How is my form?

[Pullonmylimb]

I finally came to the long overdue conclusion that looking at myself while shooting is impossible.  That being said I had my wife take some overhead pics so I could see how I line up in comparison to how I feel.  To my suprise I think I look better than I felt.

 

I think if anything though my front shoulder may be pointing in just a tad.  What do you all think?

Just ignore my multi-tone tan as that would be off topic for sure.

[waiting4fall]

Do you have a video camera that you can shoot in front of at different angles, as that would help us to help you alot more.

[Pullonmylimb]

I think I can do vids on my camera.  Just thought I would check out my alignment first.

Ill see if i can do some vids later this week.  Do I post them through phot bucket as well?

[moebow]

Waiting4fall is right, a video will help but...  with what I see from this photo, here are some observations.  Compare your picture with the "form clock" picture in the upper left corner of this page.  Both your shoulders are forward a lot so if you drew the line between your shoulders it would be curved from your left to right shoulder.  Your chest is collapsed and  There appears to be little to no tension in your back between the spine and your right shoulder blade.  I suspect that on release your string hand flies out away from your face rather than straight back.  Without seeing the full shot and the dynamics involved it's hard to tell.  These are just posture observations.

[Terry Green]

Not too bad really....

 


Shoulders look like they are aligned pretty good.

   


Here's is where you are off(red line).....not to bad, but definately room for improvement....which will help negate windage and torque issues by gaining proper back tension.

 

When you draw further back at this point, please note that the direction is not all 'back'...your elbow will come back, but also 'around' in a 'J' shape as you dig into your anchor....See red 'J'.

   


Red line is the angle of your elbow at the moment...the purple line is where you want to get it...

 

The quest is to end up as close to this as possible....and you don't have that far to go if you wish to make changes.

 

[Pullonmylimb]

All right so moebow and Terry I think you guys are both telling me the same thing.  Somehow I need to rotate the elbow towards my back which should open the chest, tighten the back, and straighten the elbow to wrist alignment.

Terry I think thats what you are showing me with the long red line in the third pic down.

I can say it easier than I think I can accomplish that but I'll work on it and get the wife to take some more pics.  Don't know where I'll end up anchoring but the alignment should probably dictate the anchor, not the other way around.

Thanks for the help so far.

[moebow]

I think you have the idea.  If you do that -- that is "open your chest"-- That happens when you rotate that rear elbow back as Terry says.  That shouldn't change your anchor point, but may increase your draw length.

[Terry Green]

Gregory....yeah...you got the idea...your anchor will 'dig in' and move back a bit, but your elbow will go back AND around.....not just 'back'.

You may find a 2nd anchor point in the process....creating a repeatable 'double anchor' that will help you get proper alignment consistently.

Best of luck.

[SHOOTO8S]

Yep, your bow shoulder is rolled in and too high...which along with stability problems, puts you at risk for shoulder injury...Try this to achieve a low and relaxed bow shoulder:


Bend forward at the waist...raise your bow to needed elevation, then draw the bow 2-3'', then when your finishing the draw begin returning to an upright position...this should result in a low and relaxed bow shoulder.

[Pullonmylimb]

OK I did some work and adjusting and I think I got my elbow rotated around much better in my opinion.

 

1st draw for the camera

 

2nd draw for the camera

I have to really concentrate on opening up my chest and tightening my back to make this happen.  Probably should practice this for a bit to get used to it before I add anything else.

The fact that the 2 pics above are 2 seprate draws tells me I should be able to repeat this although they are not carbon copies.

In order to bring my shoulder around I had to keep my head leaned back a bit from usual and i was able to keep my anchor point the same, although it does seem to bury a little tighter.  My draw also opened from 27" to 28.5".  I feel like the rotation was the part I just wasn't getting right beacause my head was getting in the way. Doh, hate when that happens.

Incidentally I did some shooting after the adjustment and my shots were way tighter left to right.  The proof is in the shooting and I'm convinced its a change for the better.  Thank you guys for helping.  If you didnt describe the rotation and show me in the pics, I'm not sure I'd have figured it out on my own.

I'll try and do some vids this weekend if I have time.

Shooto8s does my bow shoulder still look high in the new pics?  I'm thinking maybe it does in the 2nd pic.  If it does I am all ears for tryng to correct it, although maybe I should wait until I have this first adjustment ingrained a little better so I'm not trying to do too much at once.

[BobCo 1965]

Another little trick to get the low bow shoulder is to use a "scooping" motion. At the setup position start raising the bow motion by "scooping" the shoulder downward. Then reach toward the target with the palm.

[tradtusker]

yip thats pretty good alignment       hows the shooting? grouping well consistently?

[Pullonmylimb]

Been shooting at tennis balls tossed in the yard since the change and I definitely am a lot more consistent left to right.  The improvement was immediate and dramatic.  I am feeling a lot more confident in my shooting.

[Terry Green]

       

[kenneth butler]

I believe you got it but with all your fingers extended like that and I don't see a sling,I bet you are going to be grabbing the bow. A video may show some weird things happening at release.
  Best of luck >>>---> Ken

[McDave]

Did you know that you're responding to eight year old posts?  Albeit interesting ones. I'm going to look them over and see if I can learn something.

[kenneth butler]

I sure didn't. THANKS I look and learn from the subjects. I will have to watch the dates. Ken