As you would build a house from the foundations not from the roof, the same goes for the stance.
Let us start explaining the position of the legs and feet as they will be the foundation of our stance.
As previously said, we should position our legs at shoulder width and our feet turned naturally side ways.
You will, of course, see a lot of experienced shooters having slightly different stances. Don’t be confused, its not incorrect, it has been adjusted to the individual requirements of the shooter.
When working with a new shooter we must start by learning the basics and then, once fully trained and understood, we can proceed to the individual set up for that shooter.
All those starting in Air Pistol should not just know how, but also why, they are doing what is advised by their coach, as once the shooter has a better understanding of the technique or exercise they will be able to do it better and achieve the required result.
Now let us take a look at the stance of our friend Husejn, from Shooting Club “Sarajevo” who volunteered to aid in demonstrating a correct stance.
What we see in the photo above is that his feet are in shoulder width apart, and are parallel to each other.
His feet and legs are providing the foundation and stability to the rest of his body.
The small green dot between his legs would be his approximate center of gravity. As the pistol is lifted up the center of gravity is disturbed and that is the reason why we need to lean back slightly in order to compensate for it.
As well as the importance of the center of gravity, we also have another factor that plays a major role in the stability of the stance and that is the weight distribution in his feet. If the weight is not properly distributed slightly towards the heel it will cause us to lean forward or backwards.
Having to lean in one direction or another would make us sway back and forth and it would, as a consequence, cause additional tension in the calf muscles, which in the long term, could cause a slight ache in the muscles as well as an unstable stance.
What happens mostly with new shooters is that they either forget to lean back, or the weight is not distributed properly. This causes them to have a sway in their stance. That is why it is necessary to advise the shooter on what is important in order to build a correct position of the legs and feet.
We have variations that are applicable to the individual set up of a shooter though those will be discussed a bit later, once I have covered all of the basics of the techniques.
Always remember that your stance is based on skeletal support and muscles are used only to the minimum extent required to preserve the body posture. When taking your stance if there is any tension in your muscles that creates discomfort, please retake your stance as there is no reason to continue if the stance is not taken properly in the first place.
