proper bow arm position
 

I have read a lot of different threads about proper bow form, my question is your bow arm should it be bent a little at the elbow or locked in straight

ant input would be helpful

thanks

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Your arm should be slightly bent.It's hard to tell from most photos you see because the person'sbend in the elbowis parallel to the string and looks straight from the right side if you are gripping the bow properly. However, standing to the left or behind the same person you will see a slight bend.

Locking it in straight can result in torque on the bow as well as the possibility of the string smacking the snot out of your forearm on release.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Your bow arm should be in the position that creates the least amount of tension in that bow arm. Typically this is done in a straight position, however don't confuse the term straight with "locked" or hyperextended. Every persons body type is different though, so this may vary from person to person.

I personally shoot with a straight bow arm, with the inside of my elbow at a 45 degree angle to the ground, and my front bow arm shoulder low and bottomed out. This is where I develop the least amount of tension in my shot, and where I am most consistent.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Exactly


This post from Greg/MO says it well.

As far as the straight arm... I think the best I ever heard it put was by Michael Braden when he talked about having a bent arm and leaning against a fence post or door jamb. See how long you can hold the weight of your body up like that; then, straighten your arm out to a relaxed state just like it were hanging naturally at your side and see how well you can support your body weight. There's no comparison.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I've seen pictures and video of both of you shoot and you do indeed have slightly bent elbows. If your arm is relaxed the elbow is bent. That's the natural position of your arm. The only way your arm would ever be straight is with a locked elbow. That's why I stated that you should not have a straight arm.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I guess it really depends on your perception of "bent" vs. "straight". I don't consider thisbent though....................



Before I worked with a coach, I had a bent arm. It's one of the first things we quickly changed about my form. Below is a pic taken about 2 months before I changed this.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I agree with the idea of a person's perception on the subject.I guess we really should be talking about if you should have your arm locked or not. WhenI look at my arm it does not look bent but it is very, very slightly so that the elbow is relaxed.

Side note: Your grip is a lot different too which makes a big difference.My oldgrip was like your bottompic and my new one is like your top. If you try to bend your arm too much with your top grip the arm wants to kick out. Grip has a lot to do with if a person bends the arm more or not to keep from getting wacked by the string.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Your bow arm elbow should never be locked straight.

With that said, different people have different degrees of bend in their bow arm.

The most important things to remember are: whatever your form is, it must be able to be replicated time and time again, it must be comfortable to you and it must produce the same results (aka arrow flight) each time.

I've seen some archers have horrific forms, but they can shoot the lights out. That doesn't mean they are wrong!

RE: proper bow arm position
 

You are right on with this statement.I know I don't have perfect form,but I have no problem hitting my target,it is when I will try to perfect my form that my shooting becomes erratic,and when I go back to shooting where and how I am most comfortable my accuracy returns.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Trust me when I say that this is caused by trying to change your form the wrong way. New form or form tweaks are learned on the blank bale. It will only benefit you once you have engrained it into your muscle memory and subconsious. Your mind cannot think about new form and aiming at the same time and do both well.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

RICK;You may be right,but I shoot only to hunt,now if I was trying to burn up the 3-d circuit I would most likely get a coach and try to perfect my form,but for hunting I'm not to worried about it as long as I'm shooting as well as I am.I'm too darn old to worry about changing my form at this stage of the game,besides I know that in a lot of hunting situations perfect form is not an option at times,sometimes you have to make it up as you go along to get the shot off,it's kinda like hunting with a backtension release,sometimes you need to shoot when you need to shoot and can't wait for the shot to suprise you,but you do make a good point about shooting withuot aiming.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

That's for sure Matt. I tried just shooting when I changed my griplast year and gave myself some serious target panic. It was so bad that I was releasing before on target and shooting all over the place. I had trouble hitting a bale at 20 yds for about 2 weeks.

A fellow shooter recommended I just work on the form. I'd just draw my bow 5-6 times in a row and let down andthen just shoot at a blank baleafter the last draw and now I'm happy I changed my grip. It was tough to not shoot at a target and just think about your body.Now though even when I'm shooting at a target I can process what I did wrong and correct it for the next shot without freaking out.

If anyone has played any sport and tried to correct a flaw in a motion they know that it takes the body a while to stop trying to do what is wrong and retrain using the brain. Muscles just want to do what they've been programed to do and breaking that will cause poor performance until the muscles are retrained. Heck, even a professional athlete goes through issues when they change a motion that's been ingrained in their head.

I am not a target shooter so my thoughts on some things differ from others. However, I firmly believe that the better you shoot in practice, with good form, the better you will be when you have to adjust your body for a hunting situation. I''m mostly talking about upper body form. If you keep theshoulder and arm form correct you will be more accurate more often and I think it's easier to take unorthodox shots because of this..

RE: proper bow arm position
 

It depends on the type of archery we are talking about if alocked bow arm is correct or not.

I believe that with a compound that a straight,relaxed arm is correct but with a olympic style recurve that a locked bow arm is "considered" correct.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

How to get good bow arm position:

Hold your arm straight out to the side, palm flat, fingers straight and your thumb pointing straight out to the side.

Keeping the arm straight to the side, relax your shoulder and allow it to drop straight down to where it stops by itself.

From the shoulder, rotate your upper arm so that the inside bend of your elbow is vertical.

At the wrist, rotate the hand so that your thumb is pointing up at a 45 degree angle.

Relax the elbow and allow it to take a natural bend. (Optional: disregard this step for high wrist, as discussed below. Instead, flatten the top of the wrist so that you can point the big knuckle at the base of the index finger at the target)

Relax your hand and let your fingers and thumb assume their natural curl.

And there it is.

Most people these days shoot low to medium wrist style. It's practically identical with the bow arm/wrist position used for shooting longbows, in fact. Ain't it amazing how we've progressed all the way back around to longbow form? ;)

Some still use high wrist - I guess mostly us old farts who shot high wrist for years and can't get comfortable with any other style. Also, a great many recurve shooters use high wrist. High wrist works best with a straight and at least semi-locked elbow.

And you see odball mish-moshes, like the Olympian that TFOX posted. Severely locked elbow and low wrist. Watching someone shoot with a reverse bend in the elbow like that really does creep me out - and his is very slight compared to some I've seen. [&:] But if that's what works for that individual, that's what they gotta do.

Too many people try to rubber stamp "good form." There certainly are points of good form, but those points should be considered guidelines rather than absolutes. Each individual is different. There is a wide range of individual physical traits, so there must be a wide range of adaptations to compliment them or compensate for them, and those adaptations need to be allowed for.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Actually,that is a very acceptable form in the olympic arena,as a matter of fact,I see more doing it that way than not.Do a google search and most pictures you see will be this style.


The coach I know actually told me once that he teaches it for his recurve shooters. And for reference,he has coached 3 or 4 youth shooters to world records and is a level IV instructor.;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Well Im a little more simple than the rest, they all have great advice, but you gotta shoot how you feel the most comfortable. If you are like me, I shoot with a slight bend at the elbow, but I know others who lock out their arm and they shoot fine too. If you are not shooting competitions or for Team USA, don't worry about it, just shoot and hunt.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

If we were on Targetshooternet.com and not Huntingnet.comit would be great to talk about a form that would not work out of a treestand with a traditional bow.;)

In addition, the PS was asking about arm position for a compound bow.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Now that's funny right there!

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Nothing in there about hunting or target form.

PLUS,I clearly stated what the locked bow arm is for.

Some are interested in LEARNING things,others are not,if not,skip over and move on.;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

For those that care and are still in doubt about a locked bow arm for certain types of archery.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWZ4WJQ-624

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMhelaq4WhU

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Scattering pearls before swine again, TFOX? I've chosen to not waste my time on thisex-technical forum any more. :eek:

RE: proper bow arm position
 

So can we all just agree that no matter what your form is, as long as it is repeatable and you obtain the same results time and time again without injury or harm to yourself, then that is all that is important?

Jesus you guys can beat a dead horse into the ground.

And Arthur P, your comments about people posting on this threadbeingpigs, is not only idiotic but it is very disrespectful.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

My mother always told me life was like a box of chocolates.

oink oink

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Amazing isn't it,you get into the technical side of archery,in this case,the mechanics involved and get belittled for it.:eek: Especiallywhenthe question was asked.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Actually,that is a big reason for proper form.Proper form allows for repeatable execution with the least amount of work.It also prevents injury.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Guys, he knows his stuff ;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

TFOX,

You are like a little kid that always has to have the last word aren't you? Then, you make it sound like you are the good guy.

Proper form is any form you can repeat over and over. Furthermore, who is really to say what proper form is? People wer arechery hunting long before target shooting and it seems as if the target shooters want to force a form onto others because it works for some world champion. Look at a guy like Jim Furyk. His golf swing is horrible in many of the proper form purist. And yet the guy is a millionaire. There are literally thousands of ways to do the same thing.

Matt/TN,

You know nothing about MD or me and have never met either one of us. I've seen him shoot better than spot competition guys at the local range.;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I'll agree with that statement as long as you can agree that different people can have different proper forms.

Which is like I said before, as long as you have repeatable results with no injury/harm to yourself, then that is perfect form.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

No reason to be defensive.


I was just stating the TFOX knows his stuff. I've talked to him quiet a bit.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I do agree with that,never said I didn't,BUT,their are basic fundamentals thatmost of the good ones adhere to.

Then their are the few that Arthur eluded too (or Jim Furyk)that just do it their own way,but those few are usually just gifted enough or practice to the point of rediculous so that they can repeat it.

Good form doesn't have to be practiced everyday to be repeatable.Some body types change "proper" form so it fits the archer in question.Good form helps the not so gifted more than the gifted.

Rear elbow is one,very few archers can have their rear elbow down and in line with their arrow with a bt release but many are still stuck on that as "proper" form,sorry but that is one area that I think the archer (and his body type) must decide what is correct.

Dave,I care nothing about the last word.I know something about the question asked,I answered the question ...Deleted by CalHunter...

I personally found it interesting that the 2 different disciplines had such a different take and requirements for what proper should be.Thought that a few more might feel the same way and just maybe,the question,WHY might come up and some actuall constructive conversation might start.IMO,this is MUCH LESS than constructive.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Thanks for calling me that. I'll be sure to forward it on to the right people. You could have ignored me just as well but yet every post I make that you differ in opinion on you seem to want togo out of your way to try to prove something. I'm not sure why people have to resort to name calling and I'm pretty sure that swearing on these forums isno no.

Here's why I disagree with you on presenting the Olympic Target Traditional form.

You can actually give someone too much information. You are probably intelligent enough to know that the vast majority of people who come on here are hunters and want to know how to do something for hunting. People disagree with you so you pull out forms for traditional shooting when you know that's not what the person was probably asking about. I would never show an archery how a form works for another type of bow unless they asked me about that type of bow. You overload their mind and they'll be thinking of a 1000 different things at the same time.Always follow the KISS principle.

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Idon't usually postin threads you have participated inbecause it always turns into something like this.

I was in agreement with everything that was being discussed and stated as much.When the subject played out,I gave some more info because it had been stated that a locked bow arm is never acceptable.That isn't true and the info in this thread quite clearly stated the relaxed straight bow arm is the best conceived form for compounds,I believe the original poster was completely capable of understanding thatand was quite capable of separating the two.




...Deleted by CalHunter...

There,that is my last word.:D

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I said alocked bow arm is not acceptable and I stand by that.

We are still on a hunting website...correct?

Or did I venture into a target shooters/olympic form?

Just asking.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I said I was done with this thread but there was a question directed at me.


This is a hunting site but we are on a technical forum and imo,that covers all things technical and mechanics are technical.Mechanics involved in all venues should be able to be discussed without being ridiculed for it.


Your statement used the word never and that simply isn't the case.On a compound,it is readily accepted that we shouldn't lock our bow arm,I agree with that 99% of the time.(always the exception to the rule)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

As compound shooters, we should never lock the bow arm. If you are locking the bow arm, you are not properly fitted for your draw length.

That is plain and simple 100% of the time.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

I am not ridiculing you. Those that live in glass houses should not throw stones.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Have fun

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Peace Out