back muscles and tension

[anderson2527]

I am new to traditional archery and I am trying to grasp back tension. When I try to squeeze my shoulder blades together the very tops, above my shoulder blades, of my trapezus muscles are sore. Should those areas be sore? Also, my shoulders make clicking noises when I shoot alot, is this a sign of improper form or too much shooting?

[McDave]

Good back tension is not easy for many of us to master, as it doesn't immediately register on our brains, like reaching out with your finger and touching something does.  I've been shooting bows for more than 10 years, including some formal instruction, and I just now believe I'm beginning to get it.  Others, who are more naturally adept at the sport, may get it much sooner or not have any problems with it at all.  But I've read of very good archers whose first indication that they lost their back tension was not anything they felt, but just the fact that their arrows were spreading out on the target and there was no other obvious explanation for it.

You can feel back tension if you're focusing mainly on your back, and not on the target, which is one reason why good archers spend some time practicing close to an unmarked target (blind bale): so they can isolate certain parts of their form without worrying about where the arrow is going.

My own efforts at developing good back tension have led me to focusing on drawing the bow with a relaxed forearm (the feeling is that the drawing force originates in your elbow and your forearm and fingers are being stretched out), and getting my elbow back far enough that my forearm is in line with the arrow as viewed from the top, with my forearm either in line with the arrow or angled a little up, as viewed from the side.  At the same time, I push with my bow arm to try to get my shoulders as much in line with my bow arm as I can.  I start in an open stance where my shoulders are pointing to the left of the target, but by the time I release my shoulders have moved in toward the target.  I don't consciously try to squeeze my shoulder blades together, but that happens as a result of the other things I described.

If your shoulders are making a clicking noise, I would have that checked out.  Shoulder injuries are one of the more common causes of people having to drop out of archery.

[Diamond Paul]

Sounds like you might be using your shoulders, not your back, for the majority of your pulling.  You really should be feeling it more in the muscles at the bottom of your shoulder blades, and in towards the spine.  If you feel lots of tension in your string hand as you pull/shoot, I can almost guarantee that you are pulling with your bicep and shoulders more than your back.  Think about pushing your elbow straight back, and you should feel it in your back.  Paul.

[Deadbolt]

do you keep your elbow high?  i use to feel pain in the top of my trap when my elbow was high now that i dropped it proper back tension can be had!

[anderson2527]

Wow thank you all for the fast responses everyone here is very knowledgeable and eager to help. I went out and tried setting up like McDave said and my groups got extremely tight, compared to the way I was shooting. However, I still do not understand how to engage the lower shoulder blade muscles. My forearm feels relaxed yet the wrong muscles are sore, is there a different way to explain drawing other than the elbow pushing or chain attached to elbow? I just do not understand how that can work.

[SHOOTO8S]

Grasp one of your arrows, with the hands meeting in the middle...raise above your nose and then try pulling the arrow in two....those are the muscles that need to be in use.

[Diamond Paul]

That's just about a perfect explanation!

[anderson2527]

Ok i got it. So it is just a matter of practice until the use of those muscles becomes habit?

[Diamond Paul]

Yes, but, and I can't stress this enough, if you really want to become subconscious in the use of back tension, practice at point blank range with your eyes closed for a while, focusing only on the feel of the shot.  You can't retrain your shooting style while trying to aim at something!  One of the best ways to do it is the way the Koreans teach Olympic shooters: they get one of those cheap fiberglass 10lb bows with a twine string and practice the shot execution for a good long time before they ever shoot a real bow.  These bows can be dry-fired without damage, and you can do it while you watch t.v., or whatever.  Good luck, Paul.

[anderson2527]

Thank you very much, I will try that. How long did it take you to learn to use proper back tension subconsciously?

[Diamond Paul]

I really learned to do it shooting a back tension (no trigger) release on a compound.  My coach made me start with a fiberglass bow like described.  After a couple of weeks, I had to shoot at a bag with my eyes closed (point blank) and document 1,000 perfectly executed shots (a pre-fire, punch, etc. and I had to start at one again) before I could ever put a sight on my bow.  It was pretty simple to transfer it to a recurve when I started shooting them!  It takes time, stick with it, but don't fret about it so much that you take away the joy of shooting, which is why I don't shoot compounds competitively anymore.  Traditional is all about enjoying yourself!  Good luck, Paul.

[AllenR]

Originally posted by Diamond Paul:
 After a couple of weeks, I had to shoot at a bag with my eyes closed (point blank) and document 1,000 perfectly executed shots (a pre-fire, punch, etc. and I had to start at one again) before I could ever put a sight on my bow.  

Paul,

It sounds like you had a very good coach!  Can you tell us what was the next step after the 1000 perfectly executed shots?

Thanks,
Allen

[Diamond Paul]

Well, put the sight on the bow, shooting at 20yds, and focus on nothing but aiming.  Start every session by shooting with eyes closed, point blank, for about 30 minutes, executing perfect back tension releases.  The trick is, when you start to see a target, you want to forget everything and make the shot go when you are on target!  My coach was adamant about never letting a badly executed shot go;  I would concentrate on aiming only, and the previously ingrained shot execution sequence would literally fire the bow by itself.  If ever I thought about the release, or wondered if the shot was going to happen, I immediately let down and started the shot sequence again.  Sometimes I would let down 10 or 15 times to shoot one shot.  Once, in a tournament shoot-off for first, the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour, and I let down at least 20 times before I finally shot!  I made it a rule never to let a shot go off if anything but aiming ever crossed my mind.  That's why you have to make the shot sequence execution become absolutely a subconcious thing: you can't focus on two things at once.  You can either focus on aiming, or the shot execution, but not both.  Eventually, of course, I shot at greater distances, but I always shot lots of point blank shots daily, with eyes closed, working only on using proper back tension to make the shot "happen."  This doesn't apply so much to shooting recurves; I don't ever want to be that serious about anything again, because it became an obsession and the fun went out of it for me.  But you can apply some of the techniques to improve your form and increase your enjoyment by shooting more accurately.  If it stops being fun, go back to doing whatever makes it fun for you.  Just my humble opinion, Paul.

[AllenR]

Paul,

Thank you. You had a great compound target coach!  He obviously knows the level of discipline required in compound.

Care to share his name?

Thanks,
Allen

[Diamond Paul]

He's my boss now, but we are really still the best of friends.  He could have been as good as anyone in the country back then, but he really didn't enjoy working at being good.  He would only shoot when he went to a tournament, and usually won!  His name is Josh, he never shoots anymore (I don't shoot wheels anymore, either), and he now programs and builds the parts for one of the biggest wheel manufactuers out there on his CNC machines.  I am his shop foreman.  I won't give any more info than that; I can promise that he won't coach anyone again, because when I gave it up, he was very disappointed.  Actually, the day I learned to work on my bow and began to ask questions about equipment is the day he said I began to go down hill!  His advice to me was this: "Shut up and shoot!"  He hates recurves, loves to call me a vegetarian!  I think he believed that I would be world champ someday, and he still hasn't gotten over it!  Good luck, Paul.

[va]

This may be whipping a dead horse, especially since I cannot claim to be anything other than a poor shot BUT...

It seems to me that many of the videos and full-draw photos show people with their head forward of center.  I noticed this first on myself after I got glasses (I am aging like a fine wine).

When I keep my head centered - neck relaxed and head balanced on my shoulders - my glasses are out of the way and my back tension is easier to engage.

thoughts?

[Haldir]

TTT...interested in an answer for this one

[Diamond Paul]

Probably; generally, if you keep your head up in its natural position, you avoid scrunching your neck down and raising your shoulders up, which makes it harder to engage a straight, clean pull with the back muscles.  Just for kicks, try to anchor with your middle finger at the corner of your eye, and then try to shoot a clean back tension shot; you'll see what I mean then.  It's normally desirable to keep the head still and draw to your anchor, rather than moving your anchor to your hand, which is what you are doing when you shove your head forward and down.  As an afterthought, it costs you some draw length, too.  Paul.