Alcohol's effect on performance

[altnipper]

Hi just wondered peoples thoughts on this.

(I'm not talking about being dangerous - ie not having alcohol in the system to lead to poor safety)

On new years day I shot the worst I've shot for a long time. I calculated I had 8/9 units of alcohol the night before so not loads - 3pints equiv, also went to bed at about 11pm, shot the next day at 10.30am. So 11.30hrs without drinking.

I shot low 50's /100 reg shoot, the week before I shot an 87/100 at a registered shoot.

I'm not looking for excuses and I'm just interested if anyone else has found this. I felt fine on new years day not sluggish or anything but I just could not pick up where I was going wrong, whereas the week before I did that instantly.

So was it the residual effects of the alcohol on the judgement of distance and speed? The body I think is meant to get rid of 1 unit an hour roughly but I had far longer than this after finishing drinking. It was really odd I couldn't feel why I was missing at all just felt normal and like I should be hitting them but wasn't. I would have expected it if I'd had more alcohol but then to be honest I wouldn't have gone shooting as I know it would have been a waste of time.

Does anyone else compeletly abstain the night before a shoot or even longer?

Think I'm going to from now on, least if it happens again I will have to find something else to blame.

Thanks

 

[Will Hewland]

Hard to judge as ESP reg shoots vary so much. I can have a clanger without drinking..

I usually have a few (not leathered) the night before a shoot, because Sunday morning so thoughtlessly follows Saturday night. I feel that as long as you don't feel bad then it is OK. This is not an extreme reaction sport (unless you shoot that way, which for most is unadvisable).

I have definitely had a bad shoot after going to bed sober and early, all keyed up for it, couldn't sleep, turning up to shoot with stinging eyes after three hours kip.

 

[RobertBeard]

My gut reaction would be I doubt that this had any significant effect.

I dare say that the 2 shoots that you are comparing were at different grounds with different levels of difficulty so not really comparable other than in the number of birds shot.

Was it possible that you were under the weather otherwise e.g. temperature, cold, flu that sort of thing?

 

[altnipper]

I've found some evidence from studies that suggest the alcohol can significantly affect your athletic performance far beyond actually feeling any effect which is interesting. I've just had 36 hours of norovirus which is the sickest I've ever been, is not pleasent, suppose I could have been incubating it? The other shooters scores at both shoots were about the same on average though it looked to me, I tend to judge shoots difficulty by this.

 

[Darkside]

I've shot like an absolute donkey for the last three FITASC's, twice out of the three times I've had a drink the night before, all three times I've had a very late night with an early morning to follow...I actually think the lack of sleep has had more to do with it than the alcohol, I loss concentration, feel fatigued, time my shots badly, feel cold, find it hard to swing the gun through the clay to create lead, get frustrated and get grumpy.

 

[altnipper]

Maybe the alcohol has an effect on your depth of sleep also. This might be I thought the major thing, maybe I slept but the quality of sleep was poor.

 

[Guerini Guy]

Of course, generally speaking, the words "alcohol" and "shooting" should not be linked together, but in order to open the discussion a bit wider, what are members views on shooters having a hip flask containing "something warming" with them during a shoot?

Now I'll admit right now that particularly on cold days, both my wife and I do so. We might take a drop before we get to stand 1 and usually wait until we finish before having another slurp, although I still wouldn't be concerned myself at having the odd drop during the event either, since by their very nature, quantities are really quite small.

Would welcome points of view on this?

 

[Darkside]

I don't touch a drop until I'm finished shooting, clays or game, the only things I will drink before/during shooting are water or tea...

 

[Andy S]

Of course, generally speaking, the words "alcohol" and "shooting" should not be linked together, but in order to open the discussion a bit wider, what are members views on shooters having a hip flask containing "something warming" with them during a shoot?

Now I'll admit right now that particularly on cold days, both my wife and I do so. We might take a drop before we get to stand 1 and usually wait until we finish before having another slurp, although I still wouldn't be concerned myself at having the odd drop during the event either, since by their very nature, quantities are really quite small.

Would welcome points of view on this?

Whilst having something warming will make you feel warm it is only tempory, as it will actually lower your core body temperature due to the effect of alcohol thinning the blood. see the article from Mythbusters.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/alcohol-warms-up.htm

 

[Chard]

Whilst having something warming will make you feel warm it is only tempory, as it will actually lower your core body temperature due to the effect of alcohol thinning the blood. see the article from Mythbusters.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/alcohol-warms-up.htm

I agree, Alcohol won't warm you up. Thins the blood and you end up colder, whatever it feels like.

I wouldn't drink at a shoot. It would bother me to be near somebody who was ponging of booze too, think I'd bob off to the next stand..... :huh:

 

[RobertBeard]

I would be more worried about the drink driving aspects as I like to see, quantity wise, what I'm drinking and I don't like driving after drinking.  Nice warm car after cold shoot and some nips I might find a bit sleep inducing if on a motorway or stuck puddling along after the OAP's out for their Sunday afternoon jolly.

In terms of stimulation vis a vis shooting I only drink decaff drinks nowadays as that used to affect my target shooting and kept me awake at night so no caffeine after about 3pm!

 

[Ray]

I'm not really a drinker but the 2 times I can remember having a few, I remember shooting crap the day after, so it must have an effect.  :frown:

 

[blaser f3]

Drinking heavily the night before shooting has never affected me ...........................hmm but then thinking about it, it might explain a few things

Although the only hundered straight i shot was with a bad hangover and who gives a sh*t ,what am i doing here mindset . I,ve used the same training regime many many times since and as of yet failed to produce the same results , but i feel you should take your training seriously and as such i'm still trying to find the perfect blend of premium largers and spirits.

Hope this helps

 

[Sampop]

Am similar to CleverSC3, I have had some bad days when I haven't touched a drop the night before, and some really good scores when I have had a little too much the night before.  Not sure whether it is over-thinking, but I always tend to evaluate my score and the type of targets that I shot (and compare to my last score at that ground if possible). There is so much variation in ESP and FITASC that it is difficult to pin point what has an impact on scores. 

It won't hurt to not drink the night before, but personally I think it is best to do what you need to do to relax, so that you get a good nights kip ^_^   

 

[ips]

There are certain topics that I am not sure are appropriate to post on the web as you never know who is reading and we dont want to give the anti's any further ammunition do we.

Shooting related accidents, and alchohol before or during a shoot are two that spring to mind.

Just saying.... 

 

[Will Hewland]

Yes, change topic to other things you should not do before a shoot. My wife won't allow me near her the night before a shoot. She thinks I shoot everyday..

 

[Angelfire]

As a DTL tarpy I never did much at ABT, but on the one occasion I did indeed win a shoot, myself and a mate whilst in my caravan on the ground polished off a full bottle of malt whisky the evening and night before the shoot.

Phil*

 

[EdSolomons]

I've had a few massive scores post night out, I have had more awful ones... I would however refuse to shoot with someone who was drinking from a hip flask whilst shooting. Would you do it whilst driving? No, so handling a gun should be no different.

 

[Ray]

Not sure this is a topic to be talking about on here - More ammo for the Anti's