TargetTalk

hi guys.. I shoot all 3events in rifle.. I have been shooting from 4years.. i have bin thinking about this question from long time..what should your mindset be at the match to perform well from the first shot to the last shot..? what are the things to be focused on at the match ? and how important is fitness required and what kind of fitness is required to shoot high scores 3position matches ? i am ready to put in any number of hours a day for next 2months untill the next match.. could any one guide me ? thankyou very much..

You should have a written shot plan that you focus upon. You should develop a key word that helps your mind focus on the fundamentals when you are planning to produce that next imminent ten. Get some books or tapes on the subject of mental management. There are quite a few, like "The New Psyco-Cybernetics by Maltz, "The Inner Game of Tennis" by Kleiman, and "With Winning in Mind" by Basham.

You should have enough muscle tone and endurance to get through a match and the finals without getting fatigued. Some folks like to do light weights and cardiovascular exercise training, like bicycling, treadmill, jogging and/or swimming to attain this fitness level. I don't do well with the weights. You will have to experiment and see what you need to do to get to your desired fitness level. One size does not fit all.

Of course all this is addition to training with the rifle. Some folks can train for many hours every day without becoming stale. Others can only shoot so much and continue to improve.

Once you figure out what combination works for you, you should make yourself a written training schedule. Have a chart to keep track of your progress. Change up your training schedule a little once in a while to keep you motivated.

I hope that this helps.

In my opinion you should always look forward to a match, knowing that you can shoot well, are prepared for it and will enjoy it. Go in knowing you shoot well and 'just' shoot exactly as you've been training. Focus just on perfect technique and shot execution and don't think of the score. Think about the ten you're going to shoot and just keep repeating that throughout the match. If (when) you shoot a poor shot, just forget it and concentrate on doing the next shot correctly.

That's pretty much it, the simpler the better.

Rob.

How much fitness training you need I can´t say, that you have to evaluate for yourself. But I would focus on building core strength with whole body exercises. In the beginning raise your maximum strength (1RM) and later change to higher reps to build up a more static strength that is suitable for long training sessions. Some people feel tension of muscles with fitness training better (easier to relax and to know what to relax) but it is also possible to become stiffer. Different people react different but stretching might fix it. Cardio you can do as much as possible, a lower pulse has almost only benefits.

I see you want to train until next comp and that´s great but fitness training you have to see on a longer time period. You might change in body composition and then your shooting postures change so you have to be ready for that. Applies for both cardio and fitness. Some focus on this on their off season others do it all the time but then have to train in position to follow along with the changes.

/EJ

Hi EJ,

I used to teach karate, do triathlons, and hit the gym pretty hard until I started shooting again. The sheer amount of activity left many muscle groups in varying stages of recovery.

I think a good mindset with regard to fitness is to remember that shooting is unlike any other sport in that you DO NOT want to "push" or "test" your strength. Keeping a record of the light weights you use would be a good start. But the real progress will come from a completely different focus...

Shooting all tens requires you to calm yourself and your muscles ALL the way. My advice to all my juniors is that they must be able to get into position and COMPLETELY relax. Practicing this relaxation is the only way to manage a fitness regimen while trying to shoot all tens. For example, when you are shooting prone and you "think" you have your NPA down pat - close your eyes and focus on relaxing the right hand, arm, and shoulder. "See" the muscles relaxing. Imagine the process going on "inside" the muscle itself and visualize it becoming more calm and relaxed. Now look throught your sights. Chances are, your NPA has changed a bit. This relaxation takes a great deal of PRACTICE - especially when trying ot employ it during matches. Your first tries will not yield the final result, but over time you will notice that you have a great deal of control over your relaxation technique and you can make the micro-adjustments necessary within your position and on your gun to adjust to a consistent NPA.

This relaxation can also be used to help you calm yourself before and during a match. It is, after all, a form of meditation. And the more you use it the better you will be able to use it affectively. It is the difference between shooting in the 580s (mens prone) and breaking into the 590s.

Good luck. Bp

BartP wrote:Hi EJ,

Shooting all tens requires you to calm yourself and your muscles ALL the way.

Actually the general concensus is that completely calm is not where you want to be. You need to be in an optimum state of mental arousal somewhere between totally relaxed and anxious, to perform at your best. I can best liken it to a state of excitement, personally, but it varies from person to person.

Rob.

I would have to agree with Mrm Stubbs with regard to your MENTAL status. Your overall attempt to deal with match pressure will provide a heightened arousal. Keeping it in a manageable place to peform does require a sharp attentive focus while maintaining a relaxed body. Anyone who has achieved world class status will tell you that you need to be able to maintain those conditions to be sucessful.

The point is that depite being physically relaxed, which takes a great deal of practice in practice and matches alike, you also have to practice relaxing your stress level to achieve the optimum mental focus Mr. Stubbs is referring to. Hope that clarifies. Bp

Bart,

How do your shooters manage to remain in position if the "completely" relax? They would be in a heap on the floor with all muscles relaxed. I think moderate weight training to develop the strength needed to hold position "without muscle tension" is more what we want. Some of the youngsters, who are involved in other sports, are already there or close. However, the "couch potato" shooter, who never leaves the TV/Video games except to go to the range will have a tough time with the physical demands of rifle shooting (even prone, with the attendant arm/shoulder stretching.

Re: the original post, two months is probably too short a time to see big results from physical training unless you have bee one of the "couch potato" group; then you will at least be past the soreness caused by muscles being stretched by the various positions. Both weight training and cardiovascular training need to be part of your long term program, and inluding a stretching regimen wouldn't hurt.

Hi Pat,

Certainly, exercise is a vital role in any athlete's life. When I refer to "completely relaxing" it is meant to be relative to being "tense." And the goal of EVERY shooter should be to relax - as much as possible. Relaxing to the point of being a pile of flesh on the floor is taking things a bit far. Obviously.

Certainly, we can all agree that while shooting prone - the neck, the right shoulder, the right arm cannot have tension or it disturbs the hold just as tension in the left arm (supporting the rifle) should be tension free as well. Prone as well as kneeling require absolute relaxation allowing the skeletal system and balance to achieve the best holds possible. Now, with that said, offhand requires a greater degree of "control". There are tensions all over the place - especially in younger shooters that have not achieved optimum skeletal support/geometry and balance. I agree that finding a hold "without muscle tension" - which, by definition, is the same as being "relaxed" - is the pinnacle of success. I think you would find though that super-steady positions can be achieved with very little exercise (see USAMU below). If shooters practice relaxing as much as they can, it will inevitably result in a more purely skeletal position on which to build escalating scores.

The shooters at USAMU do not lift weights per se. They have a regimen of static exercises, isometrics, resistance training, and yoga to keep a regimen alive. I routinely tease them about their non-Army statures. They use elastic bands and big rubber balls to achieve core strength and do incorporate stretching as well. To my knowledge, I have never seen or heard of any of them using weights of any kind. Super-shooting doesn't take strength, it takes control and endurance.

Muscle tension = deviation. And relaxation will be relative to each shooter as they move through the process of achieving pure skeletal support and balance. The more weight a muscle lifts, the higher the overall residual tension. My own workout regimen includes weights if I have more than a month between matches, but I stop at least 10-14 days out to allow that tension to die down. For the USA Shooting matches, I stop a month out and switch to a isometric regimen.

With all that said, the two greatest tools I found that helped me break into the Top 10 in the last year (mens prone), were a complete focus on testing my sight picture during my firing process and relaxation of the body. It lead to the immediate effect of relaxing my mind. It lead to identifying the subtle but building tensions that occur as a match progesses. There are so many important mental processes that kids need to be taught and I see so many struggle with their positions. That struggle leads to stress - and heightened tension. My only advice to my juniors when they seem to be experiencing this state is to set the gun down and focus on relaxing. It's infectious. They relax and pick up the gun and have the focus needed to succeed. The relaxation process I teach allows them to put the last shot behind them and engage anew...fresh...without tension or expectation. A virtual clean slate. And it works.

I have no experience with couch potato shooters. They probably wouldn't like me very much. I am an ex-Army Ranger and I would choose not to coach one as I am sure they would only go so far.

In the end, I think we agree. :) bp

Talking about the level of arrousal that is best for competition, I have to say that , for me, [ and possibily no one else in the world ] I describe it as agressive , intense, and concentrated on the job at hand with total confidence and positive attitude . I think I won every match I ever entered when these elements were upper most in my approach. Good Shooting Bill Horton

BartP wrote:Hi EJ,

I used to teach karate, do triathlons, and hit the gym pretty hard until I started shooting again. The sheer amount of activity left many muscle groups in varying stages of recovery.

I think a good mindset with regard to fitness is to remember that shooting is unlike any other sport in that you DO NOT want to "push" or "test" your strength. Keeping a record of the light weights you use would be a good start. But the real progress will come from a completely different focus...

I see that some people would have tension issues when they train that hard. On the other hand, I know a couple of persons who are on 20h weeks and don´t have any problems (rowing, triathlon). Of course they are not as relaxed normally as a shooter might be but they are not sore either.

My point is that if you are a person who is not used to training, then building up core and leg strenght will give you some muscles. When they exist you can move on to stability training, lighter weights (not too light) and not stable grounds (balls). Those things will not give you more muscles than you already have, but they will enhance your proprioception.

In standing position it is not certain to be as relaxed as possible. You can have specific muscles tensed (to stand up of course but also to keep a good shooting posture) to ensure a good fit in the shoulder or right hand, or left hand. Some shooters even controll their movement by muscles to give them a stable movement pattern. The more muscles you have the wider the range to choose from and the likelyhood to use less strenght for the same amount of work increases (in comparison to before).


My point of view
/EJ

Most collegiate teams are pushing weight lifting now as part of their 20 hours per week of practice. Having helped out with these and planned out workouts for the student-athletes, here's what we focus on.

First is overall fitness. Nothing you do in rifle should leave you sore the next day. If it does, you're either really REALLY out of shape, not practicing enough, or doing something wrong in your positions. In workouts, this is covered though 3 hours per week of cardio (1 hour) and strength training (2 hours).

Next is core conditioning. Crunches, side bends, round the worlds, deadlifts to name a few. I personally find deadlifts to be one of the more effective exercises for rifle.

Lastly we are looking to train the smaller muscles that stabilize our muscle movements. This is accomplished by keeping to free weights instead of machines. We also incorporate bozu balls and swiss balls where we can.

We don't really care at all about one rep max. Having a crazy amount of strength for one shot isn't too useful. We keep to 10-15 reps per set for 3 sets. If anyone is looking to do more, I usually suggest cardio over more strength training.

All of this conditioning isn't just physical, it's mental as well. You're about to concentrate better if you're not fatigued. It also helps with adverse conditions: 100 degree heat at Benning in June or Perry in July, rain at Perry, wind at Perry.

A few years ago at Perry, it was even more windy than usual. For standing, I used the tactic of taking lots of good 10sec holds instead of holding the rifle up there (I'm 6'2", wind kills me). I ended up taking all of the 40min on both targets, meaning I took 120-140 hold per target, for two targets back to back. 240-280 reps of picking up a 15lb rifle over 80min. That is something you likely can't do without some sort of physical training. I ended up shooting about 10 points over my average while everyone else was about 10-20 points under their average.

But what if you only shoot prone?

Jason

If you only shoot prone, I'd still suggest improving one's overall fitness. At a bare minimum, 2 hours of cardio a week (running, walking, biking, swimming, anything moving). In terms of having generally good health, you should be doing that anyways.

If you want to add to that, do a good full body workout once or twice a week: leg press or squat, leg curl, deadlift, crunches, bicep curls, tricep extensions, bench press, row, empty can raises, and pulldowns.

Obviously for those shooting prone, we're not looking to strengthen any specific muscles since the ideal position truely uses almost no muscle. We're just looking to help making it through the match seem like less of an effort.

The workout likely has more mental benefit than physical. Workouts train the mind just as much as the body. Making it though an hour long workout exercises the mind to focus through exertion and discomfort, better preparing you to concentrate for your 60-160 shot day. This goes back to those hot, cold, wet, miserable days that happen.

If you find yourself fading at the end of matches, working out more is a good option for mental training if lengthening practice is less of an option due to limited range time.

DISCLAIMER - Please consult a doctor, personal trainer, or good friend that knows their way around a weight room before starting any workout. Poor weightlifting form and improper weight selection can lead to injury. It is also a good idea to have someone with you for your workouts no matter what your fitness level is, both for safety and motivation.

Bart,

I think we agree. I include body weight exercises (including yoga) as what i consider moderate weight training (although yoga can exceed that). Use of swiss balls for this training is encouraged, I just wouldn't suggest a weight lifting program like competitive lifter would use (low rep/high wt).

I coach 12 -20 year olds, so get some shooters (more in the recent years) who have NO physical fitness. Getting up off the floor after prone supported leaves them puffing. Unfortunately, this is a result of today's video gaming (which hopefully will be turned around by the new Wii type games).

I'd love to "choose not to coach them" but in a county of only 1900 folks, you takes what you gets.

Don't also forget the very useful part of such training is to improve flexibility and improve cardio fitness - both very useful in prone. Exercises play a very big part in injury prevention as does appropriate stretching.

Even for prone you should be doing a good 10 min warm-up followed by a programed stretching routine. Heck, how many people have tweaked their back, even just putting on their shooting jacket ?

Rob.

That 10 minute stretching is KEY. And shooters shouldn't make the mistake of only stretching their shoulders, neck, and arms. Stretching the BACK, abdomen, and legs, where tension can build up over the course of any match, is importatnt as well. As I have gotten older, adding this step has been a godsend.

One thing though: If you have NOT stretched before a match before or do not have a stretching program established, I wouldn't take any stretches too far just before you are going to shoot. Let your stretching program develop. Stretching too far (which is qutie common) can actually HURT you if your body isn't accustomed to doing it. A gentle approach is always best. No sense in torquing the system when you are trying to free it up.

BParnall