Get in Shape for Shooting Gallery

Loading magazines by hand can be difficult. If you find it stressful on your hands and fingers, use a magazine loader. This will keep your hand from tiring prematurely.

Before you shoot, take a moment to relax your mind and body. Not only will this help you shoot better, it will help eliminate tense muscles that the stress of wanting to perform well can induce.

When practicing dry fire, it’s important to include weapon presentation. This is because drawing and/or presenting a firearm to the target uses muscles not commonly called upon during a normal day at the office.

Nothing prepares your body and mind for shooting like dry fire. It stresses the muscles you use to hold and aim a firearm while training the eyes and trigger finger to work together.

Just manipulating the controls on a firearm can overwork the muscles in your hands and arms. Weight training can help, but it’s no substitute for working the actual controls while dry firing.

Simply holding a handgun or rifle in the firing position takes strength. This is a hard activity to duplicate with any exercise other than dry fire. This is partly because you have to not only hold the firearm in front of your eyes and on target, you must also maintain the ability to use the fine motor skills required to manipulate the trigger.

Blogger, radio host and Top Shot contestant Caleb Giddings is seen here negotiating the Scrambler course at Gunsite. Cardio training helps a great deal when participating in firearms training courses, 3-gun matches and other shooting events that require running and intense physical exertion.

Shooting champion Max Michel believes strongly in relaxing your mind and body when shooting. He considers it a key to his ability to shoot fast and accurately.