This is a collection of many training drills which can improve your recurve technique and physical conditioning. We’ve grouped all these drills together as they’re simple and don’t need individual explanations.
1. 90 sec drill: 6 arrows in 90 seconds.
2. 20 sec drill: 1 arrow every 20 seconds.
3. Team round rotation: 20 seconds to step onto the line, shoot and step off the line. Repeat x 6 arrows.
4. Timing variation drill: Choose 1, 2, 3 or 4 seconds as your expansion timing goal. Vary this regularly. You must shoot the shot within this timing as measured from the string touching the nose until your release, otherwise your shot counts as a miss. Shooting with different expansion timing will help your clicker control and improve your expansion confidence.
5. Shot reset drill: come to full draw, expand and make the clicker click but do not shoot the shot. Come down, reset the shot and clicker before immediately drawing and shooting the shot.
6. Eyes closed shooting: Do this at close blank boss. Shoot the shot with your eyes closed, but make sure you will hit the target obviously! You can vary at which point you close your eyes. You can shoot the whole shot with your eyes closed, or maybe close them until you get to full draw. Maybe you can close them only once you’ve got to full draw, there are endless variations.
7. No clicker shooting: Exactly what it sounds like, shooting without the clicker. You can do this at blank boss to start with, but you can also do it at a target face. This is a hard drill but really helps you learn your real full draw position and identifies any weakness in your full draw or expansion technique.
8. Wind shooting: Many people shy away from shooting when it’s windy. Shooting everyday in strong wind can have a negative impact on your technique, but sometimes it is a great exercise to teach you how to shoot aggressively. Every so often, shoot in strong winds, just make sure to shoot some blank boss afterwards to regain your shot feeling.
9. Soapy hand drill: Get some soap and put it on your bow hand and grip so that it is very slippery. Do your normal shot cycle and come to full draw. You should be able to identify any weakness in your bow hand positioning because of how slippery it is.
Notes:
You should always aim to keep proper recurve technique when training, including when you do these drills.
Read about the basics of technique and training in our introductory guides: Recurve Archery Basics, and How To Train for Archery.