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Arm/Elbow Straightness


Red_Dot

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I’ve been playing around with hand position, grip pressure and elbow angle/lock.

 

ive seen a lot of people suggest a straight locked elbow is preferred but it feels very unnatural and then my arms feel very unbalanced in terms of force applied to the firearm and dry fire transitions feel strange.

 

my upper arms and elbows are essentially parallel with the ground, so my elbows are up and strong giving good clamping pressure through my chest. But when I really force the elbow lock, my arms end up being slightly different lengths due to my support hand being everso slightly further forward than my strong hand.

 

i do think it allows me to really rotate and lock out my support hand wrist better though.

 

id like to hear thoughts from others who have consciously tried and decided on a specific arm angle.

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I prefer a more straight arm approach, but a slight elbow bend is FINE! Most of the top level shooters have some form of elbow bend, either down or out. Not much, but slight.

 

I think you need to be comfortable, and I have always heard that you should never lock out your elbows or shoulders, although I prefer a pretty straight arm, I am not sure if I am actually *locking* my elbows.

 

You are good as long as you can control the recoil.

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I never lock my elbows. I shoot with my elbows a little bit bent to allow the recoil to go to my shoulders which will absorb it better compared to the elbows. If you look at the top shooters, majority if not all of them have a slight bend on their elbows. They also cam their wrists to control the recoil much better.

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What ever is comfortable first of all, but I prefer slight bend. Your arms act sort of like a shock and will absorb the recoil allowing you to stay on target better with each shot. If you lock out that recoil will go all the way down to the small or your back (I have back issues also so the less shock down there the better) and could potentially cause your whole upper body to move with recoil. Sounds like you have a grip like mine, torque in with your arms on the grip and you don’t have to squeeze as hard with your hands to fight the recoil as well. Your biceps and forearms and pecs take over to help provide stability


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2 hours ago, Red_Dot said:

I’ve been playing around with hand position, grip pressure and elbow angle/lock.

 

ive seen a lot of people suggest a straight locked elbow is preferred but it feels very unnatural and then my arms feel very unbalanced in terms of force applied to the firearm and dry fire transitions feel strange.

 

my upper arms and elbows are essentially parallel with the ground, so my elbows are up and strong giving good clamping pressure through my chest. But when I really force the elbow lock, my arms end up being slightly different lengths due to my support hand being everso slightly further forward than my strong hand.

 

i do think it allows me to really rotate and lock out my support hand wrist better though.

 

id like to hear thoughts from others who have consciously tried and decided on a specific arm angle.

 

Don't lock your joints. Locked joints are not good for taking any type of impact energy. I usually recommend a mostly straight arm position. A slight bend is no big deal, too much of a bend sucks and locking the elbow in absolute end range of extension also sucks. Forcing your elbows up puts your shoulder into a compromised position (which is internal rotation in flexion). A more biomechanically efficient position is created by externally rotating the shoulder through all ranges of flexion. I've spoken about this at length in lots of other threads around here.

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Stand up straight and relaxed with your arms hanging normally at your side. Bend over so your torso is parallel with the ground and allow your arms to hang down naturally so they are perpendicular to the ground. Now move both hands together into a grip position - without moving your arms or grip - stand up into your shooting position.

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5 hours ago, benos said:

Stand up straight and relaxed with your arms hanging normally at your side. Bend over so your torso is parallel with the ground and allow your arms to hang down naturally so they are perpendicular to the ground. Now move both hands together into a grip position - without moving your arms or grip - stand up into your shooting position.

Followed this and it feels perfectly natural. Thanks for the method!

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/14/2018 at 4:23 PM, benos said:

Stand up straight and relaxed with your arms hanging normally at your side. Bend over so your torso is parallel with the ground and allow your arms to hang down naturally so they are perpendicular to the ground. Now move both hands together into a grip position - without moving your arms or grip - stand up into your shooting position.

This. 

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  • 2 months later...

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