What I've learned from the TradGang

[Mark of WV]

I've been around for a while, made a few posts, even scored a nice FireFly bow from Statedriller on the forum just before Christmas (sweet BTW).

Right now I merely want to extend thanks, there are far too many who provided feedback to thank by name cause I'm sure to miss many.

I spent an evening going through most, if not all the form Improvement videos and reading all the feedback provided by the many knowledgable members here. I was inconsistent, lacking real confidence, and uncertain of where to go. Just looking for a place to start.

Going through the videos helped me greatly in understanding just what "proper" form is. Terry Green, I appreciate the way you, and others, freely share your extensive knowledge with the more "rank and file" such as myself.

To summarize, maybe even helping others, what was most useful to me in this process were the following:

1st - Form is EVERYTHING

2nd - Get to full draw and keep pulling. This seems to single-handedly take care of several issues

a) gets the drawing elbow in the proper place
b) gets the shoulders in proper alignment
c) keeps the shot from collapsing at "release"
d) gets the best performance from your equipment

I watched with particular interest Terry Green's impressive video demonstrating extreme cant angles along with a statement somewhere that stance made really no difference and that form was from the waist up.

These were all eye openers for me. It may sound silly but the next day I attempted shooting from those "extreme" canted positions. What I found out was that when doing the inverted cant positions standing parallel and at 180 degrees away from the target that getting to "full" draw and getting the drawing elbow into the proper position almost HAVE to happen to execute the shot.
I finally FELT what it was to come to FULL draw.

Light bulb moment.

More that a few times, at 10 paces, I stacked the arrows. At 20 paces I'd put all shots in the kill on my 3d. Though I'm not real concerned with that as of yet, I know it will come as form tightens up.

Now if I can get my head to stay in position and groove full draw when facing the target I wont have to hunt with my back to the game;-)

Here are a couple videos of the work. I welcome all feedback and am assured the good folks here wont disappoint.

   Video 1: Form  

   Extreme cant  

Best Regards,
Mark

[Terry Green]

It really looked like your alignment WAS better during the extreme cant angles....and you are correct,,.....it FORCES you into proper alignment.

Look at how much more consistent your release was on the cants vs the 1st clip.

[Mark of WV]

Regarding the consistency of release I'm sort of fence hopping between holding and snap-shooting. Historically I've held my draw for a few seconds settling on target.

I can see however how snap-shooting whether slow draw and release or quicker, such as yourself, can really aid in continuing to pull through release versus having to initiate release by pulling back just a bit more; less chance of collapse, I think.

I'll continue to experiment with this and find a new comfort zone. In the first clip I was settling in on target and not snap shooting so the timing may have to do with how well I was focused on target.

Unless you mean something else by "consistency" in release besides the timing?

Thanks again and Happy New Year.

[Terry Green]

Consistency in where your string hand goes....

[poekoelan]

I've really started to pay closer attention to back tension and pulling through the shot since I've been cruising this forum. I like what I'm seeing in my shooting.

[zetabow]

Originally posted by Mark of WV:


I watched with particular interest Terry Green's impressive video demonstrating extreme cant angles along with a statement somewhere that stance made really no difference and that form was from the waist up.

Mark

You can make good 15y shots snap shooting with no back tension, no anchor or any stance to speak of but as soon as you extend your range past 30 yards all those things become very important.

[Mark of WV]

Terry, I went back and reviewed the videos and see what you mean. Thanks for your insight.

 

You can make good 15y shots snap shooting with no back tension, no anchor or any stance to speak of
but as soon as you extend your range past 30 yards all those things become very important.
 

I don't know much more than what I get here but suspect it's difficult to achieve "full" draw and elbow alignment without getting into the back muscles. Also, I don't see the connection between snap-shooting and failure to anchor. My understanding is you must get to anchor in any shooting style, it seems it's merely how long you stay there.

Just 24 hours before the videos what form I had was certainly quite poor. I see now the root of this was having established an anchor (from childhood shooting over 40 years ago) that didn't allow a full draw to alignment between draw elbow and bow hand. The cart before the horse I suppose. I am truly excited about some of this finally starting to click!

I now had to move my anchor to thumb knuckle behind my jawbone which allows alignment and that additional extension seems to get the back muscles involved.

All this is my understanding so far and am sure there's much to get sorted out, and I welcome the opportunity to bounce thoughts around here.

Happy new year to all,
Mark

[Mark of WV]

I've really started to pay closer attention to back tension and pulling
through the shot since I've been cruising this forum. I like what I'm
seeing in my shooting.  

The first time I experienced the feel of pulling through the shot was after viewing Terry's video. It was an amazing though uncertain feeling at first. I'm convinced that getting that ingrained will be a major leap forward in shooting confidence and accuracy.

Best regards,
Mark

[zetabow]

Mark it was a general statement and no refletion on your shooting video's, just that in my opinion you're better learning with a solid form foundation with a good stance, anchor and back tension, then once you have that solid foundation you can then start making awkward angle shots where stance\\anchor isn't perfect.

[Mark of WV]

Stephen,

Thanks for your input. I find that it is actually more difficult for me to get into proper alignment with a "proper" stance. This, of course, must get fixed. What I really gleaned from attempting those unorthodox positions were a) feeling "full" draw
b) feeling "proper" alignment

I have taken stance out of the equation for now, mainly focusing on ensuring full draw and alignment in whatever stance I'm in.

At this point I would say you are correct though because it takes more concentration for me to achieve those things from a "proper" stance, resisting taking my head to the string.

I probably should "groove" the other things from a stance that doesn't naturally "force" proper draw and alignment. I do find the more open the stance the more difficult it is to get my shoulders around (I think anatomy has something to do with this)    

Mark