Bow poundage

I started at 20lbs and now 5 years later am drawing 34lbs at 28". I think the secret is not to increase the poundage too quickly - even a 2lb increment can be substantial if you are not shooting regularly.

[radsbow]

I started off on 18lb on the beginners course, then went onto 34lb limbs and am now, 6 months later, shooting 40lb limbs (40lb on the fingers).</p>

I can't tell you if that's too early to be shooting that weight or not, but I am and have been shooting a minimum of 3 times a week for the last 6 months.</p>

[Field Archer]

I started off with a 30lb trainer bow, drawing about 28", now about 5 or 6 years later, draw length is 30.5" and holding 44lb.

[Shirt]

Hi Shirt, when you say your arrows don't spine properly what do mean? Are they too weak or too stiff? Just got myself a pair of G3 limbs so I'd just like to know what problems I'm going to encounter.

Could have sworn I'd replied to this... oh well.

Too weak. If you get G3s at the same spec as what you had before, they should come out a fair bit weaker. I went for longer limbs, which should have been slower, but they still came out quickly. And once I'd added a couple of pounds so they felt about the same at full draw as what I was used to (yes, they feel a bit lighter than they actually are), my ACEs were fairly impressively weak.

[Mk22]

i started on a 16lbs and now am shooting 22lbs its frustrating a bit because i cn't reach some of the target lengths wich are set for my age group propaly like 50m and 40m

[Barry C]

I started at 32, then to 47, then down to 43. Shooting too much poundage is a very easy trap to fall into.

[archer]

i starterd at 34lb when i when to champs i need to go up higher for 90m ect i am how 36lb i taken me 2 years i try 38llb i was finding it hard so i how back to 36</p>

[avalon]

Used to shoot about 40lb, got injured (shoulder,not archery related), went down to 18lb (tried shooting 60 yards with aluminium arrows, 20lb, and willpower... challenging!) and I'm now back up to around 30-32. Plan to get back to 34-36 but no higher. It's very easy to get tempted by higher poundage, but it's important to shoot something you can control

[MrC]

I was pulling 39 pounds when I was a student many years ago, but found it hard to keep up when I started real work and wasn't shooting so much. Then I drifted away and on returning a couple of years back I found that sitting at a desk programming really doesn't get you good shape for shooting!

Spent some time (months of not very regular practice) trying to shoot the old limbs, but really got going well when someone lent me some 30 pound limbs that fit my old bow (probably 28 at my draw length). They were easy enough for me to manage whole 5 dozen rounds (we were just starting indoor season) and the regular shooting from then on sorted me out. After a few months I swapped to some old limbs from when I was a junior (34 pounds on fingers?) and I was expecting to go back to the 39 pound Borders .... but my riser broke! Ended up buying 38 pound limbs on my brand new bow last year and now pulling about 36/37 pounds - might add a pound or two with the adjustment but basically close to where I want to be now.

So all in all about 18 months to 2 years to get to where I am now. The isometrics are a good idea, I could probably have speeded the whole process up with more diligent exercise, but once I was pulling enough poundage to shoot rounds I didn't really care.

MrC

PS. Worth watching out for bow shoulder strength as well. Some simple dumb-bell raises in the gym recently have shown me how much stronger my left shoulder is than my right after a year or two of lifting a 6 pound bow!

started shooting 18 months ago and started at 35-36lb when i was 14, now up to 42lb