1st bow to heavy. help!!!!!!!!

[316maxwell]

#2998

hi folks. i bought a wapati recurve from j.r. chastain. my draw length is 27 inches. i had it made at a draw weight of 55 pounds. it looks like that is to heavy for my 1st bow. any ideas on what i can do to be able to draw this bow? i would be willing to trade this new bow for something lighter. i have shot a compound for 5 years and have decide to go traditional. i would appreciate your comments. thanks. Chris

[T Downing]

#15386

Chris, I firmly believe you just need to be patient and work at it a little. You need to simply get into what I call “bow shape”, First, do not shoot your bow for a while, you might develop some bad shooting form habits and that is the last thing you want to do. To start, string your recurve and pull the bow back as far as you can (without an arrow) and hold it there for a moment and then let the string down easily. Of course, never dry fire the bow! At the beginning, try to do two sets of ten pulls. Do this for a week and slowly build your way up. What I mean by build your way up is either add more reps or sets, that is entirely up to you. I guarantee you will experience immediate results after only two weeks. The longer and further you can pull that string back, (even if you go past your anchor point) the better. Many traditionalist have been forced to go up in bow weight due to larger game, such as Cape Buffalo. They all understood that you have to build those unique bow muscles to be able to accomplish the rise in bow weight. You can do it! I would bet money that after a month of working on your muscles doing the aforementioned exercises, you will shoot your fine recurve beautifully. Another suggestion is to push pull when you draw your bow. Bend your bow arm and when you begin the draw, combine the push with the pull. Does that make sense? Lastly, I believe that Don Thomas, who is the editor of TBM, once mentioned how is wife Lori, was shooting a bow close to 60lbs. From the articles I have read, Lori is a small women. She had to work her way into the heavier bow. Again, I know you can do it! Don’t give up. :!::!:

[ButchMo]

#15401

Cris,
You have been given some very good advice from T Downing. I would do as he says.

[Mark Turton]

#16034

Hi Chris, stick with it as TDowning says, only thing I’d add is if you feel pain back off, give it a rest. The muscles will soon shape up.

I shot a 70# compound for years and could not believe how different it was going to a 50# longbow, but worth it.

Mark.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#16383

The first thing I would suggest is picking up a used bow that you can handle. Put the 55# bow away for now. Learning to shoot when you’re overbowed is a great way to set yourself up for failure…and injury.

[Rocks]

#16720

Great advice from T Downing but I’ll second what J Wesbrock said. I bought my first longbow, a mid 50 pounder to hunt with last winter, I could tell it was a little much for me at the time so I went and bought a cheap 40 pounder and used it almost exclusively for a few months with some short sessions with the heavier bow. I am now shooting the heavier bow with some confidence, it seems like I just needed to train those “bow” muscles.

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