Hi All,
Welcome to this week’s quick tips email. As always, please forward this message to any of your archery friends who might find it helpful.
I hope you’re enjoying the Paris 2024 archery, there have been so many good matches it’s hard to keep track.
If you’re not sure how to watch it live, I’ve been using Discovery+ which has live coverage of every match of every sport for around $10. I’d strongly recommend it and this isn’t sponsored. I just don’t want you to miss out on all the great archery.
The consistency of your setup position is very important, but many archers don’t pay a lot of attention to this.
If you don’t have a consistent setup, then it’s extremely unlikely you’ll have a consistent full draw position, and hence your expansion and release will be affected too.
I’d strongly recommend checking in with your setup position using an overhead camera angle like this, or simply by doing the Setup Repeats drill.
You can start this drill first of all with a light bow, practicing going from your set position to your setup position and checking how consistent you are using delayed feedback or a mirror. Then when you’ve done this you can try it with your normal bow.
Regularly doing this drill in your training is a great idea.
Last week I mentioned how regularly checking your tuning is important.
Today I’ve got another simple way you can do this: every week or two, simply measure your draw weight. This is a great check to do because limbs do actually lose some of their strength over time, and regularly checking your draw weight is a good way to keep on top of this.
As a result, checking your draw weight will allow you to spot any changes in your tuning much earlier.
Lastly, before limbs delaminate and break, they often lose a large amount of poundage in a short space of time. So if you suddenly notice your poundage has dropped, then this can warn you that your limbs might be at the end of their useful life.
It’s a really good habit to get into, and only takes a couple of minutes.
Most of the things archers tend to work on are concrete, positional technique areas. These are things such as bow shoulder positioning, alignment, posture…etc.
Indeed, these are things I often talk about and still recommend you work on.
But….
Timing and rhythm is one of the most important factors in a successful shot. If you’ve been watching the Paris matches you’ll see this clearly demonstrated.
So when was the last time you had a training session where you were purely focussed on rhythm and timing?
I know for a fact that the top international teams have dedicated sessions every single week to work on their timing. It’s a great idea to make sure you’re incorporating this too. Don’t neglect your timing!
That’s it for today, have a great weekend!
Happy shooting,
Ashe
