The Jitters

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paulo
Posts: 338
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:11 pm

The Jitters

Post by paulo »

How many types of jitters do you recognize on your hold?
How do you train to control them?
I am becoming a believer that your ability to hold "still" within the ten will give you the best chances to become a competitive shooter.
I can at least distinguish 6 types of jitter, but would like to learn to avoid or correct them all, please feel free to ad other types of jitters and possible solutions for them:
1. the natural wobble, it is always there and is the one you come to learn the best and train to keep in the ten ring;
2. the flyer wobble, it is very frustrating, the quick jerk out of nowhere that we know is there but we think we can control, I guess learning to abort a shot under those circumstances would be a good idea;
3. elbow or wrist tingle, almost like a micro jitter that breaks your concentration on the front sights.
4. nervous shake in competition from stress and anxiety, I guess the more competitions you enter the more accustomed you get to the pressure
5. breaking wrist, which I think is related to bad follow trough, but on some days escapes conscious thought process
6. trigger pull, I guess dry fire seems to be the best cure for it.
lastman
Posts: 194
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:05 pm

Post by lastman »

I'm not so sure about different types of wobble.
1. Yes there will always be natural wobble. I can be controlled with good holding training.
2. I feel this would be more a result of something else you are doing, this may be accelerating your trigger press.
3. Elbow or wrist jerk are exactly that and not so much wobble. They are very easy to spot and to abort the shot, no need to worry about it.
4. Nervous wobble for me comes because I put too much stress into the pistol, I over grip and have to much tension on my fingers. The best way to work on this is to train your grip to the point where this is minimised.
5. If your grip is correct your wrist won't break because it will be rigid.
6. Snatching is not wobble, it is snatching and can best be cured by working on your trigger control.

Yes if you hold still you will be good, but you need to be able to press the trigger without moving the pistol out of your holding area and keeping the sights in alignment to be a great shooter.

Good luck
laxratnd
Posts: 152
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:49 am
Location: LI, New York

hey

Post by laxratnd »

Hey, One more thing to add is that if you are trying to figure out what the jitters are then you are concentrating on the jitters and not on shooting the next shot. work on one thing at a time and fix that. A lot of things sometimes cant be fully cured and its how you build your position to suite that. But if you are having jitters then you really should just keep on shooting. Practice is the only way to really get all the jitters out and matches. Sure some people can shoot awesome in practice but the jitters get to them when they shoot matches. Most of it is in your head.
paulo
Posts: 338
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:11 pm

Post by paulo »

I agree, but I am very far from shooting all tens in free pistol, so I am deconstructing a bad shot so I don't repeat it, or I practice in a way that corrects it, and yes it will have to be a gradual training.
Today we all walk, but have you ever seen a baby take a first step, boy is that a complicated thing for the baby, in my view I am a crawler in free pistol, but I can't wait to walk, just haven't figured it out yet.
Please accept that semantics is not of great importance yet, as I am creating more of an inventory of all things that take your shot away from a ten.
When I say wobble, I encompass anything that makes the gun move away from a possible ten shot, even body sway would be there if it makes you move, I think I got that one under control so I didn't write that possibility down.
As a self trained shooter, I bought some guns and went shooting, it wasn't as easy as it seemed, then read a bunch about technique, shot some more thinking I knew a few things already and full of ideas but the results showed only modest progress, came back to the study room to take a closer look at the major variables and started to research the best way to work on them, shot some more real good and bad targets but average went up, and I am now back to perfect my shooting and possibly correct many bad practices I picked along my way, but I am far from being a competitive shooter. But I am working on it!
Guest

Post by Guest »

My pistol experience is with a government model 45, but the transfer of information should hold.

I've found that have a strong upper body is extremely helpful in maintaining a steady aim. Not only will the weapon be easier to hold steady, your upper body will have more mass which will further steady your body.

Towards that end a balanced weightlifting regimen will improve your shooting.
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NetNinja
Posts: 92
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 11:33 pm

Working out

Post by NetNinja »

If yah want to shoot bench rest all day then do that.

Otherwise you need to be doing some weight lifiting.

Or some other upper body workout.
2650 Plus

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Post by 2650 Plus »

Please dont spend any time working on what causes bad shots. The fundamentals involved in shooting a corectly executed are simple and well discussed on this forum and in many books and articals readilly available. Concentrate on the positive steps required to deliver the shot. As you develope profiency in consistantly executing the fundamentals you will find a steady increase in total scores and the confidence you develope as your skills increase will help you in developing both a steady hold and a smoothe trigger control. The only negative I will mention is dont concentrate on scoring each shot. The positive that is far more important is the exection of every shot correctly. Good Shooting Bill Horton
luftskytter-

Post by luftskytter- »

Then there's holding exercise:

You can do this at home without disturbing anybody, and it's free. Just spend lots of time holding on target without shooting. Learn to know your wobble and accept it. Many people can hold much better than they shoot, and holding still is a skill that can be developed. You may also have fun developing a stance that minimizes your wobble :-)

Then when you go and shoot, you know what to expect, and what's acceptable wobble for you. As long as you're within this range, just shoot!
paulo
Posts: 338
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:11 pm

Post by paulo »

I was told to get very close to a wall, tape a piece of paper with a black dot on, right in front of the gun, and then try to hold steady for a long time, and also do some dry fire afterward to check trigger pull. Similar to what you are saying.

During shooting I was told to use a big white target, nothing on it, and shoot for the perceived center, so I can start working on my grouping.

Krueger offers training targets for air that could be of help for free pistol dry fire as well, check pages 21 and 22 of their catalog http://krueger-targets.com/down/catalog ... 201004.pdf
lastman
Posts: 194
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:05 pm

Post by lastman »

All of the upper body training in the world won't mean diddly squat unless it has a stable and strong core to stand on.

Shooting is a very unique sport and require the use of very specific muscles. If you are looking for a physical training campaign I advise you to contact a highly qualified strength and conditioning coach. If you just go to the local gym and start training with a personal trainer, your specific strength will not improve.

As far as building up your upper body and arm strength goes, you need to focus on the muscles that stabilise rather than move. Also endurance (but good holding exercises will cover that.)

Good luck
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