physical training

[yana]

I read several books, but cant really find what I'm looking for. I'm a shooter, just starting out (8mnts now) shooting in the 340's ex 400. Sometimes in the 350's.
I dont shoot matches, I just want to shoot as good as I can for mé.
I'm shooting all year round, dont have matches to work towards.
How about physical training? Some say, that its not good for yr fine motorskills?
And how heavy (weights)should you go for shooting purposes?
In the books I read about physical training, but it never really says whát and how heavy etc.
I'm a female by the way..

[Shooting Bloke]

The question has to be asked - why don't you shoot matches?

I would concentrate on strengthening the shoulder muscles.
At home regularly hold a weight the same as your gun in a shooting stance. Does not matter if it's your pistol, a dumbell, or the clothers iron. What's important is to excercise the muscle groups needed to shoot so as to prevent injury. Lots of people on this forum have discussed rotator cuff injuries and things similar to tennis elbow. You don't want your shooting to suffer because of injury.

[JamesH]

The Yur'Yev book has a bunch of exercises, I can scan the pages if requested.

Generally shoulder, arm, upper body and back exercises.

I think a good set of exercises is much more worthwhile than just lifting/holding a weight in the shooting position - you'll just get RSI or a shooting specific injury that much quicker.

[Misny]

Some of the best exercises for a pistol shooter can be done with a 1 gal. plastic milk jug partially filled with water. One can benefit by holding it out like a pistol and aiming the top on a spot on the wall for as long as possible. A length of twine or string can be attached to the water jug and the other end attached to a piece of broom handle, etc. and rolling the jug up and down while holding your arms out parallel to the ground.

The above strengthening exercises are important, but IMHO no more important than stretching exercises, especially ones to prevent the onset of "shooter's elbow".

[Richard H]

I'll just ad what your looking for is basically general overall body conditioning, upper body s important but if it's sitting on a jelly core and weak legs I doesn't do mch for you.

For upper body you're looking to develop muscular endurance, this is done by low weight high repitition.

[David Levene]

Saturday morning when you get dressed, strap a 1kg ankle weight to each wrist.
Saturday night when you get un-dressed, take the weights off.

Sunday, repeat as for Saturday.

[Richard H]

Then Monday morning go to your appointment with your physio-therapist, to work on the repetitive strain issues you developed over the weekend ;)

As no one here knows your actual physical condition, I would suggest you go see a professional to get a proper fitness program developed for your condition and your needs.

[PETE S]

Anyone who is training just their shooting arm is potentially on the way to a shortened career. Raising the pistol is working certain muscles and you need train the rest of your body to maintain muscle balance etc. And saying that weight training will destroy fine motor skills is 20 years or more behind.

I concur with Richard H, get some professional now, before therapy is needed.

Second consideration is to plan your training schedule. What are your goals and how much training time do you have available/ willing to commit to? You sleep 7 hours, work 8 (or school), perhaps have a few moments for social activities, personal time, etc. Now how many hours for training? Now split those hours into live fire, technical training, and physical training.

I am not suggesting by any means that you have to spend hours in the gym, but help getting a good overall training program a few days a week.

[JamesH]

Some of the best exercises for a pistol shooter can be done with a 1 gal. plastic milk jug partially filled with water. One can benefit by holding it out like a pistol and aiming the top on a spot on the wall for as long as possible. A length of twine or string can be attached to the water jug and the other end attached to a piece of broom handle, etc. and rolling the jug up and down while holding your arms out parallel to the ground.

Thats the last thing I would recommend.

For upper body you're looking to develop muscular endurance, this is done by low weight high repitition.

If you use weights use small ones. Heavy weights increase fast twitch muscle which has poor control and poor endurance.

Whole body exercise, with an emphasis on the upper body, shoulders and all the muscles in the hand and forearm is what I'd suggest.

I'll scan the Yur-Yev book soon-ish.

[paulo]

I find this place of interest http://www.targetshooting.ca/ it is designed for individual use and adaptaion to personal needs. Check the training information area.

[Forrest C.]

Don't forget about training your core to improve balance. V-sits are good for this. It's frustrating when you work out your arm to solidify your hold only to see your whole body swaying while your arm and wrist are locked in.

[Bugslugger]

Strength is a funny thing. What we’re dealing with in precision shooting isn’t strength as such but precision strength. I’ve been working out and exercising for years and years and being strong helps me in my profession. But being able to press 100# over your head 10 times does not equal being able to lift a 2# pistol 70 times and hold it still enough to make a precision shot. One can’t be totally flabby either so there has to be a happy medium between no exercise and massive strength training. Lifting a lighter weight, say 3-7#, many times is going to help our shooting much more than lifting a heavier weight fewer times. We’re looking for stamina and fitness rather than brute strength. Arnie Vitarbo had a couple of good ideas I think: one of which was going through your regular shot process then continue holding up the pistol for an extra 10 seconds. The next shot hold it for 15 seconds and so on until you get to 45 seconds when you subtract 5 seconds until you’re down to a 5 second follow through. Sounds grueling to me but I can see where this would really work the muscles you use when shooting. But part of the problem in training for any kind of physical activity is that we tend to train only the muscles we use for the sport or activity. Bikers ride bikes, hikers hike, tennis players play tennis etc. But when you train one set of muscles you MUST also train the opposing set. For example: a beginner weight lifter will bench press heavier and heavier weights until his pecs are huge and bulging while neglecting to train the opposing muscles in his back. The result is that his shoulders pull forward, his hands start pointing backwards (knuckle draggers), it throws his whole shoulder geometry out of whack and causes back and shoulder trouble. Or he’ll do curls with the intention of building bulging biceps and neglect the opposing muscle group (triceps) which causes elbow problems. The point is, I guess, is that any training regimen that neglects the opposing muscle group is bad. I think with shooting an overall fitness program which includes cardio for breathing and heart rate; and muscle fitness and tone rather than brute strength is the answer. If you look at the body styles of all the top shooters every one of them is fit and strong, men and women alike, not over-built weight lifters or flabby geeks.

[lastman]

It was briefly mentioned that all the arm training in the world will do you no good unless it has a solid core to stand upon.

This is so true, I would focus on the development of the core muscles right up from your upper legs through to your shoulders. Having the strength and endurance in these muscles will help your stability a lot. At the end of the day that's what your chasing.

You really should work in conjunction with a good strength and conditioning coach (not just some personal trainer who has done a couple of week long course, someone with real credentials.) They will assess your individual needs and work on developing a program with you. It is an expensive way to do things, but believe me it works.

Also a lot of the old shooting books are a bit out of date in this respect, obviously they were written before a lot of the advances in modern physical training.

[schatzperson]

Bicycle, swim, shoot; Sleep and have sex as much as you can; Eat fish, fruit and vegetables; Be happy.
Good shooting !

[2650 Plus]

I believe that moderate running is good. Light weights with high reperations may be good. Extended dry firing with the pistol you compete with is best. Just my opinion for what it is worth. Good Shootimg Bill Horton

[ColinC]

Yana, I have found an electric iron is an ideal weight. While you are training you can iron your clothes as well. After each shirt just lift the iron with your arms straight a couple of times and then go onto the next item to iron.
Now that I have you in the mood - do you take in ironing??

[Spencer]

postage might get expensive...

[Richard H]

Yana, I have found an electric iron is an ideal weight. While you are training you can iron your clothes as well. After each shirt just lift the iron with your arms straight a couple of times and then go onto the next item to iron.
Now that I have you in the mood - do you take in ironing??

Sounds like my wife is your trainer, she tells me that vacuuming is good exercise too.

[Lilly]

Has anyone experienced issues with their spine aligning to the left (for a right handed shooter). My chiropractor has me do exercises whilst standing where I shift my shoulders over to the right, hold, release, repeat. The exercise is very similar to what I go thru when shooting, canted to the left, but to the opposite direction. I imagine this has come about due to lack of work on my weakside.

I guess more dry firing on my weak side is the prescription? The problem is I don't want to spend 50% of my time dry firing with my weak arm. Laziness? Any hope?

[PETE S]

A few definitions might help here.

Dry firing is technical or perhaps shooting training or a drill.

I define physical training as exercises etc design to improve our physical condition, though in this case specific to shooting.

Hence, dry firing are a series of drills I would use to improve my shooting scores and shooting techniques. But i do NOT consider it a form a physical training. In fact, the more you dry fire, the more you need the physical training.
The reason is that dry firing and shooting work a limited number of muscles. Do too much and you go to the point of overuse or straining those muscles and tendons and ligaments.

One of the therapies involved in recovery is to strengthen the other muscles to help support and balance the other muscles in the body. I speak from experience.

Drying firing with the off arm will help a bit. But far more efficient would be a core strengthen exercise program. For the arms, weight lifting with moderate weights (definition varies depending on your ability).

There are may ways and many different exercise programs to achieve the goal a conditioned body to allow you to shoot to the level of your technical shooting training and extend your career. Shooters are athletes.