Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

Guys I saw A thread written awhile back talking about bending your elbow slightly during practice. It was supposed to help you relax and tighten your groups. Is this true, or did I misunderstand it. Was hoping someone could help out here. elknut1

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

a slightly bent elbow and relaxed arm are to help you from torquing the bow also a bent elbow will keep the string from hitting you on the forearm, but relaxing your bow arm and bow hand help reduce the chances of bow torque....

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

ditto

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

Rebel Wolf is dead on, another thing this tells you is that if you can not bend your elbow at full draw then your draw length is too long and you need to shorten things up.

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

I just went through this bent elbow ordeal recently. I have always shot a 30" draw with a slight bend in the elbow and have always shot great but the local bow shop guy has been telling me that i have a 29" draw and that i wasn' t bending my elbow enough. He measured me and watched my form over and over so after a while i finally let him talk me into a 29" draw, big mistake! It' s amazing how much that 1" makes. Although i shot the bow well it was very uncomfortable to me because i had to bend my elbow way more than i wanted to in order to be able to anchor correctly. The bow also kept creeping and trying to collapse before i was ready to shoot. Unfortunately the bow maxed out at 29" draw so after about two months of trying to adjust to it i sold and went back to 30" and i' m glad i did. I know there are lots of guys who shoot to long of a draw but i think you should shoot what ever you can shoot the best and be the most accurate with and comfortable.

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

Almost all world class shooters (Dave Cousins et al) shoot with locked (but relaxed) elbow. I personally shoot with a bent elbow simply for the additional clearance with hunting clothes. Go to archerytalk.com and type " elbow" in the search engine and you will see hundreds of posts on this. Proponents of a locked elbow say that it creates a more repeatable set-up and people that shoot bent elbow say it is irrelevent. I say for hunting situations/accuracy it is irrelevent but I' ve never won a world archery title either.

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

I shoot with a very slight bend in the elbow. I used to shoot with a straight arm and my brother convinced me to change my form. I didn' t see much of a difference. I read an article in Bow and Arrow Hunting, don' t remember the fellow who wrote it, on this subject. The guy is an olympic archer and he shoots with a locked elbow. His opinion was do whatever is comfortable for you, neither is right or wrong. Try both and make your own decision.

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

I always advise shooters to use a slightly bent elbow.....just enough to unlock it from a locked position. My logic is rather simple. By locking your arm you are forcing more of a bone to bone contact thus making it much more difficult to hold steady. By slightly unlocking your arm you are forcing your muscles to steady the bow instead thus making it easier to hold a steady aiming point.

RE: Bending Elbow--Or Not
 

PA,
Not that I disagree with you but the reason that Dave Cousin says he locks his elbow is the consistency of the bone on bone contact......FWIW I agree with you but I don' t shoot like Dave either.