Your Level of Training

So I was watching The Art of the Dynamic Carbine the other day and I heard Chris Costa say something that really made me think:
"When your adrenaline is pumping and everything is in chaos you can only fall back on the level of your training"

Word.

If you don't know who Chris Costa is, google him. He is a combination of Jesus, Chuck Norris and Audie Murphy.

What does this sentence mean? Well I look at it from two different angles: From a fitness perspective and a shooting perspective. The concept is pretty easy to grasp once it is related.

Fitness
It is no secret that I think Intensity is the most important attribute to have when training as a serious athelete/ soldier/ mirror flexer. Without intensity your workouts are boring, unmotivated and probably pointless. Sure you can go to the gym, lift weights and eventually get big without any real intensity, but what fun is that? Why do you think people listen to metal when they lift. It's fucking intense. Why do you think there are bands called Cattle Decapitation and Cannibal Corpse?  because they are bat shit crazy. That shit jacks you up.  I have yet to meet a person (besides myself) who gets jacked up in the gym to gospel or oldies (I'm wierd, ok?).

"What does this have to do with your title?"

Getting there, Johnny Jantzen.

So you lift like a madman, you run like a mad man and you *gulp* even crossfit like a madman. Awesome. You are strong, fit and your conditioning is great. When it comes time to use this strength/ fitness/ conditioning in a life-or-death or chatoic situation (you know, when it actually fucking matters), you use it balls-to-the-wall. Why? Because you trained like a raging fucking asshole. The level that you trained at (regardless of lbs. you actually lifted) was so high that when life puts out those little speed bumps you crush them into the ground.

Fuck you, speed bump.

Compare this to the panty waste you see hanging around most gyms. Doing slow curls in the squat rack while admriing their size 17 biceps. Doing crunches on the mats only to get a look at the barely passable soccer moms doing pointless exercises on bosu balls. Hell, maybe they even lift correctly and do squats, dead and military press. But when they do there is no fire. They just "wanna get jacked, man." What's the goddamn point? You can pick up heavy things and put them down. When chaos is introduced will they attack it head on? Doubtful. I'd take the intense motherfucker who only benches 225 over the boring oaf who can press 350 to be on my team.

You just ran a marathon and you finsished in 2 and a half hours? Great. I just hit a tire with a sledgehammer for 5 minutes, averaged 15 hits per round and puked up my keto bruger. Oh yeah then I flipped the tired for 10 minutes. Fuck you.

Shooting 
This aspect is a little more technical (read: boring). I'll start with a story:

I went to the range the other day to do some drills (reloading, transitions, urban prone etc.) I like to consider myself and decent dynamic shooter. I am moderatley quick and accurate and I move better than most. But it had been a few months since I had practiced at all. I was rusty. I fumbled pulling my magazines out my kydex and was slow, very slow, to reload. I had let my training slip and it showed.

Basically, had I had to utilize my carbine and/ or pistol in a time-is-life, chaotic situation I would have been fucked. My level of training was low. I was like a beginner. Chris Costa would be ashamed.

It taught me a valuable lesson, however. I needed to train constantly and I needed to train hard. 
When I train in dynamic shooting I wear a plate carrier with two level III plates and 3 to 6 magazines plus additional gear. all in all weighting about 30-40 pounds. I can move around easily because, well, I condition like a goddamned asshole. Physical conditioning isnt my problem. My level of training is. I was almost embarassed.    

I could picture a nightmare scenario where I was in a firefight with a few baddies. Shit was hitting the fan. Chaos everywhere and there my dumbass was fumbling to get a magazine out my kydex. At the level I am now I wouldn't even want me on my Call of Duty clan much less in an actual squad level fire fight. Never again.

Final Word: When the adrenaline is going you start running on instincts. Your instincts are based on your level of training. Train hard, train regularly and for the love of all that is holy sweat a little when you workout. Don't be afraid to look like a gorilla when you do squats. Fucking put some heart into it.

Dat Beard! Chris Costa...

Go workout.