Calling shots. Sights OK. Arm not....

I guess I am calling shots pretty good as the wide ones are usually right where the sights were in the 9, sometimes 8 ring. This is both iron and with dot doing SF and TF on the 25 yd TF target. Seems very obvious that the wide ones are from arm movement, often darting at the last instant. I am not sure if the arm is compensating for something else going on, or the arm just ain't what it once was. I am 2+ years from shoulder surgery. The shoulder is not returned 100%. Lately shooting 22 only, as 45 is over for season and I do not have enough time to load.

I get that too. I came back from a shoulder injury and some days it's really weak and I'm all over the place. Others, it feels strong and the hold is good.

I figure if I keep practicing and exersizing, it will keep getting better. I think that exersize ball that Zins was promoting might be a good tool to help.

I too suffered from a shoulder problem (impingement and rotator cuff). After 12 weeks of physical therapy the problems got resolved. A couple years later I decided to take up bulleye shooting and after a year of mostly practice, a weekly league and a couple 2700 matches I thought it was time for a different workout. I explained bulleye shooting to a trainer and he designed a routine specifically for me. It consists of 5 minute warm up on the stationary bike followed by a series of upper and lower body strength machine exercises. I start with the machine that mimics bench presses (12 reps at the set weight); followed by leg presses (18 reps at the set weight); followed by the bicep machine; followed by the leg lift. The objective is to reach muscle fatigue on each machine, that is, a weight where you can only do about 8 reps upper body and 14 reps lower body. As soon as you can hit 12 reps for any one upper or 18 reps for any lower, the next time you exercise, bump the weight up 10-15 lbs.

The machine exercises are followed by a series of exercises with free weights. One is to lift a dumbell up, palm down, rotate 90 degrees, pull back to the chin, push back out, rotate 90 degrees, palm down, lower weight. Do left, then right for 10 reps each arm. When you can do 12 reps with each arm, increase weight 5 lbs. Next, sit on a bench with a back that can be angled about 45 degrees. Let the weights hang down on each side, curl up to the chin, then back down, slowly. You could also add a set of shoulder shrugs with heavier weights.

Next are a couple floor exercises. First are crunches. Do as many as you can. The next is a body twist. From sitting position, twist upper body left and legs right; then swithch; do as many as you can.

Finally, end with at least 15 minutes on the treadmill; get up to 3.0 mph in about 2 minutes; go for at least 12 minutes; then cool down for two minutes.

The entire routine should be done quickly, in less than an hour. Don't stop and rest between exercises. 45-50 minutes is about right. Do this three times a week (Mon-Wed-Fri). Within 5 minutes of finishing the exercise, drink a protein drink with at least 25-20 grams protein.

You will see results in about 5-6 weeks.

Rob Kovach wrote:I get that too. I came back from a shoulder injury and some days it's really weak and I'm all over the place. Others, it feels strong and the hold is good.

I figure if I keep practicing and exersizing, it will keep getting better. I think that exersize ball that Zins was promoting might be a good tool to help.

I think all bullseye shooters ought to use these. It's amazing what it does for your grip. Just follow the link from Brian's site.
http://www.brianzins.com/

I concur with SteveB:

I got one of the Dynaflex gyros - just like the one on Zins' site.

I found it on Amazon for about 1/2 the price:

http://www.amazon.com/Dynaflex-12090-Platinum-Powerball/dp/B0039WDYYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355767825&sr=8-1&keywords=platinum+gyro

It seems like a great workout for your grip, wrist, forearm, elbow, bicep and shoulder.

One thing to note, it took me two days of trying to be able to keep it spinning - it's a trick sorta, it takes less effort and speed of arm/hand movement than you would think. I can only get it spinning with the docking station, can't start it by hand. Some models can be started with a string . Once I get it going now I can keep it spinning till my arms fatigue. Once you get the hang of it you can spin it up to full speed with very little effort.

I never had a serious shoulder injury, but went to a orthopaedic surgeon to be sure.

He recommended using resistance bands for rotator muscle exercises. Easier than dumbells and laying in bed. http://ptclinic.com/medlibrary/pdf/208.pdf

Rotators don't get a lot of attention in our sport, but they're worth protecting since we do a LOT of repetitive arm-raising motions. Also if you guys play any throwing or racquet sports.