Movement. Mobility is crucial in a fight, and a gunfight is definitely no exception. When it’s time to shoot, shoot. When it’s time to move, MOVE. And when you need to do both at the same time, you need to have the requisite level of skill to shoot accurately while moving with a sense of purpose.

This is one of the skill sets I see practiced incorrectly the most among tactical shooters. The same mistakes are so common that they almost seem like doctrine rather than errors. And the way movement skills are commonly trained doesn’t properly develop skill at either shooting or moving. So, how can we address this in our training?

To begin, we need to train like athletes. For some reason, people seem to think that the rules governing human performance and skill development don’t apply when you have a gun in your hand. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The body and the mind work the way they work, regardless of whether you have a firearm or not. Sprint mechanics don’t change because it’s a gunfight. Neither do the biomechanics involved in moving rapidly but smoothly enough to have a stable athletic platform differ when shooting on the move.

Efficiency. How many times on social media have you seen shooters training movement drills with cones or barricades and they come into position nowhere near ready to shoot. Gun not up, stance not yet stable. Regardless of whether you are entering a position and immediately shooting, or setting up behind cover, you should be entering that position ready to shoot. Exiting a position should be explosive. Once you’ve made the decision to move, that needs to happen right away.

Shooting on the move. All too often shooters wind up moving so slowly that there is no benefit to be gained. If you have a reason to shoot while moving, both need to be done at a high enough level that you get the benefit of both rapid movement and accurate hits. The old heel-toe “duck walk” just won’t produce this level of results. Learning to relax and create a stable platform during rapid and fluid movement will. But it has to be trained.

The best shooters to learn these skills from are action shooting competitors. No, USPSA matches aren’t gunfights. And they aren’t “tactical.” But one of the things a USPSA match does have in common with a gunfight is this. Fractions of a second can make the difference between winning or losing. And any top USPSA shooter has learned to maximize their efficiency and move like an athlete. If you want to move well, train that skill set like an athlete and you will get better.