Please explain the bow arm shoulder?

[jonsimoneau]

I have been recently drawing my bow in front of a mirror a bunch.  I'm doing this to check alignment etc. and to look for form errors.  I noticed that as I draw my bow...I always end up rolling my bow arm shoulder towards my bow.  Now to me this seems like it would facilitate good alignment, but in the mirror it does not look that good.  So I did some shooting while making a major effort to keep my bow arm shoulder out but not rolled over.  It looks more aligned to me in the mirror but I'm wondering if this is how it should be done?  I know it takes a good month of daily shooting to ingrain any major form changes...and I will do this...but want to be sure I'm making the right change before I ingrain a new form habit.  Any ideas guys? Thanks!

[moebow]

A little hard to explain, but in GENERAL, a "rolled" shoulder (either up or forward) is not good.  That places the shoulder in a weak and potentially injury prone position.

The shoulder moving in towards the bow/string/arrow is a flat, lateral movement NOT a rolled movement.  Generally, though,  IF you keep a "down and back" thought for the bow shoulder, you will have what you want.  

I find that motion is hard to explain in typed words and quite easy to show/demonstrate in person.

Arne

[jonsimoneau]

Thanks Arne. I think I know exactly what you mean because I think I was originally doing it correctly but then began rolling my shoulder in as I was constantly trying to make sure I was getting all that I could out of my draw length and in turn taught myself a bad habit! I can probably get it back. Just going to take some work on the blank bale.

[swampthing]

Kind of like lifting a dead rabbit by the ears. Your whole arm braces for the movement, you would never roll it out further, just lift it up, elbow around 45deg or less to the ground...

[moebow]

If you work on alignment, shoulders, bow arm, many will realize an increased draw length BUT!! It is counterproductive to try to "stretch" your draw length.  You get what you get, but trying to affect or cause an increase is not what you want.

Go for alignment, bone on bone, then what you have is what you have.

Arne

[jonsimoneau]

Thanks Arne. I am working on this now and am swing the benefits. It's going to take awhile to break my bad habit. But the good thing is it's winter and I don't have much else to do after work!

[tracker12]

I have always been a lift the shoulder up kind of shooter with all types of bows.  It  puts to much muscle in the bow arm causing me all kinds of inconsistency and should soreness.  During practice sessions I concentrate on aligning my shoulders to the target.  When I get that right the bow arm gets in the right position. I also have been working on my head position being upright and centered.  When I get it right it is fun to be on the range.  I can get it right when hunting on the ground.  I still struggle at times from the tree stand.