Techniques to increase follow through.

[Junction hunter]

Trying to work on my follow through.
Are there any techniques or practice exercises to increase follow through?

[BLACK WOLF]

Blank Bale practice!!!

Stand close to a target where you can just naturally point without any need to aim for fear of missing the target...and just work on your follow through until you can do it instinctively without any conscious thought.

A couple other ways you can do the same thin with is to make up some flu flus and shoot them into a big field or make a dry fire bow.

The key is to strictly work on that one aspect of your form with no regards to aiming so you can focus 100% on the what you are specifically trying to work on.

There may be a few others...but those are the ones that I have tried and that have helped me, personally.

Ray  

[AllenR]

There is also a device called a Formaster.  It's a strap that loops over your string elbow with a rope that hooks to your string.  

If you are not following through or using good back tension, it will be quite a surprise when you release. It will give you quite a jerk.  If you are following through, it won't do much.  However, it is a good way to learn to isolate your back muscles to drawyour bow.

A good place to read about this is the Texas Archery Assn website

 http://www.texasarchery.org/Documents/FMaster/formaster_exercises.htm

You can probably rig up a strap & rope arrangement that does the same thing, but the manual that comes with the formaster is too good to pass up.

Hope this helps,
Allen

[Terry Green]

Yep said earlier.......get close on the bale and THINK about what you want to work on and don't aim....just THINK about what you are working on.

Give that a couple of weeks before you back off an start aiming.

[MDbowhunter]

I think that concentrating on "pinching your shoulder blades together and pulling with your elbow  can both insure a good follow thru.

[Old York]

My bowhand drops like lead so I use this corny mental jingle that I try & run through my head while practising (from Roy Marlow's book, "Timeless Bowhunting"):

"Push the mountain, pull the tiger's tail"

After the arrow's gone, the mountain & tail are still there to push & pull...push & pull...

[Ybuck]

Sounds silly but have the last thing you do, be touching your shoulder with your release hand.
That done, insures you have pulled through.
Obviously not an option if you dead release.

[Junction hunter]

Thanks Guys.

[Howattfan]

Touching the shoulder works for me, I too have to remind myself to push through and pull straight back.

[Junction hunter]

Thanks Guys. Been using your suggestions for the past few weeks and think the muscle memory is there now. Now I'm working on keeping my eye on the target. When I do the shots are there.
Developed a new habit, I'm taping my shoulder after the release.

[Scott J. Williams]

I have used most of the above techniques in the past. I now use what I call the "push and hold" method.  

It is simply concentrating on pushing the bow hand at the target, and focusing on execution of the shot trying not to cause movement to the bow hand at the shot. Easier said than done, but the following really helped me.  I am so confident in it, I almost want to keep it to myself.  I use a dime, or nickel on the top of my bow hand during the draw and shot, if it stays on, in most cases I have pushed, and held the bow without dropping it. Even when it falls, I have managed to keep the bow solid enough to get the job done.

This has kept my bow hand up throughout the shot, and increase my accuracy more than any thing I have done so far.  I have found, at least for me, that most of my misses will come when I fail to do two things, one is push the bow hand(gently)toward the target, and failure to hold the bow in a solid position.  If I don't push, I will drop.  

It seems that there can be differences in style from one good archer to the next, but one thing is consistent with all of the good to great ones. They all have a solid bow hand at the shot.

[Junction hunter]

Thanks Scott. I'll try it.