bending at the waist

[nhbuck1]

i hear people saying i should bend at the waist when i shoot, wont this causea collapse? is it a forward and sideways lean at same time? what are the beneits?

[reddogge]

You bend at the waist for uphill and downhill shots like out of a treestand. You do it to maintain the "T" formed by your torso and bow arm and drawing arm. If you don't do it you will ruin the "T" and short draw.

There are different ways to do this. One way is to slide your hips forward or backward depending if you are shooting uphill or downhill.

[reddogge]

[BWallace10327]

Make a T with shoulders and spine.  Make the same T with an uphill or down hill shot by bending at the waist.  The collapse you are trying to avoid is likely to span from keeping shoulders level, but moving bow arm up and down to adjust for shot angle.

[moebow]

What reddogge and BWallace said!  Maintain the "T" is A MOST basic fundamental of shooting.  I can't see how you would perceive that bending at the waist would cause a collapse.  That technique is used to PREVENT a collapse that just lowering or raising the bow arm would cause.

Arne

[nhbuck1]

people say this will help with arrow under they, now what about eye or shoulder level do i still bend

[nhbuck1]

under the eye sorry

[McDave]

If you're shooting at something where the target is at the same level as your arrow, you don't bend.  If your target is much higher or lower than you are, you bend or tilt at the waist to maintain the T alignment of your shoulders.  It is helpful to shoot many arrows at a target that is at the same level as your arrow, so you learn what correct alignment feels like.  Then you will know how much to tilt for uphill or downhill shots to maintain that same feeling.

[nhbuck1]

dont yhou want to bend forward at the wasit tho so it maintains the T and alows you to cant?

[McDave]

Some people prefer to bend forward at the waist for a normal shot; however, most really good shooters I have observed prefer to stand in a normal relaxed upright posture.  A lot of people shoot a normal shot with either no cant or a couple of degrees of cant, which doesn't require any bend.  If a particular shot calls for more than a normal cant, you should bend your torso to maintain your alignment as you cant the bow.  This would be a sideways bend, not a forward bend.  You would bend forward if you're shooting downhill or down from a tree stand.

[nhbuck1]

got it dave thanks again for the info

[Sirius Black]

Personally, I hate bending at the waist. Instead, I move my hips "to the rear", or back, and it produces the same result, keeping my "T" from the waist up, and brings the shot down.

[McDave]

Originally posted by Sirius Black:
Personally, I hate bending at the waist. Instead, I move my hips "to the rear", or back, and it produces the same result, keeping my "T" from the waist up, and brings the shot down.

That's what I prefer too, as it keeps my center of mass over my feet better than simply bending at the waist.  But aren't you really doing both, bending at the waist at the same time you're moving your hips?

[katman]

Originally posted by McDave:
Some people prefer to bend forward at the waist for a normal shot; however, most really good shooters I have observed prefer to stand in a normal relaxed upright posture.  A lot of people shoot a normal shot with either no cant or a couple of degrees of cant, which doesn't require any bend.  If a particular shot calls for more than a normal cant, you should bend your torso to maintain your alignment as you cant the bow.  This would be a sideways bend, not a forward bend.  You would bend forward if you're shooting downhill or down from a tree stand.

Well said, I believe the op was mixing bending for up/down hill shots(side ways) and canting the bow while bending forward.