Tensions for core stability? Or not. . .

[Kasjok]

Hello,

I was re-reading The Book and noticed that keeping the overall physical tension level down is something to desire.

 

Now when I think about honing my draw technique and also the my overall freestyle platform, I have a feeling lately that some extra tension in the core (stomach) helps me to stay more stable as I present the gun or make fast target changes.

Same goes for my shoulders where I try give them a slight tension to stay back and low in their sockets so that they don`t wobble around so much when I make all these fast movements.

A third type of pre-tension is related to my right wrist. As I react to the beep my hand is pretty relaxed, only slightly preformed. Now when I have mounted the gun and as soon as I have cleared it from the holster I give my right wrist a little pre-tension forward/downward. I have had a feeling that this also stabilizes the gun during the presentation.

 

Doing dry-fire practice with timer shows that having that kind of pre-tensions in my body help the times to stay lower.

I am thinking if I might be going wrong way this thing. Maybe someone has similar experiance or  thoughts to share?

 

[Jake Di Vita]

Personally, I think the only place relaxation has in the shooting we do is in the mind. I want to be mentally relaxed but physically tight.

Through more than 10 years teaching people how to lift, do rudimentary gymnastics, run, etc... I've found that the body tends work better in all things when it has more stability. The way we create stability is by putting our body into the best position possible. For shooting that means stable externally rotated ankles, hips, and shoulders with a neutral spine, rigid trunk, and rigid arms that are straight but not locked. This position isn't something that happens by itself...you have to put your body in that position and then squeeze to hold it there. Obviously you can't do that and be relaxed at the same time.

I posted this yesterday in the thread about clenching your butt that describes the amount of tension I'm looking for:

So if you stand tall and press your hips forward by clenching your butt cheeks as hard as you can (think prison defense) while at the same time squeezing your belly as hard as possible we'll call that 100%. That's the amount of stability I want if I'm doing a max effort lift. Good posture needs the same overall tightness, but at about 10% of max (all day all the time). When I'm shooting, I'm probably hovering around 50% of max squeeze. It's easy to hold and more than enough stability for shooting a pistol. The last thing I want when I'm doing something athletic is a physically relaxed body.

[Kasjok]

11 hours ago, Jake Di Vita said:

For shooting that means stable externally rotated ankles, hips, and shoulders with a neutral spine, rigid trunk, and rigid arms that are straight but not locked.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Could you please describe what do you mean by "externally rotated ankles"? Do you mean like having the toes pointing more inward and having the weight more on the outsides of the soles?

 

[Jake Di Vita]

9 hours ago, Kasjok said:

Thank you for your thoughts.

Could you please describe what do you mean by "externally rotated ankles"? Do you mean like having the toes pointing more inward and having the weight more on the outsides of the soles?

Sure, I'll explain some of the mechanisms at work here first. Ankle position is actually a huge deal. Having poor ankle position is a huge indicator for potential achilles injuries, bone spurs, acl injuries, and is usually the culprit behind flat feet. What I define as a collapsed ankle is when the medial malleolus and the navicular bone drop to the floor. This causes a bunch of twisting in the tibia and leads to a valgus knee which then leads to a compromised internally rotated (and possible impinged) hip. In this case the entire kinetic chain has been compromised through the ankle, knee, and hip. Higher risks of injury, less stability, and less force production. 

You mentioned "having the weight more on the outside of the soles", you're on the right track but there is a bit more to it than that. The ankle joint is a synovial joint, one of the characteristics of synovial joints is that they have joint capsules which essentially is a sack of connective tissue around the joint itself. The capsule is vital to the function of the joint as it provides passive stability by limiting the movement in the joint, seals the joint space, and provides active stability when organized by the person correctly. That organization in all ranges of flexion is external rotation as it "winds" the capsule up and put the joint in it's most effective position.

Go ahead and stand up tall with your feet directly under your hips pointed forward. Then squeeze your butt/stomach and try to spin your toes away from each other without actually allowing them to move (make sure you keep that big toe on the ground, he'll want to come into the air). You'll notice your arch becomes more pronounced and you'll feel a bunch of torque generated in your hips. So you're right that the weight is more on the outside of your foot, the difference is between just shifting your weight there (bad) and having the weight there as a consequence of the position you put your body in (good). This is the position I want to back squat or snatch in as it is the strongest and safest position. By extension, I want to adopt the same principles in my shooting stance. Hope this makes sense, I'm sure I can find a video by someone smarter than me if you're a little foggy on what I'm trying to say.

Note that the feet don't have to be perfectly straight, but if you turn them out more than 20 degrees or so you'll likely start having trouble organizing the ankle.