Back tension or shoulder power?

[Steve J]

#5805

Last night while reading some stuff, it kept mentioning about drawing & holding using your back muscles,,, like drawing you shoulder blades together.
I think I have always just used my shoulders & triceps to hold the weight.
Do you guys use the holding with back ,, or is that a target archer thing?
Maybe this is part of the reason, I cant pull any more than 45 without it getting to my rotator . Im gonna try this tonight.
I am realizing as well as not knowing stuff,,, I dont even realize what I dont know. oh well , I love learning new stuff. this old dog is gonna learn new tricks 😀
Thanks for you folks input & help on the questions Ive asked,

Steve

[johnny2]

#44708

I use back tension, It’s a holdover from compound days but I think it has principles that apply to trad bow shooters. For starters your using a larger stronger muscle group. There’s a bunch of other technical reasons given for this being a superior method but they escape me right now. Somebody get on here and help me out.

[Bert]

#44834

Fellow archers- some resources that I’ve found useful in the fundamentals-Brian J. Sorrells “Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Archery- Byron Ferguson “Become the Arrow” and especially if you can purchase but one book I can’t recommend too highly Anthony Camera- Shooting the Stickbow- A Practical Approach to Classical Archery. It’s an encyclopedia of what, how and why of our chosen craft.
Personally, I warm up the pulling and holding muscles, ligaments and joints with a heavy Saunders wrist rocket slingshot- Haven’t tried a Bowfit yet but will probably have to get one. Then I stand in front of a Hefty trash bag filled with visqueen plastic and shoot a field point from a pace or so, eyes closed, focusing on the aspects of form that I need to work on- that would be all of them!
Hope that helps- I’ll leave you with the intro to Camera’s book-
I am an Archer
I am not a traditional archer, bowhunter, compound shooter, or target archer.
I draw a bow with the first three fingers of my hand. The bow’s limbs bend in direct proportion to my strength and to the length of my draw. My fingers are callused and my back is strong from years of shooting.
I focus completely on the one target I wish to hit. I use no device to direct my arrow toward its mark, save my eyes and my will.
As long as I have the strength to bend a bow, the eyesight to direct my arrow, and the mental faculty to understand what that means,
I am an Archer.
Those simple statements are applied to how I try to live my life. I do and I am many things, as we all do and are, but the loosing of a well-aimed arrow defines how I try to do all those things.
For those of you who understand these simple words, there is no doubt as to what we do, or who we are.
NOW THAT’S A SAVER!!!!!

[Steve J]

#44890

looks like I may need to order some books. Christmas is coming soon, I may put this on my list. My wife usually gets me something I can t use LOL. The library , just has very little on archery.
Thanks

[Mark Turton]

#45567

Hi Steve

I shoot with a couple of older gentlemen (70+) who both shoot 70 lb longbows, their style is interesting as they lean over the bow and take up tension on the string to about half draw coming close to anchor, as they stand upright they come to full draw using the back muscles. Annoyingly they can do this all day long whereas me, a young whipper snapper gets shoulder pains and the shakes after half a dozen arrows at 70 lbs.

Just to put it into perspective they both once shot English war bows at over 100lbs, a while ago now though.

I put it down to finding a style that suits you but definitely warm up.

Good luck, Mark.

[Steve J]

#47163

Pothunter wrote: Hi Steve

I shoot with a couple of older gentlemen (70+) who both shoot 70 lb longbows, their style is interesting as they lean over the bow and take up tension on the string to about half draw coming close to anchor, as they stand upright they come to full draw using the back muscles. Annoyingly they can do this all day long whereas me, a young whipper snapper gets shoulder pains and the shakes after half a dozen arrows at 70 lbs.

Just to put it into perspective they both once shot English war bows at over 100lbs, a while ago now though.

I put it down to finding a style that suits you but definitely warm up.

Good luck, Mark.

That is really interesting, Im gonna try that today, I saw a program that had 2 guys shooting 100# + longbows ,, and the host, not a weak guy, couldnt even pull them back.

Im thinking with the advent of compound bow, that so much archery has fallen to the side with many, many folks.
A fellow said to me about my longbow. “I have a compound , those stick bows you have to know how to shoot”
He was only concerned with the end result of a dead deer. Not the whole process involved.
You guys have good info,, it is so familiar to you , you may not realize how good. If like me you grew up in the subarbs , you did not unless you had somebody teach you learn many of these things.
Keep talking , Im listening & I bet other guys are too. Some people are too afraid to ask a question , cause thay dont want to admit they dont know. A man learns nothing that way. Im just wanting to learn so much , that I will put my ignorance out there, but then I learn.
Thanks guys
Steve number?? 😆

[Mark Turton]

#49027

Hi Steve

I guess the history of archery goes back to prehistory and much of the knowledge was never recorded, so who knows how many times we have reinvented archery knowhow.

I was once told ‘he who knows not and knows that he knows not is a wise man so teach him’ never be afraid to ask.

Mark.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#50322

Back tension isn’t a compound bow thing or a target shooter thing; it’s an archery thing. There are a lot of fine details in shooting that separate traditional bowhunters from target archers and compound archers, but back tension isn’t one of them.

[Author]

Posts