try this - grip the gun as you would to shoot it. rotate the gun in a clockwise direction. notice that your elbow forms a flat spot on top of your arm. now rotate the gun back into firing position while leaving your elbow rolled over. this will have the effect of "locking" your elbow. if you notice the direction taken by a 1911 when fired, it is upwards and to the left. if your elbow is held normally it will break up and to the left also increasing recovery time. an old, to me at the time, shooter told me this, and that my arm should be stiff as a 2X4 or at least as close as i could get it. really helped with buulseye rapid fire recovery.
for strengthening the arm and grip: some dedicated shooters took the guts out of a magazine that was not trustworthy, poured it full of lead, filing out the retaining notch to keep it in the gun. makes a 1911 a heavy gun.
then there is this: with the arm extended in the firing position, move the gun up and down, left and right, round clockwise then counter clockwise all the time trying to keep it from wobbling. do this smartly. this is impossible, but it is your resistance that is important. do this with both arms or you will be looking like a crab. yunno, big arm, little arm, ha.
now, when you extend your shooting arm, feel a long muscle at the bottom of your upper arm, behind the elbow. if it is loose and floppy, it needs to be strengthened.
exercise of any kind is good, but the foregoing exercises are specifically designed for strengthening the muscles you shoot with. i heard this exercise was developed back in the early days of Camp Perry. i dont know, i just did them and improvement was rapid. i teach them to all new shooters i coach.
hope the instructions are reasonably clear, saying it is oh so much easier than typing it.
