Ah yes, its that time of year again, when we head to the hills, leave work, screaming kids, and busy lives behind to enjoy some long days of hiking, sweating, and with any luck a big tasty animal in our crosshairs. If we are lucky enough to get the chance to take a shot, after all the time and effort, you want to make sure your shot is true. Besides the practice that is necessary at the rifle range, there are some things that can be done off the range to make sure you are hitting what you’re shooting at.

Proprioception is the term used to describe your body’s ability to know where it is located in space and where other objects are relative to you. Proprioception starts from the ground up, beginning with your feet. Your feet keep you in contact with the world. There are nerves in your feet that are sensitive to the type of terrain you are standing on. Those nerves follow long tracts from the farthest point in your body all the way up to your brain. Stimulating those nerves over and over again helps to tell your brain where you body is located in space.   In a world of hard concrete, and flat floors we don’t get as much stimulation as our ancestors who worked on uneven terrain, or in dirt fields. Today we have lazy feet and that’s where it all goes terribly wrong. In order to shoot straight keeping your feet healthy is the place to start.

Try this, stand on one foot barefoot, and see how long you can stand without having to put your other foot down, now switch feet, is it the same? If you have one foot that is different from the other, you have identified a weakness in your nervous system. Rehab consists of stimulating the weaker side and helping to teach your brain and muscles how to work together.

So standing on one foot with your eyes open is easy, next try to do it with your eyes closed. Your eyes do a lot to tell your body where it is located in space, when you have to rely on feeling by itself, it’s a whole new ball game. Practicing your balance will help your shooting more then any other skill. When you stand on one foot you are engaging every muscle in your feet, legs, core, shoulders, and neck to keep you upright. And a slight change in your body’s center of gravity causes different muscles to contract and pull to counteract that change to the center of gravity. Training these muscles can be fun and does not require a lot of specialized equipment.

One legged balance work is very easy to incorporate into your regular training. In addition to balancing on one leg, you can do some balancing practice (two feet or one foot) on a wobble board or a piece of wood placed over a broomstick. One legged squats on a box, or even better doing a pistol (a one legged squat with your other leg in front of you like a Russian dancer) is a great exercise to engage your balance and improve your core strength. Massaging your feet with a golf ball also helps to stimulate the nerves of your feet too!

Helping to build your core strength is another great key to shooting straight. Besides just doing sit ups and crunches, consider engaging both the front and back aspects of your core. The squat and deadlift are the two most functional movements to keep our core strong and engaged, and it doesn’t take a lot of big weight. When done properly just body weight squats can be very helpful for balance, and core engagement. When squats are comfortable you want to add overhead squats, the most engaging core exercise ever!

To make sure your shooting is ready for the big moment the last key to the training is working your hand eye coordination. Playing catch or juggling are easy ways to work on your hand eye coordination. If that’s easy make it harder by standing on one foot or working your non-dominant hand to make your nervous system work harder.

Adding these few tips to your regular workout routine will help make you a better marksman no matter if you are shooting a firearm, a bow, a basketball or a soccer ball. Keep your feet healthy, your core strong and your proprioception sharp and you will be ready when the moment of truth arrives. Good luck and Shoot Straight!

Dr. Phil Cameron is a Chiropractic Physician and Professional Applied Kinesiologist. He owns the Bozeman Wellness Center, where he treats each patient individually helping every person to live Heathy, live Naturally, and live Optimally.