Shoulder position at shooter ready

[vincent]

I recently read a post about not moving your shoulders during the draw.  The post mentioned a problem with "over-relaxing" the arms and shoulders so they were rounded down and therefore during the draw the shooter had to pull them up into the shooting position.  Comments were made that only the arms should move during the draw.  This makes a lot of sense but I have a few questions regarding this topic.

Do most people shoot (isoceles) with their shoulders rolled up or down?

I find that I tend to raise my shoulders to raise the gun into my line of sight.  This makes me have to lower my head less and keeps my arms coming straight out from my body.  Assuming this is OK, then it sounds as if I should setup at "shooter ready" with my shoulders raised and head pre-lowered slightly so that I only really move my arms at the buzzer.

I tried this new setup in dry fire last night and it felt odd (new), but seemed to be faster by several tenths.  Am I on the right track or compensating for a fundamentals problem.

Thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-Vincent

(Edited by vincent at 11:54 am on Sep. 17, 2002)

[Steve Anderson]

I went through the exact same self-examination after reading the exact same post.

It felt very un-relaxed to me, but perhaps a little faster.

To find this position, I started with an aimed gun, then put it in the holster without moving my shoulders, then put hands at sides.

I may be mistaking the muscles required to hold the shoulders up as tension.

I plan to watch all the videos I have for this shoulder thing and then make a decision.

SA

[Flexmoney]

I think that the head and shoulders should be in position before the draw.  Having to move them after/during the draw loses time.  Steve would seem to be using the right technique...starting with the draw in the shooting position and on target, then working backwards to the holster.

Now, whether your shoulders and head are in the right position...that is likely anohter thread.

[vincent]

Steve,  I used the same reverse holstering process and a mirror to come up with the new "ready" head and shoulder position.

[Steve Anderson]

I did notice that havng the shoulders up puts the hand closer to the gun.

That's a GOOD thing.

SA

[mcoliver]

Lat night while doing my dry fire routine, I noted which muscles got sore first.  It started with the deltoids, then the lower traps in the back.  My (upper) traps didn't get sore w/c means I'm probably not raising my shoulders much.  How about the deltoids, them getting sore means that I may be raising my elbows out too much?

[Ron Ankeny]

Having your hand closer to the gun might be a good thing, or it might not. If raising the shoulders causes tension, the penalty paid for that tension could far out weigh the benefit of having your hand closer to the pistol.

[ORCA]

I've been working on performing the draw with just the arms moving and it does seem faster and much more comfortable. Matt B's teaches only the arms should move, you should be totally relaxed, and your gun should be positioned so that your shoulders don't need to move to draw the gun.

I also began keeping my head up instead of slightly lowered, which places much less stress on your traps and back of your neck. I found that alone greatly reduced my level of fatigue during practice. The only muscle that gets fatigued is the rear of the deltoid, which comes from raising the gun repeatedly.

The combination of having my shoulders in a neutral position and keeping my head up has resulted in a much more comfortable stance with faster draws and transitions.