I guess you young lions don't have this problem but.... I seem to run out of gas less than half way through the match. I usualy start out real good on the first animal and then it's down hill from there. I am starting to think I should be munching on an energy bar or two during a match. Any thoughts on this? What should I munch on to keep me going? I'm sure I am not the only one that is having this problem

Jerry-
Believe it or not, most people (even young ones) experience an energy level change, especially in a long match. I think a lot of people either don't notice it , or ignore it not realizing that it affects their shooting.
We tell our young competition shooters to eat well the night before, have a healthy breakfast (little or no sugar, syrup, juice, coffee (my gawd,no coffee?) plenty of water. Snack often during breaks in the match. Cheese sticks, crackers, carrot & celery sticks, water. Nothing with sugar or too hard to digest.

G2 (low calorie Gatorade) and Propel are also good, but little or no caffeine and stay away from soft drinks.

Any time you are not shooting during the match try to sit as much as possible. If you are shooting in one relay and spotting in another, by all means spot sitting down. I know this may not be possible at some local matches due to shooting two guns and the lack of extra relays. I sometimes will only shoot one gun and rest rather than get played out and shoot two sub par scores. Your feet and legs are the foundation of your shooting platform, and you should do all you can to rest them if possible. Al

Some of the most experienced and skilled Master Class shooters at our club have provided us beginners and mere mortals with a solution to this problem:








We have a feast fit for a king after each match down here on the Bayou regardless of the scores.

Pete A.

I love the way y'all think!

May have to reconsider wanting to move to AZ and consider TX

Pass BBQ please...

Just thought of a downside to this move.... living close to Evelio could be cause for concern, the need for a new vault and a wife not understanding the need for new toys

Having three small children, I usually have "munchies" in the form that kids eat. I keep a bag of Goldfish (cheese crackers) handy to nibble a few during the match, or if I notice that I'm really bonking out I'll eat a couple fruit snacks (again, kids stuff) to get steady quickly and let the more complex carbs from the crackers get into my system. I usually try to stay pretty level the whole match. I was actually worse when I was younger than I am now (at 35). Then, I had to eat continuously to not get hungry and shaky. I don't agree with the no simple sugar at all rule, but I do agree that it's much better to keep things steady with more complex stuff than to try to manage spikes using simple sugars.

My bottles of Coke don't apply! ;)

BlauBear wrote:G2 (low calorie Gatorade) and Propel are also good, but little or no caffeine and stay away from soft drinks.

On the serious side, orange and apple juices are good sources of sugars...as well as the fruit itself. Of course good dark chocolate, with a nice hot cuppa tea never hurts!!!

259...toys, food, understanding and patient wife, now wait a minute, which is the higher priority?

Innocent

_Shorty wrote:My bottles of Coke don't apply! ;)

So long as you don't throw the bottles at me...

Innocent wrote:.................259...toys, food, understanding and patient wife, now wait a minute, which is the higher priority?

Innocent

Now Mary, your nopt expecting me to fall in that trap are you?

(PS I like your order )

259,
If you like my order listed, then how do you get good food, unless you claim to be like some of the guys from South Florida, cornering the market on poor cooks.
Priorities, Bob, you have to get them in order.

Innocent Mary

In addition to food and proper hydration during a match we should consider overall physical conditioning. The higher our base fitness, the better we handle the physical and mental stresses of a match.