Full extension

[LongStick64]

In your opinion what is more important to your form, a solid face anchor or full back extension.
First of all I do know they are both important. But lately I have been working on tweeking my form and I find that if I concentrate on getting to full extension first and get on anchor second my shooting has improved significantly. I guess what I'm saying is that most I believe think of the back as a secondary anchor vs a point on the face. With my recent shooting, by getting to full extension my anchor has moved back on my face about a 3/4 on an inch. Now my middle finger is not at the corner of my mouth and my index finger is at the base of my cheek bone. Also because I'm really focusing on the back, my anchor on my face is really soft which I think has also helped my release.

[canshooter]

To me thats like asking whats more important the steering or the brakes?

[Earthdog]

I get to full draw then locate my anchour.

I've seen guys lean into their anchour an when they get there,that's it "end of extension.

None of those guys are very good shots and could probably increase their DL by an inch if they fully extended before anchouring.

All those guys are also overbowed,which I guess is why they do what they do.

[Gregg S]

I've got to agree with you. In the past I concentrated more on an anchor point but I found that as the day went on my draw length would start to shorten a bit. I would still hit my anchor but I was probably moving my head forward to meet it rather then pulling back completely. Anyway, I've been working on getting fully extended ( elbow all the way back) and this really helped in a few ways. So, for me, extension (which makes me use my back muscles) is more important the an exact anchor.

[lpcjon2]

Looks like you have a new anchor point.Your anchor should be the point at full extension(not over extended).If you have to think and choose between the both you have bad form.

[bshunter]

I was having the same problem today! If I put my fingers tight against my face, I seemed more prone to collapse..."soft" anchor and concentrating on "touching the guy behind me" with my elbow, wow I shot some awesome groups today! When I was tight with my anchor, I also seemed to torque the string and was releasing off my ring finger too much.

[dragon rider]

I think it's pretty clear that having full back tension is more important than where your anchor is.  That said, it's also essential to have a consistent anchor so that your sight picture stays consistent.  

Part of the issue is, IMO, that we tend to think of the anchor as anchoring something, which it really doesn't.  It's more analogous to the way you lay your cheek against a rifle stock - it puts you in the same relationship to your sights each time, but the archer's "anchor" doesn't really anchor anything, the back tension does that.  As long as the way your string hand touches your face is consistent, you're getting what you need out of the "anchor."

Take a look at Robtatto's post under "Anchor v. Reference" in this forum for a thorough explanation.

[LongStick64]

Well said everyone, I think more shooters will benefit from thinking about full extension first and when they have set the back they can get into position as Dragon Rider says "cheek against a rifle stock". Adopting this thinking will help to teach you to get into position to use back tension. I also think many who are suffering from target panic, suffer from anchor panic. They can't seem to get to anchor. Well if they instead focus on getting to full extension, getting to anchor might be a bit easier.

[cgeiser]

Any tips on how to know when you have good back exension? I don't have the ability right now to video myself and so I'm just going by what feels like my back and shoulder blades are tightening towards each other.