When A Finger Just Isn't Enough
The first drill we have our students do in our Reactive classes is to run down the range and back as fast as they can. This isn't to see who is the fastest, slowest, or how your physical conditioning is. The intent is for you to see how your gear feels right away. Do the magazines fly out of their pouches? Do you find yourself saying your chest rig is too loose or too tight? Another reason is to show the students how much ground a person can cover in a short amount of time. However, physical fitness does play a role in any drill. In fact, physical ability reflects how well you can move from cover to cover, peer around barriers, and place effective shots in less than ideal positions as a last resort.
You don't need to be an athlete, personal trainer, or a marathon runner to keep up in our courses. You also don't need to be any of those types of people to be effective when scouting on a hunting trip or stalking wild game. Although, being in good physical condition makes those hunts, 3 gun competitions, and higher skill level training courses easier to sustain energy over periods of time.
Can physical fitness have an affect on accuracy? The answer is, yes it certainly can! As an expirement, grab one of your rifles (ensure it is clear and safe) and aim at a target in the standing position. Note your breathing pattern and how stable you are to make an accurate shot. Now place your rifle somewhere safe and do 50 jumping jacks at 70% speed. Once you have done that, sight in on your same target and now pay attention to how much less stable you are. Repeat the process again but doing 30 jumping jacks at 100% speed. How much is your heart rate affecting your sight picture?
To be completely fair, you will almost never have the same stability at a resting heart rate v.s. a higher heart rate. So what am I trying to prove? What I am looking at is the difference between an accurate shot and a pulled or less than accurate shot. Will your heart rate rise with activity? Yes it will, however how much it rises and recovers is dependant upon your physical conditioning.
Fatigue is what increases your risk for mistakes. When your arms are getting tired from holding the rifle, you rush to make the shot because holding the rifle is only making it worse. When you're breathing heavy, students tend to hold their breath for extended seconds to help "increase" stability. Actually what you are increasing is mucle tension and more fatigue by NOT using correct breathing techniques.
My point of emphasis is that you don't need to be in excellent physical condition. However, you should define what level of conditioning you need to be effective within your shooting discipline.
Remember: fatigue = risk
Published by:
Adam Link
Instructor at AIM Precision, LLC
