Still wondering how fitness is important to this shooting sport? At the 2008 Area 1 Championship, we got a solid demonstration of why having a broad, general, inclusive fitness program is an important part of any well rounded shooting program.

Stage designer Chuck Anderson threw us a curve ball on stage 9 in the form of a Breaching Technologies, Inc. Ram Breaching Door. Check out the vid - a few comments follow the jump...

Many many thanks to Mitch Mora (HoMiE on the Benoverse) for driving the camera, and allowing me onto the stage to film this clip... Mitch was one of the ROs on this stage - these guys did a great job of keeping this stage flowing...

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Well, faithful reader, its been a while since my last post. I apologize for the delays - its been a busy couple of weeks over here. I've been thinking about the subject of this post for quite a while. I'm making a semi-controversial statement here, and only sharing my experience - not the results of some massive, scientific study I've undertaken, or anything insane like that. Well, this whole blog is my opinion and experience, isn't it? So, maybe that's not a surprise....

Improvement without practice. Does that sound far fetched to you? I bet it might. And, what kind of improvement are we talking about? No, it doesn't just happen by osmosis. Yes, it still requires a lot of hard work. No, its not the be-all-end-all to all your shooting problems. Yes, it does make a big difference in your skills, your confidence, and your stamina. What's the big secret? Good old fashioned elbow grease... in the form of CrossFit!

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Why in the world would you want to start doing power lifting exercises? I mean, what in the shooting sports even begins to look like doing a deadlift? A dead what??? A dead back, maybe???

Well, not if you do it with proper form, and an appropriate amount of weight. The picture at the right is me, deadlifting 295#. That's not an extreme amount of weight - the current world record is over three times that (1003#).

But, still, why power lifting, if what you want out of your fitness routine is a lean frame, and a high power to weight ratio? Hmmmm.... read on... ;)

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For a lot of folks, the terms "shooting" and "fitness" don't usually seem to go together. Mention shooting to your average Joe, and he gets this image of Larry the Cable Guy running around in the woods, decked out in camo, beer in hand, blasting away at anything that moves (and some stuff that doesn't move, too). Not the pinnacle of fitness, obviously. Mention fitness to most shooters (the vast majority of whom thankfully don't resemble the drunk redneck type the general public has in mind - no offense to drunk rednecks), and they just stare at you like your either nuts, or from another planet. What has fitness got to do with anything? This is SHOOTING, man!!!

Even in the practical shooting sports - and, for our purposes, let's say that includes all of the more dynamic games, like IPSC/USPSA, IDPA, the various 3-Gun games, etc - there are ready examples of some of the most accomplished shooters in the world who are not exactly what you'd call fit. Robbie Leatham and Taran Butler come to mind - these guys shoot fast, move fast enough, and win matches left and right.

So, why be fit, if those guys can win without weighing in at 175 with six-pack abs? Read on to find out...

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