Physical Condition and Shooting

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stubblejumper

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I typically shoot poorly Iin the heat, and not so great in the cold, but I never really thought much about being sore or tired.. This morning I shot our sporting clays league, very tired, and with sore shoulders and shot my best score ever, even though I didn't expect to do well.. I didn't really think about the targets, I just walked to the station, loaded,the gun, called the targets and fired. I didn't even notice the extra recoil from the 1-1/8oz 1300fps AA sporting clays loads. When you get into the zone nothing seems to matter.
 
bdft said:
I wish I could get in the zone more often. Conversely, some days I am just not into it at all and I can't hit the broad side of a barn. In terms of physical condition, upper body strength helps a lot. When your arm that holds the gun up gets tired, your scores go to hell.
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My consistency has fallen off, to where I am in the zone less and less myself. But now when I get in the zone, I enjoy the moments more.
 
I often find when I'm tired I perform better at physical activities. Maybe I'm more relaxed, maybe I care a little less. My other theory is that I am so tired I purposefully perform better to make life easier in a subconscious kinda way.

Might just be me though........
 
I've never been able to equate my performance to weather, tiredness or how I feel. There's been days that I've had a poor night's sleep the night before and shot very well and conversely there's been nights when I've had a good sleep and gone shooting well rested only to perform below average. For the most part being tired doesn't seem to reduce my scores that much.
One thing that does reduce my scores is stopping for lunch and on a typical sporting clays shoot will I shoot well in the morning then after lunch my score can go down as much as 10% even though I've shot the course once already and pretty much know what to expect. Having a full stomach seems to affect my ability to focus.
 
Remember the 60's when the publications suggested you should pump weights to make that Model 12, 870, or 37 swing like a hog at the end of a shovel?

Never did figure that one out. Momentum?
 
Front deltoids and pecks.
Being 175 pounds soakin.wet
big bore AHOLIC. I've felt your pain after long rounds of shooting geese and other shoulder mounted pew.pew.'s
Time for some push ups and maybe kettle bells.
Get the blood flowing with some bands.
Isolate those body parts.
 
Big bore dinosaur said:
Front deltoids and pecks.
Being 175 pounds soakin.wet
big bore AHOLIC. I've felt your pain after long rounds of shooting geese and other shoulder mounted pew.pew.'s
Time for some push ups and maybe kettle bells.
Get the blood flowing with some bands.
Isolate those body parts.
Click to expand...
Big bore:

You have an excellent point.

Remember those big honkin Spanish AYA ten gauges in the seventies? You had to be one big SOB to swing a gun like that properly.

Until the Ithaca Mag 10 came around. Yet, I still remember sending those AYA's up to the Yukon and NWT even with the new Mag 10 on the market.

I think RUKO distributed those AYA's.
 
There's no doubt that physical conditioning is a huge part of any sport including shooting, but mental conditioning is just as important. My old trap shooting mentor/ coach always said the greatest distance in trap is the 6" between your ears. A typical day of trap shooting is 300 rounds so yes you lift a 9lb gun 300 times, physical conditioning, a round of 100 takes about 1 hr but you really only have to have complete mental focus for about 10 minutes, so mental conditioning allows you to turn your brain off between shots and back on for 10 seconds when it's your turn, that's called pre shot routine and is every bit as important.
 
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