Proper breathing

R

Roland Thunder

New member
What is the proper way to breathe when shooting
  • Take a breath, hold it while shooting, then exhale
  • Take a deep breath, pull trigger while slowly exhaling
  • Take a deep breath, exhale completely, then pull trigger
  • Other (please specify)
 
I don't know what the correct way to (as far as breathing) shoot is but what I do is take a breath then ex-hail about 75% of it and hold then shoot. I would guess that the correct way is how ever you practice and are use to shooting.


p.s. this would make a good poll.
 
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I would have said "let it half out, then hold," but basically what deja vu wrote. That's for shooting for accuracy. When shooting in a "practical" competition, I don't pay any attention to breathing and I don't have a clue what I do.
 
I don't know what the correct way to (as far as breathing) shoot is but what I do is take a breath then ex-hail about 75% of it and hold then shoot.
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You nailed it.

You fire during your respiratory pause, at the point where you blood is most oxygenated (right after inhale) and lowest in CO2. You dont exhale 100% (not natural) and you dont hold your breathe with a full lung load (also not natural).
When holding your breathe, your body's urge to breath is a result of too much CO2, not a lack of O2. The 75% vacancy in your lungs provides room for CO2 to be temporarily stored, which in turn alleviates some of the bodies urges to breathe.

The "hold" of your breathe at the moment of trigger pull should be timed to fall at the bottom of your pause. The longer your holding your breathe, the worse off your shot will be (in general).
There is a magic moment of "weightlessness" in your shot cadence in relation to your breathing. Learn it, live it, love it.
 
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And when you get to be really good you'll pull the trigger between pulses !!! :p Every time your heart pulses that disturbs your hold . And that's beyond my skill level !
 
And when you get to be really good you'll pull the trigger between pulses !!!
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When I started shooting larger optics-20x +, I couldn't believe how much your pulse is moving your rifle. I started wearing my cheap cycling gloves-fingerless with a gel palm. Helps a ton. Im tempted to buy some real shooting gloves from Creedmore or the like.
 
3 deep breaths, the last one exhale to the point where it feels comfortable, there is no way to measure a quarter breath, half breath one third breath. You now have about 8 seconds before you are going to speed up the heart to compensate for the reduced oxygen level. Your physical condition and general health will make that vary considerably. A couch potato or somebody who has been sick might only have 3 seconds to get his shots off. if you are in good shape, have been doing a lot of cardio type activity you can hold out for 20 seconds. When I was boxing and doing a lot of roadwork it was easy to build up a lot of reserve. When I wasn't doing anything but my usual work I was lucky to get the 8 seconds.
 
Like others have said, squeeze during your natural respiratory pause. Take a normal breath and exhale. All I can say is you'll know when to stop. Don't do too little where you can still feel lots of air in your lungs like you're holding it, but don't exhale to the point your whole body is shaking.
 
I think that a lot depends on what you’re shooting.
Target shooting is one thing but for defense training, breathe normally or practice how you’re going to react to a situation. I don’t think anyone will stop breathing in a real defensive situation. In most cases it will be the opposite. That is also why I train by running in place to get my breathing going very hard and shoot then. It can be amazing how poor your shooting can be when you’re out of breath and winded. But I truly think that this will be the condition you will be in when that time occurs.
Target (Rifle) I breathe normally and let half of the air out stop breathing and shoot within 3 to 5 seconds. I don’t shoot between heart beats, I shoot by the movement of the rifle. For me rifles move in a circular pattern in a kidney shape. I shoot at the top of the movement since there seems to be the longest delay. I don’t know if this is between heart beats or during one.
 
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