bow arm elbow

[Erika]

I don't really see what your shoulder has to do with getting the elbow out of the way...

If you put your hand flat on a wall and straighten your arm, you should be able to turn the elbow out of the way without moving the shoulder at all. I draw both compound and recurve with a completely straight bow arm, so it's very easy to turn the elbow out of the way (just like using the wall).

If you are clipping higher than the elbow, your alignment is already bad. You're pushing your shoulder too far in.

[pHz]

no james

maybe some pictures will help - the first one is how my arm naturally sits as i draw my bow (the red line is showing the angle of the internal 'hinge' of my elbow and you can also see the obvious bulge of my forearm jutting into where the string might end up -



the second image is with my hand in the same position but with the elbow rotated clockwise (from my PoV) so that it is more vertical and gives better clearance - this isnt so tough to do without the bow but as soon as that arm is under stress from the draw weight this rotation soon becomes awkward feeling and eventually unmaintainable without discomfort -



my assumption is that either my bones and muscle just wont get into the optimum position for some 'natural' reason or (and more likely) that something else im doing (not doing) somewhere else in my form is creating the knock on effect of my elbow being awkward to get into the right place

slainte : rob

[Meddler]

There's a fairly simple test to show whether your elbow is in the right position.

If you set your arm as if you were going to shoot, and without moving anything, bend the arm at the elbow...

If the elbow is in the correct position (ie vertical) you will hit yourself in the chest.

If it isn't, you will hit yourself in the head.

Reverse that to get the position for your elbow. Elbow at shoulder height, hand in middle of chest, straighten arm.

[johnske]

Contrary to common opinion, the bow hand position has little or nothing to do with this, the radius and ulna (the 2 bones in the forearm) allows your hand to freely rotate through about 270 degrees. Alternatively, if your hand is fixed in place somewhere, they allow you to rotate your elbow through about 90 degrees.

You do need to rotate the elbow out of the way, but unfortunately a lot of ppls natural reaction is to rotate the elbow out by pushing the shoulder in, and this ends up doing very little - with the forearm/elbow still in line with the string. The correct motion needs to be rehearsed.

Step1: Get in a shooting position but replacing the bow with something firm and upright (a doorway, the centre part of a rotary clothesline, etc).

Step 2: Now push hard against against this with the same force you'd use on your bow, allowing your shoulders to just collapse up and forward.

Step 3: Next move your bow shoulder back and down - hold that

Step 4: While the shoulder is being held back, rotate the elbow out (clockwise from your viewpoint if bow is in left hand) without moving the shoulder forward - hold that. (This is the correct position)

Step 5: Relax and allow shoulder to collapse up and forward

Repeat steps 2 to 5 for 20 to 30 times a day as an exercise to help build up the required muscles...

It's split up and practiced as two separate actions, shoulder down/back, rotate elbow, to help explain the process and get the correct muscles working, but over time it will become a single fluid action