How important is physical training to the shooter?

[benos]

Back in the day, Robbie and I did some serious studies on various "sizes" of shooters, and their movement times from position to position typically encountered in most matches. We timed small, nimble guys, and good sized overweight guys - of the same skill level - and could not find any apprecialble differences in their movement times.

be

Interesting. How did you determine they were the same skill level? Did you compile quantitative data, or was it an observation/qualitative type study?

We shot with the same guys all the time, so we could easily assess shootingg skill levels. Then we just timed them with a stopwatch from their last shot in the box to the first shot in the next box. We were real surpirsed at the lack of time difference between a small, nimble quick guy and a big, didn't-look-like-he-could-move-to-fast guy.

be

[joedodge]

Wow guys thanks for the replys i think im gonna try and jog and lose a little weight just to feel better I did notice at our match last night the smallest quickest guys arent the fastest or best.

[justaute]

What about stage designs? Do they have a meaningful impact? Are there designs that may provide more benefits to out-of-shape/in-shape shooters? Is there a balanced approach to minimize asymmetry? I don't have answers to these questions as I'm a new shooter; however, based on observations (including the stage designs for Nationals), I believe there are material design differences.

Ex1: stages with lots of acute-angle turns vs relatively straight lines

Ex2: stages with short distance between shooting positions vs long distance (see Area 4)

Ex3: low port vs "normal" height port (see Area 3 & 4)

I'll paraphrase what Max Michel said, shot-split is generally measured in 1/100th(s) of a second and transition/movement-split is generally measured in 1/10th(s) of a second. Thus, for shooters who have similar skill level, but have different physical conditions, then stage-designs may come into play. As we know every 1/10th of second count --> see 2011 Nationals results for L-10 and Revolver.

Edited September 22, 2011 by justaute

[Steve Anderson]

Robbie shoots early, moves out while shooting, never stops shooting and never misses. That's more important than sprint speed.

Plus, many stages can be "gamed" to avoid extra movement if desired.

I've shot at 240, 150, and every weight in between. What I liked about 150 was the extra agility moving in and out of awkward positions moreso than absolute sprint speed. In fact, it was worse in some ways because I only upgraded my power train and not my brakes. It was pretty hilarious to sprint to a position and just keep going...

Now, 4 dogs insist that I run 4 miles a day (a tired dobe is a good dobe) and the main benefit is that I never get tired at matches.

My opinion is that being in better shape can only help, but by itself will not yield amazing results.

Or to put it another way, if you have an hour a day to devote to "shooting training" I'd rather see you dry fire than do situps.

[Nuke8401]

I find it interesting that some place little to no value on physical fitness as part of the overall set of skills needed to excel in a sport where strength, agility and stamina are needed (a little denial maybe?). While improving these may not get the biggest bang for the buck, depending on the specific shooters current weak/strong areas, it would be naive to ignore them in an overall program to improve. It would also be naive to say any particular “out of shape” shooter would not improve if they got in better physical condition.

I’m down 20 lbs this year with another 20 to go and for me it has made a significant difference even if that difference is only in my mind.

David E.