Movement Fundamentals: Moving Without Sacrificing the Shot

Fundamentals Series — Part 8

In the previous article, we discussed why we introduce movement early in a shooter’s development at Valiance Firearms Training (VFT).

Movement is one of the first ways we begin bridging the gap between marksmanship and practical shooting. Once a shooter understands the fundamentals, we want them learning to apply those fundamentals under increasingly realistic conditions, and that means getting their feet moving.

Now we need to talk about how to move.

The goal isn’t simply to move faster. The goal is to move efficiently while preserving the grip, trigger control, and visual discipline we’ve spent this series developing.

Movement adds new skills to learn, but the shooting fundamentals haven’t changed.

The Tip: Don’t Overthink Movement

At VFT, we tend to give our students two sets of guidelines for movement.

The first is the 30,000-foot view: Move athletically. Don’t overthink it.

Most people already know how to move. We walk, run, change direction, and navigate around obstacles every day. Put yourself in an athletic position, keep your balance underneath you, and move naturally.

We don’t want shooters becoming so focused on perfectly executing a specific footwork technique that movement becomes robotic. The purpose is to move efficiently while keeping the gun stable enough to make the shot.

With that said, here are a few more specific things we’d like you not to overthink.

Engage Your Legs

Lower your center of gravity and make the lower half of your body do the work.

We want the legs actively absorbing movement so the upper body can remain as flat and stable as possible. Think of your lower body as the suspension system underneath the shooting platform.

One of the less technical ways we describe it at VFT is: “Ballerina down below, tank up top.”

The legs should be active, smooth, and constantly adjusting underneath you, while everything above them stays strong, stable, and flat.

If the legs aren’t doing enough work, every step begins transferring movement upward. The shoulders rise and fall, the gun follows, and the sight picture becomes much less stable than it needs to be.

Get lower. Engage the legs. Let the bottom half work hard so the top half doesn’t have to.

Take Methodical Steps

When we’re shooting while moving, we want each step to minimize unnecessary disruption to the gun.

Moving forward, we generally teach a controlled heel-to-toe step. Moving backward, that reverses to toe-to-heel.

When moving laterally, your feet will cross at some point. When possible, we prefer bringing the lagging foot across in front because it generally creates a more controlled and stable movement. Depending on the direction of travel and location of the targets, however, the opposite may be necessary.

This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. The goal is controlled, purposeful footwork that supports the shooting problem in front of you.

None of this needs to become an elaborate footwork exercise. These are simply repeatable movement patterns that help keep the body balanced and the gun stable while moving in different directions.

Tighten Your Stance

When shooting while moving, we generally want a narrower stance than what we typically walk with.

Keeping the feet closer underneath the body gives us a more consistent base of support as we move and helps reduce unnecessary side-to-side movement in the upper body.

The goal isn’t to shorten your steps. It’s to tighten the width of your stance so the lower half can work efficiently underneath a flat, stable upper body.

Frame Out the Support-Side Elbow

This one connects directly back to where this series began: grip.

When shooting while moving, we want to really frame out the support-side elbow, creating a strong structural connection between the gun and the upper body.

The lower body is working underneath us while the upper body stays flat. That support-side structure helps connect the gun to that stable upper-body platform and maintain the strong grip we’ve already built.

The feet may be moving. The grip doesn’t get a pass.

Moving to Shoot vs. Shooting While Moving

As discussed in Part 7, we make an important distinction between moving to a position to shoot and shooting while moving. Both are practical skills, but they require different priorities.

We often talk about throttle control as it applies to shooting cadence, but the same concept applies to movement.

When we’re moving to a position and there are no targets that need to be engaged along the way, we can open the throttle and move aggressively. But as we approach that position, we need the discipline to begin throttling down so we arrive under control and ready to shoot.

The goal isn’t to sprint to a position, slam on the brakes, and then begin solving the shooting problem. We want the transition from movement to shooting to be seamless. Move quickly when the problem allows it, begin slowing as you approach the position, and arrive prepared to make the shot.

Shooting while moving requires the same throttle control, but now the difficulty of the shot helps determine our movement speed. An attack target (large, close, and requiring less precision) allows us to open the throttle and move more aggressively while continuing to shoot. A control target (smaller, farther away, or otherwise requiring greater precision) requires us to throttle down our movement to maintain the necessary accountability.

Your movement speed should support the shot you need to make.

We’re not trying to move at one predetermined speed. Just like shooting cadence, movement has a throttle. Learning when to open it up and when to back it down based on the target in front of you is part of becoming an efficient practical shooter.

Don’t Wait for Perfect Stability

One of the habits static marksmanship can create is the expectation that the gun must become perfectly still before we fire. Practical shooting rarely gives us perfect conditions.

As we become better at moving, we learn what an acceptable sight picture looks like while the gun is still in motion. The dot may be moving, but that doesn’t automatically mean the shot isn’t there. This brings us back to vision.

See what the gun is giving you. Understand the level of precision the target requires. If the sight picture is acceptable for that shot, take it.

We aren’t looking for perfection. We’re looking for accountability.

Drill Highlight: Moving Bill Drills

Keep this one simple. The Moving Bill Drill gives you reps applying the same movement fundamentals in every direction.

Fire six rounds while moving forward. Reset and fire six rounds while moving to the rear. Reset again and fire six rounds while moving laterally to the right, then finish with six rounds moving laterally to the left.

Don’t chase speed at first. Focus on engaging the legs, using methodical footwork, maintaining a tight stance, and keeping the upper body (and ultimately the gun) as flat as possible throughout all six rounds.

Ballerina down below. Tank up top.

The Bigger Picture

Movement doesn’t replace the fundamentals. It challenges us to maintain them while adding another problem to solve.

Grip still manages recoil. Trigger control still minimizes unnecessary movement. Vision still drives the gun and helps us solve the next problem. Now the lower body has to move us through that problem without unnecessarily disrupting everything happening above it.

And despite the four specific guidelines we just gave you, the big-picture advice remains the same: Move athletically. Don’t overthink it.

These details are tools to help make your movement more efficient, not rigid rules that should make you afraid to move naturally. Build the mechanics through repetition until you don’t have to consciously think about your feet, knees, or stride. They simply do their job while your attention remains where it belongs: solving the shooting problem in front of you.

That’s why we introduce movement early and continue developing it throughout a shooter’s training. Start slow enough to understand what your body is doing, build smooth and efficient movement, and then increase the pace while demanding the same accountability from your shots.

That takes reps.

Ammo Squared makes it easy to keep your supply ready so those reps are there when you need them.

Stack your ammo.

Train with intent.

Repeat the process.