How stiff are you?

[AzShooter]

When shooting how stiff are your arms?  Are they locked solid at the elbow or do you have a loose hold?  

[kneelingatlas]

Bent elbows, flexed biceps and triceps.

[Doublehelix]

Definitely not locked at the elbows or the shoulders. Everyone has style differences, and most top shooters have slightly bent elbows, either bent out or in.

[bjones6686]

Slightly bent elbows, flexed biceps and triceps. I cant stiff up if I wanted to. I shoot single stack major and have to reload all the time. 

[Furrly]

The only thing that should feel stiff- locked is the are hands on that gun evething else relaxed.. 

[BillGarlandJr]

I took a class from Todd Jarrett back in 2008, and I remember him telling the class "everything from the elbows back should be relaxed". Having shot more Production than any other division over the past 15 years, I've found that works for me with the number of reloads typically done during a stage. I messed around with more tension back through the shoulders, but having to "unlock" everything when reaching for a mag made me both slower and less consistent with my reloads, along with zero benefit in terms of recoil control. In fact, if I'm missing reloads its usually because I've let myself tense up through the biceps, triceps, and shoulders. As has been said, everyone is a little different as far as what works best for them. For me, a very tight grip on the pistol, good position behind the gun, and trying to remain relaxed from the elbows back works very well for me. I only arrived at that after taking some classes from some great shooters, and doing a ton of shooting myself, and in so doing, letting my body figure out what worked best for it.

[GunBugBit]

Arms pretty straight but elbows relaxed.  My sights get aligned quickly just about auto-magically when I straighten the support arm at the end of the draw.  If I don't do that, it seems I end up using my hands more to get alignment and that's slower for me.

[dkamps]

only thing locked in is the hands, like previously mentioned elbows back is pretty relaxed; itll speed up your transitions.

Also, shoulders are pretty down and relaxed as well, see a ton of the head forward, shoulders up, stiff neck stuff. Sights to your eyes, not eyes down to your sights.

[Doublehelix]

15 hours ago, dkamps said:

only thing locked in is the hands, like previously mentioned elbows back is pretty relaxed; itll speed up your transitions.

Also, shoulders are pretty down and relaxed as well, see a ton of the head forward, shoulders up, stiff neck stuff. Sights to your eyes, not eyes down to your sights.

 

Yep, "turtle neck". You definitely want to avoid that.

[pyrrhic3gun]

Not like I was in college...oh wait, you're talking about shooting.  :^)

I really couldn't tell you, I'm just trying to see the gun do the right stuff.  Probably why I'm not GM.

[Part_time_redneck]

My neck has been pretty stiff lately but I think that's just from where that viagra got stuck in my throat. 

I always shoot with elbows slightly bent and just try to stay relaxed. When the buzzer sounds any tension that's there is just going to increase. 

[Marcus09]

Bob Vogel's video about "the grip" on you tube changed my life.

 

I knew to grip the gun firmly but didn't know about torqueing my hands inward into the frame.

 

My speed and accuracy has increased exponentially ever since.

[DukeEB]

On 5/16/2018 at 1:11 PM, dkamps said:

only thing locked in is the hands, like previously mentioned elbows back is pretty relaxed; itll speed up your transitions.

Also, shoulders are pretty down and relaxed as well, see a ton of the head forward, shoulders up, stiff neck stuff. Sights to your eyes, not eyes down to your sights.

Especially for cross dominant shooters.  I shoot right handed but left eye dominant.  It's pretty easy as long as you bring the sights to your eyes.  Jerry Miculek also stresses this in some of his videos.

[hrhawk]

I’m also with the relaxed behind he knows group. If it tense up the arms/shoulders I get some funny move to during recoil. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by hrhawk

[quliming]

Elbows are never locked. There should not be much if any tension on the upper arms. in Summary, hold the gun with your hands, not your arms.

[Yeti]

When my support hand comes on into a good grip I punch out near fully, but with a slight natural bend in the elbows.  Then I tense up my hands-wrists-forearms-biceps.

There is slightly more distance between my elbows (and more stability) than there is if I extend fully. 

Sometimes on the clock I still get too tense early on in a stage and fade into "tactical turtle mode" and correct it within a few shots.  

[Dranoel]

Grip firm as a respectful handshake, arms enough to hold the gun up and steady on target. Anything more than that and you pull the out of position under recoil and have to adjust on your next shot. Get tensed and all your movements will be slower.

[pskys2]

Just don't think of it when you're competing!

[ktyler]

OK, from the hands back...here we go.

wrist locked out with a "forward intention" to assist in recoil management.  

elbows slightly bent to absorb and dissipate some recoil 

biceps and triceps engaged

Shoulders engaged but I avoid engaging the traps (shrugged shoulders)  Very fatigued and not beneficial

Each component of this platform is important to overall recoil management, but it also goes into shoulder position in relation to the hips, and ankles.  

 

Being in LE, I see a lot of instructors telling students to lock out the elbows and lean into the pistol.  That may work for shooting one target with a 9mm, but once you start shooting multiple targets, around obstacles while moving, The locked elbows is quickly shown to be lesser technique.

 

Keith Tyler

 

www.tylerfirearmsinstruction.net