a club shooter on three live sessions a week might lay it out.

The logbook

The logbook is where sessions turn into a plan. Patterns in your shooting show up over weeks, not days, and only if you wrote things down. A useful logbook records:

  • Calls versus hits for each block, and what you were working on.

  • Trainer data, such as 10a0, if you use an electronic trainer.

  • Equipment changes: grip, sights, trigger, pellet lot, with dates.

  • Sleep, resting heart rate, effort (how hard the session felt) and mood.

You can keep one in your profile. Start today: date, shots, score, sleep, mood, and a line about calls versus hits.

Think first: Your last three sessions were each about 10 points down. The logbook shows normal sleep and mood, the same focus as before, and a new tin of pellets from a different lot opened on the first bad day. What do you test first?

  • Your trigger technique, with a week of dry fire
  • The new pellet lot, against your old one from a rest
  • Nothing: three sessions is just a bad patch
  • Give every session a structure: dry warm-up, sighters, blocks of 10 with one focus, and a weekly full-length match simulation.
  • Call every shot. Blocks of 10 give patterns you can read and match the series rhythm.
  • There is no validated shot-count benchmark for pistol; elite biathletes fire about 12,800 shots a year.
  • Log calls versus hits, trainer data, equipment changes, sleep, resting heart rate, effort and mood. Patterns appear over weeks.

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