Lock down gun exercise

Just had a short session of gun mounting practice to keep everything in  readyness for the off when we come out of LD3.

This left me with slight ach in the top of my left arm /shoulder does anyone have an ideas for exercises that you could do with out a shotgun to help buill up strength and suppleness ?

Press ups are a much underrated exercise, but IMO well worth doing if you don't have any weights handy. I'd say a set of dumbbell weights, a heavy kettlebell and a bench are the minimum if you want to build up strength & fitness, and there's everything you'll ever need to know about suppleness and weight training exercises on Youtube. 

Dave9691 said:

Just had a short session of gun mounting practice to keep everything in  readyness for the off when we come out of LD3.

This left me with slight ach in the top of my left arm /shoulder does anyone have an ideas for exercises that you could do with out a shotgun to help buill up strength and suppleness ?

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Just do more gun mount practice...... It is probably slightly aching because you haven't done it for a while and the muscle memory has faded. You could do various shoulder\arm exercises but personally I would say just keep doing regular gun mount practice until the end of this Lockdown.

The pain will ease and the muscle memory will grow\get stronger and you are then actually working on a specific exercise rather than a random set of shoulder exercises. 

Thanks for the reply food for thought ☺

I would agree, just keep gun mounting. It’s a particular set of muscles that you develop so why try a different exercise? After the last long break I ached a bit in places, including my core. When I was car racing, I used the gym, but the first February test each year left me aching in places that I would struggle to have developed correctly. 
 

Anyway, thanks for the reminder, I should go and get the gun out myself (for exercise only).

After the last lockdown ,I shot my 1st couple of hundred sporting practice with my 20b which did seem to work in easing back into it all ! 

Will Hewland said:

left me aching in places that I would struggle to have developed

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I get the Mrs to help me with that

Dave9691 said:

Thanks for the reply food for thought ☺

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If all you want is to get used to handling the gun again then, as posted above, just practice mounting - but you did ask about strength and suppleness.

It was demonstrated on TV a week or 2 ago that regular exercise doesn't just help with physical tasks like handling a shotgun, it also contributes significantly to the strength of the immune system. Not a lot of people know that, and in the new Covid world we live in I think it matters. Also regular cardio-vascular training increases lung capacity and hence oxygenation which, apart from normal health benefits, again helps to avoid complications with Covid.

The old 5-BX sort of exercises and a stationary bike will work wonders.  30-40min 3 times a week is usually fairly easy to pencil in.  And the older you are the more important it is to maintain some sort of regular exercise.

JMO of course - - YMMV

I think it is widely known that regular exercise is important for your health and can reduce your risk of developing many illnesses\health conditions but I think the OP was just wondering about specific exercises due to pain post gun mount practice. IMHO, the best way to prevent\reduce this pain is to keep practising the exercise of gun mounting.

If you want to get good at doing a certain exercise, do that exercise. You can challenge yourself a bit more by slowing the movement down - see how slowly you can do it (will make the muscles work harder) or you can do it with your eyes closed (this will help develop your proprioception). Both of these will help develop muscle memory.

Stay active, stay healthy and hopefully we will be back shooting soon.

I have been doing exercises using my gun since the first lockdown. I try to do at least 5 minutes per day. I set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes then start with my gun held in front of me at arms length and raise it over my head, I do this 10 times. I then practice gun mounting, 5 times swinging left to right, then repeat right to left 5 times. A short breather and then repeat. I usually find I can do each exercise 4 times in 5 minutes. That equals 40 times each one. I try to do 5 minutes in the morning and same again in the afternoon. It certainly paid off with the previous lockdowns. When I was able to shoot, it was without any aches and pains afterwards. I keep my gun in the gun sock whilst doing the exercises, it saves wiping it down after each session.

I'm really sad with this unfortunately, once the missus has gone up to bed I will often get the beretta and the miroku out the cabinet and sit them over the arm of the sette. I will often then recreate the last 100 bird registered that I've shot, mounting, swinging and then breaking the gun at the memory of the birds and stands. It builds up muscle strength and memory but also is a reminder for hold points and eye movement etc. I don't do it all in one go, but will do a couple of stands, bit more tv then another few stands. Maybe a little bonkers but good for keeping your shot routine in tact as well.

Jonny English said:

I'm really sad with this unfortunately, once the missus has gone up to bed I will often get the beretta and the miroku out the cabinet and sit them over the arm of the sette. I will often then recreate the last 100 bird registered that I've shot, mounting, swinging and then breaking the gun at the memory of the birds and stands. It builds up muscle strength and memory but also is a reminder for hold points and eye movement etc. I don't do it all in one go, but will do a couple of stands, bit more tv then another few stands. Maybe a little bonkers but good for keeping your shot routine in tact as well.

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It would certainly give the burglars a shock. 

I use the bedroom, only because it also has a full length wall mirror to check gun mounting.

Come to think about it, it is probably the most action the bedroom sees............................it's an age thing   ! 

mirrored walls, eh?

Wonko the Sane said:

mirrored walls, eh?

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Yep, apart from checking gun mount I can not remember any other use for them  ????  

I think it may have had something to do with hair   !!

hair - right

Well 4 weeks into my routine found that the best exercise for shooting was painting the kitchen hall landing stairway ocording to my personal trainer  ( the wife )

There was a clip on youtube that I think was linked in another thread, that showed some useful exercises by the clay-shooting couple from Oz. One that I particularly liked was more of a tip, in terms of slotting a small AAA flashlight down a barrel, so that you can tell fairly precisely where your barrels are pointing during mounting exercises (except in broad daylight). A laser-cartridge works even better.

Quite helpful in making adjustments to my mount-while-moving to get on the (pretend) line of the clay and kill point faster. I shoot mostly skeet, but its a good exercise for all types of low mount shooting.