Falling with a gun

[JonasAberg]

Here is how I see it; you fall not because you lose balance but because you are unable to correct it in time.

Yeah, you can "train to fall" in various ways but you can also work on balancing and getting those fast twitch muscle fibers working because those are the ones that kick in when you are about to fall.

 

You can do this in the gym when working with weights by allowing your body to move through natural ranges of motion. Many people like to do squats in the smith machine for example but that isn't really a natural range of motion. Sticking to regular squats not only works those fast twitch fibers but also balance (if you are up for it, you can also try "pistol squats"). All exercises where your body moves through space in some way does this.

 

My 2 cents

 

[IHAVEGAS]

The falls I've seen with a gun were a hard fast face plant from tripping on a board at speed, a fast plop from total loss of traction when hitting the brakes on wet grass, and a blown knee when one foot stuck and the other slid. Not related to physical conditioning. 

 

 

[stick]

On 8/13/2019 at 7:05 AM, doc88 said:

I think this is a situation where muzzle awareness and trigger finger awareness are important. I have fallen a couple times in matches in mud or loose rock and all I can remember is as I was falling to keep the muzzle down range and trigger finger out of the trigger guard. That way you can get back up and keep shooting.

I totally agree.  I slipped last year and all I could think about was keeping my finger out of the trigger and my muzzle pointing down range.  I was shooting PCC.  I have a video of me slipping on my a$$ somewhere.

[Shooturshot]

You should probably just not fall, it would be more optimal for high hit factors.

[TonyMartin]

Maybe I've just been lucky so far, but I have fallen a few times at matches and I'm not afraid to push it at practice and take a spill or two. I have never had an AD/ND, broke 180, been DQed, Etc. I have never practiced falling either though. I do find however that most of my falling happens in a final shooting position coming to my weak side on a hard lean. I do always get my final shots off, always on paper, and then try my best to land on my shoulder/side/hip instead of my elbow. Lucky so far, but definitely thinking maybe I should put some practice into the skill of crashing

[nikdanja]

I fell on a stage and managed to not drop my gun and keep it pointed in the right direction. I was retreating and hit a patch of grass that was wet. Down I went but managed to keep my gun points down range. 
 

I think it’s good to put a “if this happens” in your head just Incase. Obviously the first reaction is to put your arms out and stop your fall but if that means pointing the gun at people, that’s bad. Put a “if this happens” moment in your brain. Can’t hurt. 

[RobertLx]

I fell twice. First time was running right at a wall to a port and slipped when I got there and fell back and on my ass. Gun was up and straight down range. That was an area7 match. 

The next one was at a regional IDPA match. Got up from a seated position and just plain tripped over my own feet. Went down on my hands and knees to catch myself. Didn’t loose control of the gun and had finger outside of the triggerguard. I was all scrapped up on my strong hand knuckles and knees. 

 

I think if you have good muzzle control, you can keep the gun pointed down range, however, I haven’t fallen bad enough to where my arms have gone flialing all over. I know people that have done that. One guy slipped on ice, the other stepped on his upright magazine. So I don’t believe you can practice falling. You just don’t know how it will happen. Just don’t shoot anyone!

[valerko]

At just about 5 min mark I tripped over barrier leg and nose dove into the gravel , Kept the gun up and safe , jumped up , didn't skip a beat and finish the stage . Afterwards just had to clean knee that was bleeding lol