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Do you warm up before a match? You should!


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I like to warm up at a safe table. just getting a feel for the gun in my hand. practice a few draws etc. particularly with the open gun. I also find it especially useful to go the safe area and practice draws, some dry fire before a strong hand or weak hand stage. if I've been shooting a few stages freestyle and are warmed up it's nice to take a minute to re-awaken my strong hand/weak hand only index, draw etc. I see so many open shooters front up to SHO/WHO stages, draw and spend a LOT of time figuring out their index and looking for the dot. literally 1-2min of pre stage DF cures that for me.

I thought you warmed up with a smoke and a coffee?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lol, smoke, coffee, then dry fire. :)

as you know last match I went to the safe table for a quick dry fire/dry draw and scope clean before the stage. It was a weak hand only stage and I was second shooter up. The only problem was the safe table on that range was occupado which meant going to the bay next door. By the time all this happened I was being called to the line. stepped up confident in my index etc. shot the stage I thought quite nicely. till I realised I had missed the stage briefing and the first shooters run and it was a 3 shots per target stage... d'oh. luckily I backed up a D on the last target so I 'only' racked up 2 mikes... :(

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Just a little sight picture warm up before the match along with some stretching seems to work not only for warm up, but for those initial jitters you get at a match too. That and staying relaxed and trying to have a laugh with your squad before hand helps distract the mind and seems to help for me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I usually do a few draws and sight pictures in the safe area before the match. I still feel like thats not enough. Really need to do more draws. I always feel like I'm shaking off the cob webs on the first stage.

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Ideally some live fire shortly before a match would be nice, if possible.

i have tried that and it doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help me as much as the physical warmup (going for a 10 minute or so jog to get the blood flowing, followed by some dryfire, and some back and forth movement. I really like to warm up my eyes a little too, with transitions and really paying attention to snapping my eyes to the next target.

a couple years ago live fire helped more than it does now. I think the more live fire experience you have, the less you may benefit from it before the match.

Edited by motosapiens
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I draw and dry fire a few times after gearing up,seems to help.That being said,the best stage I ever shot was after being late to a match due to a wreck stopping traffic.I got out of the truck, ran up to the registration area,paid,geared up,rushed to the squad as the last shooter was unloading.I didn't have time for a plan other than shoot the targets when I saw them.I was HO on the stage with 2 GMs shooting that day.It is possible to overthink this shooting thing sometimes.

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I do some stretching because any match I go to evolves a minimum of an hour drive. Then, after I hear up I'll go to the safe table and draw and dry fire and just get my mindset off the road and onto the gun.

To date the best stage I had was on a classifier. I'm still a U shooter so I hadn't had many stages yet. Anyway I was the 2nd to last in the squad on this particular stage. The safe area was right next to this bay where the stage was. I watched the first 2 shooters shoot the stage, and then I went to the safe area and practiced my draw, sight, dry fire and transition about 10-15 times. Then my number was called and I stepped into the box and churned out a high B.

Maybe what I did can be frowned upon, but it felt great and I felt like I was actually in control and ran smooth as silk. Keep in mind I'm a U shooter and this was in my 4th match so I'm still learning the ropes as to what's what.

I also found that arriving early and helping set up the stage really helps me loosen/warm up.

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I warm up pre match. But it involves running, and I'm fairly certain most gun loving Americans hate running.

NAAA! It's the tripping over my tongue part that I hate.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My warm up usually consist of carrying wall, popper, props, and setting up stages

FOR THE WIN !!

Seems to help with pre-match nerves as well.

I do need to routinely add a bit of stretching and dry fire.

Edited by IHAVEGAS
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Been considering shooting a bit before the drive to a match. I have access to a range and could get in for an early warm up but them I have a 60-90 minute drive to get tothe match. Not sure that will help but I plan on trying it this weekend.

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  • 1 month later...

I recently shot what was supposed to be a 10 stage IDPA Tier 2 match where everyone started with a "Stage 11" from whatever stage they started from . It was a failure drill using just one target with two shots to the body, one to the head,reload, two to the body and one to the head. It was just to let everyone warm up and get their "first stage jitters" out of the way . Although the results from this stage was counted on final score. It usually takes me two full stages to get in the game and I really like this "warm-up" stage idea .

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3 minutes ago, eggman said:

I recently shot what was supposed to be a 10 stage IDPA Tier 2 match where everyone started with a "Stage 11" from whatever stage they started from . It was a failure drill using just one target with two shots to the body, one to the head,reload, two to the body and one to the head. It was just to let everyone warm up and get their "first stage jitters" out of the way . Although the results from this stage was counted on final score. It usually takes me two full stages to get in the game and I really like this "warm-up" stage idea .

Good idea.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a small shooting area with a couple of targets (perhaps at the downrange end of a regular stage) for brief live-fire warmup and gun function check.  Oh, well...

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