3Gun Fitness

[davehorn]

Chris,

Here's a good exercise routine to get you started. My favorite part comes in at 2:24. Please do the whole routine and report back with a video of your accomplishments!

I'm speechless . . . and a little scared.

I just remembered I need to gauge the feed lips on my rifle mags.

That's funny right there!

[Twoyellowlabs]

She's kind of like the church lady. Yes I shared this with all my friends. That is awesome.

[ClutchUSMC]

Eat what you want. Drink lots of booze. Sleep about 3 hours a night at majors.

If a fat guy like me with no fitness plan whatsoever can make it though blue ridge and 40 other matches a year staying up drinking all night so can you.

I ain't trying to be the best at exercising I came to shoot.

Edited July 17, 2013 by ClutchUSMC

[fireman489]

Im embarrassed to be from the same state as her..... BUT.... Im gonna rock this all the way to the victory circle...... NOT !

[co-exprs]

When I suggested ballroom, I meant some foxtrot or west coast swing, but this is way better! The guy filming has got to be some old dude with tight pants, his shirt unbuttoned and a huge gold chain. You know... like the director in boogie nights. Oh wait, that was Burt Reynolds.

[def90]

Interval training.. Do 4 minutes of high paced (not all out) cardio (treadmill, eliptical, bike) then do a set of weights (does not need to be heavy, just enough to cause exertion) and then jump back onto another cardio machine (mix it up) then another set of weights. I do 3 sets of upper body weight exercise and 3 sets of lower body exercises. I also completely change the routine each week. Every 3rd week or so I do mostly cardio with box drills in the gym mixed with some resistance/weighted ball stuff. At the end of your workout eat some lean protein or a protein shake within a half hour or so.

I used a personal trainer at my gym for about 4 months to get all of these routines down. I actually gained weight the first 4 weeks and then once I made it over the hump the weight came off super fast. My sleep patterns improved vastly and I had more energy during the day. Last winter I fell off the exercise cycle and am almost starting over from scratch, I am just about to break over the hump again.

[rtr]

Some folks came up to me at the match and said "I hear your getting in shape".

What I did was run one or two laps around the park almost everyday with my dog and a couple bike rides. I also did short sprints before running a rifle drill at the range.

The results: 32nd in Tac Scope at 70.78%. Last year I was 61st at 52.82%. So a pretty decent improvement.

Anther member here has given me some strength exercises to try which I will.

Overall I felt much better, less tired and less mentally drained which led to fewer mental errors and I think better shooting.

[Avezorak]

This thread (and an upcoming hunt in the mountains)motivated me to get back into shape. I have been watching calories, portion sizes and just eating healthier in general. I have also been running a couple miles per day and have managed to loose a little over 10 lbs in a month.

I start Crossfit in about a month, so I may be putting some weight back on. But for now Im sleeping better, I dont feel as exhausted all the time and my pants fit better.

[aquaticvisions]

Just watched the video. Is it wrong that I'm a little turned on?

[mike.45]

Squash daily and yoga

(And beer)

[Mike P]

Hog hides, al-kee-hawl, and darts.

[co-exprs]

Some folks came up to me at the match and said "I hear your getting in shape".

What I did was run one or two laps around the park almost everyday with my dog and a couple bike rides. I also did short sprints before running a rifle drill at the range.

The results: 32nd in Tac Scope at 70.78%. Last year I was 61st at 52.82%. So a pretty decent improvement.

Anther member here has given me some strength exercises to try which I will.

Overall I felt much better, less tired and less mentally drained which led to fewer mental errors and I think better shooting.

I saw a noticable improvement in your energy level this time. At the end of stage 8 there were quite a few competitors gasping for air, and you looked like you could shoot it again. I also noticed a significant fitness improvement in Mark Passamaneck as well.

[1chota]

Hog hides, al-kee-hawl, and darts.

DARTS! That may be pushing a bit far. eh?

[jw9976]

Find a Cross Fit gym online usually they have routines online that you can follow but you may want to visit one just for an orientation.

Weasel, venatic literally hit the nail on the head and put it as simply as it could be. I would love to hear what any of you out there are doing for fitness as I think that this could significantly affect ones performance. That being said, you should definitely look into your nutrition as well, as that is also critical to your performance.

Jeremy, I would have to say that I do believe that you can drastically improve your fitness in one months time through a CF program. That being said Weasel, you should do your homework when selecting a CF gym as they all usually mean well and have an honest desire to make you better, however, the ones with the more experienced coaches will do you the best in the least amount of time while maintaining your safety, they do this by actually coaching you on the proper fundamentals then easing you in by controlling your levels of loading and intensity initially to ensure that the mechanics are consistent thus ensuring you do not get hurt, which would be worst possible outcome. While doing this you would also adjust your nutrition, I would recommend "The Paleo solution" by Robb Wolf, there is literally a quote in the book where he lets you know that if you dont care about the science behind it, skip to chapter so and so the get started. It is a great way to get started and I can tell you that the first two weeks will be difficult as food literally is a drug but its also fuel for your body, this just goes back to the "you wouldnt put bad gas in your (insert favorite exotic or domestic car here) , why put bad food in your body?" The science behind it is about Insulin and its affects on your body, there are plenty of links on the internet regarding the topic, I would encourage you to take a look. This is just a start, everyone isnt the same but if you havent been doing anything then any change for the positive is going to help then you can continue to educate yourself through experimentation to see what works and what doesn't, your performance and energy levels across workouts will be the test of whatever it is you either removed or added to your diet.

I also love Brian Payne sons recommendation, hill sprints and burpees are awful and also a great example of a CrossFit workout where you would need absolutely nothing but a hill? How great is that, in todays era of by the dvd and stay trapped in your basement or garage? Dont get me wrong, I love working out in my garage from time to time but whats better than being outside? Anyway the only issue with it is that if you do that same thing every day, you will get extremely bored with it and also continually only addressing your sprinting ability and burpees ( which is a good movement but would inevitably tax your shoulders repeatedly ultimately causing some overuse injury at best). Again another reason addressed with a CrossFit facility, they will have a well rounded program to address all of the 10 general physical skills, and that you are only as good as your weakest link? which directly relates to 3 gun? you could be the best pistol shooter, but if you are not well rounded and consistent at all disciplines, well you know.

CrossFit gets you out of your house or that boring gym routine and puts you amongst a diverse group of people ranging from young to old and fit to unfit. The best part of it is that they want to see you succeed just as much as you want to, because it is a community the better the community does the better we all do. Kind of weird yeah, but much better than the gym you walk into where no one talks to each other because they are all in their own little worlds with headsets on, you could easily walk by the same person five years in a row 3x a week and never say a word to them? That seems more weird to me.

So check out CrossFit.com and or the CrossFit Journal where you can find articles related to CrossFit and shooting by Dave Re and Dave Castro

If you have any questions specifically or would like to discuss this more, feel free to email me, I have been involved with CF and Nutrition for some time although new to 3 gun the similarities are difficult to disprove.

[Twoyellowlabs]

Very well stated jw9976. Most of the guys I shoot with Crossfit. Hard to argue against something that works.

[jkmccoy]

At the risk of reviving an old (and possibly dead) thread...

Like Brian, I discovered at the 2013 Task Force Dagger match that if I intend to compete in 3-gun I need to be in better physical condition. Old fat guys (like me) can still do pretty well on short hose-em stages. We don't do as well when the stage requires you to sprint 75 yards (after engaging shotgun targets from within an SUV) and then run up 3 flights of stairs and engage rifle targets out to 400 yards.

I looked at the cross fit programs and frankly I'm not capable. At my age there isn't enough recovery time to get any benefit. I have started a fitness program that involves interval training and I'm happy with the results so far. I expect to be much better prepared for the 2014 TFD3G. Fitness can be an important part of 3-gun competition, but you have to find a fitness program that works for you. Some of us are already fit, some of us aren't. For those of us approaching Senior category, be sure to talk to your physician about an exercise program.

As motivation to stick with your fitness program I highly recommend taking your 15 year old son with you when you go out for a run/walk. It converts a workout to a competition and markedly increases the intensity.

I know that 55 is the usual minimum age for "Senior" category. I think that we should consider "high mileage 54."

Cheers,

Kelly

[Twoyellowlabs]

I am gonna jump back on the Crossfit bandwagon. I am 53 and have been doing crossfit for a year and a half. I have lost 25 lbs and I know I am in better shape than I was in my twenties. If you have not tried it, you should. They will scale to any age, weight or condition to make a workout that is challenging yet beneficial. I have seen plenty of people of all age groups come in way out of shape and look great now. Most of the Crossfit gyms have a trial period that is either free for a couple of weeks or some sort of discount to get you hooked. Don't get me wrong, you will hurt like Hell for the first couple of weeks but the long term benefits will definitely improve your conditioning for 3 gun. We have a 67 year old Vietnam Vet that works out with us and he has bad knees from a Helicopter crash and it totally turned him into a new person. He does a scaled weight but he hits it as hard as the rest of us. Don't let age and current conditioning keep you from trying it. Most of my squad does Crossfit and I can tell you from experience, it really helps in all aspects.

[MetropolisLake]

I would think that a big part of your training should try to reproduce an adrenaline dump. Adrenaline will straight up wear you out. There are shooters who are pretty large and seemingly out of shape and do quite well, but they are obviously comfortable. Get somebody who has performance anxiety and will get an adrenaline shot when its time to go when they're not used to it, and they're going to have a hard time if the event is over a long period of time, no matter what sport it is.

Edited September 25, 2013 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[EaZeNuTZ33]

I would think that a big part of your training should try to reproduce an adrenaline dump. Adrenaline will straight up wear you out. There are shooters who are pretty large and seemingly out of shape and do quite well, but they are obviously comfortable. Get somebody who has performance anxiety and will get an adrenaline shot when its time to go when they're not used to it, and they're going to have a hard time if the event is over a long period of time, no matter what sport it is.

I've never found an exercise or practice that could duplicate the adrenaline dump I experience in a match. I just have to shoot more matches to overcome that. I have my own range, and have tried to induce a high heart rate by sprinting 30-40 yards to my rifle, then running some fast paper slowing my heart rate and tagging a few distant steel. I've found the more I run and the more I work out, the less I notice my heart rate when shooting. Not sure if that makes sense or not, but even if my heart rate goes up, I'm able to focus and put shots on target. I'm one of those big guys btw, coming in at 250lbs right now.

Last weekend, we ran the Tough mudder, so all week I've done nothing but the treadmill to kill all the lactic acid (and i'm sure some of it from all the beer afterwards) out of my legs, back, and shoulders. The Tough Mudder being 1 week before the US Amateur match at CMMG, may turn out to be a good thing for me instead of a disadvantage!

I think my focus going forward is going to be more cardio based with mild explosive and stamina exercises for my upper body. Like anyone, I would like to correct the issues in my core (beer belly) for obvious reasons, but I think they would help a good amount in this game.

[MetropolisLake]

I've never found an exercise or practice that could duplicate the adrenaline dump I experience in a match.

Massad Ayoob wrote a book called StressFire with adrenaline dump simulation drills in it. That might be interesting.

Edited September 25, 2013 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[MarkCO]

Stress Inoculation and competitive adrenaline dumps have some similar, but some very different affects. The only thing I have found at the range that works is to dedicate a bay to force-on-force airsoft and go head to head against your buddy. Then transfer to the live fire bay and run some drills.

Bungee jumping, racing ATVs/motorcycles, etc. are good, but better if you can get the dump and then evaluate and control your shooting right afterwards. FWIW, I don't get any adrenaline dumps shooting pistol matches anymore...just 3Gun.

[MetropolisLake]

Stress Inoculation and competitive adrenaline dumps have some similar, but some very different affects. The only thing I have found at the range that works is to dedicate a bay to force-on-force airsoft and go head to head against your buddy. Then transfer to the live fire bay and run some drills.

Bungee jumping, racing ATVs/motorcycles, etc. are good, but better if you can get the dump and then evaluate and control your shooting right afterwards. FWIW, I don't get any adrenaline dumps shooting pistol matches anymore...just 3Gun.

Try this sometime... sprint 100 yards in the dark with gunshots going off all around you. Stop and try to hit a target, with the only light being that of a police cruiser. My grandfather tortured trainees of his security company and while working as an FBI consultant with this, said you'd be surprised at how many supposedly well trained men would either puke or would about blow their foot off while drawing due to the adrenaline.