Starting Over after a "lo.......ng" break and need

[Mark]

Hi all

Coming back to shooting after a break of nearly 20 years and need some help. Aside from suffering from culture shock, I am trying to pick up form and shooting again and I see so much more available on the theory and practice of technique and form - I've been reading threads in this forum with interest. I've ordered a copy of your book James and can't wait to get into it, but I have a problem I want to tackle from day one that I would like some comment on.

I hark back to the days of shooting compound with a Hoyt rest and plunger and, whilst I shot some pretty good scores for the day, I think that youth and enthusiasm overcame form issues. Starting again I have found that after a short time shooting I am getting sharp pain in my shoulders (left and right) deep in the shoulder blade area - I am not just talking muscle pain from unused muscles. As I've always been a "back-tension" shooter, I had assumed that this was, at first, age and muscle fatigue, but as I continue it is not improving. Basically, my "feel" for shooting is still there, grouping is good, but I want to make sure I nail this early whilst I've got a chance to fix my problem rather than let old bad habits set back in again.

Any comments or should I wait for the book and work from there ?? My feeling is my form is probably the issue, but will there be the detail in the book to overcome old ingrained issues that may be causing this type of pain??

Any assistance is greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

Mark

[Marcus]

Mark
Can you post images of your form for us to look at?

[Mark]

Can do - You'll have to excuse the mix of antique and new equipment
I'll organise some pics today and post - do you want the full range that I've seen in the other posts or just a couple of basics to start ??

Mark

[Marcus]

Full range
Email them to me at marcus@archery-forum.com and I'll post on the site

[Mark]

Marcus

Been working on things over the weekend and have found that an increase in drawlength slightly is helping. Trying to get comfortable with that now.

Any comments on the pics as yet ??

Mark

[Marcus]

Here are the pictures

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

[mbomike]

From what I can see from your pickies Mark is

Your bow arm dosn't seem to be relaxed. This can be seen from your rigid digits.
Your bow arm seems to be dropping on release.
You are also tilting your head into your rear peep. Probably due to dropping bow arm.
IMO :D

[Mark]

Thanks for the input.

I have noticed that I sometimes shake a little whilst aiming - another symptom of a rigid bowarm ???

Any tips on correcting the dropping bow arm - grip, shoulders etc ??

Mark

[mbomike]

As a matter of fact I do, but if I told you I would have to kill NT.

jokes aside.
I used to have your delimer till very recently. Last 3DAAA Nats actually
prob with myself was raising the bow on the draw.
when the bow arm was in final position "on target" the muscles in my shoulders were supporting the whole shabang. Creating fatigue and bad grouping.

I was taught to raise my bow arm "on target" then draw.
This effect actually pushes the bones from the wrist right through to the shoulder, in effect locking the whole arm tight. The muscles are more relaxed. and grouping is 10 fold.

[Marcus]

Picture1
Bow arm is excellent. Shoulders nice and low
Grip should be bought up a little, raise the base of your hand off the bow.
Left the fingers relax

Picture 3
Not bad, bring your draw elbow down a bit, may be leaning back a touch.

Picture 4-6
Release looks fine, wouldn't change it.

Picture 8
Your line of force on your shoulders is wrong. See the thread about a minor change in this section for images. To get what you want bring your bow shoulder closer to the string. This will make you steadier as well.

Overall.
Excellent. I think with some a small changes you will shoot very well with that form.

[Mark]

Thanks for the feedback - good to know I'm not too far off. Thought I may have forgotten it all over the years as it's been a long time since I shot seriously.

Next up is deciding on which way to go with a new bow - the current one is an old Jennings. Any tips ?? (don't want to start a fight though !! :wink: )

I even still have an original hand made metal Fail Safe release aid that should probably be in a museum somewhere - release aids have come along so far. I bought a new Carter before I saw the Zeniths - but all look great and the Carter is a nice piece.

Mark

[Marcus]

I'll send you a PM