Several months ago, my good friend Susan Coffman asked me what my priority was for 2024 – was It fitness / time at the gym, biking, shooting clays, etc.? My off-the-cuff response to her at that time was “none of them”! I think that was really true – I was not as singularly focused on just one aspect of my leisure time as I used to be (which for several years was highly tilted towards shooting sporting clays). Just recently, she asked me again if I was still active in all of my different interests. I answered affirmatively, but then I decided to do a little analysis to see what the numbers would show – call me a geek! Here is what I found starting with sporting clays:
Sporting Clays (I am a shooter!)
In 2024, I shot 64 registered events which was basically the same as the 62 I shot in 2023. What was very different though, was how much time I spent with the gun outside of registered events. Looking at my shot log, I see I shot a total of 9153 shotshells in 2024 vs 12,591 in 2023 – a 27% reduction! Using a few simple calculations , I spent roughly 5 hours / week average shooting targets in 2024 You would think with firing at less targets during practice, my performance would have suffered, but that was not the case if you consider results based on punches earned. In 2023, I scored only 2 punches, but in 2024, I garnered 13 punches and moved up to AA class. Further, I only took one lesson in 2024 with my coach as compared to 2023 when I took 3 lessons. How does one explain this? It is just my feeling, but I think the lessons I took in 2023 really set me up for success in 2024. More on this later. Let’s take a look at my other activities before drawing too many conclusions.
Gym Training (I am a gym rat!)
I started training with my next-door neighbor Jan. 1, 2023 at Planet Fitness. I have found that going to the gym has been much more effective than my home-based program I did for years. In 2024, I logged 169 check-ins at PF. This works out to 3.25 visits per week. This was basically the same as the previous year. What has changed in the two years, is my body composition. In just the last year, I was able to reduce the total fat in my body by 10% while maintaining roughly the same weight (actually, I had a small weight loss). This was confirmed via having DEXA scans done in 2023 and 2024. If you are not familiar with a DEXA, it stands for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. It is basically a low dose total body x-ray that measures your body’s composition broken into lean tissue, fat, and bone by body part / region. Our work-outs are very efficient generally taking less than 30 minutes to complete the strength training portion followed by a 10-minute run on the treadmill where we generally incorporate elements of HIIT (high intensity interval training). Even including drive time, 4 hours / week have shown some pretty significant results. Additional cardio training was provided by my biking – the next topic.
Biking (I am a greenway cyclist – some say terrorist)
In 2024, I increased my time in the saddle from 2023 by 54%…. I traveled a total of 5255 miles over 187 rides (an average of 28 miles / ride) in 339 hours, or a little over 6.5 hours / week. During that time, I logged 130,650 feet of climbing. That is a lot of cardio. Basically, my biking was burning an average of 675 calories / day. I found that I could cheat on my diet now and then without too much guilt… I am lucky in that I have ready access to a greenway system that keeps me off the roads for the most part and out of danger from mixing it up with cars. I have found biking to be a great way to resolve issues that are bouncing around in my head!
Bringing it all together!
So how should I have answered Susan’s questions? Looking just at hours spent, it would seem that my priority is biking given that I am averaging 6.5 hours / week in that activity compared to 5 hours shooting and 4 hours in the gym. However, I think there it a synergistic effect. I believe that my conditioning from the bike and the gym has had a positive effect on my performance behind the gun. I know for sure that my physical endurance has improved as my body has gotten stronger. I suspect I am mentally more resilient as well – that one is a little more difficult to measure. I also think that getting a little time away from the gun has helped to keep it fun and not work! I really enjoy each and every time I go out to the range, but I wonder if that would still be case if I was pounding rounds down range as I have in past years.
What does this mean for 2025?
First, our leisure time should be time spend doing things we enjoy and that make us feel good! I found all three of my hobbies do that – and make me healthier both physical and mentally at the same time! So, I plan to continue my present course with a few minor tweaks.
- I plan on shooting more recreationally even it if comes at the expense of some registered shoots. Time with friends in low stress situations where you can enjoy just “being there” is truly wonderful.
- I will work in more lessons with my coach. I can’t say enough about how effective time spent with him has been in my becoming a better shooter.
- I will continue to go to the gym at the same rate while looking for more ways to change up the routine to keep it fresh and enhance the actual training (so different exercises).
- I will try to spend even more time on the bike, especially in the early part of the year when I have typically not ridden much by following the old Swedish axiom that “there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes…”. Note that I have not found that to apply to shooting where you are not generating a lot of heat through movement – I may shoot fewer registered events when it is cold! You can only put on so many layers before you start to negatively impact your ability to mount and shoot the gun!
- Mostly – I am going to have fun with my pursuits. I look forward to seeing you out there!
And finally, I took a bit of a break from the blog in 2024. It was helpful to get away a little. I plan to post a bit more frequently in 2025! Thanks for all of your helpful comments that you have shared with me!