TargetTalk

Dear TTers,

Last week I began to shoot Free Pistol after more than a year with just AP. It's a nice sport, more of a pure precision event without the constraint of great trigger weight that one has to get through in AP.

However, the day after each practice I have had bothersome muscle pain throughout my upper back, neck and shoulder, most probably due to the added weight of the gun.

This week I deflowered a new in box TOZ 35, but the day afterward I regretted it. I am surprised that an additional pound in weight compared to my AP can cause so much muscle pain - working has been difficult today.

I was supposed to be in a match tomorrow but am thinking of not shooting until the pain goes away and not taking up FP again until I strengthen my upper limb muscles somewhat.

Any thoughts on this are welcome.

Lior wrote:I am surprised that an additional pound in weight compared to my AP can cause so much muscle pain...

Any thoughts on this are welcome.

I can offer nothing constructive except empathy. I have an old lower back injury that hasn't been much bother in a very long time. However, about 6 months ago I retired and since then have spent a great deal of time standing at a firing line, holding a weight outstretched in one hand. This aggravates my back badly and I've temporarily quit practice until I can see a doctor, probably a physical therapist also, and get a new game plan.

I've often wondered if anyone trains while holding an equal weight in their outstretched off hand, just to balance the load. I'm considering it as a strategy to equalize pressure on both sides of my back.

The AMU Pistol Marksmanship Guide has an entire chapter on Physical Conditioning but the exercises depicted therein are the sorts of things done by healthy people to better their condition, not by the injured to help recover. Thus, it's mostly inapplicable to me. Still, it's worth reading; you may decide that you can use some of it.

I'm in the same basket as Ben and Lior. Surgery went wrong; two years and still back pain. Lots of lifting exercises, but it doesn't help much.

Lighten up your pistol as much as you physically can. Take ibuprofen 2 hours before shooting. I don't know that balancing the load matters much.

Reduce the hours of shooting per day by, say, a factor of two and then gradually build up!

Good luck from somebody who understands.

pz

Lior: I assume that you are in decent shape since you have been comfortable with the AP. The extra weight of the FP may not be the problem. From my limited experience, there are a couple of possibilities I can think of. If you are having pain in your neck and upper back, you may be tensing up more and using muscles that you may not need to. I have been shooting FP for only about a year and at the beginning I had to focus on relaxing the muscles in my back, shoulder and neck before raising the gun. I also experimented with rotating my stance and found that if I stood too obliquely to the target, I felt more strain and also more sway. Since you have been shooting AP, that might not be relevant to you.

BenEnglishTX: I have been dealing with lower back pain with stretching and twisting exercises at home and before each session. A physical therapist helped me get set up and it has really made a difference. I also wave around a couple of 5 pound weights for a bit each evening - vertical and horizontal figure 8's and so on, one in each hand so I don't tip over. And I don't know about you, but I'm sure my back problems would be greatly lessened if I wasn't carrying around an extra 4 stone or so.

Roger

A lot of back pain (not all) can be prevented with general conditioning.

Abdominal weakness causes poor posture, that causes back pain - do some exersises to improve your core strength.

Also, tight hamstrings cause poor posture and back pain - do some regular stretching.

I know it's not the answer that most shooters want to hear!

j-team wrote:...it's not the answer that most shooters want to hear!

In my case, it's the only answer worth hearing. Over the next year or so I should improve. If I do, I'll post an article to my web site and resurrect this thread with a link.

Check out the Toz Modifications thread on how to reduce the weight.

My advice would be to get in touch with a Physiotherapist who can help rehabilitate your injuries or to get in touch with a good strength and conditioning coach (not just a personal trainer.)

They will be able to develop a sports specific rehabilitation program from most injuries.

Good luck

Most posts are directed at physical conditioning and sure - that's important.

One post notes the weight issue, and given you have a new Toz35, and want to shoot FP that allows for lots of mods, therein lies the challenge - to severely reduce the overall weight starting with a cut down grip or replacement grip, side lever conversion to remove loads of metal, strip the barrel shroud, and rebalancing the Toz35, and in the process you'll probably find it will customise to suit your shooting style (and any handicaps you have)

Good luck.