Exercises to Improve Your Accuracy

If you are new to the world of shooting, perhaps you have not put much thought into the connection between physical conditioning and your shooting accuracy. Strengthening your “shooting muscles” can go a long way toward improving your accuracy and keeping yourself healthy.

Whether you shoot pistols or rifles, you need a strong upper body. Target rifles can be downright heavy, especially after shooting for a while. While pistols are much lighter, the fact that you are holding them with your arms extended in front of you, generally with no support, you can fatigue quite quickly. In a match or in a defensive situation, the last thing you want is to feel fatigued early on in the game.

Below are some basic upper body, core strengthening and cardio exercises, which can be performed at a gym or in the privacy of your own home generally without fancy or pricey equipment. Nobody knows your body better than you do, so why not spend a few minutes researching alternatives and additional exercises if you would like to target some areas more thoroughly.

Core strength: Your core muscles are the underlying muscles of your torso, running from your hips to your shoulders. Core strengthening exercises include the muscles of your abdomen, back and your pelvis. Crunches, planking, yoga, sit-ups etc. all make for a stronger core.

Grip trainers can increase hand and forearm strength.

Grip trainers: Grip trainers are designed to strengthen your hands. A strong grip on your firearm will help counter recoil and you will feel less hand fatigue after shooting. Inexpensive grip strengthening gadgets are available everywhere these days and generally run in the $10 to $20 range. Since they exercise the hand, they are great to have around the house for you to pick up and use while watching television or talking on the phone.

The forearm is made up of many muscles that you use while shooting!

Forearm strengthening exercises: One way to combat forearm fatigue is with wrist curls. Sitting down, place one dumbbell in each hand. Rest your forearms on your thighs, with your hands hanging over your knees, palms facing up. Raise the dumbbells by moving only your hands, hold, lower and repeat. Be sure to keep your arms still. After you have done your set, turn your hands over so that your palms now face down. Repeat the exercise this way, pulling the dumbbells up. Try to increase the number of repetitions with each new workout.

Dumbells, free weights and bands can all be effective in strengthening your upper body, arms and shoulders.

Arm and shoulder exercises:  To be a competent shooter you need to have good arm strength. Whether you are shouldering a heavy target rifle or shooting a pistol, your arms will get tired if they are not in shape. The stronger the arms, the longer you can hold them in a shooting position, the less movement you will have and the steadier your shots will be. Lifting weights will tone and strengthen these very important muscles. You will want to focus on all of the major muscle groups of the arm and shoulder.

Kickboxing is not only a great cardio workout to get your heart rate up, it is also a lot of fun! Practice those defensive skills!

Cardio: Cardio exercises are designed to get your heart rate up, which in turn improves your stamina and physical endurance. Examples of cardio include: running, biking, treadmill, Zumba, kickboxing etc. Any exercise that increases your heart rate for an extended period of time can be considered as cardio; but do not forget to stretch, warm up, and properly cool down, your muscles will thank you!

Dry fire exercises: While technically not a physical exercise, dry firing when done properly and safely can improve your muscle memory. I often practice drawing and re-holstering while keeping my eyes locked on the target, not my weapon.

Even if you do not own a set of weights, there are items already in your home that you can use if you think outside of the box. Here are some ideas for homemade fitness apparatus:

Lift..then have lunch! Soup cans make great barbells

• Empty and clean milk jugs or laundry detergent containers filled with sand or water can double as weights or kettle bells. You can vary the amount of sand/water to change the weight.

• Fill some sandbags, they make great weights.
• Stairs! Most of us have them, you do not need a fancy stair climber just run up and down them a few times!
• No treadmill? Hit the road!
• Disposable water bottles filled with water or sand make a great alternative to weights. If you fill them with water, you will have something to drink while you are out for a run.

Think outside the box, equipment doesn’t have to be expensive

Do not discount different types of exercises such as yoga and Pilates. Both are excellent for core strength, and yoga especially is excellent to help you control your breathing, which as we know is an important part of shooting.

You do not have to spend hours in the gym, but improving your physical fitness will pay off even when you are not shooting. Adopting a healthier lifestyle and getting into better shape is something we should all shoot for! (Pun intended).

You shoot..GUNS??!!

So here's how my day started the other day. I walked into a clients office, the new-ish secretary jumps from her desk and yells.."Wait..I have a question.."

Me: Whats up?
Her: You shoot..(insert long, awkward pause)...GUNS??!!
Me: Yes..why?
Her: Your like..an NRA gun person?
Me: I'm an NRA member, NRA Certified Pistol Instructor and NRA Certified Range Safety officer, is that what you mean?
Her: Why?
Me: Why what?
Her: Why do you shoot guns?
Me: Because shooting rubber bands isn't nearly as much fun..whats your point? (At that point, the other secretary burst out laughing..)
Her: You have kids, aren't you worried?
Me: Worried what, that they won't share? My girls both shoot..again, whats your point?
Her: Oh..nothing..I just didn't know..
Me: Why would you need to?

Turns out that last week, I sent some information to them via email. I used my personal Google email address. Apparently she saw my personal Google profile in which my bio states the above information, along with some adorable pictures of my horse. She Google stalked me.

Do I care that she knows? Heck no, I've got nothing to hide, in fact, I'm proud that I shoot. Was I surprised by her reaction? Yep! Will I ever send work in using that email address? Probably not..it might be time to make one just for my business services clients. Does it matter? No..I am what I am, and I do what I do..and I really don't care who thinks what of it.

What I don't understand is the negative reaction she had to it..the whole.."you shoot....GUNS?" (My defense mechanism clicked on in my head at that point, and the rubber band line just kind of shot out of my mouth..)

And to question my girls safety? Well that just makes the assumption on her part that all gun owners are irresponsible, and I guess that's the part that bothered me the most..she automatically assumed my kids might be in danger from my hobby.

I guess we just need to educate people the best we can when they ask questions like that..because it happens here in my part of New York..a lot..sigh..

You did not just ask me that..

Seriously, it just happened again. While shopping with D2, we wandered into the Hunting and Fishing Department of our newly opened national retail chain sporting goods store. While we perused the racks, and wandered from the apparel to the firearm accessory section, D2 naturally gravitated toward the bows. The salesman, who had been laughing at the lady afraid to touch the stuffed bear (she was seriously freaked out by the taxidermy in the section), wandered over and asked if we needed any help.

I politely answered that we did not, we were just looking around. Then it happened. Again. He said those words I dread.."Can I help you find something for your husband?" And with that..D2 legitimately laughed out loud and looked at me and said.."Oh boy.." And while she was saying that to me, I apparently replied to him with "Don't do that..Don't ever do that.." And that's where his education began..

Don't ever assume that a female in the hunting and fishing section is there to pick up something for her husband. He actually ended up being a terrific guy, along with the other guy in the department  He did make one more assumption early on in the conversation, he assumed I was a LEO.  After we cleared up that fact that while I owned a Springfield XD-9, it was not my duty weapon. It just so happened that I was a female firearm enthusiast, who held NRA Certification as a Range Safety Officer and as a Pistol Instructor. He soon stopped asking me questions he was sure I didn't know the answer to, and we had a really pleasant conversation. D2 and I probably spent a good 15 minutes BSing with them about different local sportsman clubs and what firearms I owned, and what I did with them. (I was apparently quite the novelty!)

This was D2s first experience with someone making an assumption based on our gender.  She's heard me blabber on at home after having a run-in with various salesman, but she's never actually been there before when something really stupid like that has been said to me.  I seriously think I need to design a course to teach to salesman on how to sell to female clientele.

While I was "educating" the boys, D2 was looking at the rack of bows. She found a crossbow that she liked (exclaiming "Ohhhh...this one is pretty!!") His remark? "Oh, that's a really nice bow..AND we have it in pink camo!"

Don't do that either!!!! Don't assume that because we're lady's, we want pink bows, pink guns or pink camo clothes! If I want it in pink camo, I'll ask if it comes in any other colors. After laughing at her that she called a crossbow "pretty" he explained that most of the bows he's sold to women recently were because they "really liked the Hunger Games.."

I already covered the whole "pink thing" in an older blog..I don't want a pink gun, or a pink bow, or pink anything..don't assume because I'm female, I want a pink!  (Again, I have no problem with the color pink, what I have issue with is the assumption that because I am a female, I automatically must have pink everything!)

It was then he told us we were marriage material! =) They don't get many of our kind in their department!

As we left, I told him next time, don't make the assumption I needed help picking out something for my husband, and he said not to worry, he'd know us upon return! We'll go back, even just to test my education process. I guarantee they will think twice next time a female wanders into their department.

Now to work on my Selling to Women sales program..I think I could get rich!

Pushing past her comfort level..

For the past several weeks, my girls (ages 17 and 15.5) have been enjoying range time with my clubs newly reinstated Junior League. We're fortunate to have some great volunteers who have shot  both competitively and while on the job, who are teaching a great group of kids how to improve their skills.

Last week, with it being the day after the Fourth of July, only my girls were able to attend Jr. League. Giddy up and game on! They decided they wanted to see who was the better shot, so we held a little friendly competition. In all fairness, D2 (short for Daughter #2) has had a lot more range time than D1 because of work schedules, so she's had a lot more coaching.

While they both shot well, D2 outscored D1 and held bragging rights around the house for the week. Planning a rematch, D1 was sure she could outscore her younger sister, but as fate would have it, she got called into work and put in a 10 hour day. No range time for her tonight. Instead, D2 went alone (straight out of work herself, hence the scrubs in the pictures!).

We had 5 kids show up tonight, 3 boys and 2 girls. (This may have been the first week where the boys outnumbered the girls, but no worries, the girls held their own!)  At the end, there was just D2 and two of the boys. We decided to shoot plates. Suddenly, the girl with the bragging rights all week was a bundle of nerves. She tried to convince me we needed to go home. She tried to tell them she was tired. She didn't want to have to shoot plates against the boys. But she did. Her coach saw to it that she at least try. (She was less than thrilled with being put on the spot, but she went along after telling everyone not to expect her to hit any of them).

The boys weren't flawless. D2 held her own. First round, she shot 3 out of the 6. When she missed that 4th plate her nerves got the best of her and she missed the next 3. Second round, however, she took her time, watched her breathing, and took down all 6! She pushed past her comfort level and surprised herself with a perfect round.

I'm glad her coach encouraged her to try it, I think she learned a few things she didn't expect to. Now I'm waiting for D1 and D2 to request range time so they can have a plate shooting competition!

Working with kids..

OK they're technically not "kids" they're between the ages if 12 and 18, and they're learning to shoot!

After almost 2 years, we were finally able to get the club I belong to, to start back up their Junior League. We start tomorrow.

My girls have been to the range with me many times, but I'm excited for someone other than me to be offering instruction and guidance to them. I'll be there helping. I'm hoping for a large turnout, and frankly I'm hoping the girls outnumber the boys.

Here's to GirlPower! Because we.shoot.too! I'll blog about the first day to let you know how it went..till then, keep your powder dry..