Break out of the intermediate rut

[jhg]

Back in the day when I skied I read a book on how to break out of the intermediate rut and become "expert".
 One point the guy made is very applicable to archery and I have used it to good result.

The appoach is this:

shoot a few arrows at ten yards and dial in on a 3 inch circle putting all arrows into it. Then increase the distance to your max ability. Shoot a couple sets. Then go back to the ten yard target BEFORE YOUR RESULTS DEGRADE, whatever they are, and dial in on the 3 inch circle again so all arrows are in it.  Once you are putting all the arrows into the circle at ten yds again go back out to your max distance. This is important.
Over time you will see results and vast improvement at the longer range. Results that are concrete and repeatable.

The idea is that when we challenge our skills, we need to return to what we know we know, to allow our form to "regroup" and our brain retain what we just learned. Unconciously our brains are comparing all the form mechanics info short distance vs long and processing it.  It needs to know what to keep and what to throw out. Only by gong back to the shorter distance, and often, can our mind do that. The key is not to spend so much time trying to overcome the challenges that we loose our form. And we all will, without going back to what we know in some way or another.

If we spend too much time only challenging ourselves at our max, our skills degrade. This is true for a lot of physically skilled endeavors and it is true for instinctive archery.
 We unconciously begin to "wander" mentally/physically because we do not really know the mechanics at an unconcious level yet at every distance.   The idea is to reinforce the good mechanics by going back to what is "easy" at the same time we transfer those mechanics to tougher distances and postures (kneeling, etc)  
At that point we are have broken out of the intermediate rut.
Hope this helps.

Joshua

[L. Bullington]

Good stuff, Thanks!

[McDave]

I think any technique that increases your skills is a good idea, and your idea is one of them.

There is a distinct difference between archery and skiing, however.  You can learn basic skills on the bunny slopes, but there are considerable additional skills you have to learn to ski the black diamonds.  In archery, if you learn good form shooting at 5 feet, you don't have to change ANYTHING in your form to shoot well at 50 yards.  In fact, I would guess that one of the problems people have is that they inadvertently DO change things when they shoot at 50 yards that they shouldn't be changing.

So since there are fewer things that change in archery when we move our shooting from five feet to 50 yards than change in skiing when we move from the bunny slopes to the black diamonds, archery should be easier to do, right?  The problem is, the fear we have when we stand there with our skiis jutting out over the start of a black diamond run is the same fear we have when we look at a target 50 yards away and think that's a long way to hit anything with an arrow.  In both cases, the fear causes our muscles to clinch and our brains to shut down, so we don't perform as well as we should be capable of doing.

Generalizing on your idea, it is much the same as Rod Jenkins's advice to go back to the blank bale if your shooting goes to pot at longer distances.  Your idea adds the additional component of aiming at a distance short enough that you either have enough confidence, or few enough distractions, to shoot better than you were shooting at a longer distance.

Whatever it takes to do that is a good idea, whether it is your aimed shots at 10 yards, Rod's blank bale, or sometimes I just psych myself out by telling myself to pretend that I'm shooting like it was only 10 yards, even though it is 50.

[StickBowManMI]

THanks Dave. I think that I will try this out! Sounds like it will keep me concentrating more on the target.

[s_mcflurry]

This is really great advice: challenging and also reinforcing.  I think the common mistake is to think, "I've got 10 yards down, why keep practicing it?"

Also, when practicing further distances, it's important to set up a range where it's safe to fail.  For me, I practice at a field where the the bales are held up by a metal frame...missing could possibly mean an exploded arrow.  Once I had a target on a wooden frame, I was much more relaxed and my form was solid again.

[Flingblade]

All great ideas!  I have no T.P. at 10-15 yards.  I can hold at full draw and release when I want to but fall apart at longer ranges.  Even 20 yards can make my form and ability to reach full draw fall apart.  I will try this and return to the 10 yard mark more often to reinstill confidence.  I want the same control at 30 yards that I have at 10.  Then I will be able to concentrate more on hunting and less on improving my shooting.

[Diamond Paul]

Sounds like a good system.  I always close out my shooting with one at 40 and one at 20; when I put both in the target, I'm done shooting.

[ncsaknech1ydh]

I take alot of shots at 10 to 15 yards while mixing in the longer shots, and it definatly keeps confidence higher. s_mcflurry mentioned worry of wrecked arrows, this won't work for everyone, depending on where you live, but years ago I had a couple of truck loads of sand dumped to serve as a back stop, I then put my targets, deer or blocks or whatever in front of the sand pile, it works great to stop either broadheads or field tips, and no worrys about lost or busted arrows.

[eric-thor]

sounds like good stuff i cant wait to try it out

[easyup]

One of the things that fascinated me in a Rick Welch video was his comment about target range  "don't know, don't care" as that is how lots of my hunting (spot and stalk) occurs; I don't know the range and don't want to guess or fiddle with a range finder.  So I have changed my practice to a 4'x4' target with various marks (spots and lines like posts) so I can pick spot and shoot one arrow at a time, every time from different distances and every time at different spot.  It has helped, especially with the all important first cold shot of the day, the one I really care about.