How do you raise your pistol arm?

[Guest]

When you raise the pistol arm, do you just raise it? or do you raise it, extend your arm out, stretch your upper back out a little bit, then come down?

[Guest]

First, check body alignment. With the pistol gripped and resting on the table, the extended arm is raised above the bull, then lowered slowly to 6 o'clock.

[bruce]

I extend the arm while the pistol is still in contact with the bench, check head position and grip tension. Inhale as the pistol comes up, feel for my COG shifting to my rear foot slightly. Acquiring the sights just before they cross the card, checking grip tension as the sights align.
I raise the pistol above the target, roughly by the height of the card again, and begin to lower, checking the sight alignment, taking up the first stage of the trigger, and exhaling.
At the top of the card, I pause, take a small inhalation, and exhale again as the pistol lowers to the aiming area.

[Spencer]

When you raise the pistol arm, do you just raise it? or do you raise it, extend your arm out, stretch your upper back out a little bit, then come down?

Precision or Rapid Fire?
Spencer

[Guest]

Precision.

Do you stretch the back shoulder muscle?

[Patrick Haynes]

Do you stretch the back shoulder muscle?

Which back muscles do you mean? There are a WHOLE bunch of them! ;-)

There are a few schools of thought: one is relaxed, slacker posture (like being "at ease", as opposed to "at attention") and can be maintained for extended periods of time. The belief is that fatigue will cause more problems, causing the position to shift as the match draws on. Also, the muscles when fatigued may tremble more, causing a reduction in shot consistency. So, a duplicable relaxed form is the answer to this concern.

The other school of thought is more rigid, with an upright posture. The idea here is to stabilise the shoulder and core muscles, making the athlete a better gun platform. Mechanically, it is stronger, leading to less chronic shoulder problems. The weight is distributed across the large and small muscles, so gross and fine motor control is imparted on the arm. Hold, theoretically, should be improved.

I recommend an upright posture, with the shoulder blades stabilised. While it is harder to maintain initially, physical conditioning will fix the issue. From there, its easier to detect (by coach or self-examination of video) whether your posture has changed.

I found that in China, the opposite is recommended. I saw a young lady with excellent posture, delivering shots. When I commented on her posture, her coach told me she was a former ballet dancer and that she was trying to get her to shoot more relaxed.

Different strokes for different folks. The key to remember is consistency in your form, while not setting yourself up for overuse injuries.

Patrick