Breathing PT 3 of 4

Breathing is identifying how your respiratory pattern affects your shooting, and how to adjust your timing on when to pull the trigger. The muscles that are used when you breath naturally, will contract around your chest cavity and cause a rise and fall, vertically up and down, of your point of aim on the target.

You first must understand what a breathing pattern is and what it looks like. As we see in our diagram, we have a natural rise and fall of our chest. Note too, that we have a natural pause point. Its not for very long, but this is the point when you actually stop moving. As long as the rest of the body is relaxed or applying slight tension to the rifle for support, you will execute your trigger squeeze at that precise moment.

Now I'm not saying that you are going to just pull your trigger, no, there is a process to the end of our fundamental application that we must follow. As we are breathing, we are thinking about our sight alignment, watching as it rises and falls with our breathing. We are ensuring that our position is stable, we are ready to absorb the recoil of our rifle. 

This is usually a few deep breaths that you take through your nose and exhale through the nose or mouth. You are not holding your breath, but controlling the rate at which your heart beats, to relax the body. The last thing you do is apply your trigger squeeze, thinking about your finger placement, a squared off pull of the trigger, and whether or not you broke the trigger center mass or some where else on your target.

Now, in some real life scenarios, your heart will be racing, some muscles might start shaking as your adrenaline kicks in. This is where your breathing technique will kick in, and allow you to stay calm during the storm. Remember that practice makes perfect and that slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

 Our marksmanship programs are designed with practical application in mind. What does that mean? Shooting fundamentals expand much further than the range. The biggest applications are hunting, home defense, discipline, attention to detail and confidence.

Stay tuned to our blog for the rest of the series. Head on over to Facebook and Instagram and give us a like and follow. Message us today to find out when our next event is and how to schedule your training in the West Valley of Phoenix.

(image insert)http://www.normalbreathing.com/patterns-normal.php ( they have a great video at the linked website on breathing patterns.)