Exercises specific for Archery?

[Xena]

Hi all,

I've been into archery for a long time, but I've never been able to pull very much weight (for those who don't shoot, bows are rated at at certain 'poundage', essentially, the higher it is the harder it is to draw the bow).

I'm definately not into the whole macho thing of 'I can pull & hold 70#!', but it would be nice to increase my pull somewhat, at my level even 5 pounds would help (and I was given a bow much nicer than any of mine which is about 5-7 pounds out of my range)

p.s. for those who shoot, I'm talking longbows, not compounds. I would have to build enough strength to actually hold the weight...


Sooooo..... can anyone thing of any exercises which might be beneficial to increasing strength for this sport? I've thought of a bullworker (is that the right word?), but I've also heard many bad things about them and would rather stick with dumbbells (which is what I have).

Thanks for reading this entire post!

[Bo Jones]

I havent the slightest clue about archery so take that as it is...

Your upper body can generally be broken into push and pull muscles. The push muscles are your pecs (chest), triceps, and parts of your shoulders. Your pull muscles are your biceps, delts(upper back by your neck) lats (upper back) and parts of your shoulders. Obviously since you're pulling, those would be the muscles you are looking at. Namely I would think the biceps and lats are the ones most important to your goals.

I would strongly encourage you to get a complete weight training routine going and not just the muscles you need, as it is important to develop every area so that your body is proportionate and can compensate for itself.

Excercises I would specifically recommend to you would be some type of row (regular, low, bentover) some lat pulldown, and some bicep curls. All this should be available in some form at your local gym. Freeweights are typically the best choice however the pulldown and rows will most likely have to be performed on a machine. As far as nutrition, technique, frequency - it's beyond the scope of this post but all here on the forums. Search with the search function at the top before you go asking simple questions because they've likely been answered 10 times already. And I would suggest posting to the Weight Training forum as its much more active than this one. Hope it helps.

[HunkOLove]

The two current authorities both agree the weapon was much stronger than our present day bows. Count M. Mildmay Stayner, Recorder of the British Long Bow Society, estimates the bows of the Medieval period drew between 90 and 110 pounds, maximum.9 Mr. W.F. Paterson, Chairman of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, believes the weapon had a supreme draw weight of only 80 to 90 pounds.10