Muscle Memory Excercises

"I know it is wet, and the sun is not sunny. but you can still sit indoors and train to be a better airsoft player."
fun fact: you have to do something roughly 10,000 times for it to become automatic.
10,000 times!
circus performers (most of them) practice their stunts 10,000 times before it's seen by an audience.
our police and military practice basic tactical moves religiously, to make sure they have it down when it counts.
athletes do much the same, run "drills" everyday, honing their skills.
apply the same mentality to airsoft. you have to draw weapons, load magazines, swap magazines (without losing them, because they are not cheap), change weapons, acquire targets, use hand signals, and engage in many activities. you will also need to perform these tasks while standing, kneeling, crouching, prone, behind cover,on your back. while your doing all of this, adrenaline's pumping, and your being shot at. do you think maybe you should have your moves down?
let's have a pick-your-own-adventure story to follow my point.

you are in the middle of an airsoft game, everything was going well, but your team split up, and your parter's been hit, now your on your own. you enter a clearing.

WALK IN (1)

STEALTH IN (2)

1. You walk in, stomp on a twig as hard as you can. unfazed, you keep tromping. a bb comes out of nowhere and strikes you in the chest. you yell "hit" and your adventure is over.

2. You stay low and move to cover, stepping over a twig to not be heard. you survey the area ahead of you, and you see them. 3 enemy players at the edge of your guns range, it's a long shot, but you can make it. you have the element of surprise. you take aim. everything is perfect, they're never gonna know what hit them. you fire!.
your triumph turns to panic as you realize your gun has jammed and you've given away your position. your enemies turn and you hear one shout "eyes on one", and you know he isn't talking about someone else.
it's time to draw your pistol from your hip holster and save yourself. you did practice drawing while crouched, right?

UMMM, LET'S SAY I DID NOT, WHAT THEN? 1

I GOT THAT DOWN PAT 2

1. you grab the pistol, fumbling with the holster snap costs you precious time, you can't get the darn gun to break free, it's being pinched in the holster. you stand to free the weapon, forgetting your cover, and get lit up by 3 guys. You yell "hit", and your adventure is over.

2. in one fluid motion, you kick out your leg to relieve pressure on the holster, unsnapping and drawing your gas pistol. your thumb automatically clicks the safety off (because i didn't feel like making the safety another part of this example) you remember the WWI story of Sgt. Alvin York and pop the guys back to front with your pistol, proving once again that life imitates airsoft. congratulations! you've won.

silly, i know, but there's reasons to do this training.
take out your weapons and run these things. put on your tactical vest and run magazine changes. practice every aspect of weapon use. if it saves you half a second, it's worth the work, you get new toys, run the drills. make it part of maintenance on your equipment. check everything out, then run the motions.
if you're going into the military, this makes a lot of sense, and can give you a leg up in training. so get out there, work on your game.