RE: Breathing during hi-stress shooting

D

DRBoyle

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RE: Breathing during hi-stress shooting

The idea for the topic came up after a thread in the general section.

Anyone here have any recomendations or suggestions regarding breathing during hi-stress shooting?

Did a defensive driving course a while ago and during some braking drills had the instructor call attention to breating. Didn't realise that breathing was the first thing to go out the window so to speak. He noted that most people forget to breath and actually stop doing so. His idea is that it's generally not a good thing.

Wondering if anyone has found any merit in techniques or training generally focusing on breathing during hi-stress simulations etc? Plenty of information regarding stoppages etc, but figured this is more along the lines of training than tactics. Does it even factor in or is one of those things you square away and forget about? Non issue? Thanks.
 
it is definately helpful

to stop and take a deep breath sometimes. I know you might also be referring to breathing while shooting and other examples, but taking a deep breath can make a world of difference.
 
some SD training instructors have you do jumping jacks or jog in place to get your heart rate up and breathing harder to simulate stress before drills. i've never tried it. i think all i'll be thinking about is sight picture/front sight & squeeze trigger.
 
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, in his book On Combat, recommends a procedure he calls "Tactical Breathing." I learned the same technique from an EMDR therapist friend of mine awhile back (he called it "square breathing," and even longer ago than that it was a technique taught in a childbirth class I took twenty two years ago. IIRC, it's used by SWAT teams and combat troops quite a bit to help them steady down when they must remain calm in high stress situations. (I use it regularly for dealing with teenage children!)

Grossman writes:
Dave Grossman in On Combat said:
Tactical breathing is an easy-to-do technique that can be used in a stressful situation to slow your thumping heart beat, reduce the tremble in your hands, deepen your voice so you do not sound like Mickey Mouse, and to bathe yourself with a powerful sense of calm and control. In other words, it is a tool to control the sympathetic nervous system. One police officer who used tactical breathing in a confrontation with an armed robber, summed it up with these succinct and powerful words: "Using the breathing technique ... I slowed myself down, got a good sight picture, and fired the fatal head shot." After a critical incident, tactical breathing is a highly effective tool to help you delink your physiological arousal from your memory of the event.
Click to expand...


Here's how it works: take one deep, solid breath from your belly and blow it slowly out to begin. Then start a steady four-count type of breathing --

1) In through the nose - two-three-four

2) Hold - two-three-four

3) Out through the mouth - two-three-four

4) Hold - two-three-four

Repeat the pattern at least four or five times. You can feel yourself relax as you do so.

Practice this type of breathing regularly, whenever you can. Other people can't tell you're doing it, as long as you're somewhat discreet about it, and it really does help bring your heart rate down when you're under stress.

Hope it helps.

pax
 
Thanks for that response and the pointer to that book pax. Will definatly try and take a look at that text. Exactly what I was talking about. Appears you have made a good guess as to which thread.:)

Can't comment from personal experience regarding do or die with a firearm.
The one aspect that seems clear from other experiences shared (including the odd video that surfaces) is that things tend to either move so fast that responses are automatic or that people get some sort of fixation. Often repeating themselves or doing the same thing over again. Granted you can have a set of procedures to fall back on but at times you can see the instances where even the training hasn't managed to avoid the stress induced in those instances. People missing at ranges where they ordinarily wouldn't seem hard to dismiss as simple training issues. Wasn't convincing enough to leave it at that. Then there's all those physical responses to adrenalin including shaking hands or sweating.


Appears at least yourself, the Lt. Col. and that driving instructor have homed in on something that is suprisingly overlooked. Thinking about this topic again the Olympic decathalon springs to mind. It is good to find some practical info on someone (Grossman) who might have actually thought about this area of training under practical and trying conditions.
 
Breathing is important, very important. Most encounters are over before it becomes a huge factor, but if you have to struggle with someone for more than a few seconds and you don't control your breathing you'll tire and end up dead.

I don't know how many people, in great gym shape, I've seen come in to train in grappling who gas out in a minute. These people, for the most part, were in great shape and health, but they didn't know how to handle the stress of being in bad situations and positions, so they panic and they flail about, wasting energy and hastening their demise. It's all about breathing and controlling your mind. It's hard to do under stress and often takes some conscience effort.

I highly encourage people to train in grappling, as many confrontations end up in a physical struggle and if you have even a few months of training, you're light years ahead of 99% of the population. Even muay thai or boxing etc... teach proper breathing as a way to keep yourself mentally in the game.
 
I was sparring with the instructor at my kids karate class to burn some calories and he noticed that I was holding my breath anytime we would engage each other. I was getting exhausted fast and that was part of the reason. The other was being old and fat.
 
Everything Pax said. I first came across it in boxing. I may have been holding my breath wrestling and playing football but never noticed because the action was over so quick but in the boxing ring it was a revelation to find I had been holding my breath and was barely able to go 30 seconds when the drill called for 3 minutes of sustained sparring. I used to get yelled at a lot mostly to keep my elbows in, don't cross my feet, keep my hands up but once in awhile to "breathe damn it breathe".

I never heard of it called tactical breathing but square breathing yes. It becomes a habit and it does keep you in the game longer. When kids half your age and size are running out of steam it gains points for the old man. :D
 
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