Training vs. Practice

[Shay VanVlymen]

Gun owners often use these two words interchangeably. While they deal with similar subjects, they are not at all the same.

These are the simple definitions I use:

Practice is when you work on what you already know.

Training is when you learn something new.

Training can never take place inside your comfort zone. It would be impossible to learn something new that you already know (unless you have forgotten or had a brain injury). You learn and then you practice. Taking a class helps you learn new and better ways to run your gun to defend yourself but then it's up to you to go home and practice what you learned.

The value of training is severely reduced without practice to reinforce the lessons. Practice without proper training is usually wasting ammo.

Thoughts?

[W9ZEB]

I tend to agree. This really fits most life scenarios. I can Train to administer Microsoft SQL Server 2005 in a class, but if I don't do it in the real world I won't improve those skills. Trying to teach myself SQL Server 2005 is a lesson in futility.

Martial arts, Cooking, Building Engines, etc etc etc.

Good thoughts Shay

[rhino]

This is a semantics issue. Just define what you mean when you use the terms to avoid confusion.

For instance, in many sports, "training" encompasses practice and all sorts of conditioning, much more than it does any sort of educational process. Boxing is an example.

That's why I use the word "instruction" when I'm referring to a transfer of knowledge and skills. I don't know of anyone who would not understand what that means in this context.

The word "training" is ambiguous unless everyone in the conversation agrees on a narrow definition, which is 1) unlikely, and 2) limits communication with those outside of that circle who do not share the same limited definition.

[obijohn]

again, i find myself agreeing with the rhino. you can train, you can receive training. same thing? i can train you or train with you. same? shay does bring up a good point and clarifies his definition. i think the real point is that we tend to post or write in the same lazy manner in which we converse.

[Josh Smith]

I, too, agree with Rhino. Training and practice have always been interchangeable to me, while instruction or learning mean something totally different.

I think this may have led to a misunderstanding in another thread as well...

As far as practice without proper instruction goes:

A number of years back, in Brazil I think, but am not certain, a kid who competed in .22 target shooting (Olympics maybe? It's been a while) was on the way out of the indoor range with his family when they were held up. Being a kid, the mugger didn't pay that much attention to him, but rather, his parents. The kid loaded his target pistol and planted a .22 short between the mugger's eyes.

He'd only been trained target shooting, but was able to end a deadly threat due to the fact that he was able to place a bullet where it needed to be, with certainty.

I think that if people need to be taught anything when it comes to defensive handgunning, it's how to avoid trouble, and if one should find himself in trouble, how to create distance and use cover while drawing and firing from different positions.

I like the police method of spraying the student with pepper spray and making him plant bullets where they need to be after the stuff has kicked in (a couple seconds for me.) This mimics several things well: Your eyes slam shut, you can't breath, and you're in intense pain. Same thing happens if you get hit square in the nose by an assailant.

I was reading about how Mas Ayoob (I believe) and his fellows at that school were experimenting with using pseudoephedrine HCI to mimic the effects of an adrenaline dump. I'm on the fence about this one. I suppose it would be good for some, but I personally cannot tolerate the stuff and the paramedics they had there would be called into play.

And then again, there's the issue of formal training being available only relatively recently, within the past 50 years or so, when we've had firearms for defense for hundreds of years.

I tend to take the stance of, training is a very nice thing to have, but not 100% necessary if you know how to create distance and put the bullets where they belong at the appropriate time.

Josh <><

[BloodEclipse]

I have to agree with Shay. Dictionary.com lists training this way:

train·ing –noun
1.the education, instruction, or discipline of a person or thing that is being trained: He's in training for the Olympics.
2.the status or condition of a person who has been trained: athletes in top training. –adjective
3.of, pertaining to, or used in or for training: a training manual.
4.intended for use during an introductory, learning, or transitional period: a training cup for weaning a baby; a training bra.
Training is the act of learning where as practicing is taking what you have learned and putting it into use and trying to achieve perfection.
A Boxer who is in training does alot of things that Rhino explained Conditioning and such but the training is really when the Trainer is teaching him.

A person who has no idea of how a firearm works cannot practice a skill they have not learned. They can shoot it till the barrel melts but they have no useful skills.

I was a technical Instructor in the Navy and for 4.5 years after I got out. One of the biggest mistakes made by both some students and some instructors is they assume the students to have a certain level of knowledge already. They know it, so why shouldn't others know it as well?
Training is the instruction given to those who can then go practice the skill they have learned.

[Josh Smith]

But... you practice training

From my view, this is really getting into semantics here, sorta' like the "magazine vs. clip" or "9mm vs .45acp."

I had a feeling that Shay was right (semantics again) due to trainer = one who trains another and trainee = one who is being taught.

BUT! - I say with my finger raised in the air! - why not just use "instructor" and make it clear for all?

The English language is in a constant state of flux. I really don't think it would look terribly good on any of us if we got into it about proper applications of closely related words, when those words are used interchangeably by thousands of people on a daily basis.

You're right, I'm wrong, I'm out.

Josh <><

[Barry in IN]

I tend to think:
"Training" is when you have an instructor present.
"Practice" is when you practice what you learned in training.

And you can do one without the other. It may not be right, but you can.

[Kirk Freeman]

Training=learning new stuff

Practice=doing old stuff

*wipes hands* There yet another thread solved.

[Disposable Heart]

Go get em Kirk!