Back Tension

[DanielB89]

How many of you draw your bow back to anchor and then the arrow doesn't move at all?  I always thought my anchor was "ROCK SOLID" and it is, but I had my nephew watching me shoot to tell me if my arrow was creeping forward while I was at anchor.  I shot about 20 shots and did everything I could to keep it "rock solid" and he said I was creeping on every one.  


Any help with this?  I would love a more solid anchor and not creep at all, but I don't know how to do it. lol.

Thanks for any input.

[Jock Whisky]

I don't know if this will work but I get to anchor and then tell myself to keep pulling, keep pulling and try to rotate my elbow and shoulder around my back. Hard to describe. If I do it correctly my hand comes straight back on release.

[McDave]

It may be some comfort to you to know that everybody creeps, from Olympic archers on down. So it's really a process of minimizing creep rather than eliminating it.  

For those who use a dynamic release, it's "keep pulling."  If you creep enough that your nephew notices it, then you aren't pulling enough.

For those who use a static release, it's keeping the back muscles locked off and learning to relax the fingers without relaxing the back.

You should be able to reduce creep to the extent that it's barely noticeable in a close-up slow motion video.

[DanielB89]

Well,
I told him to look for ANY movement at all and that is just what he did.  He was signaling that it was only moving 1/4 in or so, but then again, its really hard to understand an 8 year old from time to time. lol

[NBK]

Daniel,
Funny but I had my daughter (8 at the time) do the same thing a couple of winters back with the same observation.
What works for me to minimize the creep was to really focus on pushing with my bow hand.  I think that all of us concentrate on our back tension but sometimes forget that its a two way street and some of the creep is conjoined with a "collapse" of our bow shoulder.  
Just a thought.  

[Caughtandhobble]

Have somebody video you, the video don't exaggerate your shot at all.

If you want to know if the creep is really effecting your shot, go shoot through a chronograph. The chronograph will show you how consistent your release is by looking at the consistency of your arrow speed. Say if you shoot 190, 190, 191 FPS you have a good release. Now if your arrow speed varies from 183-191, you need to work on your release. Of coarse these numbers are made up but I hope you understand what I'm saying.

A form master will also tell you if you're creeping. The form master is a very good tool to periodically check your shot as well.

Like mentioned above a controlled creep is not that bad of a thing to deal with. But like most, we are always in pursuit of the perfect shot.