Fine motor skills when working for strength

[Siphon Odesse]

Esteemed dudes:

I have been exercising regularly for the past few months and am now working on general strength. Mainly for more speed and agility in ipsc but also for being able to hunt with more ease, and less strain on the body.

However, when working out as hard as I can (not very heavy weights, but hey; I'm old) fine motor skills suffer greatly.

The shooting season is over here now, so no real problem, but I want to keep my general level of ability, don't want to see it all disappear during the winter.

How can I practice with the gun (dry or real fire) to maintain as much fine motor skills as possible? I find that I like keeping the precision, which suffers at least the first day after a workout, but feel also that I can't draw as fast as I used to while keeping the draw safe, consistent and above all ending with the dot on target/target point.

Regards, Siphon

[John0321]

I'd try dry-firing/shooting before workouts. When I was a wrestling coach, we'd always do technique work at the beginning of practices, since it and fine motor skills deteriorate once fatigue sets in. Also, if you've been (hypothetically) lifting at 6-7pm, then practicing the next day at 7am, you've only had 12hrs to recover. If you went from a 7-8 am practice and worked out at 8-9, you'd have 22hrs to recover. An ice bath, plenty of sleep, and getting some food/shake in after a workout always helps with my recovery if I've been beat up from a rough workout. Hope this helps.

[Bunsen]

I like doing the dry fire skills in Steve Andersoon's book. I do the first 10 before doing crossfit training then the whole set on my off days. I can do my dry fire then cross fit start to finish in about 70 minutes which helps me get into better chape but still stay sharp with my shooting. I think the biggest thing for me was when I made a commitment to pick up and just handle my riig atleast 5 times a week. Even if I am just racking the slide or practicing mag changes it helps set that muscle memory.

[gennaro]

Siphon,

Also on your off days, when your not working out , ( when your just going to practice draws ) , Try stretching your hands and fingers out first. I know this sounds funny, but every once and awhile I will put one hand straight out infront of me, with my fingers together and pointing straight up. Then I use my other hand to cup over the top of those fingers and very gently pull them back towards my forearm , as you are doing this, keep relaxing the hand so the muscles have a chance to slowly release. Try pulling back slightly on the fingers and pause, holding them in that position, ( let the muscles tendons and ligaments stretch a little bit ) , than gently pull a little bit more and hold it again in that position, for a few seconds, then relax your arm and hand. This may help ease the tension in your forearm, relaxing the muscles for better training your draws and reloads. Sounds funny but sometimes it works.

Best Regards,

Richard

[zero]

Here's a thread on a bodybuilding forum I found:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=6286201&page=1

One of the suggestions was to do your exercises, running or workouts or whatever, then work on fine activities like threading a needle and things like that to help develop steady hands

[jeffgray1]

Doing the olympic style lifts would help with this. Complex compound movements like snatch, clean & jerk, push press, etc. all help develop the CNS for better reflexes and fine motor movements.