looooong draw

[snowplow]

Hi guys, I have been messing around with my form lately. I have been making the change to 3 under and like it in theory. However something doesn't feel perfect. It didn't with split either. I think by chance I might have found what does.

Anchoring at my mouth doesn't feel right and I feel like I just want to open up my chest the rest of the way. My bow arm is open as far as it will go but my drawing arm when anchoring at my mouth could open up a lot more.

So I opened up all the way, which about maxed out my 32" arrow. I anchored with my base knuckle of my thumb to my ear lobe and it put the arrow in a great spot. My bow draws probably around 10# more than I'm used to but it seems easier almost because it feels right. Even my release hand seems more relaxed in that position.  

Anyway I was shooting good and really liked it. But I've never heard or seen anyone do it. I dont know what to think of this really.

Has anyone played with this?

[moebow]

Pretty hard to help without video.  Not sure what you mean by, "my bow arm is open as far as it will go..."

Also, it SOUNDS like when you "open the chest" you are allowing the hand to move back on your face. I believe it should not move the string hand but that the elbow/forearm will "come around" more giving better alignment.  Hand shouldn't move IMO.

Video??

Arne

[McDave]

Originally posted by snowplow:
 I anchored with my base knuckle of my thumb to my ear lobe and it put the arrow in a great spot.

Anchoring with the knuckle of the thumb that is closest to the end of the thumb to the earlobe is part of the basic anchor of the Rick Welch shooting method.  The thumb is cocked like you were cocking a revolver to elevate this knuckle a little.  Quite a few people use this as one of their anchors, often supplemented by other anchors as well.  Many people find the finger in corner of mouth anchor to be too restrictive.  Many others like it just fine.

As Arne mentioned, the concern is that you may be drawing with your arms and shoulders rather than your back, as one symptom of this is a longer than normal draw length.  Engaging the back muscles properly seems to be the number 1 challenge of traditional archery form.  It doesn't seem to be something you can just learn and forget, but occupies people's attention from the beginner to expert levels.

OTOH, you may just have longer than normal arms.

Originally posted by snowplow:
Hi guys, I have been messing around with my form lately. I have been making the change to 3 under and like it in theory. However something doesn't feel perfect. It didn't with split either. I think by chance I might have found what does.

Anchoring at my mouth doesn't feel right and I feel like I just want to open up my chest the rest of the way. My bow arm is open as far as it will go but my drawing arm when anchoring at my mouth could open up a lot more.

So I opened up all the way, which about maxed out my 32" arrow. I anchored with my base knuckle of my thumb to my ear lobe and it put the arrow in a great spot. My bow draws probably around 10# more than I'm used to but it seems easier almost because it feels right. Even my release hand seems more relaxed in that position.  

Anyway I was shooting good and really liked it. But I've never heard or seen anyone do it. I dont know what to think of this really.

Has anyone played with this?

yep...
I did that back in the late 60s.  Did not have a clue and nary a teacher in sight...  arrows were sold at 32" and we thought that length was good enough.  No tuning...FOC...abcdefg...

Fast forward to now...just think about all of the muscle groups involved in shooting (pulling) an arrow 32".  There is an expansion of the chest, exaggeration of pull in relation to the chest, and a gazillion muscle groups trying to tell you when to let go.  

Many years ago I learned the opposite of that uneducated mega-pull.

It was mostly a combination of what is known as Hill/Shultz (whatever) form...but it allowed me to regroup and retrain my mind/body to a more abbreviated, yet complete pull-to-release controlled by my mind with constant and intricate feedback from my line-of-sight, anchor, back muscle tension..(memory) developed into a consistency over several years.

You can't think your way through this...need to shoot 'till your mind/body takes over.  Then you are rockin!