Form help (video)

[Terry Green]

Yes....the more you shoot....the more that 'feeling' will come to you.

[BowsanAiros]

My thoughts on getting the “feel” for the shot and maintaining that “feeling” is:

Some or most make the mistake after shooting blank bail, to go to 10 yrds. They believe (think)
that all the work they've done on the bail will work at that distance (Why wouldn't you?).. What
 most fail to consisder is that the one thing that goes though the mind (thinking) is whether their
 going to loose the arrow or not..This makes the bail shooting you've done worthless. So they'll
go back to the bail and start over again...
The less you think about, the better you'll get that “feeling” and keep it.
So once you've drilled the bail, start shooting at 3-5yrds. and no farther. You'll be able to totally
 concentrate on the target by doing this. (You'll be able to keep your form consistent)
Take as many videos as possible while shooting so you can Analyse where you've gone wrong,
when you get a flyer.  
Make the most out of your shooting, because perfect practice makes for a perfect shot...

[Javi]

Originally posted by Balding Kansan:
I've been shooting every evening and working on the suggestions given. A few things I'm trying to hash out like why can I shoot an awesome group where the draw and release feel good, retrieve the arrows then send a few into the basement wall? It's weird for me....the millisecond before I release I either 100% know it's going to be a good shot.....or not! You know what I mean? I get this feeling where everything feels right. I guess the trick is getting that good feeling every time....

Learning when NOT to loose the arrow is the most difficult skill of all..

[David Dumke]

Originally posted by Balding Kansan:
I've been shooting every evening and working on the suggestions given. A few things I'm trying to hash out like why can I shoot an awesome group where the draw and release feel good, retrieve the arrows then send a few into the basement wall? It's weird for me....the millisecond before I release I either 100% know it's going to be a good shot.....or not! You know what I mean? I get this feeling where everything feels right. I guess the trick is getting that good feeling every time....

I get that too, as soon as an arrow is about to be loosed I can almost see it before it happens, perfect shot. Then when I get a little unfocused and overconfident I don't feel or see anything but an arrow flying at the target.


I've watched your videos a bit and, being new as well, I can only suggest things that have improved  my form. Moe has some videos on youtube that I watched and learned how to engage my back from. Imagine yourself using a pec deck at the gym, when your easing the pads back, and I emphasize easing, your back muscles are engaged to prevent the weight from slamming down. Same concept only in reverse, you want to engage those muscles that keep you from dropping the weights too fast and hurting yourself, to draw your bow. Also I noticed you like to lean with your bow, if your doing this make sure it's not your spine your bending. Terry emphasizes this in any tips he gives and it's a great tip. Gonna bend? use your waist.

To try and keep your spine straight while drawing take a deep breath, while hunting you're obviously going to have to be quiet, but until you can remember to inhale while drawing, exaggerate it a bit.

Like I said I'm not a pro but these are all things that helped me with my form.

Stay sharp, shoot straight, and have fun. Good luck man.

[mrjsl]

Couple of things - I am no expert either, but try a lot of things.

One, the way it feels to have a good repeatable form is very subjective. The way it feels to some is very different from the way it feels to others, and the ability to explain how something feels is difficult at best, so reading all the threads on here can get confusing.

What will work best for you will be however you can reach alignment, and bring your back muscles into play and do it with a high degree of repeatability. For me, I think of "hanging" the weight of the bow onto my back muscles. It feels to me as if I draw to my anchor, "hang" the weight onto my back muscles and expand very slowly until I'm ready to release. In practice this looks like I draw, hold, then loose. But it does feel different.

When I try to do something with my string hand, such as make it touch my shoulder on release, the result is less consistency. My hand comes back a bit, but stays close to my face or on it.

If I'm not shooting well, I usually need to remind myself to keep a relaxed string hand and relaxed bow hand as well. This cues me to use all my effort pulling away from and pushing towards my spot and none of it doing bad things.

When you say you know when you are going to make a bad shot, I know what you mean - in my case it almost always has to do with my string hand - I didn't get the right grip on the string, or something like that.

[moebow]

mrjsl said:
"When I try to do something with my string hand, such as make it touch my shoulder on release, the result is less consistency. My hand comes back a bit, but stays close to my face or on it."

Your follow through should be a NATURAL REACTION coming from proper alignment and muscle use.  NOT a "TRY TO MAKE IT...".  If we allow our body to react normally we get good results.  If we start to "play act" ourselves into a position it will never work.  At least not consistently.