Jennifer McIntosh Talks About Shooting Workouts

Jennifer McIntoshToday Jennifer McIntosh became the most decorated Scottish Commonwealth Games athlete after winning her fifth medal this week at the 2014 Glasgow Games. She has now surpassed her own mother, Shirley McIntonsh, who was also a shooter.

Jen is 175 cm (5 feet 9) tall and weighs 71 kg (156.5 pounds). She was born on 17th June 1991 in Edinburgh and lives in Aberdeen, Scotland.

She failed to retain her Commonwealth title but won bronze in the 50 m Prone Rifle before winning silver in the 50 m rifle three positions.


Jennifer competes in the 10 meter air rifle and 50 meter events, which involves shooting from prone, standing and kneeling positions.

She started shooting at 10 years old; both of her parents were shooters and she kept pestering her mom (Shirley McIntosh) to let her shoot from an early age. Following her win she spoke to the BBC about her raining regime.

You may think that air rifle shooting does not require any physical fitness, however, this is certainly not the case. Jennifer said that she spends five hours a day on the shooting range, five days a week. This amount of shooting requires both mental and physical fitness.

Two hours of cardio fitness

She accomplishes this with daily cardio and strength workouts. Jennifer explained that she does a couple of hours of general cardio fitness work every training day.

She also follows a strength and conditioning program that is based on a Pilates and yoga exercises. This is done five days a week.


So her weekly training involves:

  • 25 hours of shooting
  • 10 hours of cardiovascular fitness
  • 5 hours of strength training

This is a total of 40 hours a week – a full working week for many people; more than a 9-to-5 job.

Every athlete has to train their body well to be able to maintain concentration and composure during major events such as the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

Just because you do not see air rifle shooters, pistol shooters and archers moving much do not think that these sports do not require physical fitness; they are all fantastic athletes.

Further reading

Jen Mcintosh’s Team GB profile

Photo: Team GB profile photo.

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