In Extremis Performance is a company that teaches athletic movement principles applied to practical shooting for military, law enforcement, defensive, and competition applications. Their T-Drill from In Extremis Performance is an excellent test of movement efficiently and shooting accurately. It can be done with either carbine or pistol and is set up and run the same way for both. I use it in my own training, and have used it with my online coaching students to great effect.

Everyone who’s trained with me knows I categorize drills into 4 types: experimentation, isolation, combination, and validation. The T-Drill fits into either combination work or validation testing, and it’s an excellent drill for either use. As a combination drill, I would work it in both directions, and run it 3-5 times each way. As a validation drill, or test, In Extremis Performance awards a patch to anyone who can run it clean in under 13.5 seconds. This is on their targets, three 6” circles. It can be run significantly faster if you use a more forgiving target, such as a USPSA or IDPA silhouette. I’ve earned their patch, and I’m proud of that. Especially considering how many artificial parts I have now.

The setup for the T-Drill is three barrel stacks or barricades of the same size (target stands and targets can be used) set five yards apart and seven yards from three targets also set 5 yards apart directly in front of each barrel stack. There are three cones. One set two yards down range from the center barrel stack, another set two yards up range from the center barrel stack, and a third set five yards up range from the center barrel stack.

To run the drill, start with pistol drawn or carbine at the ready behind the most up range cone. On the start signal, sprint forward to the shooter’s strong side of the center barrel stack and shoot the center target with one round between the next cone and the barrel stack. Then sprint to the outside of the support side barrel stack and shoot the target in front of it with three rounds. Then sprint to the outside of the strong side barrel stack and shoot that target with three rounds. Finally, sprint to the support side of the center barrel stack and shoot the center target with one round on the move before you reach the up range cone.

The T-Drill is a great test of your movement and shooting. Incorporate it in your training. I’d suggest using it primarily as a validation drill to see if your agility training is effective. This drill will definitely give you solid data to inform your training.