String-Forearm Impact: Loose Bow Hand Painful but Accurate!

[Jules]

So I'm playing around with shooting 'strong' (exerting force well beyond that required to sustain a compound draw during release) in the vague hope this will aid my consistency and it doesn't. May have to do with the wall produced my the 'Synergy 3' wheels on my 1995 PSE Buckmaster. May have to do with the effect that this extra pressure has on my release hand as I pop the shots off. Interesting to experiment with regardless. Waddyathink?

I have found that keeping my bow hand open DOES help. Yay. Maybe even better is that it feels great. The bow vibrates nicely and the slight extra full draw tension I seem to pull on when I do this helps me pop the shot off cleanly. Problem being that my arms are quite 'double jointed' or hyperextensible or whateverthehell. They bend backward yeah? So when I drop the string without holding the handle, my bow hand moves forward sharply, locking my elbow which allows my forearm to CAIN my arm. I thought arm guards were only for recurve shooters but I gotta tell you, having hit myself every second day for the last week I am about ready to go buy one.

Pity I keep hurting myself because otherwise this plan of keeping my front hand really loose seems to improve my performance. What is the reccomended technique - hold the front arm bent slightly under dynamic muscle tension to the extent that it doesn't move forward at release? This contraction of the opposing muscles makes it hard for me to aim and tires me out fast. Get an arm guard and wear the string? Open my stance slightly? I'm interested to hear any input! Thanks.

[James Park]

The Synergy 3 wheels will not have a well defined wall (by my memory they are a reasonably round wheel?). Hence, if you are going to pull hard into the wall you will need to ensure that the wheel timing is quite accurate. With that type of wheel I think you need to shoot from the valley.

[Flame]

I live on a hill overlooking the valley :o

[clever_guy]

Jules;

You might want to try rotating your bow elbow until you find the strongest point where you don't hyperextend as badly. If you have a problem with hyper extending, and many people do, you should always wear an arm guard, it will save you needless pain while figuring out how to get the best clearance.

Nothing wrong with using a push/pull when you shoot, but don't over-push, it doesn't take much "push-pressure" to get that forward motion and with round wheels you have to have a fairly "soft-touch' - not over-pulling or over-pushing. Even when executing a "push" you have to keep as much tension out of your bow arm and bow hand as possible, so one of the ways to see if you are "over-pushing" is to look at how much tension you have in your bow arm/bow fingers. In the "push" try and push through the bow shoulder while keeping your shoulders down and low. Developing a a consistant "push/pull" is a lot more work than using a static-arm/pull, especially with a round wheel.

No idea if you should open your stance, you have to look at string clearance, your bow arm, and decide if you are getting too much contact. Put a piece of masking tape on your arm guard, then start with an even stance and more to progressively more open stances and see where you end up. The more open the stance the more stress on your bow shoulder.

Good luck,

-CG

[Jules]

James - I picked up a copy of your Green Book this arvo and had a play at shooting at slightly less than full draw. It made a moderately significant improvement. Now I'm wondering if my draw length is slightly too short since I am keeping my bow arm straighter also - both factors reducing the distance under my chin that my anchor sits at.

This is the wheel in question - the wall does seem fairly clear when I draw the bow. I can't tell (by myself) what the timing is like at full draw. I haven't read your book yet either!

http://www.villagephotos.com/image.asp?id=8752023

Guy - I also bought an arm guard (plastic grid/mesh type that pushed all the blood out of my bruises in such a way that it looks like my arm has tyre tracks over it :( ). Not being afraid certainly helps though! My bow shoulder easily becomes sore (especially if I forget to hold it straight before I start the draw) so I'll try to keep an even stance and play around more with by elbow angle and push-pull force. It occured to me on the range today that my riser handle really seems to lock my bow arm into one particular form and that altering the handle may well allow a techinique that suits me much better.

Is it common to interchange handles or pad them out to allow a different hand (and therefore arm) position?

Thankyou both :)

[James Park]

Jules,
just about every compound bow has a grip shape that encourages poor bowhand position. I certainly don't let the shape of the grip dictate my bowhand position, but position my hand as it should be.
In Mastering Compound Bows I have included pictures of quite a few of our top archers, showing their hand positions, so that might be useful.

[Eberbachl]

I can't tell (by myself) what the timing is like at full draw

Hi Jules,

We have some bow scales suspended from the ceiling at our indoor range which are very useful for checking the timing of bows. You can just hook the string onto the scales, then draw the riser down paying attention to how the wheels are rolling over.

If you're able to source a hook or similar with sufficient strength you could check your timing by yourself in the same way.

:bday:

[Jules]

Good point - I'll volunteer a housemate to hold the riser for me while I watch what is happening. They are fairly s***ing me at the mo anyway.

Maybe this image hoster will work.... otherwise I'll be forced to do it myself...
http://www.freeimagesolutions.com/ims/pic.php?u=1580SvczN&i=8872

[Jules]

James, it this close to what you were remembering? This wall feels fairly sharp to me at full draw and I just want to confirm that I could be better shooting at slightly under full draw.

Since fixing a clearance problem I haven't had a chance to shoot and compare wall and valley release differences. I should have been sorting the arrow clearance instead of worrying about less significant things, but 'live and learn' eh? I'll inspect the timing on a rig on the weekend as suggested by Eberbachl (had to cut n paste that one! :))