How To DRAW A BOW | Save your shoulders!

Hello everyone, thank you for coming today. I would like to talk about a proper way or some proper ways to

draw

your

boat to ensure that you are comfortable, that you are consistent, and that you enjoy the sport as much as possible. We're not going to dive into the posture of how

your

feet and hips are today. I just want to talk about the actual physical action of

draw

ing the boat now. I'm going to demonstrate this today with a handheld style release and a hinge style release, but the same applies whether you're shooting with a thumb button or a wrist strap type release, so first, Let's leave aside the aspect of human anatomy, remembering that here we are working with muscle groups, we are not dealing specifically.

To pull it back with one muscle, we are trying to use many to retrieve the bow efficiently and without causing as much injury as possible. That, of course, first means that you should shoot a weight that is respectable for you and if that means you're starting at 3040 pounds, so don't worry about shooting 50 60 70 80 pounds right from the start. Be prepared, remember that you're exercising and, especially if you're new to the sport, remember these muscles that are here on your back, unless you exercise a lot, even if you exercise a lot, they're very specific, what you're doing is something unique, it can look a lot like to a vertical row, you know this when you're leaning over the table and you're lifting a dumbbell, but remember that this is an asymmetrical action here you won't activate this on the left side if you're a right-handed archer; the opposite is true for a left-handed archer. , you won't activate this left side nearly as often as much as you activate the right side, and of course this is a unique problem you're experiencing with your elbow, you're not used to moving a heavy weight across your body. using these back muscles, so it is necessary to start with a lower weight. and then build from there, for example, I'm shooting 60 pounds here and I've been shooting for 16, almost 17 years, and 60 pounds with a 30 and a half inch draw is super comfortable for me, so I'm going to start.

I'll get into my position here and I'll draw the bow the right way and then I'll draw it the wrong way and you can easily see the difference, so let me try to draw it the wrong way, which I know will be awkward and very unnatural for me in particular, oh yeah, that doesn't feel good at all, so let's talk about the two differences here and why one is definitely worse than the other, so one of the first mistakes I see with people who draw their bows is that They think they have to bring the bow closer to their body, which is not natural.

You try to go beyond your body, which means you want your elbow to be further away from your body. a little bit higher than your shoulder and you want to draw this on your face, you don't want to draw it on your body, remember that if you do this movement even without drawing the bow, you can feel all the muscles in your shoulder and your back arches, your arm it doesn't have a lot of range of motion like this, you can go back there, but it's not as good, although you raise your elbow and you have this whole range of motion and that's exactly what I want that, if I pull the bow wrong again and try to pull from my body to my chest, it's very tight and plus now I'm stuck on my chest and now I have to work my body to make it the rest of the way.

I don't want my real body to become a physical obstacle to my draw cycle. I want to go beyond my body secondly when I enter my body like that. I'm no longer activating my shoulder muscles here in my back when I lose. that range of motion, my shoulder muscles eventually come together and can't move anymore, whereas if I have my elbow up and it recovers, I can continue to use my back muscles, which are much stronger than this movement here. Using this muscle here outside of my shoulder, these back muscles are much stronger and I can draw the bow much easier, so let's draw the bow properly again so you notice that my elbow is not going to be clean here, you know? ?

I'll see some target guys start from up here and they'll raise their elbow and there's nothing wrong with that, although for a hunting situation you should try to eliminate as much movement as possible and I like to shoot longer axial to axial bows. Even when I'm in a saddle or tree stand, I like to try to keep the bow as parallel to the ground as possible. I'll just keep my elbow higher to allow a freer range of motion so my hand can bow hand is about eyeball level, my elbows clearly above my head and I can just draw the bow back and execute the shot.

Now, executing a shot by drawing the bow poorly or inefficiently actually causes a lot of extra movement, let me show you. so if I draw towards my chest here now the bow is clean down here it's very far away now I have to lift it and then anchor it it's not very natural I prefer to start with my release hand much closer to my face This also allows me to hold the event because We've all been there for all the phone callers, we've all been there where we backed out and added ear pegs. We're in the tree at 15 20 feet and the deer. sees us move if I back up correctly and let's say I'm trapped here and the deer has me trapped.

I can hold this for a long time even with a lower arch because now I have all my muscles activated in my shoulder. and they can hold this for a long time if I'm stuck with my bow on my chest like that and I'm pinned like that. I'll get tired much faster. I'm going to have to go down and ultimately probably lose that shot of that animal, so let's see it in action with the poor draw. I go back and draw towards my chest, now I'm stuck here and my bow arm is locked which means I can't. move it very easily my shoulder is completely locked.

I feel very uncomfortable right here. I can feel all the tension in my shoulder muscle. I can feel everything going down towards my lateral lats and it feels like the bones are jumping forward on me. which I definitely don't want him to do, so I've only drawn the bow back maybe half a dozen times in that bad way. I can already feel all the tension and all the pain here, towards my rotator cuff, right here on the outside of my arm I definitely don't want I've been shooting a bow for 16 almost 17 years. I never experienced that pain again.

I can shoot hundreds of arrows in a day and never feel that kind of fatigue and that kind of muscle. and tendon strength if I lift myself up and you'll see how easy it is. I mean, I can pull 60 pounds much smoother and much more efficiently, but keep my elbow a little higher and able to pull the shoulder. back and move forward with the shot, so what are some exercises you can do if you're experiencing that shoulder pain and it's not from drawing a higher weight, it's not from having a draw link that's too long because, Again, if your drawings are too long now you will have to overextend yourself and, in particular, if you are contracting your chest, you will never be able to fully stretch it.

You will have to lean back and pull it over your chest, which again is something you should not do. I don't want to, so what are some exercises you can do if your bow is set to the right length and the right weight, but you still feel that pain in your shoulder when you drop your elbow? Some tips and tricks I've used in the past are taking a tennis ball and literally duct taping it to my shirt in my armpit if I feel like I'm touching that tennis ball that's duct tape in my armpit I know I'm dropping my arm and it's causing that rub if I keep my elbow at least above shoulder height, don't make that contact and know I'm executing a clean release and a clean extraction.

Some other boat strength exercises, you can do an upright row by leaning over the weight bench, but with the dumbbell raised. with your elbow closer to your head than here, you don't want to do an upright row back here, that's not going to develop that strength, have your elbow up, it's going to feel a little weird, it's not going to look good. I recommend doing it at home. because if you do it in the gym you will look a little different than everyone else, but I will help you strengthen your

shoulders

here behind your shoulder blades, I will relieve a lot of tension from your arm in particular and a lot from your shoulder and you will not experience that discomfort and that pain , so that's it for this video if you have any questions about how to draw a bow, how to shoot, how to avoid that pain, how to be more consistent and more accurate, follow the links in the description below contact me on Facebook and Instagram.

You can even go to my email which is also down there and of course always leave a comment here on YouTube. I will be able to go out and enjoy the sport of archery. Hunting, if you wish, definitely enjoy God's beautiful creation and we will see you next time.