Feet, Yours & Mine

[Kae]

Feet,

To many peoples despair, I hold the idea that your feet are the most important part of the shot routine. As without your feet being in the proper place, the rest of the shot won't be right, or will it?

Does the type of shoes you wear make a difference?

Is a slight heel the best for shooting?

I am genuinley interested in peoples opinions on this, and would appreciate anybody's point of view.

Kae. (Reading and waiting for you Geoff )

[pHz]

only a beginner but i totally agree

surely your form is built on your stance and your stance cant be right if your feet arent ?

as to whether a slight heel or not / open or closed feet / distance apart / etc thats got to be one of those things thats down to what works for each individual to some extent i guess

personally i go with pretty flat soles and my feet are slightly further apart than most other people at the club from what ive seen - just switched to opening the front foot slightly from the closed stance i started with and it feels a fair bit more comfortable so far

slainte rob

[geoffretired]

I have been waiting days for this,Kae. How come you start the thread while I'm having my tea?
Foot position;important or not? Yes, important.
However, if my groups are large, would a change of foot position make them small? If I was shooting tight groups and then moved my feet deliberately, could I not compensate and shoot those tight groups again?Don't field archers have several foot positions depending on terrain?
Upper body alignment is also important, change the foot position and the alignment changes, but I can re-align the upper body and not move my feet.
Also upper body alignment may vary shot to shot depending on the archer's attention to detail. Feet rarely move shot to shot; though care is needed after each return to the line. Being off balance because the footwear is inappropriate would be more damaging to the groups, I feel.

[sarahjrd]

I also agree that the feet have a huge impact on the form and shooting. Not only foot position but the Distribution if weight on the feet. Correct foot postion allow the body to line up. It also helps in the use of correct muscles for the right job. If the feet are set correctly it allows the stomach, buttocks and legs to work on balance and stability (very important outdoors). This means you are not using your back or shoulders to stay stable therefor allowing for proper use of back tension even in the wind.

As far as foot ware is concerned, I have found that flat, with not too thick a sole is best for me. This allows me to easily feel how the weight is distributed. I usually try to maintain 50/50 weight between left and right and 60/40 between front and back.

[Kae]

Originally Posted by sarahjrd

I usually try to maintain 50/50 weight between left and right and 60/40 between front and back.

If I was doing a physics degree, or even a biomechanics degree, I think that this is what I would do my research paper on. There are pressure plate type devices that allow you to measure weight distribution, and I would be very interested in results of this sort of test on the top archers. I don't suppose anyone has seen anything to this effect?

Sorry about the delay Geoff, but I had to wait until you were far away from your pc

Kae .

[sarahjrd]

Aren't there some pages in total archery devoted to that Kae? I think they used the pressure plates to try it out.

[its my party and]

When I started developing a style of shooting I listened to something SLOWHAND mentioned in a previous thread and after asking him about it I set about trying his technique of finding the correct angle in an open stance! Now if I stand at the correct angle, my bow arm becomes as steady as its going to get at the moment and my grouping is very good. Open it up by a few degrees and it all begins to fall apart and the windmill effect ensues. Close it up too much and I start shooting off to the right. I now intend to find that measurement and to started placing foot markers back and forward on my rear foot because it makes a big difference if its not right.

I start square on to the target. then slide my left foot back (about 3 inches) angle it around till it feels comfy. and that's me about ready to go. I have problems relaxing my knees when I'm tense though and that's a balance thing that causes havoc

[madmac]

Originally Posted by Kae

Feet,

To many peoples despair, I hold the idea that your feet are the most important part of the shot routine. As without your feet being in the proper place, the rest of the shot won't be right, or will it?

I would hope so if my feet were at the ends of my arms or where my knees were i would have problems (even more so)
But to answer the question I prefer to shoot with a slight heel(trainers rather than stilettoes)tried to shoot with squash trainers and couldnt hit a footballer at 10 paces went back to trainers no problems(if only)

[buzz lite beer]

Originally Posted by Kae

Feet,

To many peoples despair, I hold the idea that your feet are the most important part of the shot routine. As without your feet being in the proper place, the rest of the shot won't be right, or will it?
Does the type of shoes you wear make a difference?
Is a slight heel the best for shooting?
I am genuinely interested in peoples opinions on this, and would appreciate any body's point of view.
Kae. (Reading and waiting for you Geoff )

I know consistent foot placement should be considered compulsory and I'm not advocating to anyone to do anything less, BUT...during my continuing quest for improvement and on many occasions I've shot six arrows with six different foot positions, from open stance to closed with everything in between and the only thing that's made a difference to any of the arrow impact points is leaning back during the shot, any stance or foot position that affords good and consistant string clearance is a good one.