Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Shooting And Moving

It's a bit more complicated that the standard routing involving shoe leather and chewing gum, and other people have noticed this as well. But why stop with a routine that involves about as much of one as it does the other?

Imagine an IDPA match with the targets 3-5 times as far away and as much further apart. Now carry a carbine.

My shooting was O.K. it's just that I can't actually seem to move any faster than continental drift.

Obviously I need to train by jogging around the block while carrying my rifle and occasionally aiming at targets of opportunity like signposts, license plates, or mail boxes. That ought to do it.

Maybe the R.O. would entertain a class for those of us in need of mobility carts?

3 comments:

Brad K. said...

Rather than jog around the block with a carbine, perhaps something that would stir the newpapers and police and neighbors a bit less.

Maybe a broom. A corn broom. Maybe sweep the sidewalk, trying for a "personal best" time for the block.

How about jogging while aluminum can-picking? Offer to walk the neighbor's pit bull, or that Great Dane across the way, something with a little "pull".

There is "disc golf", a variant that uses a sport-specific variant of the frisbee, and tubs with chain "catchers" for target "golf holes". That would let you work on distance/accuracy work, and all those upper body muscles related to using a weapon well.

Swimming, volleyball, basketball, racquetball, these would help with regaining the movement of youth. Yoga, for strength, flexibility, and to manage pain. Not that pain gets to be a factor, as I get older. Just saying. Maybe even intensive gardening, for strength and endurance.

Get a rustic-type walking stick to take with everywhere you go, one that is an appropriate length for your height and stride. You can play Gandalf you your mind without having to tell anyone else. This can be helpful with back twinges, too. Maybe a backpack with some stuff for weight -- bottles of drinking water, maybe.

My chiropractor suggested PerformBetter.com. I happened to have a chunk of 8" PVC pipe, and cut off 3 feet. Nasty kind of intense, but now I hurt in different places. . .

Luck!

jed said...

I can imagine that if you sling a carbine across your chest and go for a jaunt, you're likely to get more exercise than you bargained for, particularly if you head up a bit North, say around Powers. Not sure what the reaction would be over this side of the tracks. If any of the soccer moms were around, I'd expect company in blue.

But, in point of fact, exercising with your gear is a good idea, if you can find a place to do it.

Billll said...

I plan to keep up my current exercise program, and try to remember to take the painkillers at least 1/2 hour before the start of the match.