General exercises/strengthening

[Damage]

Hello everybody,
Having recently taken up archery and now progressing from club trainer bows to my first 'proper' bow I've come to realise just how one-sided I am in terms of the strength of my right arm over my left. Up until recently my left arm was purely used for leaning on things and keeping the left sleeve of my jacket from blowing in the breeze !

So..until I invest in my own bow does anyone out there have any tips on strengthening the weaker arm? I have some stretching bands for warming up and general exercise but wonder if there is anything else I can do. I'm not looking to draw 40lbs+ with my first bow (probably nearer 30-34lbs) but still feel I need some help to build up not just the strength but stamina.

Cheers
Damage

[ThePinkOne]

Originally Posted by Damage

Hello everybody,
Having recently taken up archery and now progressing from club trainer bows to my first 'proper' bow I've come to realise just how one-sided I am in terms of the strength of my right arm over my left. Up until recently my left arm was purely used for leaning on things and keeping the left sleeve of my jacket from blowing in the breeze !

So..until I invest in my own bow does anyone out there have any tips on strengthening the weaker arm? I have some stretching bands for warming up and general exercise but wonder if there is anything else I can do. I'm not looking to draw 40lbs+ with my first bow (probably nearer 30-34lbs) but still feel I need some help to build up not just the strength but stamina.

Cheers
Damage

Holding the bow steady in the bow hand at full is as much or more about form and good alignment as strength. "Talk to your coach" is always a good start...

P.

[napolienne]

If your left arm is your drawing arm:

buy some clini band (you may have some already, if this is what you mean by stretching band), double it over, draw as normal holding the loose ends in your bow hand. You can practice your draw whilst watching tv...

If you have access to a bow, set up and do reversals (drawing then coming down, no arrow), holding longer at full draw than you usually would (count to 10 or similar)

If your left arm is your bow arm, try getting hold of a light-ish weight (2kg or so) and practice holding it at arms length, steady,as you would do a bow.

Tenzone has some good information on training for archery.

Don't forget to warm up before, and cool down after exercise. Dynamic warm up, dynamic then stretches to cool down. There is also info on this on tenzone.

And, like TPO said, talk to your coach, as they should be able to help put together/find someone who can help put together a development plan tailored to your physique/requirements/timescale.

[Damage]

Thanks, Guys,

Damage

[MovingTarget]

This is probably a bit late, but I use something called an NSD PowerBall.

It's pretty much a gyroscope in a tennis ball sized thing. By spinning it around it seems to help strenghten the arm after a few days. This helps to stand steady whilst shooting.

[Raphe]

Originally Posted by MovingTarget

This is probably a bit late, but I use something called an NSD PowerBall.

It's pretty much a gyroscope in a tennis ball sized thing. By spinning it around it seems to help strenghten the arm after a few days. This helps to stand steady whilst shooting.

I took delivery of my powerball this morning.

Judging from how hard it is to actually type at the moment, after a 10 minute lunch-hour tryout, I think this little device is finding some muscles that arent get much of a workout usually.

The principal is that some pretty small wrist movements (1-2cm circles) can get the gyro in the ball up to some impressive speeds (15k+ rpm), at which point it is exerting forces on your arm at around the 40lb level. So, its resistance training, as you exert force just to keep still.

My immediate reaction is that this is a good way to spend 20 quid, and may help me with the steadiness of the grip on my riser.

Oh, and beating my highscore is going to be addictive. Which will come first, my 500 Portsmouth or my 10k powerball?

[Damage]

Originally Posted by MovingTarget

This is probably a bit late, but I use something called an NSD PowerBall.

It's pretty much a gyroscope in a tennis ball sized thing. By spinning it around it seems to help strenghten the arm after a few days. This helps to stand steady whilst shooting.

Thanks for that . Where can you get (or try) one of these?

Damage

[Jumile]

Originally Posted by Damage

Where can you get (or try) one of these?

Try eBay - your cup runneth over. It's where I got mine.

[MovingTarget]

They seem to work, but the trouble is they're almost too addictive.

Great fun if you get someone to try without them realising just how powerful it gets so quickly.

I got mine from Maplin, but you can probably get them from a variety of places. Still, internets nearly always best.

[Cunobelin]

There is a book called Archery Strong, which is reviewed in the current edition of Bow International. The reviewer seemed pretty impressed with it, but I'm not convinced that its any better than any info you can get off of the www.
Heres a link to it:

http://www.quicksarchery.co.uk/super...p?product=1428

Anyone here read it?