{"id":292,"date":"2018-10-15T14:35:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T14:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.targetbarn.com\/broad-side\/?p=292"},"modified":"2019-05-22T17:37:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T17:37:48","slug":"grip-recoil-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.targetbarn.com\/broad-side\/grip-recoil-management\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Ground Up: Grip and Recoil Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few shooting technique subjects are as controversial as how to grip a handgun and control its recoil. There are a lot of different theories floating around out there. Some of them work better than others both for certain types of individuals and across the board generally.<\/p>\n

Individual physiology can change what\u2019s more or less effective. Stronger and larger people can often rely on brute strength and size. Even that isn’t enough, though, as they attempt to shoot faster and still try to make accurate hits.<\/p>\n

Me, I\u2019m a relatively petite woman who has been shooting seriously for quite some time. I have a pretty good idea of what works and has worked for me over the years. Because I\u2019m small and have less upper body strength than most men, I have to rely on technique for recoil management. Some of my lessons learned will apply no matter how big or little you are.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m still just one person, so I invited Paul Sharp<\/a> to add a few of his insights. Paul is a martial arts instructor, owner of Straight Blast Gym Illinois<\/a>, and a firearms instructor, as well as a member of the Shivworks Collective<\/a> He’s at least as geeky as I am about some of the finer points of marksmanship technique. And he’s a strong, muscular dude who can deadlift about five of me.<\/p>\n

Perhaps to nobody\u2019s real surprise, what we discovered is that it\u2019s complicated. There\u2019s a lot that goes into hanging on to a gun efficiently.<\/p>\n

Most people think about recoil management as starting from the hands, since they most directly interface with the gun. We think that the place to start is a bit further away \u2013 all the way at the ground. So in the first half of this two-part series, we\u2019ll talk about stance. What you do with your feet is, ideally, the basis of everything you do with your gun. Obviously, we aren\u2019t always shooting in a perfect world, but if you can\u2019t make your technique work well then, it will only get worse as conditions deteriorate.<\/p>\n

Starting Low: Feet and Legs<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

As new shooters, it\u2019s common to hear about stance a lot, then less about it over time. There are even arguments that how you\u2019re standing doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n

To some extent, that’s true. As long as you are in a reasonably athletic stance, you\u2019re generally in pretty good shape to shoot. At the most basic level that means not having your feet right next to each other and not locking your knees \u2013 even bending them slightly. Just like any other sport, though, you can do better even if you\u2019re only standing still to shoot and not planning on needing to move in any direction.<\/p>\n

Start by having your feet about shoulder width apart. You\u2019ll want one foot slightly in front of the other \u2013 left foot, if you\u2019re shooting with your right hand dominant and right foot if you\u2019re left-handed. Which eye you\u2019re using<\/a> doesn\u2019t matter for these purposes. Keep those knees bent slightly.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the little detail that doesn\u2019t often get talked about: exactly how you should distribute your weight on your feet. It\u2019s tempting and easy for many people to have all of their weight sitting on their heels.<\/p>\n

In fact\u2026stand up right now and feel where the pressure is on the soles of your feet. If not on your heels, it\u2019s probably evenly between your heels and under the balls of your feet. Now try shifting your weight so that more of it is on the balls of your feet. Not so far forward that your heels are off the ground, just a little bit.<\/p>\n

Did you start feeling a little more active? Maybe more ready to move? Good!<\/p>\n

Now think about what recoil does to your body. No matter how big or strong you are, recoil will still always push the shooter\u2019s body backwards and away from the gun. Since that\u2019s the case, starting out a little forward from the very bottom of your feet helps you fight and absorb that impulse.<\/p>\n

If you have trouble remembering to do that, Paul\u2019s advice is to \u201cgrab\u201d the ground with your toes. That tends to move your knees slightly ahead of your toes, and helps keep your weight forward.<\/p>\n

To the Middle: Hips and Core<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

You can sit down now because we\u2019re going to travel up to your hips and core.<\/p>\n

This is where some shooters will say you should lean forward or even push your rear end back to get your upper body ahead of your feet. Certainly bending at the hips is better than at the waist, but is it really necessary and if so, how far?<\/p>\n

Much like we saw in the feet and legs, some forward bias is a good thing. Too much is not. Just like standing on your toes will ultimately make you less stable, a super exaggerated bend to get your torso forward won\u2019t be of much help either. Some people will find a need to get forward a bit more than others, especially if they are smaller and lighter, but speed racer mode isn\u2019t generally necessary.<\/p>\n

Think about how you walk around every day or even how you run. How far do you lean forward then? Probably not much, if at all, even if you\u2019re heading straight into the wind. Shooting is much the same even with the added element of recoil management. Bend at the hips just a tad and think more about the two following things instead.<\/p>\n

When possible, facing your target squarely with your hips and torso is ideal. If you are familiar with the vocabulary of traditional shooting stances<\/a> like the Weaver and Chapman, you might already know that they \u201cblade\u201d the body to the target. \u00a0But for modern technique largely encompassed by the Isosceles stance, and strictly speaking about shooting and not other considerations that might come into play when you\u2019re using a gun, we like directly facing the target. The reasons why will become more clear as we continue to move up the body.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, there are a lot of big muscles in your torso that can also help you manage recoil \u2013 your core muscles<\/a>. You\u2019ve likely heard quite a bit about strengthening your core for general physical fitness, including improving your posture and stability. A strong core enables you to move your entire body without pain and injury. By tensing your core while shooting, you\u2019ll also help your body manage the recoil impulse of the gun.<\/p>\n

Not sure how to do that? Paul describes flexing the core “almost like doing a standing crunch pulling my ribs downward towards my hips. It\u2019s not necessary to contract your core to the point of fatigue\u2026think of the Hollow Hold position as taught in gymnastics<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tightening your core will steady your body from being pushed around as much by holding your upper body, from hips up, in the position that you want it to stay in. It also creates a more solid unit to resist the push of recoil so that to the extent you\u2019re being pushed backwards by the gun, you don\u2019t bend backwards at the waist. Among other things, that means your legs get to stay engaged in the business of managing recoil.<\/p>\n

For women especially, much of our body weight and power is going to be concentrated in the lower body. While it\u2019s possible to build significant upper body strength, there\u2019s no reason to ignore and not take advantage of how the legs and core can help. As a pistol recoils in the hands, that force comes up through the arms and shoulders, and then it keeps going. If you have all of that extra mass available in your body, you should use it! But now that we\u2019ve worked our way up through the core, it\u2019s time to get into what it takes to hang onto the gun itself.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

The Tactical Turtle\u2026.or Not?<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

The position of one\u2019s shoulders is the topic of endless debate in certain segments of the shooting community.<\/p>\n

At one end are the folks who hunch the shoulders forward, sometimes so far that the tops of the shoulders are nearly aligned with the arms pointing forward and the cheeks or ears between the biceps. You might have heard it referred to as the \u201ctactical turtle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrating<\/p>\n

Speaking strictly from a body mechanics point of view, it\u2019s not ideal. Turtling creates a lot of muscular tension and stress on the joints, especially as you raise your head enough to see the sights. When demonstrating it to my rehabilitative massage therapist, he pointed out a number of ways in which consistently forcing that position can cause permanent shoulder and neck damage.<\/p>\n

He likes the alternate technique called the \u201cscapular squeeze\u201d or the \u201cscapular retraction,\u201d which is also what I and Paul prefer from a performance perspective. I originally learned it from Harold Hawkins, and it goes something like this:<\/p>\n