Why can't I get alinged?

[DivingBirdie]

I'm pretty consistent from my stance to follow-through, but in a bad way.

I am still, unable to get proper draw arm to arrow alignment.. Nobody seem to be able to help.

Is it because I am not pulling with my back muscles? I do have a Formaster and is seemingly able to pull the bow properly with my back muscles.. I should

I'm confused.

And about the Release. I read that it is a split second of relaxation of the back muscles, blah, and you get the tension back straight after that. Question is.. How do you exactly relax it..

So many questions!

[ironmonkey]

woahhh hold on! theres no relaxation in your BACK muscles upon release, just your fingers letting the string pass through them with a momentary relaxation. Your back tension should stay on, all the time.. til the arrow hits the target!

about alignment, if you're talking about getting your elbow directly behind the line of the arrow, you can forget it. the fact is even alot of the top international archers can't, or don't do it, though they might be very close.
you might have short forarms, its no problem; i do, most people do!

you can get as close as possible with a good position.
forget about the muscles your using for now, focus on your bones and such.
do you know how to.. sort of.. rotate your shoulder-blade back and around towards your spine?
and keep the draw side shoulder-blade flat against your back (you should use abit of tension in the muscle below your armpit to lock your shoulder down & keep the shoulder-blade flat).
im not a coach so i can only use my 1st hand experience, i hope it helps abit

Chris

[DivingBirdie]

So you mean it is a relaxation of the fingers? Hmm, gonna get all theory right before I shoot.

I tend to tense my neck muscles lot when going to full draw, and getting through the clicker, why?

How much do you actually turn your head towards target. As far as possible?

[Rhys]

I'm sorry but almost everyone can get close to alignment, every person so far that has told me they cant do it I've been able to get close.

Its not something particularly easy to deal with over the internet, but making sure your drawing shoulder is low before you start and bringing it back round during the draw help you to get in line. I'm awful with words at times sorry.

If you have any images/videos of where you are now it might help

(I think Mckinney pointed out in his book that it was shown forearm size relationships played little part, but that might have been superseded by something else)

[DivingBirdie]

Try my best. Embarrassing shooting own lousy form

[ironmonkey]

yep i agree Rhys most of us CAN get very close, but FEW can actually get the tip of the elbow directly behind the line of the arrow with comfort.
fewer still can get "behind the line of the arrow"..

even then, if you attained it, when you release, you're shoulder-blade might not have any room to go into; you might have used up all your scapula rotation.

really, i don't think that elbow thing the most important point here. i don't even know if it was implicated in the original question..

i good indicator of goof alignment is if you get someone to put an arrow across your shoulderblades when you are at full draw, with good alignment, it should point to the right hanbd side of the target (RH archer)

Chris

[ironmonkey]

if your neck muscles are taking some load, thats bad. you need to get your shoulders lower, and use LOW muscles to do hold the bow shoulder down, and your LOWER-to-mid trapezius (sorry for terminology) to hold & expand.
(if you just rotate your draw-side scapula round and close to your spine, this trapezius bit will happen)

a good head position is about 60degrees from straight forward, don't turn it too much, or you'll get tense and you can even obstruct blood flow..

Chris

[John (OSF)]

Best thing you can do is to get a coach even if it means travelling imo

Read your formaster instructions as they will explain everything (it's heavy going the first couple of times I know)