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How to speed up transitions or move faster


gmg

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Ok, here's the background. I'm 56 years young and will be an A class real soon. I'm getting my butt kicked in the longer stages because the younger guys move faster than I do and I'm losing valuable time. My accuracy is pretty good but could always be better. My question is, does anybody know what I can do to move faster. Are there any drills I can do, any exercises or look for a trainer of some type, or just forget about it because I'm too old. I know I need to loose weight from 235 to 200 at least but Iam not chubby by any means. 

 

What to do?????

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Congratulations on the coming A!

I think you know the answer here. Loosing weight hitting the treadmill, bike, etc. To work up your endurance and then work on explosiveness in and out of position.

I need to do the same!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

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If you haven't been exercising go easy on them though. It's pretty easy to hurt your lower body if you've been out of it for a long time. Get used to moving faster in general first. Jogging, short light sprints, and stretching regularly would be a good place to start to get your lower body back into shape to start doing more agility based exercises. Add in ladder drills, cone work, etc as you feel you are ready for it. A trainer at a gym would be great too if its in your budget. I see trainers at my gym doing agility work with clients all the time. 

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Dead lifts give you explosive power.

Lunges; I do a step back, seems to be more comfortable then the step forward.

Ballistic-box jumps, step  up to begin your program.

 

Try jumping rope.

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I agree with the guys above

 

but @ 56 start slow learn perfect form

 

i'd start with air squat.... Learn perfect form

 

box squats 

 

jumping squats box jumps

 

Weighted back squat

 

front sqaut

 

skip rope

 

double unders

 

shuttle run short sprints quick stop/box sprints

 

but I do love the dead lift.      But do yourself a favor start light learn perfect form!!!

 

you really don't need to go super heavy 

 

progress so to sumo dead lift high pulls 

 

then cleans

 

from here your getting into the realm of oly lifting.  

 

Im not against serious  oly lifting but it's a huge time comitment to get proficient. I'd rather be shooting

 

once your cleans are good  ...........     

 

My favorite........

 

tire flips!!!   Depending on strength and  tire weight.  The clean style flip is explosive and is an oly core move ish .   Not to mention it is super satisfying to flip a tire.

 

Much of of the above exercises  are progressive movements toward the more complex/ compound

 

For this sport,  I would simplify it down to to shuttle runs/ box sprints,  tire flips  clean and jerk  jumping rope, .....  With ocassional pus up pull up, kettle bell work , heavy farmers walks.   ( the later 2 help with grip stregnth) 

Edited by biglou13
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  • 3 months later...

Late to the party, but being 56 myself, I feel qualified to opine.

 

First off, congrats on your 'A' rank, that's awesome! I've just started and only have a few matches under my belt.

 

But as far as fitness, a few thoughts

 

1) I don't think you need to be fit to be a good shooter, you see many GM's who are overweight and don't move like  greased monkeys.

2) Having said that, it can only help, so I do think it's a worthy goal.

3) More important than shooting however, is focusing on how improving your fitness/weight/agility will improve the quality of your life 24/7, as well as your shooting

4) If you're 56, and into shooting, I'm going to assume you have some disposable income - if you do want to improve your agility/fitness get a coach. They'll help you come up with a safe and effective routine that's tailored specifically for you - well worth the money.  I don't recommend jumping in with suicides or any exercise without some professional coaching. There are 56 year olds who can do it easily, and others will get injured.  

5) Personally, I've found focusing in my fitness tends to motivate me to work on my shooting too.

 

Good luck! Shooting is fun, but investing in your health will improve your overall life - and your shooting. win/win

 

 

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Without knowing your actual fitness level and experience with any kind of lifting, there is no way to prescribe anything in detail.  To be explosive you ned to be strong (relative to a given bodyweight).  So it makes sense to address that.  To translate that strength into speed you need to work on being explosive from a static start, you also would work on deceleration, we basically move into and out of position.  Then there is a bit of actual agility which involves moving non-linear from one position to another.

 

i would skip the trainer, the barrier for entry is pathetically low and just because a guy is training people at a gym doesnt mean they know what they are doing, are prescribing a routine than is anything more than one size fits all, or have trained people for a sport.

 

stick to basic exercises.  Jumping into oly lifts which may or may not transfer to what is actually slowing you down at age 56 and by your own words need to lose some weight peobably isnt step one.

 

sounds like getting into general shape is a good start.  Joe DeFranco has some videos on how he trains guys for agility,  check them out too.

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Train specifically for our sport.

Go out into your front yard (I prefer the front yard because my neighbors can't see me in my back yard) and run through imaginary stages. 

Run to the right, then run to the left. Run backwards, and then forwards. Put your hands together, point, and yell, "Bang, bang,...bang!", as you are running.

If a neighbor stops and asks what you are doing, tell him you're shooting Zombies.

If the Police show up tell them you thought you saw a Zombie prowling the neighborhood.

Do this as often as you can. Late at night, or very early in the morning is best. Work out pants and t-shirt are good, but I prefer pajamas.

Glad I could help. -_-

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2 hours ago, MikieM said:

Train specifically for our sport.

Go out into your front yard (I prefer the front yard because my neighbors can't see me in my back yard) and run through imaginary stages. 

Run to the right, then run to the left. Run backwards, and then forwards. Put your hands together, point, and yell, "Bang, bang,...bang!", as you are running.

If a neighbor stops and asks what you are doing, tell him you're shooting Zombies.

If the Police show up tell them you thought you saw a Zombie prowling the neighborhood.

Do this as often as you can. Late at night, or very early in the morning is best. Work out pants and t-shirt are good, but I prefer pajamas.

Glad I could help. -_-

I'm going to do this every night now.  I will let you know if it helps my speed.:D

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10 minutes ago, JAM said:

I'm going to do this every night now.  I will let you know if it helps my speed.:D

 

Great! 

I'm sitting here in the evaluation room of our local mental healthcare facility thinking back on how how much fun I had doing it.  Running across my front lawn in my bare feet. Imagining a Zombie attacking Martha Stewart, and me coming to her rescue. It was a good thing.  :blink:

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On 7/19/2017 at 0:00 PM, TravisNC said:

Are they moving faster than you or just shooting sooner than you?  

 

 

While improving fitness ness can never hurt odds are shooting/moving sooner is going to make a bigger difference.

 

i used Bens dry fire entry drills from the book to work on shooting sooner.

 

as for transitions shooting Blake drills helped me, I just try to keep them about the same as my bill drill times.

in dry fire I would focus on moving my eyes and making the gun show up where I was looking.

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I'm in the same boat and just lost 65 lbs in hopes to improve my speed.  For me, now, it's a mindset that I can move faster.  Body pains aside, training my mind to make my body move faster is all it takes.  That being said economy of motion is equally as important as pure speed. I shoot with guys that are not quick over the ground but can draw fast, acquire targets fast, and don't waste time and distance between shooting positions.  When you hear them shooting it is a constant tap, tap, tap, tap, tap  vs. tap, tap......... tap, tap....etc.  They are always shooting or reloading but rarely just moving.  This is my goal and what I try to practice...  I'll never be as fast as someone younger and lighter but I can be better.

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  • 1 month later...

At 48 I am now the old guy at the match. No longer able to rely on speed. I am in A also and trying for master next. A big difference is getting into position and being ready to start shooting as fast as possible. I don't shoot faster than the other guy I am just ready to go when I get there. I am focusing on dropping about 25# and increasing my cardio. Working on leg strength to try to be more explosive. Good results so far, but the knees are not cooperating. I also can't shoot 10 stages a day at the highest level. Dieting is the hardest part. 

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I'm a young guy and can out run nearly everybody I shoot with. There are two older gentleman that continually crush my times. One of them is able to shoot on the move as quick as most people can shoot stationary. The other one says he has learned to never come to a dead stop. If you have more mass on your upper region, it takes a lot of energy to bring yourself to a dead stop. It then takes a lot of energy to get yourself moving again.

 

I'd recommend starting by not coming to a dead stop and then focus on shooting on the move.

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