Check out a friend's form

[khardrunner]

He's pretty new to trad, converted several months ago and dropped the training wheels. I did some video and some stills from about 15 ft above him.

 
shooting a 45lb bear grizzly

 
shooting a 53# dow stik

[khardrunner]

http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc197/khardrunner14/?action=view¤t=IMG_0603.mp4

here's a video of 3 arrows

[moebow]

Extend a line down the arrow and out to the string elbow.  See how far outside the arrow line his elbow is??  In the video, he starts with that elbow outside the arrow line and it stays there all the way through the shot.  Without seeing in person, that looks to me to be a draw only using the biceps -- No back muscles at all.  He is trying to draw in a straight line with the arrow pointing at the target.  You can see too how much tension there is in his forearm.  He needs to relax that forearm AND biceps in order for a back tension draw to occur.

He's also pretty "hunched" over which isn't helping either.

Arne

[khardrunner]

He is working on understanding back tension. I may see if he will try rotational drawing just to understand what using the back feels like.

[Terry Green]

I think he is pulling with his arms and muscling the bow....that issue usually produces this type of alignment. The only line perpendicular to the target is the arrow.

   

He's quiet a ways from this guy I did an alignment graph a few days ago. This is what he needs to get closer to, and that will take drawing with his back and back tension.

Tell him to stand with an open door behind him, and act like he's drawing the bow AND trying to close the door behind him.  Some times that get folks a good start to learning the motion of how to draw a bow.


 

[khardrunner]

Haha "this guy" is me (the original poster on this thread), and I am certainly working with him. He's new to it and a really bright guy. This will help him get the picture though for sure!

Thanks!

[Looper]

It's really hard to see his form in those pics. There's a glare.  

[khardrunner]

haha! As you can see, my head is still fine :-) ...he's an old guy though lol

[Looper]

Old guy? He looks my age. Anyway, once you show him these pics he'll probably be able to adjust himself pretty quickly. He's going to gain some draw length, too. Take a look at his limb tips when he's at full draw. The string shouldn't be more than a 90* angle off the limbs or the bow will stack badly.

[khardrunner]

He's around 55 or so... about my dad's age :-). He's a good friend so I give him a ribbing every once in a while about how old he is and how long he stayed with his training wheels. He and I are looking to start building bows for fun soon. He's got some serious tool and machine skill.

Anyway, I will watch for the string angles. I'm going to work some with him this week with a really light bow to get the feel down.