Using your back

[Rik]

The driver behind the original question, was that I've realised, very recently, that I've been doing something wrong. My draw arm shoulder has not been down and in-line, I've been using it to achieve movement in the last part of the draw.

Now this arose through misinterpretation of pictures and descriptions of the processes of performing the "expansion through the clicker". Looking around the shooting line last night, I can see that it's a common enough mistake. The key to why it's wrong comes back to Marcus' comment about "back tension": bringing your shoulder into the process tends to create tension you don't need, out of the line of the shot.

There's a couple of points here; it highlights the dangers of "booklearning" and self-coaching. Trying to teach yourself something isn't always the most efficient course. Also descriptions of a process are usually made in a way that is sufficient for the describer to understand the process, the problem is when the description isn't sufficent for the reader to understand it. The devil is in the details, as always.

[Murray]

Indeed. It can often take a coach and a hands-on approach to identify if the correct alignment is being achieved, and if the correct muscles are in use.
Again, for me, it's more about the feeling of power or load across the back than actual "rotation of the scapula", etc

[Des]

KiSik Lee explains it all really well in Total Archery i think. I was way confused before reading his ideas on it. I'm not saying i've mastered it by any means but I know when it feels right, as the clicker goes exactly when I know it's going to.

[Woodie]

Originally Posted by DMU_AC

this is what im having a lot of difficulty with at the moment. i cant seem to feel anything on my back or hwo it should feel.
quite annoying and tricky to solve

Have you tried using a form master? Because it fits on the elbow it takes the biceps out of the equation. It is important to set it at the right length though so you are not over drawing.

The only descripiton I can give is feeling the drawing arm shoulder blade moving in and down pulling the elbow in to line, laterally, with the arrow

[cliveanne]

Scapula movement can be developed by swimming the breast stroke.

[clickerati]

Interesting. One afternoon two years ago, I'd been swimming breast stroke for 90 minutes when I realised something was really beginning to hurt. By the next day, I couldn't bend or turn. It deteriorated over a fortnight before I saw a physio. Long story short...pulled the muscle around my right scapula. In addition to many things the physio recommended, back tension was one of the them. That was before I took up archery, so when my coach recommended a few of us try it, he said I had the gist. Wasn't exactly right, but I knew what it should feel like. Looking forward to working on it properly this summer.

[cliveanne]

Hope it works out clicky