Am I overbowed?

[Shakes.602]

Have You tried Shooting 3 Under? That and a Good Cordovan Tab will ease the Numbness in your Finger!
   Thats doesnt MEAN you shouldnt Shoot with a "Deep Hook", they can make some Big Tabs, because if I am guessing Correctly, Your Digits arent Real Small.
    Nothing Wrong with that, and I agree You are Over-Bowed, but Practicing and getting your Form in Order with the 40# Bow will Help Your "Self-Confidence" as well!!
     Dont Give Up!!Good Luck to Ya Sir!

[David Mitchell]

David, one thing I don't think anyone mentioned regarding the sore third finger--that can be caused by raising the drawing arm elbow too high which puts uneven pressure on the bottom of your finger and can cause it to be sore.  I have a buddy who can look at a guys third finger and tell by the callous in most cases if he raises his elbow instead of keeping it in line with the forearm. Just a thought you may want to take a look at.  You may or may not be overbowed.  If you can draw and hold the bow with good control, the shaking will subside as you build up to the weight a bit more....Dave

[donw]

you're overbowed...go to 35-40 limbs and concetrate on your form...accuracy will follow and you will be able to increase in draw weight poundage as time goes

[James Wrenn]

You can probably get where you can shoot the bow.I do believe that it will take you much longer to learn to shoot good and you will have a hard time breaking all the bad habits you are going to develope from starting out with a short heavy bow.I did the same thing and as far as I am concerned I wasted two years.Get a longer,light weight bow and you will cut the learning curve to a 1/4 of the time and will be much better off in the long run. jmho

[Shawn Leonard]

I say it depends on your strength and condition. I have a bud who can bench 400#s and when he started it was with a 60# bow, he was not overbowed. If you can hold for 3-5 seconds comfortably than you are probably not overbowed. You do not have to hold long at all to shoot well though, as long as you have  asolid anchor point, hit it and let it fly. Shawn

[**DONOTDELETE**]

David, when I switched from a compound to a recurve I was thinking I needed a heavier bow than I should use, having come from a 72# compound. When I started shooting a recurve I quickly found that I couldn't shoot one at anywhere near that poundage. I wish I would have received this kind of info. back then. It is a good idea, like some have indicated, to start out with a poundage that is manageable, that you can shoot with a controlled and steady hand. That way you will develop good form and not bad habits. I read in a trad. magazine that a large percentage of archers start out being over- bowed.

[RKing]

I'll second that ,when I started shooting again in the late 90s I bought a 50# Hill style long bow and went at it.I knew from past experience I could handle 50# ,hey I more in high school. Wrong,2 things ,I draw 30" and the bow stacked like a demon.I was drawing over 60# and could't hit nothin.Finall figured out that problem and traded for a true 50#@30 bow,big difference.That was a trade of convience because the upper limb was twisted on the hill  style and I traded with a local bowyer who could fix it. What I did was get out my old Browning Cobra II and shoot it for a while. Lond winded way to say check the bow @ your draw length,If you draw long it might be best to go ahead and trade for another bow.This forum is great ,wish I had known bout it in 95,would have saved me lots of grief.But I guess the hard learned lessons last!

[Pinelander]

If you can't hold the bow back for 2-3 seconds without a lot of shaking.... you're overbowed. Get control of the bow, don't let it control you and how you shoot. Lighter and longer will be a quicker road to shooting well.

[dposalski]

Thanks everyone.  I have listed it for trade in the classifieds.  We'll see what happens.

[slayer1]

Just one more thing to add. Byron Ferguson, in a recent article- TBM. Said if you can't pull back and hold for 10 seconds you are probably overbowed.

[dposalski]

I went out and shot tonight with some tips from Molson.  Got everything lined up a little better and was able to hold steady for 3-4 seconds.  I was shooting it pretty true where I was aiming.  I think I may have figured it out.  I took a deeper finger hook and rolled my elbow out more like Molson suggested.  I felt a lot more steady.  Thank you all for your help!!

[dad]

I would suggest that you keep your eyes open for a lighter poundage bow. I would do this to fine tune your form. Also would serve as a back up bow.

[dposalski]

I have a 28 lb recurve that my son shoots.  It feels like a toy after shooting my bow.  I do use it to pull and work on form.  Is that what you meant?

[Pete Darby]

You have some good advice on here, but I would like to add one thing if you really want to improve.  Start reading some archery "how to" books and looking at some good video's.  Ferguson, Kidwell, Thompson, Ford and others are good places to start reading and H. Hill, Masters of the barebow and Shulz's video's are also good starting points.  As you read and look at them, look for what they do in common.  That is usually a good thing.  On the videos play it in slow motion and see what they all do.  I think you will find that deep hooks, solid anchor, back tension are pretty common for "good" archers.  Then you will start to see how everything is related.  For example; You don't need to worry much about shooting left or right if you are using a deep hook, proper back tension and a natural anchor along with a solid placement of your face on your pulling hand. (This example is an example and doesn't constitute the sum of what is required to be a competent archer.  I know there is a lot more involved.)

[ux monster]

You could be overbowed i am not sure.I weigh 150 lbs and stand 5 foot 7 inches tall with a 26.5 inch draw lenght.I have been shooting traditionl bows since the age of 8 years old,33 now.Never touched a compound until 2 years ago just to see what it was like.Didnt like it at all.I was shooting over 50lbs at 15 years old,today my bows are as follows at my draw 59lbs,60,61,63,65 and 77lbs.I shoot all these bows well and dont feel overbowed one bit.But i snap shoot,when i reach full draw and my middle finger touches my mouth the arrow is gone.If i try to hold i shake,i can hold 2 to three second without shaking.Holding is not my shooting style and never will be,this dosent bother me one bit.You mentioned that you shoot well with this style.Why change that and try to hold if you dont have to?Or is it something you just want to be able to do.I can only attribute my own abilities to shoot heavy bows due to years of conditioning archery muscles and my style of shooting,i am a small guy and freak people out on a regular basis with the weights i accuratly shoot,i think with time you can shoot your 55lb bow real good to.I also shoot with the tips of my fingers and find they only get sore if i dont shoot much,when i am shooting all the time they calus up and theres no problum,when i am shooting my heavier bows i anchor a little deeper into the string cause it just feels right.I would borrow your buddies bow and give it a try,but i wouldnt give up on that 55 lber,with practice and condtioning it should be no problum for ya.Goodluck.By the way if i try to hold my accuracy suffers,so i just dont and dont worry about it.

[TENBEARS]

My wife says im over bowed,i told her i would sell some!      :cool:    :rolleyes: