TargetTalk

I started firing air pistol recently and have these queries:

1. Do international level shooters focus on breathing all the time while competing and don't let even a single thought cross their mind?

2. Do international level shooters follow slow breathing all the time or just while shooting?

3. If I imagine the perfect fore-sight and rear-sight alignment over every object that I set my eyes on, will it also increase my ability to align the sights while shooting?

4. People who have doing shooting for a long time report back pain as muscles in one part of back are over developed than the other. Any exercises to prevent any trouble in the long run?

You need an "international" level person to answer you this question. Also assuming that you are referring to slow fire events (AP and FP), I'm not sure how many of them can answer you. I know Daryl is a lurker.

We are Olympians and National Champions here, quite a few, and they certainly know how to do AP an FP, but their primary discipline is using anything that is semi-automatic...

1 That would be nice, empty head equals good shot, inevitably other things intrude, and that is where focus on breathing, and/or using a mantra can help avoiding losing focus.

2 focus on breathing requires practice, and it helps in all sorts of scenarios where you need to lower stress, eg work, insomnia etc. At a match, it is important to lose as much stress as possible, so top shooters will do what they need to do for however long they need prior to a shoot. Some meditate, listen to music, sit quietly with a few other competitors. Any 'excitement' is avoided.

3 visualisation is as close as you will get to a magic wand. Close your eyes and work through a shot cycle, with correct breathing, technique and follow through, and the brain remembers. You can do this any place and any time. Most (all?) top shooters will also close eyes and visualise the shot before most shots they actually fire. This ties back to the point 1 above about focus and concentration. But do the correct process, visualise using shortcuts and you are training to take short cuts...

4 Yes, easy to get things out of alignment if all you do physically is raise and lower a 1400g pistol in one hand several hundred times a weak. It's not rocket science, just balance up the exercise - do some push ups, stretch both shoulders and arms, etc. Another thing to do while shooting is to use the other arm periodically - just raise the pistol, and hold it out for a time. Or use a drinks bottle. But don't wait until you have a problem, try to prevent it by keeping a balance of exercises.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the world of pistol shooting.
McT