technique for pulling a longbow

[teddybear]

i draw my bow like i do when i use my recerve bow, and 1 thing i have notised is that if you hold the long bow in full darw for 5 or so secons the arrows fly differunt that when you draw and losses

[English Bowman]

That's because a longbow hasn't got man made materials in the make up and so will loose power the longer it is held at full draw. Shooting a longbow using the same technique as a recurve, particularly the long aim time will shorten the life of the bow. Also don't draw it quicker than a recurve, that's also a way to damage the bow. If anything the draw should be slightly slower than a recurve, but to be honest I use the same speed of draw with longbow and recurve, I just don't hold the longbow on aim for anywhere nearly as long. I try to only hold the longbow for about 2 secs before loosing.

Daniel

[ratty]

Originally Posted by Yorker

The simplest way is to just draw it the exact same way as you would a recurve - however maybe a little faster and a little less time spent at full draw. That's all it takes hehe! Just because it is a different shape of bow doesn't mean you can't do the exact same thing.

here speaks a man of experience (NOT)

[teddybear]

a trick i use is to aim to the right and draw a line in my minde to the point im aming at from the arrow tip to the target and at the mow im getting normal 3 in the gold out of 5 arrows at 20 m

[English Bowman]

Originally Posted by teddybear

a trick i use is to aim to the right and draw a line in my minde to the point im aming at from the arrow tip to the target and at the mow im getting normal 3 in the gold out of 5 arrows at 20 m

I'd recommend playing with your arrows, I think that they are too stiff, assuming that you are right handed. Either that or you have a poor loose, or head position. If the arrows match the bow and your technique is good you should be able to aim directly beneath the centre of the target. What spine shafts are you using, how long, and what weight of point?

[not dead yet]

Originally Posted by gino

Yeah as you seem to have discovered, it's very important to make sure that your left arm is straight before you begin to draw (pull) the bow. If you don't do this it means that you will have to do two things to draw the bow, pull back with your right arm (using back/shoulder muscles) but also push forward with your left which in a short period of time will do some damage you really don't want to do. Take out one of these actions and it'll make life a lot lot easier.

So remember, left arm straight before pulling back. The second thing I want to point out is how you grip the bow, I'm not sure how you're doing this now but I'm going to point out the obvious just incase you're doing it wrong. If you've got it right first time then ignore this.

You want to make sure that the bow in your hand looks something like this or close to it.



Notice how the bow rests against the fleshy part of my palm/thumb just underneath the thumb. I've seen so many people twist their hand and have the bow resting against the thumb it makes me cringe. To rest it against your thumb is to strain your thumb and the muscles holding it there. If you rest the bow against the fleshy part on your hand then you can see in the picture how the force of the bow is directly along my arm, not at an angle to it. This might help get rid of that pain in your arm.

Hope this helps.

Gino.

this is how anybow should be heldhold the l/b same as my recurve...l/b 65lb

[English Bowman]

Originally Posted by Yorker

Well Ive shot pretty much every variation of barebow there is... all the most successful traditional archers styles seem to revolve around a consistant draw, anchorpoint and aiming with/along the arrow. What does a recurve'r do, lines up, draws, anchors, aims with a sight.
I will accept there isn't a particularly great paralel between the two styles.

Using smooth acceleration so it pulls a bit quicker than normal exercises plyometric strength so it can help overcome the weight easier considering longbows tend to be a chunk heavier than recurves.

EDIT: The only major difference people like to enforce is tilting.

I agree the technique of shooting a bow is similar no matter if it's a longbow, or a recurve, but you shouldn't draw the longbow any faster than a recurve, it won't do the bow any good. Drawing it smoothly, exactly the same as you would your recurve will help it last longer. I use a V draw rather than a T draw to help get the bow onto my back, but then I do that with a recurve too.
Also I don't cant or tilt the longbow, unless it's a short field shot, and/or there is a tree or something stopping me from holding it upright.

Daniel

[English Bowman]

Originally Posted by not dead yet

this is how anybow should be heldhold the l/b same as my recurve...l/b 65lb

No, no no. That is a poor hand position. It doesn't work well with the longbow due to the low brace height. You will hit your arm every time with that hand position, and the hand position isn't ideal to provide a flat launch platform for the arrow. See earlier in this thread for the correct hand position.

Daniel

[Et tu brute]

Originally Posted by English Bowman

I agree the technique of shooting a bow is similar no matter if it's a longbow, or a recurve, but you shouldn't draw the longbow any faster than a recurve, it won't do the bow any good. Drawing it smoothly, exactly the same as you would your recurve will help it last longer. I use a V draw rather than a T draw to help get the bow onto my back, but then I do that with a recurve too.
Also I don't cant or tilt the longbow, unless it's a short field shot, and/or there is a tree or something stopping me from holding it upright.

Daniel

Just out of interest, what's a V draw? I understand T draw, but I've never heard of a V draw before?

Cheers

[LobbyMuncher]

Check out the website of the Companions of the Longbow (Companions of the Longbow Home Page), there's a video of the v-draw.

Cheers

ChrisM