Speaking of Shooting Technique

[Swamp Bow]

The recent discussion in the 250 Pounder Attempt thread has been interesting.  I finally noticed something in the picture that Yewboy posted, and that is it appears that warbow shooters appear to purposefully not lock their elbows.  Is this true, and if so why?  This may just an optical illusion, and they do lock their elbow.  I can think of a couple of reasons not to, but mainly that it could be detrimental from a injury/physical point of view.  However since I have never shot one, that is pure speculation and may be completely inaccurate.  Thanks

Swamp

[Justin Snyder]

I would be interested if some of you guys that shoot heavy weight bows would describe some of the key points to form and technique. I have a big old monster of a bow started, but have no aspirations of being able to shoot it just yet. I need to do a little more training so I can shoot it, but it needs to be done right. How about some pointers.

[adb]

I don't lock my elbow when I'm shooting any of my bows.

[Davepim]

Guys!!!!
Never, ever, ever lock your bow elbow with a warbow!!! You shouldn't ever lock your elbow with any traditional bow anyway - just read about shooting form in any book written by traditional archers such as Howard Hill or Fred Bear (to name just two of many). The two main reasons are,  1. a slightly bent elbow allows you to rotate your forearm out of the way of the string; something you need to worry about less with a modern recurve  that has a window and therefore is "center shot". 2. a locked elbow takes enormous amounts of stress directly on the joint with a heavy warbow, both at full draw and when you loose, leading to joint damage.

Dave

[Swamp Bow]

Thanks guys, just what I thought (joint damage).  For the record I don't lock my elbow with my regular bows, but since I'm shooting 45-50# I'm not pushing my strength limits either and have no worries about my bow arm giving out.`

Swamp

[Justin Snyder]

I was thinking maybe you guys could give us some pointers on form in general, not just elbow. There is a huge difference in shooting warbows and your average target bow.

[alanesq]

I think its more finding a way which works for you than following any specific rules
i.e. Once you get to a draw weight where you are having to really work to get the bow back it just happens, you find whatever way you can to pull the thing ;-)

[adb]

If you haven't seen it yet, there is an awesome youtube video: Distance Shootng with an Englsh Warbow. Check it out.

Wide stance, draw "into the bow" (use your entie body, not just your arms), feel your shoulder blades come together, use the whole arrow, bend your knees, sit back from the waist, loose, and follow through. Shooting in the bow feels a bit like you're arching your back, and sticking out your butt.

As I understand it, there are two ways to do this: a rolling loose, and a sustained loose. A rolling loose starts with the bow flat, and you roll foward and up, loosing the arrow in a smooth forward motion, with the archer often stepping forward to follow through. For a rolling loose, check out the video on the EWBS website. The above youtube video I already mentioned, describes what I call the sustained loose. Which technique yields more distance is up for debate, but I believe the top warbow shooters use a rolling loose.

I'm sure Steve will chime in on this, giving much more detail.

[Yewboy]

Well I think you may have covered most of it anyway Adam, However what I will say is along the lines of what Alan said, everyone is different and have different body shapes and strengths so an individual technique will come for each and everybody, What usually stays the same is the initial draw where you are drawing just with your arm strength, If you can then get the drawing arm back far enough, (To your chin), your now in a position to rotate the shoulder, this will give you the extra draw length needed to get to 30"+ and the weight is now being carried on your top back and shoulder, but also the bow arm, once you have this technique you will find that you can lock into position to take an aimed shot if you wish.
With  regards sitting into the draw, well that depends on the individual, some do and some dont, you will find that the bigger guys dont neccessarily do this whilst the smaller framed guys do as it helps.
Cheers
Steve

[radius]

that youtube video is a good one:  short, informative, full of close-ups of technique...good stuff

[Swamp Bow]

Steve, I assume when you say "lock in" you do not mean to lock your bow arm elbow as was discussed earlier, just "lock" the position in general?  Thanks.

Swamp

[Marc St Louis]

If you haven't seen it yet, there is an awesome youtube video: Distance Shootng with an Englsh Warbow. Check it out.

Wide stance, draw "into the bow" (use your entie body, not just your arms), feel your shoulder blades come together, use the whole arrow, bend your knees, sit back from the waist, loose, and follow through. Shooting in the bow feels a bit like you're arching your back, and sticking out your butt.

As I understand it, there are two ways to do this: a rolling loose, and a sustained loose. A rolling loose starts with the bow flat, and you roll foward and up, loosing the arrow in a smooth forward motion, with the archer often stepping forward to follow through. For a rolling loose, check out the video on the EWBS website. The above youtube video I already mentioned, describes what I call the sustained loose. Which technique yields more distance is up or debate, but I believe the top warbow shooters use a rolling loose.

I'm sure Steve will chime in on this, giving much more detail.

I've seen the vid before.  Nice but the music is a bit campy...it woke my wife up and I could hear her laughing hysterically from the bedroom

[Yewboy]

Steve, I assume when you say "lock in" you do not mean to lock your bow arm elbow as was discussed earlier, just "lock" the position in general?  Thanks.

Swamp

Yes that is correct Lock the position

[adb]

There is also an excellent youtube video of Glennan Carnie (and others) doing a rolling loose in slo-mo. It's called: For the Love of the English Bow. Check it out.

[Oorlogsboog]

From personal experience.. I think locking or fixing a stance is often a point raised by people that shoot far less poundage than warbows.

In order to be allowed to shoot a bow at my club, I had to take 'lessons'. I was fitted out with a 24 lbs recurve bow and required to shoot 'properly'.
Trainers were immediately enthousiastic, as I drew the bow and could keep it at draw for quite a long time (I had been pulling a Stratton 110 lbs bow for about a year at that time... ). Their claim: stance is solid as a rock (duh...)

They were shocked however when I brought a 100 lbs warbow..  It was an awesome sight to thm, but they simply didn't get it..
Best compliment I got on the club was from a lass shooting next to me, who said watching me shoot was like someone 'dancing' with a bow. It was more fluent.
Totally not FITA of course... 

Point I'm trying to get across is... shooting a warbow is not :
- raise bow
- draw arrow back
- keep tension and 'aim'
- think about it for a couple of seconds.... 
- loose
- stare at your arrow for a while... 
- listen to THUMP
- repeat the process

It's more dynamic, more fluent. I've also watched the YouTube flicks and got pointers from other warbow-archers, which were of much assistance. But most important is listening to your body.
As long as you can make the effort without wrecking your body, it's probably the right thing to do for you.

You're not going to be able to draw 100+ lbs FITA-style. At least.. I've never seen anyone do it