The lesson I learned the hard way is just do not take these "classes" at all. Work with a private lessons tutor or coach who will come to the range with you and work with YOU. Maybe you and your spouse, teenage children, your brother, whatever, but very small group, one well-qualified instructor, all day at the range. These big classes are recreation, but not education. The bigger name of the instructor, the more elite his credentials, the bigger a waste of money and time it is for you. He's not there to teach YOU anything. He's there to Ca$h in on his service record and shoot for free. Some big name instructors wind up doing little more than repeating word for word the same stuff they have said in interviews and Internet video clips. then you realize after a weekend class is over that you really did not get much out of it. Another thing is having too many students in the class -- that really sucks. I took a 2+ day class with a very highly regarded instructor who is known for his hands-on hand-to-hand CQB techniques and classes. He had done so many of these classes that his heart was not really into "teaching" the skills and he wound up basically providing a survey of his greatest hits. there were way too many students, and too many junior instructors for anyone to get any real teaching, coaching, etc. Some of the hands-on stuff was dangerous for people who were not used to that kind of thing. One experienced guy wound up having to go to the ER with an orthopedic injury. I finally realized that this class was waste of money and time when we got to the handgun diasarms stuff. Quick demonstrations of technique were followed by the class splitting into pairs and practicing drills for which none of us had the faintest idea what we were doing and there were too many students for the instructor to devote any time to helping anyone actually learn the techniques. One of the junior instructors came over to me and my partner and when I asked how to do the technique we were supposed to be practicing, he admitted he had no idea. Later I learned that handgun disarms are very controversial and in any event require a completely different learning process than simply watching someone demonstrate it and then "practicing" with your partner. Really well known and highly respected instructor, and it turned out that the whole weekend was a waste of time.
Thanks for the very timely and useful info !!!!
The lesson I learned the hard way is just do not take these "classes" at all. Work with a private lessons tutor or coach who will come to the range with you and work with YOU. Maybe you and your spouse, teenage children, your brother, whatever, but very small group, one well-qualified instructor, all day at the range. These big classes are recreation, but not education. The bigger name of the instructor, the more elite his credentials, the bigger a waste of money and time it is for you. He's not there to teach YOU anything. He's there to Ca$h in on his service record and shoot for free. Some big name instructors wind up doing little more than repeating word for word the same stuff they have said in interviews and Internet video clips. then you realize after a weekend class is over that you really did not get much out of it. Another thing is having too many students in the class -- that really sucks. I took a 2+ day class with a very highly regarded instructor who is known for his hands-on hand-to-hand CQB techniques and classes. He had done so many of these classes that his heart was not really into "teaching" the skills and he wound up basically providing a survey of his greatest hits. there were way too many students, and too many junior instructors for anyone to get any real teaching, coaching, etc. Some of the hands-on stuff was dangerous for people who were not used to that kind of thing. One experienced guy wound up having to go to the ER with an orthopedic injury. I finally realized that this class was waste of money and time when we got to the handgun diasarms stuff. Quick demonstrations of technique were followed by the class splitting into pairs and practicing drills for which none of us had the faintest idea what we were doing and there were too many students for the instructor to devote any time to helping anyone actually learn the techniques. One of the junior instructors came over to me and my partner and when I asked how to do the technique we were supposed to be practicing, he admitted he had no idea. Later I learned that handgun disarms are very controversial and in any event require a completely different learning process than simply watching someone demonstrate it and then "practicing" with your partner. Really well known and highly respected instructor, and it turned out that the whole weekend was a waste of time.