Draw weights

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:30 pm

Start draw with "hands up" ie arrow pointing upwards, like the mongols or koreans for example. Keep your arms up (arrow in eye level) and in a straight line (no ellbow drop) when drawing.
Tilt the bow hand. Pressure of bow grip against thumb muscles, not against the whole palm.
This technique seems to train potent muscles that we dont use in everyday life.
My very time saving practice was to draw a heavy bow 6-10 times a day and hold it for some seconds. this took me from 35lbs (struggeling) to 80lbs (easily) within 3-4 months.

Uli

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:38 pm

Kani describes the Turkish flight archers training with a light bow, drawing and shooting into a close target called a sack (torba). The target was on a stand, the arrows were unfletched and the archer stood close to the target.

Periodically the archer would change to a heavier bow. The idea was that you could train your muscles to work in the right way and build their strength up gradually. This is an old technique in the Middle East, China and Japan. There was also a form of weight training with a hand piece, a weight and a cord.

The problem some people felt was that, in drawing and letting down the bow, you were building up muscles you didn't need in shooting. You also developed a pattern of behaviour that could lead to creep and other effects on your shooting. However, in combination with shooting practice, weight training using a bow can help.