technique for pulling a longbow

[alanesq]

I am trying to teach myself to use my newly acquired longbow (as no one else in my archery club uses a traditional bow)

I am experiencing a lot of pain in my shoulder/upper left arm (I am right handed) and I am pretty sure it’s the actual pulling the bow causing it (i.e. not the weight on my arm when I get there) and I wonder if anyone can explain what the correct technique is for pulling a longbow as I suspect I have it completely wrong?

[Macbow]

Grab the string with a nice deep hook and pull straight back to anchor in one quick movement while at the same time pushing forward with the bow arm. Keep your elbow in line with the string or slightly higher but not that high elbow thing beginners are often taught. Try to hold the bow's weight at full draw using your back muscles which allows your forearm and hand muscles to stay nice and relaxed. If you can't hold at full anchor for 10 seconds you are probably overbowed. Pain is not good and is a signal that you are doing something wrong. That does not mean that archery is causing the pain - it could be that archery shows up a disfunction that is being caused by something else entirely - check out www.egoscue.com The Egoscue Method keeps me functioning despite the abuse I give my body.

[alanesq]

Thanks for the reply

I have managed to get hold of a documentary on the longbow and after studying the people on this who are using a longbow (one of them 160lbs !) I can confirm that I have been doing it completely wrong - the problem is that I have not seen a longbow in real life before getting mine so I am having to learn it all the hard way

I can see now that I have been starting with both arms bent and just using brute force to push the bow and string apart - if I keep my left arm straight to start with it is so much easier and no pain in my shoulder :-)

This is a relief as I was beginning to wonder if I would have to give in with the longbow before I really got started

Thanks again
Alan

[wingate_52]

My wrist is in a different position when shooting longbow. The bow is too powerful for me at the moment. Must try 3 weetabix.

[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.

[alanesq]

its good to have confirmation that keeping my arm straight is the correct way of doing it.
I am already holding the bow the way you suggest but again its good to know I am doing this the correct way

I have just made my first arrow and today will be the first time I get to shoot my new bow (and new arrow) and the first time I can try out my new straight arm pulling technique, so it should be interesting

Thanks
Alan......

[English Bowman]

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.
Gino.

I'm sorry but I disagree with you here. You have described one method of drawing, which can work well, but there is nothing wrong with starting with the bow arm bent, this is the method I use, and I draw using the push-pull method. If done right there is no adverse effect of doing this.

Originally Posted by gino

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 I completely disagree with. The hand position you have described is correct for shooting bows with a shaped grip, arrow rest/shelf, and high bracing height, but wrong for a longbow. Due to the fact that a longbow's bracing height is very low this hand position leads to catching the string on your forearm, which is not a good thing. It also doesn't give as good a platform for the arrow to rest on. The bow should be held so that the centre of the belly is resting on the knuckle of the thumb. I'll take a picture similar to the one you took and post it later today so that you can see exactly what I mean.
I have been shooting in the longbow using the push-pull method, and resting the bow against my thumb knuckle for nearly 20 years with no ill effects, nor has anyone I have taught to use this style had any problems. The style you have described is a good recurve form, but not right for a longbow.

Daniel

[alanesq]

Well, now I don't know where I am ;-)

I still have not managed to try out the new technique but I will let you know how I get on asap

[Yew Selfbow]

sorry to be blunt Gino ...but your making every mistake in the book...
English Bowman..spot on...

[English Bowman]

Here are the pics I promised

The right way


The right way pic 2 note the clearance between bracer and string


The wrong way, note that the string is touching the bracer


Hope they make things clearer. I can also post some short movies later if it will help

Selfbow, thanks for the vote of confidence.

Daniel