TargetTalk

I had shot standing tall and upright.

Scores have plateaued.

For the past few days, I tried to not worry so much about my proper position. Just standing comfortably relaxed.

My poor habitual comfortable position is both arm/ shoulder very relaxed, back somewhat slouched, neck laxly unhinged.

But my score went up with this comfortable slouching position.

Any problem shooting comfortably slouched? I mean like mini-hunched back of Notre Dame.

I think its still a better idea to strengthen up your back and core muscles. Even if your scores are going up.

The first piece of advice I got from a coach ( army shooting coach ) was " whatever feels comfortable" You could be doing something that is totally wrong ! according to WHO?....... Someone might tell you what you are doing is totally wrong, listen to what they have to say. Compare it to being comfortable , then make a choice . .........Remember when you make a change it is not uncommon for your scores to go up for a little while ( do to your concentration or something (im not sure exactlly) Examples : Steve Swartz noted a few names ,but the strangest stance Ive ever seen was Steve Reiter (one of the best shooters ever) and Russ ! I dont know how he does it (his stance) . Swartz mentioned others but Ive never seen them shoot..... Are they comfortable ? have to ask them, Are they shooting by the BOOK? NO!.

RL wrote:I think its still a better idea to strengthen up your back and core muscles. Even if your scores are going up.

david alaways wrote:The first piece of advice I got from a coach ( army shooting coach ) was " whatever feels comfortable"

Both of these are good advice, and not incompatible with each other.

Strengthening the back and core muscles would be a good idea for the vast majority of us, and that might change what is comfortable. You should not however try to strengthen those muscles by shooting in an uncomfortable position.

Muscle strengthening is a job for when you are off the firing point. Being uncomfortable on the firing point will, IMHO, always be detrimental to performance (once you have got past the "novelty effect")

Negrin wrote: For the past few days, I tried to not worry so much about my proper position. Just standing comfortably relaxed.

My poor habitual comfortable position is both arm/ shoulder very relaxed, back somewhat slouched, neck laxly unhinged.

But my score went up with this comfortable slouching position.

Any problem shooting comfortably slouched? I mean like mini-hunched back of Notre Dame.

Just go for it, "Neg". Your way is just as good as any.
The way that raises your scores is the right way for you.

For AP, and especially FP,- the more relaxed the better.

From previous threads it's a tradeoff (as always) between several interacting factors.

Here, we are primarily focused on

-Stability
-Comfort
-Repeatability

(and there are overlaps between the three e.g. a comfortable stance is typically more repeatable)

however, if you only focu on "Comfort" you may (will) be tossing away "Stability."

It's a "shooting system" and you can't ignore grip, NPA, and ability of maintaining alignment during shot rlease.

"Everything is Connected"

Steve

Step 1: figure out what it is you are trying to get out of your stance. In other words, what makes one "stance" different/better than an alternative stance.

If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there . . .