5 Elements of the Perfect Daily Routine
Most of us are sitting at home and trying to stay safe. With lockdowns being implemented around the world all of us have yet again been forced to retreat. This has turned our daily routine upside down and inside out. Since we are unable to go to ranges or gyms or even out for a walk in the park, it is very understandable to feel lost and zoned out.
The best way to be productive and focused during these times is by regularly following a daily routine. As shooters and athletes we need to follow a daily routine that benefits our shooting and enables us to not let this time affect our progress in a negative manner. Everyone has a routine that they follow every day but it is not necessary that this routine is optimal for them. We can use this time of stagnancy to re-evaluate, adapt and improve our daily routines.
Since every individual is different and has different needs, everyone’s daily routine needs to be different. This is why instead of recommending what your daily routine should be, we have decided to take a different angle. This article will deal with all the elements that should ideally be present in an athlete’s daily routine (in and outside of a lockdown situation). Once you have read about all the different elements you can set them in your routine in any order that suits you.
Training Time
With some countries in lockdown and some in phases of lifting their restrictions, uncertainty is looming over everyone due to the pandemic. As such, all of us need to be well prepared to adapt, so that we can extract as much as possible from each situation. If you are new to shooting or just new to planning a daily routine as an athlete, planning your Training Time would be step number one.
Figuring out a specific time during the day, where you can devote the right amount of time and energy towards developing your technical skills is your first step. You need to select a time you are certain will not clash with any other commitments you may have. This time slot can be constant throughout the week or it can vary according to the day of the week. But it needs to be consistent and hassle free to ensure maximum comfort (and this way you will have fewer excuses to skip practice).
Devoting a particular amount of time towards training can seem like a tedious task when you’re stuck at home, unable to go to the range. However, shooters can still manage to maintain a certain level of discipline even at home. If you have your weapon at home with you, you can select a particular amount of time, even if it is just a fraction of the amount you would have during normal conditions. During this time you can do different types of dry holding to maintain discipline.
By maintaining a Training Time slot even during days when you are unable to go to the range can help you stay active and prevents you from losing touch with shooting. You can continue to feel connected with it and also work on bettering it by going back to the basics. It can help you refresh your memory on the fundamentals of shooting and it can also help you understand the errors you may have overlooked during live practice at the range.
Workout Program
Training regularly can have long term effects on a person’s body. Keeping up with the constant stress exerted on you while training is crucial if you want to improve. Regular workout sessions can help you grow and improve your physical fitness. Some people and shooters may think that since shooting is a sport which requires you to stay completely still, physical fitness isn’t required. We are here to tell everyone, THIS IS NOT TRUE!
Physical fitness was, is and will always remain an integral part of LIFE. So even if you aren’t an athlete, one has to exercise and keep up their physical fitness. If you are a shooter, physical fitness becomes all the more important and here is why – when you are in the same shooting position for hours on end, your body is put under a lot of stress. This is why you need to prepare your body and make it strong enough to withstand this stress.
As a shooter, all sections of your body need to be maintained because all sections of the body are engaged in a shooting stance. When you are in a shooting stance, whether it is for 10M Air Rifle or 50M prone, your body is put under a lot of stress. Making sure our lower body, core and upper body are strong can help shooters become more resilient and increase their stamina. Regular physical fitness can also increase their recovery time and their ability to come back incase of an injury.
So for all those out there who thought that working out wasn’t for shooters, this is your sign to start working out NOW. To know more about physical fitness for shooters, you can read our article, “Why Physical Fitness is Important for Shooting”.
Mental Training
Mental health has become a very talked about issue all over the world due to the pandemic. All of us, athletes or not, need to start making Mental Training a part of our daily routine. Now when we say that you need to include mental training in your routine, we don’t mean pumping up your IQ or something. When we talk of mental training we mean keeping your mental and emotional health in check.
Keeping a cool state of mind during pressure situations is very important for shooters. If we cannot control our emotions during a match, all the efforts we put in during technical training can go to waste. The best way to tackle this is to understand what Mental Training is. Shooters need to understand that just like technical training, Mental training can help them push through a tough situation.
Accepting pressure, adapting to pressure, finding the best in every situation and not becoming egoistic after victories are just some of the teachings of mental training. Everyone has ups and downs in life and understanding how to handle your success and failures is the only way to survive. Channeling all your emotions to your benefit should be the ultimate goal for shooters.
To know more about how shooters can introduce mental training in their lives, you can go on and read our introductory article, “What is Mental Training?”, and start your journey to success with just one click.
Meal Time
Eating 3 meals a day is something most of us do on a regular basis. However, did you know that you can only get the maximum benefit of a meal if you have a balanced meal at the RIGHT TIME? That’s right!!! But why is eating on time just as important as nutrition or the environment we eat in?
When we set a specific time for each meal we are helping our digestive tract stay in shape. This practice can help reduce overeating, improve digestion, prevent bloating and discomfort and also increase productivity. Every meal has a time and if we have extremely unpredictable eating habits it can be very harmful to our gut health. Every individual has different needs, according to which they time their meals. Most of us depend on hunger cues to decide when we eat but this can be misleading from time to time. This is why having a schedule can be helpful.
An ideal schedule for each meal can look like this – Breakfast should be eaten within one hour of waking up. This is because after a good night’s sleep, most of us need to fill up on energy to start off the day. Lunch should be eaten about 5 or so hours after breakfast. Missing lunch often results in grumpiness (as most of us may have experienced personally) and a loss of energy for a major part of the afternoon. Then comes dinner, which should be eaten 3 hours before we go to bed to ensure a good night’s sleep. Snacks can be had about 3 hours after breakfast and lunch to satisfy your building hunger.
As shooters it becomes even more important to regulate and monitor our eating habits. Making sure you don’t over or under eat before a match or making sure that what you are eating is correct for you can help a lot. This is why you should time your meals around your shooting practice sessions and workout sessions to ensure you are always energized.
If you are interested to know what type of food or nutrition a shooter should be having, you can go and read our article, “Know More about Nutrition in Shooting”, for a great introduction to nutrition and its importance for shooters.
Sleep Schedule
All of us love a good power nap in the afternoon and a full night’s sleep to help us recover from all the activities we did throughout the day. But most of us just take a nap or go to bed when we feel sleepy or tired. Sleep schedules or bed times seem like habits to teach children about discipline. WHO SAID ONLY CHILDREN NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED!!!
All of us need proper rest to recuperate and prepare us for the next day and keeping a sleep schedule can be very helpful. Sticking to a sleep schedule, even during weekends, can help maintain your body’s internal clock. This can help you fall asleep and wake up on time, sometimes even without setting an alarm. When you train your body to rest at a particular time you decrease the chances of spending sleepless nights turning in bed.
As shooters, making sure our mind and body are rested completely before a match is crucial. Being irritated and cranky due to a sleepless night will definitely throw you off balance and force you to work harder at hitting those bulls eyes. Regular and, more importantly, peaceful sleep can be a get out of jail free card for shooters because it can give you the confidence and peace-of-mind to conquer the world.
Some excellent byproducts of a regular sleep schedule are – increase in concentration and productivity, increased metabolism, increase in a positive attitude and it can also increase your control over your emotions. One added benefit of having a sleep schedule is it can prevent you from oversleeping and turning lethargic. During lockdown all of us have to fight the urge to grab a nap or sleep in because we can’t go out, but resisting these urges will only benefit you. So far all of these byproducts can have positive effects on every shooter, so going back to your childhood and keeping a strict bedtime seems like a good idea.
So in conclusion, a handful of elements can make for a really stable and effective daily schedule for shooters. If you have been struggling to keep to a daily routine, starting off with these basics can help you improve your personal and professional shooting life to a great degree. Since all of these elements are interconnected getting a rhythm with your daily routine will become easier. If you liked our article and found it informative, share it with your friends. Tell us if there is something you make sure you do daily, below in the comments and help others improve their daily routine. If we get enough comments and views we will come up with another article with more elements you can add to your schedule.
Keep Growing Shooters!!!