Indians For Guns

Hi there!
I shoot in 10m air rifle event and have been practicing quite well since last one year. Before that, i used to workout (strength and cardio both) and had muscular body. My coach instructed me to stop heavy weight strength training saying this would pe problematic while shooting. According to him people tend to have more movement while holding the weapon with a muscular body. So i stopped going to gym.
Now i've already put on some weight ( i do cardio on and off though) and really miss those pumped biceps.

Is it really true that i cant have them muscles back if i want to continue air rifle shooting ?

Please help!

I am no champ, but based on my limited exposure on rifle shooting, The stance of the rifle shooting is pretty close. If you will have stiff upper then i am sure you will face issue in prone position for sure.

More muscles=More requirement for oxygen. Hence in order to be stable, the muscular body uses more oxygen than a non muscular one in order to stay in position. Say during the shot cycle, a non muscular person can hold his breath still for around 3 seconds during which the sights are aligned with the target. On the other hand, a muscular person will tend to suffocate while maintaining the same position till 3 seconds while the heart tries to force blood to other parts of the body, which creates jerks therefore ruining the shot. This is provided he has the same lung capacity as that of the non muscular person. This can be mitigated If he has a greater lung capacity. And to increase your lung capacity, you need to do a lot of cardio and aerobics. Breathing exercises help too. A shooter must combine low weights and high reps exercises not the other way round. You need to condition your muscles so that they can last a full match without breaking a sweat. You must be able to pick up a 5 kg rifle and place it back 60+ plus times rather than picking up and placing a 60+kg weight 5 times. That way the muscles can learn to use oxygen more efficiently.
So, in short, yes you can have bulging muscles, but be prepared to put in a lot more effort on calisthenics and aerobics.

sohampaul11 wrote:More muscles=More requirement for oxygen. Hence in order to be stable, the muscular body uses more oxygen than a non muscular one in order to stay in position. Say during the shot cycle, a non muscular person can hold his breath still for around 3 seconds during which the sights are aligned with the target. On the other hand, a muscular person will tend to suffocate while maintaining the same position till 3 seconds while the heart tries to force blood to other parts of the body, which creates jerks therefore ruining the shot. This is provided he has the same lung capacity as that of the non muscular person. This can be mitigated If he has a greater lung capacity. And to increase your lung capacity, you need to do a lot of cardio and aerobics. Breathing exercises help too. A shooter must combine low weights and high reps exercises not the other way round. You need to condition your muscles so that they can last a full match without breaking a sweat. You must be able to pick up a 5 kg rifle and place it back 60+ plus times rather than picking up and placing a 60+kg weight 5 times. That way the muscles can learn to use oxygen more efficiently.
So, in short, yes you can have bulging muscles, but be prepared to put in a lot more effort on calisthenics and aerobics.

i spot a slight lacunae though, if the above is the result of a newbie coach's advice then its entirely passable.
hard to imagine that 5kgx60 reps is going to tax any one neuro muscularly, even a untrained bloke can lift 5kgs at least five times more reps without fatigue over a leisurely time.
the guy with heavy muscles has his muscles saturated with oxygen already to sustain any oxygen starvation for couple of minutes more up to 10mins( in a highly conditioned athlete ).
A lean n mean 100m sprinter is starved for the entire period of about 10 second explosive heat even though they have one of the best heat-lung capacity and VO₂max of all the disciplines, after the race they are elated rather than gasping for air.
moreover a muscular guy has far superior conditioning to a wuss and the recovery is far superior too, for any oxygen starvation the body shifts into anaerobic oxidation(a bit expensive energetically).
as a practical observation many successful British BFTA blokes are huge and use weight to their advantage in field target competitions.
as far as the reps versus the poundage is concerned i am biased towards the poundage and HIT for cardio, BTW putting on a lean mass is no walk in the park to be overly concerned, we Indians should walk this route beacause we tend to be skinny fat

As a fairly amateur shooter, I said what I had experienced personally. The mentioned advice worked for me. It might/might not work for other people. Increasing the reps using a light weight dumb bell and strengthening the core muscles(lower back,abdomen,et al) made my hold more stable. Earlier, I used to lift heavy weights, but that didn't work. On the contrary,it made my hold much more unstable. I usually follow the articles on USA shooting for tips. Here is one for example which is relatable.

Cant agree more with Sohampaul11.
My $0.02:
10m Air Rifle stance can twist your spine in three different planes. That apart, there are muscle groups in the back, shoulders, neck and other places. Normally, weight is equi-distributed between them, based on which they have grown to take the weight. These muscle groups will not be subject to imbalance. For example, (for a right hand shooter), in stance, the left lattisimus dorsi (lats), is crunched, while the right muscle group is extended. Both of these require effort, which is directly proportional to the muscle mass (and fat mass). More of either, requires more effort. This requires your blood to have required oxygen to supplement for a longer duration. Once they stop to suffice, fatigue kicks in and reflex mechanisms try to push them back to a normal state. Muscle weariness also leads to release of chemicals that protect the muscles, and a whole lot of other chemistry happens. Also, all this varies from person to person.
Therefore, there is no one rule as to having muscle mass or not.
Instead, the other work around is to ensure (1) You have required agility, muscle mass, stamina, flexibility for 10m air rifle shooting, and (b) Add muscle mass making sure that none of point (1) varies negatively.
Maybe, MAYBE, having stronger lower back may help you, but the same may not be applicable to me! A lot depends on an individuals capacity, lifestyle, metabolic rate, sustenance capacity, oxygen assimilation rate, etc. Too many medical stuff to bother about, which will eventually reduce that much focus on shooting itself!
So, the safer way is to have more agility, flexibility, and just enough strength, instead of probable compromise for the sake of muscle mass - the 'safer' way. Of course, if you have someone adept enough to monitor you very regularly, then you can leave the headache to that person and concentrate on shooting, while that person will ensure you have the right balance of muscle, power and stamina.

yardstick of bulk in our country and those that are genetically better is a lot different not sure if the study by Univ of Carolina can be copypasted on that point, for all you know it may be a attempt to keep the lads from committing a mistake(visiting a Doc. for cold or muscle pull, injury etc. etc.,you know what i mean... ) and WADA compliant as much as possible.
in shooting body is always in a unnatural position, the pelvic thrust in standing rifle can seriously test the lower back ligaments, you need adequate muscles to stop from prematurely ending ones career.
now regarding the high reps low reps debate the protocol to get there may differ ad nauseaum.
remember that lean bulking is not a walk in the park for most for us .i am not suggesting that one need to be MrOlympia to shoot well, either is fine as long as you are *trained*.
balance in antagonistic groups with sufficient flexibility is the cornerstone of any sport.
Disclaimer : i am no shooter, all the advice is for educational purposes only , no express or implied guarantees ;-0

stumbled upon this one today


caution:do not judge Branch Warren's form and do not copy him either.