Back tension

[James Park]

I would like to investigate the so called "back tension". You will hear many archers say that "you must have it", etc, but never do they seem to be able to describe just what they mean by "back tension".
To start off the discussion, I will give you my view.
I think what is meant is that you should use your large back muscles to hold back the bow and to initiate the shot. That is, you should not rely on your arm muscles or the smaller muscles in your back and shoulders.
Now, assuming you have your draw length adjusted correctly, have the line of force passing through your right elbow joint (for a right-handed archer), and have your shoulder joints inline with your bow arm, it is impossible to use your right arm muscles to hold back the bow - that is, you simply must be using your back muscles to do it (and hence have this magical "back tension"), if my understanding of anatomy and mechanics is in accord with reality (and I think it is).
Hence, I think in talking about "back tension", I think we really mean "get inline".
You can think about it in another way: supposing you disabled the large back muscles somehow or other, I would then contend that it would be impossible for you to pull back the bow at all, no matter how strong your arm muscles were - you would have nothing to keep your shoulder joints in place. That is, in pulling back the bow at all you must be using your back muscles. The trick is to pull it back the correct amount so that you get inline and then your back muscles can do all the work. I think that is all that is necessary.
What do you think?

[2Dogs]

I would agree with you about having the right elbow in line gives you the feeling of tension in your back. Having the right elbow slightly above horizontal is more beneficial as well.

Have a read of this post by George Ryals ( top NFAA pro in the USA ) about his decription of back tension. He makes a valid point about the draw hand must move in order to set off the release.

[posted by G Ryals]
Hi Guys here is another excerpt from my perpetually unfinished book that deals on the Tension subject. Maybe it will help. Keep in mind that it is a little raw and it may contradict some of the good information given above. I don

[Marcus]

That was some good info Paul.

I see back tension as being a type of shot execution. Plenty of shooters have shot without it and shot well.
How can you be without it?
The best examples of what back tension is is to look at people who DON'T have it.
How many times do you see a shooter collapse once the bow is shot. At the point of the shot there is no movement of the muscles together at all. This is an example of completly devoid of back tension.
Now there are degrees to back tension. If you are holding 20# and are using 20# of force to hold the weight and executing the shot without back movement then I would class this as lacking back tension. Even though the back is being used.
So back tension is the active use of the back in order to produce a consistant follow through.
I think many of us who have shot for a long time use it to a degree out of habit. However looking at beginners shows that it's not automatic. Even those shooting 60# bows.

[mike]

You can usually spot the ones using a good amount of back tension because after the shot the bow hand moves left and down (for a RH archer) -- left because the left hand back muscles (across the shoulder blade) are suddenly freed of a ~60lbs stress and so cause the bow arm to rotate outwards, and down because of the weight of the bow.

Equally, the release arm travels in the same direction, and so effectively, the two elbows are moving towards eachother behind the shooters back. This should be accompanied by a direct backward motion of the release aid -- Newton's laws apply all the way through the shot process, which means you can't forget your physics if you want to appreciate why some of these things work!

Also, in the top archers, this reaction is amazingly consistent if you watch them.

So, it is in my mind a mistake to concentrate on holding the bow on target all the way through the shot -- in fact if you can actually achieve that, then you are probably both not using proper back tension and worse still, anticipating the shot. When I shoot, I sometimes picture bringing my elbows around behind me to meet eachother as a way of creating 'back tension'

[2Dogs]

I had a lesson with a top US coach Dick Tone a few years ago and he gave me this piece of information.

He said to me "what happens to your bow when you release the string"

I said it jumps forward

Wrong I was told.

"When the archer lets go of the string, the bow handle wants to come straight back at your face, your bowarm prevents it. If your shooting a 50# bow then at the moment of release your bowarm has 50# thrusting into it for split second"

He was emphasing how important it was to have that little bit of push/pull happening during the shot, becuase if you were being static with your bow arm the poundage of the bow hitting it at release made it very difficult to be consistent


I found this info enlightening :)

[James Park]

http://www.dva.asn.au/multimedia/bow_reaction.lasso

The above link shows a sequence of photographs of my bow hand from just before the release, during the release, and the follow through after the release. You can see that my bow hand and bow arm do not move at all until the arrow has left the bow, and then move in accord with the forces on them prior to the release. Note that my release is very much a surprise (I do not anticipate the release at all), so I think that what you see in the pictures is what should happen if you are shooting well. After the arrow has gone I make no attempt to hold the bow up, so my arm drops away, in addition to the reaction from the forces on it prior to the release.
I have some similar pictures showing my string hand, Bryce Lee's bow arm from behind and Clint Freeman's follow through.

[James Park]

Some comments on the pictures in the previous post:
This sequence of photographs shows the movement of my bow hand immediately following release.

[Marcus]

I've got some video of Clint Freeman shooting. I'll postit on the site and post a link.

If your shooting a 50# bow then at the moment of release your bowarm has 50# thrusting into it for split second"



On a compound a 50# bow is more like 12# of force which is almost instantly negated by the movement of the limbs forward. I don't think there is any backward movement. The bow wants to come back while at full draw, but once the shot takes place it wants to move the direction the limbs are taking it. I'll find some slow motion video and look at that to varify either way. (keeping an open mind on this one)

[2Dogs]

Marcus,

I doubted what he said as well. He is a top international coach of Recurve and Compound archers. At the time I was shooting a recurve and the lesson was recurve oritentated.

However the theory of the shot execution was explained in great detail, refering to reseach done at the US Olympic training centre. Myself and Adam richards were very convinced afterwards.

The lesson was interesting we sat down and were given a school lesson in the theory of good shooting technique (for an hour) then shooting and video analysis for an hour. Cost me $60 USD...mates rates :D

The push into the bowarm may not be as pronouced as a recurve but it is still there. It was a matter of physics.

The guy holds his lessons in his "magic backyard". His garage was awesome.

We shot at a butt about 10m away and he videos us with a camera. This was no ordinary camera, about $15000 USD worth of SONY. We then went straight into his workshop and he had a professional video editing setup.

The video was replayed and progressed back and forth frame by frame, and when he came to an important frame he pressed a button and a printout came out of a fax like machine......so on so on until you ended up with a strip of photos of your shot execution.

This was in 1995 and very impressive. The camera was the key he explained. I could see my fingeres opening on the string and a number of frames of the arrow bending as it left the bow.

Almost as good as the Easton Video but done right there while you were shooting. I believe the AIS may have a similar setup now I'm not sure.

I learnt more in that 2 hour lesson then I ever did up till that stage in my Archery. Mind you since 1995 and the birth of the internet the spread of that information has boomed across the planet.

There is info today on shooting that was held by an elite few back then.

Thank god for forums like this and others

[2Dogs]

If you guys have got links to slowmo shooting video of the top Compound guys could you post it please.

I think the AIS may have some i'm not sure........i'll contact their video library tomorrow and see if i can borrow it.

[Marcus]

I have some slowmo stuff done at the AIS when I was a junior. The compounders were myself, Jackson Fear, Dustin Barr and Michael Harkness. I'll look to see if there is anything overly useful and convert to quicktime if there is.
My video of Clint is just normal speed.

You don't still have the footage or the photos do you?

[James Park]

I will send Marcus my pictures of Bryce - quite interesting.

[James Park]

Pictures of Bryce from Behind. Watch the position of the end of the scope threaded rod. He is using a back tension release, and operating it correctly, with no anticipation of the release, so his follow through is in accord with the forces on his body prior to release.
This sequence of photographs shows the movement of Bryce Lee

[2Dogs]

Marcus,

I had a look last night and couldn't find them.

I threw out a stack of my Archery stuff back in 1996 when I missed the Olympic Team again :cry:

The thought of picking up a bow again never even crossed my mind......maybe I should have dealed with my depression with Drugs :wink:

[Marcus]

Yeah I know what you mean. I threw out a whole pile of stuff too when I quit in 94. I'll dig up what I've got though and go nuts with the video converter.

The images of Bryce are found here

http://www.dva.asn.au/multimedia/bryce_shot.lasso

[Marcus]

There are now 3 pages with images in them linked from

http://www.dva.asn.au/multimedia/

Also under the Video Footage section are the images turned into movies so you can see it in action.

http://www.dva.asn.au/multimedia/video.lasso

There is also some footage that I took of Clint at our coaching seminar last December.

[James Park]

I think the important thing with each of the sets of pictures is that the hand and arm movements immediately following release and the arrow's exit from the bow shows just what forces were acting on the archer prior to release. This then makes that very first movement a particularly good indicator of whether or not the archer has his arms and shoulders in the correct alignment, and whether or not he is using the release device correcly. Hence, it is a very powerful diagnostic aid for the coach (and one I use extensively in my coaching). These sets of pictures do show that Bryce and I are doing it correctly, as does the set of pictures I have of Clint (as would be expected of Clint, of course).
Where the archer uses his release device incorrectly, his bow arm moves quite differently to the pictures of Bryce's bow arm, and I find I can see it quite readily.
Another interesting feature is that where the archer "throws his bow arm" to try to compensate for an incorrect aim at the moment of release (Marcel is the most obvious example I can think of), they can never possibly do it in time to have any effect. I have video of Bryce doing this, and by the time he reacts by moving his bow arm consciously the arrow is in the target. Hence, better to just put up with the fact that the aim may have been a little off and shoot the shot well.

[Marcus]

While an archer trying to throw an arrow into the 10 rarely works, this does not mean that it is impossible to effect the flight of the arrow with arm movement. I've heard people say 'it doesn't matter if I drop my arm because the arrow has left the bow' however this is not entirely true. Keeping the bow arm up is part of correct follow through and dropping the arm may in fact sometimes start before the shot has been fully executed.
So basically while it may appear that the arrow has left the bow it is good practice to keep your bow up till the arrow hits the target.
You will never drop your bow arm the same each time, but you can keep your arm up te same each time.

[James Park]

I agree with Marcus' comment that archers can (and often do) move their arms prior to or during the shot and the effect will be very damaging to their accuracy. This is most often the case where they are not using the release device correctly. For example, if they anticipate the release this will frequently be the case.
In my post above I was refering to the case where they have used the release device correctly (a surprise when the release operates), their aim has been reasonably steady, but when the release occured they thought they were not aimed correctly and tried to move their arm as a result (as Marcel does frequently). This can look awful, but archers like Marcel get away with it because the arrow has gone. It is not good form. You would never see someone like Clint do it (I have watched his follow through very carefully, and it is extremely good, as is his use of the release device).

[mike]

Looking at where this thread is going it is important to make abundantly clear the distinction between what you do and don't have control of as you fire an arrow.

Things you have control over:

AIM - the number one thing for shooting good scores.
Release technique -- that is you only have control over how you use it, not when it will go off precisely.
Proper muscular and body position.

Things you DON'T have control over (or shouldn't if you have good form and a good release)

The exact moment of release and thus the exact point on the target that you will hit.
The arrow once it has left the bow.
The movement of parts of you body as various stresses are released (such as the release of the holding weight)

Thus YOU CANNOT HOLD YOUR BOW IN THE SAME POSITION IF YOU ARE USING GOOD TECHNIQUE.

THE BOW WILL MOVE and you should not fight it. Sure, you shouldn't "drop" your bow arm, but that is part of solid aiming all the way through the shot.

[Marcus]

Be careful not to confuse a good follow through with dropping the bow arm. It is well established that you should hold your bow arm up till the arrow hits the target. Too many shooters pull it down once they feel the arrow has left the bow, problem with that is that you will not drop it the same each time and sometimes will start to move it before the arrow has left. This is a major problem with those that anticipate the shot. Someone shooting a release correctly shouldn't have the problem. However I feel it is dangerous to imply that letting th bow fall to your side is OK because the arrow has left the bow. Fact is that many shooters anticipate the shot and thus it is not OK.

Anyway

Here is some footage of Jackson Fear and Michael Harkness from the AIS in 93. (there is one of me, but I uploaded the 3mb one not the 700k one so don't open it yet)
Jackson was a compounder then and used a clicker. Michael was in my opinion the next Clint Freeman before a back injury ended his career. Michael has a very obvious suprise release. I beleive at the time both were shooting close to 1390 Ladies FITAs (at 16 years old) and well into the 1300's Mens. I believe Michael shot into the 1380's Mens before leaving the sport. Shame. At the time Clint hadn't broken 1400.
Jackson moved to recurve a few years later, his years of shooting a clicker on his compound I believe set him up to shooting his recurve so well.
I've got slow motion stuff I'll upload later.

http://www.dva.asn.au/multimedia/video.lasso

[L-Roy]

Marcus and others,
I have a release aid rigged with a strap assembly to teach proper back tension, or use of the rhomboid muscle group when drawing the bow and upon follow through after the release with a release aid. It was made by a local shop from nylon web strap material into which one places his elbow. It is adjustable for draw length and arm-elbow size.

I have not shot recurve in so long, I would be fearful of offering anything but limited comments upon that style.

With the strap assembly, one may hold onto the concho style release if he so chooses. Holding onto the strap does enable one to secure some drawing force from the forearm muscle groups.

At full draw, the hand and forearm muscles are easily relaxed because the holding tension is transferred almost entirely to the "Back Muscles". The resulting release shows graphically how the elbow moves in relation to the bow arm. Use also shows how to properly relax the hand and forearm while at full draw. I have not thought about how to use this in drawing with fingers. Any thoughts?

[Robert Halley-Frame]

Thought a little more discussion on this topic would be worthwhile. One of our members spent a great deal of time filming at the Vic State Indoor.

After viewing the Video on my " form" I just about fell over. Always thought that I was using back tension but the video seems to show that I am not. Of course on the line on Sunday I only thought about this and my form deteriorated dramatically. :(

A change of release aid seemed to help ( no trigger)and a coach at the club reviewed my shooting position and I am in line correctly.

I feel although I cannot pull through the shot anymore and and I am hard up against the wall. There is just no more give to pull through the shot either with the bow or my back!

1. Is my drawlength too long
2. what is a really good release aid to work on back tension
3. Should I take up golf

Suggestions Please!!

:D :D

[Marcus]

Well I don't believe that using the back wall to produce back tension is always the way to go. Before the solid walls came out BT was used just fine. I think someties people pull hard into the back wall without using their backs.
What release are you shooting Robert? If you change release aids prepare for the long haul. Mixing about will only hurt. (alot of pros say you need heaps of releases, however these guys are shooting well, if you want to learn to shoot correctly or differently it requires patience and dedication.)

I can not say if you should shorten your draw length because I have not seen you shoot, however it is worth trying.

Avoid quick fixes, learn good technique by shooting blank target, and then if you are not using that technique in a round let down and start the shot again.

good luck.

[Steve B]

Just thought I would add a link to truballs site, NFAA Master Coach and NAA Level IV National Coach Larry Wise has written some words and has also included pictures to illustrate his words well, I found this whilst looking for information on BT so I could better use my Stanislowski miracle 2000, wasnt quite making it happen right, this has help me, so hope it helps you fellas and assists in answering some of the questions about back tension.

http://www.truball.com/Pages/tensionins.html