Slow fire shakes

Anybody get the slowfire shakes at the beginning of a match? What do you do to reduce them?

Dry fire until the shakes are gone, or at least, diminish. Dry firing will steady the nerves - just think that you are training at home in front of a blank wall.

Avoid coffee before a match.

I never drink coffee or soda

AllAces wrote:Avoid coffee before a match.

 Unless you normally have 8 cups in the morning and can't even think till the first cup. I have tried going without on a match day but the headache starts about 10. I think it is important to not change what you normally do. YMMV

Len

OfKBarth wrote:Anybody get the slowfire shakes at the beginning of a match?  What do you do to reduce them?

It's all between the ears....unless it's a medical condition

LenV wrote:

AllAces wrote:Avoid coffee before a match.

 Unless you normally have 8 cups in the morning and can't even think till the first cup. I have tried going without on a match day but the headache starts about 10. I think it is important to not change what you normally do. YMMV

Len

I've walked off the line in slow fire to buy a coke because the headache was coming on so strong, due to minimizing my morning coffee intake.

The effects of caffeine (if you are a normal user through either soda or coffee) takes at least 3 days to get out of your system.  So as Len said if you normally use caffeine restricting yourself the day of a match is actually counter productive. The same can be said for those who smoke as nicotine effects you the same way as caffeine. My problem is that I am diabetic and if I don't watch closely my blood sugar drop to the point that I to get the shakes.  That is why I carry some sort of snack in my box to keep me from dropping to low.

Don't drink alcohol the day prior to the match.

Do some light stretching to get rid of the tension.

Find the Fountain of Youth.

I've been fighting shakes for the last 6 months.  I've narrowed the cause down to "match jitters".  It's all about trying too hard and expecting too much.  Too many internal instructions including, "Relax".  We don't learn by instructions.  We learn by observation.  I am finally having some success by focusing on something else while shooting slow fire.  I imagine myself floating down the Frio River on a tube with a cold beverage and see and feel the trees and cold clear water.  I let my body shoot the shots and attempt to quiet my overactive mind by distraction.  It's also helpful to imagine (visualize) a shot or string in the mind then allow your body to just do it.

Relax, be the gun.  It worked it Caddy Shack.  Don

Chris Miceli wrote:

OfKBarth wrote:Anybody get the slowfire shakes at the beginning of a match?  What do you do to reduce them?

It's all between the ears....unless it's a medical condition

Found it by accident... the anticipation gets me jittery before the first string.
Didn't appear during dry or live fire practice...


Only AFTER getting the range commands (Bulls Eye Android app) running under a relay scenario... did it appear. 

Wound up requiring to reconstruct my pre-fire routine... and a deeper mental prep.

The quote that I remember is " We all have Butterflies, It is up to you to get them to fly in formation"

What helped me:
1. Dry firing or air pistol shooting in the garage every night. 10-20 minutes is all you need.  In a couple of months, you'll see a marked improvement.
2. Work on grip.  My problem was squeezing the whole hand while pulling the trigger. 
3. I take a motrin before a match. It thins the blood.  It also helps with the pounding you get from stronger recoiling 45s and 9s. 

If there's a medical condition, there are prescription medications that can help. Beta blockers like propranolol will help prevent shaking. Primadone is another tremor drug.
Just don't plan on going to the Olympics where they screen for those drugs.

In my case, adrenaline/over trying caused shakes.

Shot process fixed the problem.

Dry fire every day.

Be the bullet.

I have always been one to not settle in with the long line until after the first or second string.

What I started doing very recently is since it is a two hour drive to the match is hold my arm out while driving and stretch the muscles and tendons.
No weight needed and also may not be a good idea holding your pistol while doing this 

Seems to loosen the arm up a bit to lessen the tremors.

YMMV

Clarence

When I practice slow fire I count the number of shots before I start to get consistent good shots. After a while you get to know about how many shots it takes to get consistent. If this is 5 shots when I would go to a match I would dry fire at least 5 usually 7 or 8. If my number was 15 I would dry fire at least that many before I put ammo in the gun. If you can not get all your dry fire shots off during pre[ time I would suggest using a minute or two of the 10 muinute match time. I will also dry fire 1 or 2 times at the start of the next 2 slow fire strings and then load live ammo. If during the middle of the slow fire string my body is not cooperating I unload and dry fire a couple of times. You can do a lot in 10 minutes.

Where does your technique factor in?  How do you improve your technique to hold more still.

The shakes are because you are excited about shooting the match. All good methods during a match: shot plan, dry firing and ignoring everything not related to the shot you are taking right now.
If the excitement is totally eliminated you end up with a much worse problem.
I have not been to a match in many years because it is just not a big deal for me anymore.
The thrill is gone.
I still shoot and I am shooting HM scores but I don't care about matches.
Enjoy the shakes while they last!

Not sure if this is helpful, as I've only been in one match, ever.  I went to the club to practice, and they convinced me to sign up, which I did.  So, I found myself in a match, but with no ambition - I assumed I would finish close to last.

Since I had no idea what to do, other than "follow the instructions", I treated the whole match as if it was just practice.  As I recall, I was relaxed, and my "shakes" were just normal for me back then.  Amazingly, I finished in the top 1/3 of the shooters.  I didn't expect that!!

I figure it's just like radio control car racing.  When you're out practicing, and just having fun, everything is enjoyable, and mostly easy, and you can do most of what you've been training to do, but if it's a RACE all the good intentions go out the window when the flag drops and the race is on.  My solution - put in an "average" (not race) engine so the engine wouldn't over-power my abilities, try to start last, and drive at a pace that I would finish the event with the car still in one piece.  That made a huge difference - better finishes, and more enjoyment.  The key was to remember SMOOTHNESS, and also "slower is faster".  Go slower, keep the car under control, and lap times decrease - amazing, but true.


My body naturally "shakes" - maybe "quivers" would be the better word.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do to minimize it.  I went to the range today, and did reasonably well (for me) in practice.  The red dot stayed reasonably close to where I wanted it.  I came home in late morning, and as a test, had breakfast including a cup of VERY strong coffee.  Several hours later, in a dry-firing session, the red dot was very well behaved.  I expected the opposite.

For a couple of years now, the only thing that has reliably made my hands more steady has been dry firing.  That helped in SO many ways, holding the gun steady, not moving the gun as I press on the trigger, and so on - and following Keith Sanderson's instructions, by the end of each session my arms are really starting to get tired.

My observation - get as good as you can in practice, and if things are worse when it's competition, it's all "mental", not "physical".



(Something I'm still trying out, is to listen to music.  I bought a pair of Howard Leight Impact Pro ear muffs with the built in speaker.  I connect that to my mobile phone and play music I enjoy. It's hard to be all tensed up while listening to the music, as that relaxes my brain somehow.  I can't say for sure it made any difference in my scores, but it did seem to keep the red dot a little less likely to jerk around.  Not sure if this would even be allowed in a match....)

Yoda: Don't think.  Do, or do not!

Its not easy to will yourself into a confident hold but it can be done.  I fail and shake too.  But when I realize when I am doing that, I can sometimes will myself to remember that I can (or will) have a good hold and just shoot good shots.  Sometimes that means setting my gun down 2-3-4 times before pulling the trigger.

This is just one of many websites that describe how you can change some habits to minimize or reduce shaky hands:
  http://youqueen.com/life/health/9-tips-on-how-to-stop-your-hands-from-shaking/

Looking around, quite a few websites talk about what foods people can take to reduce anxiety which can lead to shaky hands.

I still think the best idea is lots and lots of dry fire, so your body just does what has become natural, and instead of getting excited, you just do what you've practiced so much.....     but these websites might help.