Exercising for accuracy.

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Demitrios

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Recently I've acquired a gun belt, holster and concealed carry license (not in that order) and I decided to train a little bit in my home when it came to drawing my weapon. After a little bit I noticed my arms were a bit tired and I couldn't help but wonder if we, as shooters, could exercise and become better shooters. In particular I was thinking abs and obliques to help making carrying a gun belt more comfortable. Biceps, triceps and shoulders to improve drawing your weapon. Forearms to improve grip and gun control. And quads to help improve stamina for your stance. Anyone here disagree or perhaps can add to what I'm thinking? If so throw out a couple of muscle groups and/or exercises you feel could be beneficial.
 
Push-ups, Sit-ups, Chin-ups and pull-ups (on a pull-up bar of any sort).

Every basic upper body training exercises, you don't need to go to a gym. But it takes time and lots of effort.

Your own bodyweight is enough for everything else for the legs.
 
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Hello friends and neighbors// I unload my S&W 586, put 8 or 10 shotgun shells in a small bag with draw string, loop string over barrel behind sight.// Then I try to aim with one hand first right then left, flexing wrist in mulitple angles.// Builds up wrist and gives "muscle memory" for holding weapon in odd positions.//I need to run more, too winded to shoot straight after running is my biggest problem...
 
Exercise (if done properly) helps out with all shooting disciplines. Be careful going to the range after a heavy arms/chest workout. If your muscles are too fatigued and filled with lactic acid, you may have difficulty even holding your weapon properly. Not only will you have trouble sighting in, you may be weaving all over the place. If you're not used to upper body exercise at first, then alternate activity days (work out/shoot/work out/shoot). Let your muscles recover before grabbing a weapon.
 
The original post reminds me of guys I used to play basketball with. Some guys looked pretty and worked out in the weight room a lot. However, they didn't spend a whole lot of time doing cardio or just playing basketball. They would dominate for the first few minutes. However, after that, they were basically worthless; they couldn't shoot, jump or rebound with any kind of force.

Accordingly, I'm a fan of working out for having practical strength, and not for looks. If I look good, that's great, but getting pretty muscles is not my purpose for working out.

I exercise regularly and am in pretty good shape. Each workout includes cardio and/or weight training. For cardio, I typically run the hills around my house. This serves also to build leg muscles. At my age (35) and for my body, running hills is better than a gym workout of squats. Running hills is like a combination of cardio and strength training at the same time, which better simulates real world activities. For weight training, I like to do mostly body weight exercises like push-ups, dips, pull-ups, chin-ups, etc. I do free weights in the gym no more than once a week.


9mm+ said:
Exercise (if done properly) helps out with all shooting disciplines. Be careful going to the range after a heavy arms/chest workout. If your muscles are too fatigued and filled with lactic acid, you may have difficulty even holding your weapon properly. Not only will you have trouble sighting in, you may be weaving all over the place. If you're not used to upper body exercise at first, then alternate activity days (work out/shoot/work out/shoot). Let your muscles recover before grabbing a weapon.

What you described may be the case initially. However, your body can become accustomed to shooting after a heavy workout. That's the ultimate in knowing you can shoot when your body is fatigued.

I'll go back to the basketball analogy. When training for basketball in high school and college, the best training trick was to go play basketball immediately after weight training. The first few weeks of this routine, it's nearly impossible to shoot a basketball. However, after awhile, your body becomes accustomed. At that point, you know that during a game you'll be able to shoot even when your muscles are fatigued. Your confidence goes up.

Think about NBA players. By the time the playoffs come around, these guys' bodies are basically fatigued. However, they've trained themselves to be able to play while fatigued. So, they can still shoot, jump, grab rebounds, etc.
 
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+1 cardio and weight training. Add to that hand strength conditioning. How often have you seen discussions on gun boards about double action trigger pulls where guys literally can't pull the trigger. Depending on the pistol it might be 15 lbs. or more. Not certain how you'd go about it, maybe one of those spring loaded grip things or lots of dry fire practice.
 
...drawing my weapon. After a little bit I noticed my arms were a bit tired...

You'll probably only need to draw one time in real life.

Hard to imagine being in a situation where you draw your weapon over and over and over and over and over.
 
Rifle shooting from field positions seems to favor having strong shoulders and trunk. Cardio work will help you control your breathing when hunting on foot and trying to steady the shot.

For pistol work, I think that the same muscles will be used, and useful to tone. I can imagine many circumstances where it might become necessary to draw and hold a sight picture for a lengthly amount of time.
 
CoRoMo said:
You'll probably only need to draw one time in real life.

Hard to imagine being in a situation where you draw your weapon over and over and over and over and over.

Yeah, but I can imagine practical situations where you may need to draw when you're fatigued.

Examples:

-A hurricane hits, and you have to hike for 10 miles and then draw your pistol to protect your family.

-You're just plain fatigued from life in general, and you're awoken by an intruder in the middle of sleep.

In both cases, it would be much better to be in good shape rather than horrible shape. Your ability to go from zero to red alert would be much better if you're in shape.
 
^^ Adrenaline will give you the energy needed if such situations happen. Your body will give you plenty of energy if it needs it to survive. It's instinctive. You don't control it.
 
Artiz said:
Adrenaline will give you the energy needed if such situations happen. Your body will give you plenty of energy if it needs it to survive. It's instinctive. You don't control it.

We're not talking about merely surviving, and we're not talking about a brute force task like lifting a refrigerator to save your baby. We're talking about performing a task (shooting) that requires finely tuned skill to perform accurately. The word "accuracy" is even in the title of this thread.

Who do you think performs better: an in-shape dude on adrenaline or an out-of-shape dude on adrenaline? I'm going with the in-shape dude performing substantially better. Plus, I'm guessing an out-of-shape dude will perform badly if he's truly fatigued; however, he'll be so high on adrenaline that he'll feel like he's doing well when he's really not.

For people that are going to stay out-of-shape, then there are unfortunate consequences. Performing poorly while fatigued is one consequence. That's a fair trade-off because out-of-shape folks don't have to push through the last rep and they get to eat pizza and doughnuts for dinner.
 
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With obesity rates what they are, I'd say that most of us have a far greater chance of dying from diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle than by an encounter with a BG, so, yes, excercise is a good thing.

That being said, exercise can only help your shooting capability. I cannot imagine a scenario where being out of shape puts a person in a better position than being in shape. Also, being in shape does not mean your body is sculpted and looks like it belongs on a magazine cover--there are a lot of thin people who are out of shape.
 
Well, in fact, yes it can. If you dn't do it correctly, you can injure yourself badly.

I seriously doubt he is going to go to any dead-lifting competitions and throw out his back.

And you took the statement in the wrong fashion.

ANY Exercise is good. If you get out and walk for thirty minutes every day, well kudos to you.

Not everyone can run a triathalon, bench press their body weight, etc, but being in a better shape than the average joe these days puts you at a huge advantage for just about everything in life.

Shooting is one thing that will get better as your body gets better.
 
At this year's Rocky Mountain 3 Gun, I had a number of stage runs that would have been faster had I some degree of stamina. Finishing a stage and being completely out of breath sucks.

Also, having decent muscle mass and tone is helpful in quickly getting into and out of field positions when shooting a rifle. The faster you can go from standing to prone, or standing to shooting off of a barricade, the better your scores.
 
A strong healthy body will help you do LOTS of things better than if you are a couch potato. :rolleyes: That would include any form of marksmanship or firearms training. :)
 
CoRoMo said:
This is a practical situation?

If you have lived in New Orleans for the past decade, then yes, hiking after a hurricane has been a more likely scenario then getting robbed on the street. Multitudes of people had to hike for miles at the same time. Multitudes of people were exhausted and fatigued at the same time. Do you live in America and watch the news? There are other examples of natural disasters where people have to pick up and hike for awhile. Even if you have to hike just one mile after a natural disaster, you'll be exhausted from the lack of sleep and lack of adrenaline.
 
Strength training, cardiovascular workouts and self defense training can also make it more likely that you'll be able to handle some physical confrontations without absolute reliance on your firearm. It also increases your speed and is a great confidence builder too, especially as we get older.

Two weekends ago at the range some younger guys were handling my Remington 1100 deer gun. They commented about how heavy it was. :scrutiny: I jokingly told them that if this old guy can handle it you all shouldn't have a problem.
 
Don't forget your lower body. I don't care what activity you are participating in your legs are your foundation. If you have a solid base everything else is easier. I've coached high school athletics for 30 years. All the kids want to show off their biceps. The best golfers, tennis players, baseball players and football players are the ones with the best lower body strength. Can't hurt with shooting either.
 
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