Pistol shooting and gym

[Ziperix]

I've been trying to find some more information about how lifting affects shooting. Some sources say it's good, others say its good when using lower weights and high reps and others say it's just bad overall.

I've started shooting fairly recently and I hope I can go far with it and be competitive but I'm worried if my weightlifting will cause me to be unable to get "to the higher level". I'm not a massive powerlifter but I do enjoy getting stronger and doing deadlifts, benchpress etc (lower reps, higher weights) and hope I can build some muscle and look better (after I lose my unnecessary fat :)), does anyone have any thoughts about it?

[PirateJohn]

As long as you're not doing the kinds of routines that build gigantic muscles, you should be fine. Lifting is good for overall fitness, and overall fitness is good for shooting because it helps with support, endurance, and keeping your heart rate down.

I do about half my lifting for overall fitness and half for shooting-specific strengthening, which includes core and legs for support, and shoulder and wrist for hold.

[brent375hh]

I shot FP with a guy that started lifting to get bulked up.
His scores really went down before he quit.

I think general fitness will help your scores, but building muscles might be a detriment. Look at some if the very petite women in World Cup, and the scores they post.

[Gwhite]

There are two kinds of muscle tissue; fast twitch & slow twitch. For pistol, you want slow twitch muscles, which are built up doing lots of reps with light weights. Heavy weights increase fast twitch muscle which has poor control and poor endurance.

[Ziperix]

Well that sucks, i expected muscles to maybe be useless but them being bad for shooting is sad :(

[PirateJohn]

Well that sucks, i expected muscles to maybe be useless but them being bad for shooting is sad :(

Don't be discouraged. If you're lifting for overall fitness and health, it won't negatively affect your shooting. It only becomes an issue if you're trying to bulk up.

[Grippy]

My experience is that doing core and leg exercises (squats, planks etc.) are fairly unproblematic. I even did some experiments shooting between sets and not feeling negative effects on shooting performance. Typical arm and shoulder exercises like overhead presses etc. on the other hand would negatively affect me. I work around this by replacing those with more static exercises.

[JRV]

I went from lifting heavy four days per week plus a day or two of light recovery cardio—for the power lifters, I had an 1185 total at 190 pounds, not great at all, but reasonably athletic—to barely exercising over the past year.

I had an aortic aneurysm in the gym early in 2023. I know have cardiac and aortic prostheses grafted in, and I was advised to never strain again to keep the grafts intact.

My workouts are now exclusively short jogs, long walks, low-impact Peloton rides, and very little light dumbbell work. I’m physically more out of shape than ever.

I’m shooting better than ever. It’s easier for me to keep my pulse low and steady, and my hold is less twitchy.

[Rickhem]

My experience has been less than desirable with mixing the two.
I used to shoot a few nights a week and found that when I pushed myself in the gym, my hold was not as steady. Not just an increase in the wobble zone, but an introduction of some tremors and an occasional twitch, often at inopportune moments. I rationalized that since lifting broke down my muscles, trying to use them for very fine tasks while they were recovering was asking too much.
You'll eventually see a pattern, much like how you don't feel too bad the day after a heavy leg day, but that third day is rough. Schedule around that if you want to continue doing both. Shoulders, as was mentioned by another, made the biggest impact.

[Gwhite]

General recommendation is to lay off significant training 3 days before you compete. It it's trashing your practice as well, you are probably overdoing it