Breathing Techniques

[Gobc]

What type of breathing technique do you competition shooters generally use?
Do you let your breathing become slow, natural and shallow, and then shoot after the exhale? Or do you actually take deeper longer breaths, and shoot after the exhale?

 

[saskcanshooter]

All i do is breath in through my nose and let the air out of my mouth, at the same time i get into the state of relaxation much like the moment before you fall asleep.

 

[rnbra-shooter]

Standard practice for prone fullbore shooting is to draw two or three medium breaths as you are getting ready, then let your final breath out about halfway, then break the shot.

I had an interesting conversation about breath control with a proper shooting coach, who said that he trains people (smallbore pistol and rifle shooters, shooting from all positions not just prone) to continue breathing throughout the trigger squeeze.

 

[Gobc]

That's weird. I can see my scope move while I'm breathing, I can't imagine shooting at the same time.

 

[SandRoad]

Standard practice for prone fullbore shooting is to draw two or three medium breaths as you are getting ready, then let your final breath out about halfway, then break the shot.

I had an interesting conversation about breath control with a proper shooting coach, who said that he trains people (smallbore pistol and rifle shooters, shooting from all positions not just prone) to continue breathing throughout the trigger squeeze.

I would tend to disagree with that coach. To use that technique requires a huge amount of practice just on breathing. What you would want to do is pull the trigger at the same point in each breath cycle. Unless you practice exactly that, it is exceeding difficult to accomplish.

What you want is absolute consistently from shot to shot. Being in a different part of your breath cycle and having your lungs, and therefore your chest moving, doesn't lead to shot to shot consistency.

Just my 2 cents.

One thing about the 2 or 3 breaths leading up to your shot, is that the breaths should get shallower as you are "settling" in for your shot, and then let out most of your last breath (as noted above), so there is no stress in your lungs or chest, pause, final settle, and fire.

 

[fuzzynuts54]

I'm by no means a competition or even a competitive shooter but I find exhaling half-3/4way, pause, shoot is best for me.

 

[dryfire]

Standard practice for prone fullbore shooting is to draw two or three medium breaths as you are getting ready, then let your final breath out about halfway, then break the shot.

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Another benefit of this method or a reasonable closeness to this is that the breaths prior to the partial exhalation and hold enrichen the oxygen in the blood which aids with visual acuity. The shot needs to be taken in a timely manner after(8-12 sec) otherwise the benefit is lost and the cycle should be started over.
Another benefit of this technique in the prone is that it causes you to oxygenate when the tendency , with compression of the chest in prone, is to shallow breathing and partial starving of oxygen.

 

[Gobc]

8-12 seconds after exhauling? I thought it was less than 2!?

 

[shaolin555]

Standard practice for prone fullbore shooting is to draw two or three medium breaths as you are getting ready, then let your final breath out about halfway, then break the shot.

Agreed, as for arguments about extensive practice for consistency and exhaustive training... Your absolutely right but it's still the best method and one of the many things that separates good shooters from great ones!

 

[ryanshaw44]

I was taught to go through your breathing cycle inhale /exhale and the crosshairs will raise and lower (while NPA is within 1moa at all times) and as your crosshairs raise up to your target you slowly squeeze and you break the shot right at the peak where you want to shoot. Now I find I do that but will hold my breath for 2 sec or so while i'm where i want to break my shot and slowly squeeze the trigger saying to my self trigger pull trigger pull. its what works for me. not that i really know

 

[maynard]

I fire when fully exhaled. Not a forced exhale just a normal relaxed exhale. I am a prone shooter, Level 1 rifle coach and coached a cadet rifle team for about 7 years. The reason for shooting while exhaled it that more body is in contact with the ground which leads to a very stead position.
A fully relaxed exhale is easier to control than 1/2-3/4 exhale which is very hard to determine exactly where it is at in the breathing cycle. 1/2 this time, 3/8 next shot, 3/4 for the next shot, 7/16 breath for the following.
The only problem with this method is that if you do not get the shot away quick enough, less than 8 seconds, the body will start to become oxygen starved, the sight picture will suffer and you may want to squeeze the trigger to get if over with to breathe. With a little training this urge can be stopped and the breathing cycle started again until you get the shot away.

 

[Longshot]

Natural respiratory pause is the only way to go. Consistency leads to accuracy. Tell me that you can exhale exactly the same amount of breath each time....? I don't think so. But you can exhale naturally every time. With natural respiratory pause the sights settle back to the exact same spot every time.