Getting back in shape

[cynicrit]

Tried pulling my bow today. Couldn't get it back. Have been out of bow action for a while due to health issues, but didn't realize I had gotten so puny. Any suggestions on best exercise to strengthen bow drawing muscles? Or the ones to avoid? I'm pretty sure it's not the bow. I took a turn off of the draw weigh screws and could finally draw it. It shot in the middle, but about 6" low at 25 yd, so I figure the problem is me.

 

[dmj]

No ones has given you an answer and I'm not sure mine will help. I've been hunting with the bow more years than I can remember and even though I haven't been away from archery hunting for any extended period. This past year I did have to have an operation that put me down for a couple months and boy let me tell you, being in my mid 60s it didn't take me long to get out of shape. This is what I did and am still doing to try and get back to some kind of shape. Try and walk from 2 to 6 miles a day, Do 300 to 400 crunches daily. Have weights that are 5lbs, 10 lbs and 50 lbs. Use these to strengthen my shoulders and arms. Will do this at least once daily and sometime 2 or 3 times a day. I'm not an expert with weights so a lot of what I do with them are just things that I feel relate to the mechanic of pulling a bow. And then the most important thing to me is the actual shooting or if you can't shoot daily then pulling of the bow daily. I'm right handed so I hold the bow in my left hand with the sight at approx. eye level then pull the bow straight back in a slow smooth draw. I can shoot daily so I practice holding the draw for different periods of time 5-10 seconds up to 20-30 seconds. The reason I feel shooting or at least pulling the bow daily is so important is I've seen people that were 3 times stronger than me that couldn't think of pulling a bow that I could pull with ease. So I feel that it has to be in the training of your muscles to accomplish the act of smoothly drawing your bow. Of coarse I started slowly and have been trying to increase everything over a period of time. Like I already said I'm not an expert on any of this and have know idea if any of what I do is bad for you, just hopefully giving you some ideas. My basic idea is , doing anything is better than nothing.

 

[StrutNut]

How I trained my son was to shoot at a lower poundage. Shoot until you are getting a little wobbly than quit right away. Dont over push it or bad habits might develop. Do several shootings per day and slowly work your way up. We also hold full draw for a minute than settle and shoot. Muscle memory will start to kick in and make things easier. I even pull my bow pack every time I get on stand or start on ground just to get the muscles going. It really helps in colder weather. You have a bit of time before fall so just keep working at a comfortable draw weight and work your way up to the poundage you desire.

I hope this helps as it is what has worked for my son and I. I am still holding strong at 65 lbs and my 14 year old has worked his way up to 50. Just dont over do it. I have found its better to shoot many sessions daily than one long session.

 

[cynicrit]

Thanks fellers. Have to agree. It's amazing how being 55 changes things from 25yr. ago when I started bow hunting. Still hooked though and trying to feed my habit. Will definitely work more time pulling the bow in with the other exercises.

 

[jrock]

One of my favorite things to do is to take a 20 lb+ weight and lean forward against a wall or chair, dangle your arm down and lift it up and back. That move seems to help me the most. Bicep curls help a ton too. Your back does the pulling on the first half of the draw and the bicep/shoulder does the last half. Work both sides of your body equally! I'm a RH shooter and I found that pulling the arrows from the target with my left hand instead of my right helped balance out the pulling muscles.

 

[Chris-Lawson]

One thing I will do is get an elastic work out band and fix it to something and draw it over and over, simulating the process of pulling my bow back.