Just today I received a new Morrison Cheyenne with carbon/foam longbow limbs. The limbs are marked 63@28 and I 'typically' draw 30.
I can reach full-draw and lock in if I lock my bow arm, but this is not how I like to shoot. I prefer to shoot with my arm slightly bent, but when I do so with this bow I cannot keep my left arm from wanting to collapse.
What exercises can I do to specifically target the muscle groups required when shooting a bow? Any advice as to gaining strength to handle heavier draw weight?
It is a simple one. Draw your bow to about your wrist with your bow arm completely bent and then push the bow away. Do a few reps at the start and build up. Eventually you will be able to bring your anchor all the way back to normal and with a collapsed bow arm and do many reps at full poundage as you need to have the strength you need to shoot with a bent bow arm. One word of caution, I was showing how many ways a 150 pound Jennings elephant bow could be drawn at a shoot, just to torque off a big mouthed compunder that had been harassing me. I did the total push away draw a couple of times too often and my elbow hurt for a couple of weeks after that.
Go get 'em Dusty. This is an arrow slingin machine at your draw!
Deep groove draw your bow in 1/3 increments & hold each for a 3 count to full draw. Let off the same 1/3 increments. Do 10 reps each then switch hands & pull with your off hand same 1/3 increments both up & back down. 2 sets each everyday. These are actually HH's exercises. They work quick wihtin 10 days you'll see very positive results. Just ask Maddog Matt (Raging Water)!! He pulled a hundred pounds the other day.
Awesome! Thanks guys. I imagine a rotation of these two exercises will put me right on my way.
I need some info on the bent arm thing I see and hear about. Doesnt that break a few rules? I was always taught to let the "bones" hold the weight and not the muscle, it seems a bent arm relys on muscles rather? This may be the wrong forum for this question, but I have to ask!
Just keep shooting it. You don't have to shoot it as much straight away, perhaps only ten or fifteen or twenty arrows a day to start with. Gradually you'll be able to shoot it more.
Here is a picture of me with my 98# at 28" Big Jim Buffalo. My arm is slightly bent.
I was told, early on, that a straight arm, means the shot will go off to the left. So, I have always kept it bent.
I look at Howard Hill's bent arm and he pulled much heavier than me.
At 47, I am not nearly as strong as I once was. My arm strength (Bench Press) is much less than it was 5 - 10 years ago.
My prescription for keeping your arm from collapsing = Push Ups.
(http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac138/hemdell/Big%20Jim/CIMG6154.jpg)
Set it by the entery way to the kitchen and every time you go into the kitchen pick it up and draw it ten times, after a month or two it will feel 10 pounds lighter.
Raging Water,
I drew one of Big Jim's personal bows back at Cloverdale this year. It was 89@30, and I could get it to full-draw, but there is no way I could shoot it even remotely accurately.
Push-ups are one thing I considered, and I plan to add them to the regimen. Thank you for the advice.
As I stated, I can get it to full-draw, but I feel I need to work into it a bit more to feel confident hunting with this weight.
Dusty after my surgery I picked up a Bow-Fit exerciser it really helped me get back on track.You can hold and pull it so many ways and vary the weight to suit you.Its small and compact and you can take it anywhere.
I had a chance to shoot 6 arrows this morning. This bow is a rocket launcher. However, it felt like the bow was shooting me!
I'm torn between working up to this bow, or possibly trading it for something lighter. Then, once Spring arrives I will get another heavier bow and begin training with earnest. Hunting just occupies a lot of my time this time of year.
Dusty
I just posted on another thread on heavier bows.
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=095155
The biggest reason for keeping the bow arm bent when shooting longbows is to reduce the shock to the elbow. It's like jumping with your knees bent.
Here's an old picture of me shooting a 105# longbow and you can see that my bow arm is slightly bent. Disregard the arrow it was just a spoof. :)
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/104%23_elephant_bow.jpg)
I have seen skeeters in the Mississippi Bottoms that would take that arrow and beat a man with it. :laughing:
God Bless,
Nathan
I think Don Thomas had a article in a TBM a couple of years ago you might want to look at. It encompased the work-up you are interested in.
Do you plan to hunt elephants on a regular basis? 50 # bow at you're 30" would have outstanding arrow speed and penetration for anything! I bet you have a time finding arrows to spine stiff enough for you! I guess the above recomendations should do the trick, just dont blow a shoulder and then have to go to 30# or shooting a crossbow. You da man!
I'm 62 and shot 68 at 30 for years and years. Now my spine goes straight up my back until it gets to my shoulders, where it takes a half moon curve to the right. I'm right handed. When the doctor and I looked at the X-ray, I had to laugh when he said, "look at that, what do you suppose caused that".
Now, I know your not going to drop down in poundage so this might answer your question, because you said you were going to do push-ups. Get in the push up position with a 15 pound dumb bells in each hand (the dumbbell weight can't be round). Do one push up and with your hands in the up position, do a press so that your right hand is towards the sky and your left hand balancing on the floor. Bring your right hand to the floor and do another pushup and then reach for the sky with you left hand (dumbells in hand all the time).
Think of the muscles that you use in archery and thnk think of the muscles you use in this exercise. It's a ball buster. I can do 100 push ups (only 50 with good form) and the first time I tried this I could do ten. Much more cardio than you'd think. I now do two sets of 12 in my workout.
Bowmania
Try doing heavy back rows too. Lay face down on the weight bench and lift the dumbbells straight up as if rowing. In order to draw heavy bows you need to build the back muscles as well as the shoulders and arms.