Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I've been interested in archery since I was a kid, shooting my dad's fiberglass bow in the back yard. I never had any formal instruction to speak of, I just picked up the bow and figured it out and went from there.
As an adult I developed an interest in different types of bows, and managed to acquire a few of different poundages. Now I have four bows:
My dad's old fiberglass straight bow, pulls around 55-60 at 28 inches
a short little Hungarian recurve horse bow, pulls around 65-70 at 28 inches
a longer wood recurve, pulls around 75-80 at 28 inches.
a longer Hungarian recurve, pulls at 110, at 30 inches.
My draw technique, without getting into the minor details, was essentially this: I hold the bow in the left hand with the left arm extended to the side, reach across with the right hand to grasp the string, and pull to full draw. The work is being done primarily with the right arm and shoulder and upper back, in the pulling effort, with some turning of the torso.
As I acquired the stronger bows, especially the top two, I began to notice problems. My old draw technique seemed to work pretty well with the two lighter bows, but I would get problems in my right shoulder when I would try to shoot the two heavier bows. I have an old shoulder injury in the right shoulder, and it seems that these two bows were too strong and would often re-aggravate the injury.
I remember hearing about the Asian methods of drawing the heavy bows, seeing descriptions of pushing the bow out instead of pulling the string back. I could never quite figure out what they meant, and in the past, with the lighter bows, it didn't seem to matter.
I think I finally figured it out, as I was contemplating whether or not I might not be able to use the stronger bows. I've been experimenting with a different technique, working on the lighter bows to develop the method before I try it on the heavier bows. Here's what I do:
I take the bow in left hand, and string in right, and basically raise it up to touch my chin with my right thumb knuckle. From there I push the bow out, which accomplishes most of the draw. I do pull with the right as well, but most of the pull is done by turning the torso away from the bow. There is a small amount of pulling with the right arm, but it is drastically reduced from my old method. The biggest improvement seems to be that I no longer make that long reach across with the right hand and the majority of the work is no longer being done with the right arm and shoulder. That seems to reduce the stress on the right shoulder tremendously, and I believe will enable me to pursue the heavier bows more effectively, with a drastic reduction in the potential for injury to my shoulder.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear some feedback, comments, tips, etc.
As an adult I developed an interest in different types of bows, and managed to acquire a few of different poundages. Now I have four bows:
My dad's old fiberglass straight bow, pulls around 55-60 at 28 inches
a short little Hungarian recurve horse bow, pulls around 65-70 at 28 inches
a longer wood recurve, pulls around 75-80 at 28 inches.
a longer Hungarian recurve, pulls at 110, at 30 inches.
My draw technique, without getting into the minor details, was essentially this: I hold the bow in the left hand with the left arm extended to the side, reach across with the right hand to grasp the string, and pull to full draw. The work is being done primarily with the right arm and shoulder and upper back, in the pulling effort, with some turning of the torso.
As I acquired the stronger bows, especially the top two, I began to notice problems. My old draw technique seemed to work pretty well with the two lighter bows, but I would get problems in my right shoulder when I would try to shoot the two heavier bows. I have an old shoulder injury in the right shoulder, and it seems that these two bows were too strong and would often re-aggravate the injury.
I remember hearing about the Asian methods of drawing the heavy bows, seeing descriptions of pushing the bow out instead of pulling the string back. I could never quite figure out what they meant, and in the past, with the lighter bows, it didn't seem to matter.
I think I finally figured it out, as I was contemplating whether or not I might not be able to use the stronger bows. I've been experimenting with a different technique, working on the lighter bows to develop the method before I try it on the heavier bows. Here's what I do:
I take the bow in left hand, and string in right, and basically raise it up to touch my chin with my right thumb knuckle. From there I push the bow out, which accomplishes most of the draw. I do pull with the right as well, but most of the pull is done by turning the torso away from the bow. There is a small amount of pulling with the right arm, but it is drastically reduced from my old method. The biggest improvement seems to be that I no longer make that long reach across with the right hand and the majority of the work is no longer being done with the right arm and shoulder. That seems to reduce the stress on the right shoulder tremendously, and I believe will enable me to pursue the heavier bows more effectively, with a drastic reduction in the potential for injury to my shoulder.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear some feedback, comments, tips, etc.