Just standing still and holding up a pistol to shoot doesn’t seem too
strenuous. Why should I warm up as I’m not exerting any muscles like a proper
athlete
This has always been a little grey area. Many shooters may find they
start a match poorly and then about 20 or so shots into a match start to shoot
better and end up finishing strongly. But the damage was done at the start of
the match, throwing points away just settling into a rhythm, getting the feel
of the gun, getting the mind on the task at hand.
Yes pistol shooters do use some muscles. Shoulder muscles, arm, wrist,
hand, legs, back muscles to name but a few.
These muscles can be warmed up with
simple stretching and holding exercises, not because you may risk muscle strain
like a footballer might, but to get the body acclimatised to the position of
shooting and get the action of raising the pistol as smooth as possible and
increasing body awareness. You’ve probably just arrived at the range and
stepped out of the car and onto the line. Or done a brief walk around the range
and then got ready to shoot.
Warming up also means to warm up “mentally”. The action of doing
holding, dry firing, cocking the pistol, attaining stance is all preparation to
get you “in the groove” to fire that first competition shot.
Pistol shooting is mostly a “mental” sport with little physical
activity, but if you can get an advantage over an opponent by doing a little
dry firing, holding etc before the match starts, it will certainly make sense
to “warm up”.
Dry firing before the match, gets the mind into gear as to what you are
looking for to fire a good shot. Am I holding as good as I normally do? Am I “seeing”
sights as clearly as I normally do? Is my trigger press smooth? Have I got my
mind on the task at hand?
Get all of these facets of shooting right even before sighters and you’ll
be way in front of the field before the first competition shot. Once you start
sighters, it is a time of being sure you are employing all the skills required
to fire a good controlled shot. Firing shots in sighters that are controlled,
smooth shots, allows you to judge groups, as you may have shot on a different
range previously, different lighting etc. Groups can change from day to day,
same range, same pistol and same bay. The body changes day to day. The holding may
be slightly higher or lower this day.
Go back through your past results, look at the start of a match, the
middle and the end. You may find a pattern forming which can be analysed and you
never know, you may even pick up a few more points, which is what pistol
shooting is all about.
