Getting your breathing under control

[djeffers]

Sometimes I just think about baseball..

Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!

each to their own

[djeffers]

Heck stages aren't that long. At the beep I typically clench my but cheeks and just hold my breath for the next 45 seconds or so.

There is a joke somewhere in this statement.....

[mulrick]

Let me start this off by saying, I'm no pro or expert, and I am admittedly in better shape than most of the other guys at my local matches (6' 168lbs, I run everyday, bike a lot, lift 3 days a week, eat very well) but I was finding after a sprint to the next shooting spot I was jumpy in the scope and would be all over the place for a couple shots. Not necessarily winded sucking air, but just bobbing a lot. First I found that dial things back to about 85-90% produces much better results for me personally. Secondly one of the things I didn't even realize I was doing in the first place was trying to shoot with full lungs.

I went back to my basics for marksmanship and medicine... at my local matches there is almost always a long 400 yd flasher after a sprint around one of the bays into the rifle stage. It is probably no more than 50 yards each month, but it is almost always there in some form, it is uphill and hot during the summer (100+) When I get to the barricade, I take a second to get set up, take a nice big breath, exhale slowly, and then take my shot at the bottom of that.

If you are not winded you normally have about 7 to 12 seconds (depending on the body) at the bottom of that deep breath before your brain starts to see the very beginnings of asphyxiation (vision, and reflexes being the first to go, this is important). Now when you are winded that time shrinks even more, but there is still about a second or two where your vision and reflexes should be at a peak, and your movement at a minimum and that is when you take the shot. Taking the shot with full lungs forces blood to your brain which messes with your vision, and also can cause your breather to become even more labored. Even if I'm sucking air, if i concentrate on holding on the exhale and not the inhale my shots seem to be on target without a lot of drama.

Edited June 2, 2014 by mulrick

[DDustin]

Good advice, thanks. I'm still trying to get past this and you're right I've noticed it helps to get back to basics. The only problem is that takes a couple seconds to settle down and do. I'd like to get rid of that couple seconds somehow. I've been running hill drills like we had to in the Army where you haul ass up a hill then drop down and shoot an array of targets. I'm seeing an improvement in my speed and some improvement in the breathing but not the bouncing in the scope. One thing that seems to help is I do the hill drills with a double mag, light and suppressor mounted which makes the rifle feel like I'm lugging a SAW around. Once I do the drill again with all that weight off there seems to be a noticeable improvement but it's temporary. After an hour or so of shooting a lighter gun it's back to bouncing again. I may be shooting with my lungs full like you said. That's something I'll have to make sure of next range session.

[mulrick]

Good advice, thanks. I'm still trying to get past this and you're right I've noticed it helps to get back to basics. The only problem is that takes a couple seconds to settle down and do. I'd like to get rid of that couple seconds somehow. I've been running hill drills like we had to in the Army where you haul ass up a hill then drop down and shoot an array of targets. I'm seeing an improvement in my speed and some improvement in the breathing but not the bouncing in the scope. One thing that seems to help is I do the hill drills with a double mag, light and suppressor mounted which makes the rifle feel like I'm lugging a SAW around. Once I do the drill again with all that weight off there seems to be a noticeable improvement but it's temporary. After an hour or so of shooting a lighter gun it's back to bouncing again. I may be shooting with my lungs full like you said. That's something I'll have to make sure of next range session.

Yeah the Hill Drill is great... I try to always practice with an elevated heart rate even if it is just a bit, sometimes that is not possible. But running and shooting, jumping jacks, and jump rope all work for me. I wear a Suunto Watch with a heart rate monitor so I am pretty aware of my HR throughout the day and I normally have a really low resting heart rate as it is.

Now all that being said, cardio goes a very long way... the measure of how "in shape" you are is typically how quickly you can bring your HR and breathing back down after getting to breathless.