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Originally Posted by gino Yeah as you seem to have discovered, it's very important to make sure that your left arm is straight before you begin to draw (pull) the bow. If you don't do this it means that you will have to do two things to draw the bow, pull back with your right arm (using back/shoulder muscles) but also push forward with your left which in a short period of time will do some damage you really don't want to do. Take out one of these actions and it'll make life a lot lot easier.
So remember, left arm straight before pulling back. The second thing I want to point out is how you grip the bow, I'm not sure how you're doing this now but I'm going to point out the obvious just incase you're doing it wrong. If you've got it right first time then ignore this.
Gino. |
I'm sorry but I disagree with you here. You have described one method of drawing, which can work well, but there is nothing wrong with starting with the bow arm bent, this is the method I use, and I draw using the push-pull method. If done right there is no adverse effect of doing this.
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Originally Posted by gino You want to make sure that the bow in your hand looks something like this or close to it.
Notice how the bow rests against the fleshy part of my palm/thumb just underneath the thumb. I've seen so many people twist their hand and have the bow resting against the thumb it makes me cringe. To rest it against your thumb is to strain your thumb and the muscles holding it there. If you rest the bow against the fleshy part on your hand then you can see in the picture how the force of the bow is directly along my arm, not at an angle to it. This might help get rid of that pain in your arm.
Hope this helps.
Gino. |
This I completely disagree with. The hand position you have described is correct for shooting bows with a shaped grip, arrow rest/shelf, and high bracing height, but wrong for a longbow. Due to the fact that a longbow's bracing height is very low this hand position leads to catching the string on your forearm, which is not a good thing. It also doesn't give as good a platform for the arrow to rest on. The bow should be held so that the centre of the belly is resting on the knuckle of the thumb. I'll take a picture similar to the one you took and post it later today so that you can see exactly what I mean.
I have been shooting in the longbow using the push-pull method, and resting the bow against my thumb knuckle for nearly 20 years with no ill effects, nor has anyone I have taught to use this style had any problems. The style you have described is a good recurve form, but not right for a longbow.
Daniel