Upping poundage?

[1415]

I currently shoot a 65# longbow without any difficulty, have done for about a year now. My goal is to shoot 100#. Would it be wise to buy a 100# bow and just gradually get used to it? I ask because it's quite a leap in poundage. Thanks.

[Nick]

   You know i was thinking of moving to a 90lber now as i can almost shoot my 70lber with ease and just slowly get into it. What i did is asked for a bow that is 80lbs at 30" (my minimum draw, at the ear) and that is 90lbs at 32" (my max draw, well behind the ear). So when i learn to shoot 80lbs i don't need to but a new bow.
   As for jumping to 100lbs from 65lbs, i say don't do it as it will take forever to get into it, you may get frustrated and there is a good chance of hurting yourself. So my advice is make a 15lb jump but certainly not 35lbs, I did this when jumping from a 40lber and man i was mad. Took me six months to be able to draw it let alone easily.

Nick

[Bueskytter]

I'm inclined to agree with Nick, though maybe if you tried drawing to the lips, as opposed to the ear, at first then you could ease yourself into it.

[alanesq]

What I have done in the past is to put a rubber band around the bow (the sort recurve archers use for training) to up the weight so you can get a better idea of what weight you can manage to draw

[adb]

What I have done in the past is to put a rubber band around the bow (the sort recurve archers use for training) to up the weight so you can get a better idea of what weight you can manage to draw

Could you post a pic of this... I can't visualize what you mean.

[alanesq]

Basically just make a loop of the rubber strap then put the bow through it and pull the bow with the starp running around the bow and string where the arrow goes
if you pull the strap to your draw length with a spring balance this tells you how much weight the strap will add to your bows draw weight

I did this when trying to figure out what weight bow to order

[Tom_Brone]

I always shot with 45-60 pound bows, one day I bought a 100 pound bow, I was able to draw it from the first time. I shoot groups of about 7-8 arrows, for about half an hour to an hour whenever I have the time. I never hurt myself and that 100 pound bow has now become my every day shooter. Before I bought that bow, I held two 50 pound bows in one hand, and tried to draw it as far as I could. For several weeks, drawing the bow every night a couple of times, I didn't see why I would have problems with a 100 pound bow. This is just MY opinion, but don't be intimidated by 100 pound bows.

Tom

[D. Tiller]

Just went to 80# from a 60# bow. Not so hard to draw but just about at my limit at full draw. I will stick with this one for a while then up it by 15#'s. Go ahead and build your own bow. It costs a lot less than buying one!

[Nick]

I always shot with 45-60 pound bows, one day I bought a 100 pound bow, I was able to draw it from the first time. I shoot groups of about 7-8 arrows, for about half an hour to an hour whenever I have the time. I never hurt myself and that 100 pound bow has now become my every day shooter. Before I bought that bow, I held two 50 pound bows in one hand, and tried to draw it as far as I could. For several weeks, drawing the bow every night a couple of times, I didn't see why I would have problems with a 100 pound bow. This is just MY opinion, but don't be intimidated by 100 pound bows.

Tom

Yeah Tom has got a point. Don't get intimidated by your goal because then your only holding yourself back from achieving it. But I doubt you were drawing two 50lbers before.

[alanesq]

my experience is that there will be a weight you can just manage and you may not realise what this is
if you draw a bow 10lbs lighter than this it doesn't seem much easier to draw, but 5lb over and there is no way you can draw it
so working up to this weight goes really quickly and you get the impression its going to be easy to work up to a heavy bow but once you hit this weight then getting past it takes a long time and a lot of hard work

e.g. I went up to 120lbs very quickly but getting to 140 has taken ages and there are still days when I cant get it to full draw now

You have to be careful though as its not just muscle strength you need to build up, your bones/joints  need time to adjust to being put under these stresses.

[D. Tiller]

Alan has a good point there. Give your body time to adjust to the new weight you are drawing. Man, after shooting the 80# bow I sure feal it today. Even my stomach muscles feal sore!