How to Relax the fore arm; hand and fingers?

[Ray091]

Just watched a DVD given to me by a friend and it was "The Archery Factory"by Rick Weld.

I was amazed when I saw his shooting hand time and again drop away like a wet rag when he released his arrow.

I have read comments by various people saying to relax your fingers, not to the point of not being able to hold the arrow but just relaxed enough (whatever that means) and to relax your forearm.

How do you learn to do that and do it correctly, is it just practicing it over and over by trying to think about it while shooting?

[McDave]

I have spent quite a bit of time with Rick Welch and have discussed this with him.  He has noticed my hand flop from time to time, but mostly I just relax my fingers without the hand flop.  He doesn't encourage anyone to emulate him with the hand flop, and very few of his students actually do that.  He does encourage his students to relax their fingers rather than attempt to open them, and occasionally this results in a hand flop.  OTOH, ocasionally his hand doesn't flop, but he still generally hits what he's shooting at.  Probably it would be a good thing if you could relax your hand so much that it flopped like his does, but I don't think it's something you can force.  Just learn the difference between relaxing your fingers and forcing them open, and always do the former.

BTW, Rick's advice would be to not try to "think" about anything at all during the shot.  Just observe what's happening while you're shooting, and think about things in between shots.

[moebow]

Ray,  I haven't seen that video but it sounds like the shooter was/is shooting a target style bow?  If so,  What you are describing is called the "sit" maneuver.  As in using your hand to tell your dog to "sit."  You need to use a finger sling or wrist sling to retain the bow. It CAN be done without a sling but...

If you are using hunting style equipment, most folks don't use a sling so the alternative is to relax your fingers to the back of the bow which in turn relaxes the muscles in the bow forearm. This "sit" maneuver is less effective so when I teach, I seldom even address this.

In both styles, there is a little tension in the triceps to keep the arm straight this is helped by the pronating of the bow arm elbow.  But!! the bow weight is resisted by using the bones in the arm, upper and lower.  If the bones support the weight, it allows you to relax nearly everything else.  this is where a very light bow comes into play as you can "experiment" on that feel of bone support and how much you can relax.

Hope I understood what you saw on the video.

Arne

[McDave]

Arne, actually Rick uses the same bow in his videos and for competition that he hunts with, which is a Dakota hunting style bow that he makes himself (or used to make himself; now he has help).

I think what Ray is interested in is the relaxation of the string forearm and hand.  I think you might be able to explain this to him better than I could, and possibly have this on one of your videos?

[moebow]

You are right.  I didn't recognize "Weld" as Welch and also "shooting hand" kind of threw me.  So I sprang to the bow hand position for his question. Hence my answer.

I generally don't comment on Rick's style as I have no experience with it so am not qualified to speculate.

Thanks for pointing that out, I need to read more carefully.  :>))

Arne

[McDave]

So, how do you relax the string hand and forearm?  First of all, to do that and many other things in archery, like use back tension, keep your head still, know if you're creeping, etc., you have to be physically aware of what your body is doing.  If you want to do something, like relax your forearm or keep your head still, your body will do it for you when it figures out how to do it, just like a good dog would, without having to force it.  What you have to do is to learn to notice (be aware of) the movement your body is making.  That's all.  If you're aware of whether your forearm is tense or not, and want it relaxed, your body will learn to relax it.

So how do you learn to be aware of these things?  This goes way beyond archery.  In fact, more people use archery as a means of becoming aware than use awareness as an means of learning archery.  The first rule of awareness is that you can't be aware of what your body is doing if you're thinking about something.  It's impossible.  So open yourself up to awareness by ceasing cognitive thoughts while you are shooting.  Focus your attention on the body part you are concerned with while you are shooting the bow.  Eventually, you will begin to feel whether a muscle is tensed or relaxed, your head is moving, etc.

A coach could stand there and tell you, but you're not always going to have a coach next to you, so you're going to have to learn to do this for yourself.  What a coach is good for is pointing out things that you don't even know you should be aware of.  He can't fix them for you.

So for your purpose here, know that your string forearm and hand have to be as relaxed as possible while you are holding the bow at full draw, and you have to relax your string fingers to release the string.  You have to figure out the difference between relaxing your string fingers and opening them.  Hint: just because your release is a surprise doesn't necessarily mean you are relaxing your fingers, although it's a good sign.

[moebow]

Good explanation Dave!  Also, I'd suggest a "form master."  Using that gizmo will allow you to totally relax your forearm and hand and draw with the upper arm only by moving just the humerus and string side shoulder.  A plus is you need to use back tension to do it.

Arne

[Lighterknot]

Is a form master a commercially available product?

[moebow]

Yes.

[McDave]

There seem to be two similar products out there now: the Formaster and the Astra Trainer.  Both of them are available from 3 Rivers, and probably other places.  The Astra Trainer claims to do more, and costs more.  I have no personal experience with it, so don't know if it is worth the extra cost or not.  I agree that this is a useful training aid.