Taking it a bit further from the Bucket Drill, here are a few exercises I’ve discovered that can help you improve your suspension. The goals of these drills are simple: condition your lower body and related coordination skills, and reduce the amount of disturbance when shooting on the move.

The vertical movement and positioning of the Shooting Platform can be affected by ankles and knees. Lucky for us, we can counteract one with another.

Chair Burners

Start in a position in which you would imagine yourself shooting through a low port: wide and low. At first, I recommend, that you start this one without a gun. Make sure to have your heels completely planted. You want to find a nice, comfortable-ish position in which you can be completely still for at least a few seconds. Now raise on your toes and notice how your overall height and potential point-of-aim have shifted. Now slowly go back down to your heels, notice how it shifted back. Repeat this motion a few times to familiarize yourself with its effects.

Now, as you go up on your toes, changing the angle of your ankles – counteract that movement by squatting lower in your knees. Once you can make your virtual no gun point-of-aim stay pretty much at the same height – you’re ready to start doing this with a gun and a target. I highly recommend you use a red dot, since it will give you so much more information about the trajectory of your Point-of-Muzzle and allow faster learning.

Do 8 to 16 reps (1 rep = go up, then down) without allowing the dot to leave the alpha zone. Simulated 10 yards open USPSA target should be a good start for target presentation. Once you have mastered this – you can go to the next drill.

Agility Ladder Chair Burners

This drill has another prerequisite – you should be able to do at least one agility ladder drill without thinking nor looking at your feet. Once you can do that – start working on getting lower before stepping into the ladder, and then staying low throughout the drill. You want to be able to have your hips-to-the-ground clearance as constant as possible.[^1]

Once you’re comfortable with this – start working on moving your attention to your hands and once you're able to complete the drill while looking forward and “air gunning” – you can bring in the gun and a target.

The goal of this drill is to be able to hold the sights within the alpha while moving through the ladder. Rep count is going to depend on which agility drill you’re using and how long is your ladder. If your agility ladder drill allows left/right or forward/backward variations – make sure you cover them all.