93% of the best there is.

[geoffretired]

Thanks again Yorker and Wanshu,
I am compound, not sure that the front shoulder is lifting, but it could be better positioned I suspect; I am still working on that area(not too easy done alone).
The release is with a Loesch so I think the follow through is more likely to be at fault. I do notice some are more alive than others, they feel stiff. Relaxation! Good point to remember and build into the imagery. Thanks yet again.

[moo-mop]

I have eight goals - aspects of shooting that need to be done in order to do well (only you can set these, mine include things like technique model, perform on demand, physical strength etc).
Each one is scored from 1-10 on where I am at if my target score goal (average conditions, an important distinction) is say at 8-9 eg lets say for me 1 is 1100 and 10 1300. After I have scored the goals I can then I put in place my methods for making sure each gets to or stays at 8-9 - ie where my overall goals are. [Aside: it's rather difficult scoring though when you don't know what effect the goals have eg tuning].
Methods would be shooting, tai chi running, visualisation exercises etc etc. If I can't do that in one season then I make my overall goal lower although actuality it's a little more complicated as my goals often span two seasons.


Once you have your methods then you make your monthly and then weekly specific plans based on these methods. How much you are going to shot, how much mental training you are going to do etc etc.
You have also got to realise things can crop up and change your plans and your goals (eg new job, less time for shooting, changed my goals).

[geoffretired]

Thanks Moo Mop.
That is very useful. I am certainly guilty of being less well oragnised than that.
With help from posters on this thread, I have some aspects of my form to look at. Mental imagery will come into that list.
Your post makes me feel a programme would make sense, so I do work through a system rather than a random selection of bits to sort.
Thanks.

[moo-mop]

Originally Posted by geoffretired

feel a programme would make sense, so I do work through a system rather than a random selection of bits to sort.

I try to be systematic (ps I sound more organised than I am ).

Basically for me the more defined the plan the more likely I am to stick to it and do enough to reach my goals - provided I don't beat myself up about not sticking to it and re-plan rather than throwing all my thoughts out the window. It's much like new year's resolutions that way I guess, the temptation is always to try and do too much. I'm trying to put into my weekly plans 30mins of planning....

[steve58]

Originally Posted by Yorker

With compound, there is nothing form wise that can go wrong bar your release and followthrough. Your draw will always be the same length, your peep will always be your rear reference. There is a bit more to it than this, but to all intents and purposes the main thing that can go wrong is your aiming (This is why people insist it is such an easy option).

With recurve, your form basically dictates how you will shoot, so if you ignore it you will eventually slip up and shoot badly. If you are concious of it each shot with good form will be a gold without necessarily aiming.

The comment about recurve has to apply to longbow, only about twice as much as we have less on the bow!

[ironmonkey]

93% of top scores..
that could be a ~1250 FITA (congrats), or a less impressive ~550 Portsmouth. what sort of rounds are you using to reach this number?

law of diminishing returns is in play; its probably more than twice as hard to shoot a 590 FITA18 than an 570, so the people at the top spend many times more effort and practice/gym hours to get the extra 20 points that represent the enormous chasm of skill that seperates them from us riff-raff.

i dont do a strict routine of visualisation, but rather just daydream about nice shots in lectures and such, so my visualisation is "little and often".

i used to watch some videos of the good archers shooting every now & then; how to shoot slowly infiltrates into your head that way.

1 hour with a good coach, can help far more than many weeks of regular shooting. however good coaches are so rare as to be practically impossible to find, and having a coach in this country is just a lottery. (in that you will almost certainly lose, but the gain can be enormous if you are lucky enough to find Graham Williams)

being super-strong also makes things alot easier. week-in-week-out technique consistency can be constantly perturbed by your body just wanting to fold up and keel over because you have a pair of 50# Samick extremes that were mistakenly marked 44#. thanks Samick.

lots of good advice from others. make every shot count, which is especially easy if its only in your head!!

[tel]

I was going to quote ironmonkey but too much space....
93% of an indoor or outdoor round? There is an awfully large gap in that last 7%. I think it was moomop that mentioned elsewhere that at this level you look at points lost rather than points scored, so score a 580 portsmouth and you've 'lost' double the points of a 590.......I wish

[geoffretired]

Thanks for the recent posts. I thought the thread had dried up but it's still alive!heehee.
It seems that the thread has slowly drifted a little off course since I first posted. All the posts have been interesting and useful, so thanks for those.
My title for this thread really was an adaptation of a Hi-Fi remark I read many years ago. It said that for 10% of the price of a cutting edge system; we could buy a system that would give 90% of the fidelity achieved by the best.
From that I supposed that if I paid five times more than I wanted to, I could buy something that might deliver another couple of percent in performance.MMMmmmm not much of a step in the right direction.
In archery terms, I felt I was getting out some quite good scores for a small outlay in time.If I doubled my time I could gain a few points; but extra time is not available. I wondered if I could make better use of the time I can give to archery and what changes I need to make. There have been some very helpful posts which have already started to work in my favour.
The high reds have all but disappeared since reading Paul's post. So many mentioned visualisation and I have taken that on board. It helps me get weaker areas of form to work better.
Thanks again.