Physically preparing for an event
Getting ready for the big 4 minutes
A stage typically lasts no more than 4 minutes, they are a long 4 minutes and how you prepare will shape how they go. There is 1 simple rule: fitness wins.
Is it possible to get through an event without any training? Yes but it’s going to be savage and you won’t perform nearly as well as you can. The right question is “What can I do to make the event more fun?” because lets face it, not being able to achieve everything is always less fun.
Cardio is King
You don’t need to be able to run a marathon but one area that would significantly improve most attendees scores is improved cardio. High heart rates make for hard shooting, the better your cardio the better able you are to control your breathing and body when you need to make hits.
Big muscles are heavy, and for the most part don’t translate into performance improvements, don’t get us wrong strength is very important but typically it’s not lack of muscles that inhibits shooters. It’s a lack of fitness to keep on using them.
Don’t overdo it and injure yourself, start simple, buddy up with someone and work yourself up to a better place bit by bit
Keep your cardio workouts consistent to maintain the ability long term, cardio doesn’t improve nearly as quickly as you want
Hiking and other outdoor activities are a great way to enjoy your cardio training and prepare your body for moving with weight
Share your progress, make sure to tag us on an instagram post and be part of the community!
Body weight exercises
We’ve covered cardio, now on to strength. Body weight exercises are a great way to improve your strength with very little need for equipment. Our events do involve moving/lifting heavy objects but for the most part it’s your own body and the things attached to it that bring requires strength to overcome.
Press ups, Sit Ups, Squats, Pullups, Plank, Burpies, Lunges, Tricep dips, Crab walking, Bear crawling, and so forth are all great
Chopping wood, digging, hiking with weight, and other such activities are great ways to be productive while getting fitter and stronger
Again share your progress, make sure to tag us on an instagram post and be part of the community!
22LR Range Fitness
What better way to train for an event that involves shooting and exercise while in your gear than going to the range in your gear, exercising and shooting? All you need is 25rds of 22LR or any firearm/calibre of your choice.
The following is an example of a practice that you can conduct on a regular range and involves no movement with a firearm as it can be carefully placed down on safe pointing down range when not in use.
Circuit training
Set up 1x steel target or 5x paper targets at a distance of your choice
Load your 25rds into magazines and place them next to your firearm
Conduct the following exercises (your number of repetitions can vary as best suits you)
20 press ups, 20 squats, 20 sit ups, 20 tricep dips and 10 pull ups
Adopt the prone position and shoot 5 rounds at your target, count your hits if shooting steel. Place your firearm down on safe in a controlled fashion.
Repeat the circuit 4 more times and check your hits if shooting paper.
You can replace the above exercises or shooting position with others based on your range and personal equipment. E.g. Include kettle bell exercises, sprint a 100m lap, do burpies instead of squats or try standing, kneeling and other shooting positions.
Fundamentally so long as you’re working hard you’re going to have to work on your marksmanship principles even harder and that will translate into better performance at the event