Training to Win (Ben Stoeger Training to Win DVD review)

Ben Stoeger's newest training release, his DVD "Training to Win", was released today both on DVD and on Vimeo.com video on demand. This video is a great companion to his previous dryfire and live fire training manuals and goes through many of the drills many of us have already seen in the books.  I would consider this video as best for the intermediate to advanced shooter. It does not cover fundamentals of technique like how to draw or grip your gun properly; you definitely need to have a grasp on how to do the basic skills needed for practical shooting before you start trying to rip through the par times shown in this video. If you've found this video, you probably have already been practicing for a while and maybe even have read a book or two from Ben or another trainer so you will probably know what to expect.  Although Ben does discuss these fundamentals in the context of how to perform on the macro live and dryfire drills he presents, this is not like a Matt Burkett DVD.  Most of the live and dryfire techniques involve more than one skill, such as drawing and transitioning, drawing and reloading, or shooting on the move. These are not your basic boring drills.  Technique and insight, with references to the bible verses (page numbers in Ben's other training books) that those skills draw from are shown for most of the short live fire or dry fire drills in the video.  This is good for going back and referring to the material that the video isn't able to spend as much time on as the books are.

The video also shows Ben, Matt Hopkins and some dork shooting an open gun on various field courses. Stage breakdown and multiple runs on the same stage from the different shooters show how planning and using different techniques can affect your score for a stage. Choosing when to shoot on the move and which order to engage the targets is also shown.  For this part I wish they would have scored the targets and showed the hit factor for each run in the corner of the screen instead of just showing the time, so the viewer would be able to see exactly how much he gains or loses by trying a different method or stage breakdown, but the point still comes across well in the format they chose to show it in.

Overall, the video format covers more in just over 100 minutes than any other training or technique video I've seen. Transitioning between dryfire techniques, live fire drills on the indoor range and field courses on the outdoor ranges keeps the viewer's attention and covers a ton of material on theory and technique.

The official recommendation from Super-Tactical.com is that Ben Stoeger's "Training to Win" DVD is 100% No Bullshit.  Buy it.