Longbow versus recurve?

[Tim J Hoeck]

Do you use different muscles drawing a longbow versus a recurve?

[Bisch]

No! The draw is all the same, at least for me it is. I don’t know anything about ASL or English longbows other than they have a completely different grip style than recurves and R/D or hybrid longbows.

Bisch

[woodchucker]

No, I hear tell... That your draw length will be about an inch shorter though
I do know this... I can't hit a bull in the A$$ with my Howard Hill longbow...

I'm sticking to my old Bear recurves  

[McDave]

Agree with Bisch.  However, it does feel different to draw a longbow than a recurve.  The force draw curve of a longbow is steeper toward the end of the draw than a recurve.  This is more evident with a straight limbed longbow than a r/d longbow.  Just something to get used to.  Usually, longbows are not cut past center, so this makes a difference in your sight picture and also your instinctive aiming.  Again, more of a difference with a straight limbed longbow.  Some r/d longbows are cut as far past center as recurves.  Also, longbows that are not cut to center require a weaker arrow spine than bows that are cut past center.  Perhaps the biggest difference is the shape of the grip in straight limbed longbows compared with recurves.  Some r/d longbows have grips that are very similar to recurve grips.  The bottom line is that there is a whole spectrum of longbows, some of which are quite different from recurves and some of which are almost identical.  There is only one defining characteristic of longbows, and that is that the string only touches the bow at the string nock.

[Al Dente]

Woodchucker, same for me!!!!  Couldn't hit the ocean standing on the beach.
McDave, great explanation.
I won a handmade longbow several years ago at an NYB Banquet, and I have tried, tried, and tried again to decent shot placement, and I simply cannot.  Once retirement comes, I will devote more time to it.  So fornow, it is my Wes Wallace that it is my hands.

[Terry Green]

Nah, no difference.  The Magic T is The Magic T no matter what bow.

[Wudstix]

Agree with Bisch, David and Terry.  My experience has only been with recurve, mostly Big River and D/R longbows.  My MOAB has zero transfer time from recurve to longbow.  Big River (21st Century clone) longbow has a locator style grip that takes a handful of arrows to get in the groove, Kota longbow, D-shaped mid D/R, as well.  I don't notice much difference in the draw other than different poundage, but haven't shot ASL.  According to G. Fred, I shoot "straight limbed recurves".
 

[Wheels2]

The draw cycle of a bow means a lot.
Last year after shoulder surgery I started to shoot again.  I had three recurves, all drawing within 2 pounds of each other.
Standard profile limbs were easiest and my starting point.  I had to work into the Morrisin Max6. And then later, the Border Hex9.
For me, the earlier load of the bigger curves made the difference.
I suspect that is what you are experiencing.

[Eecho]

I can’t tell any difference btw recurves and R/D longbows. I guess it really depends on on the draw curve of the individual bow and where along the curve it stacks and by how much? thoughts?

[Red Beastmaster]

How could you possibly use different muscles???

[McDave]

How could you possibly use different muscles???

Maybe I don't understand your question.  Of course it's possible to use different muscles when pulling a longbow vs. a recurve.  Is your question, why would anybody do that?

[McDave]

I can’t tell any difference btw recurves and R/D longbows. I guess it really depends on on the draw curve of the individual bow and where along the curve it stacks and by how much? thoughts?

After shooting any two bows for a while, each will feel different to me, be they a r/d longbow and a recurve, two recurves, or two longbows.  But to me, the difference in feel between drawing a highly reflex deflexed longbow and a recurve is no more significant than between two longbows or two recurves.  In fact I will notice more difference in the feel of drawing a straight limbed longbow and a highly reflex deflexed longbow than I will between the r/d longbow and a recurve.

The real difference for me boils down to two related things: a r/d longbow will shoot somewhat slower than a comparable recurve, and a r/d longbow will have much less possibility of limb twist than a recurve.  I don't think there is any way to overlook the fact that the more the limbs are recurved, the more energy is stored, and the more the limbs are recurved, the greater the chance that they will get twisted.

[Steve D]

 Tim check you private message's .Thanks

[Wheels2]

Same muscles, but in different amounts of exertion depending on the draw cycle.

[Red Beastmaster]

McDave, what's not to understand? Of course you are using the same muscles. It's a push pull.  Unless you have some radically weird way of drawing one bow over another.

[McDave]

Some use the traps, some use the lats, some use the biceps, some transfer the weight early, some late, some not at all, some use the triceps to steady the bow arm, some just hold  the bow arm out there, some use varying degrees of hand and forearm muscles, some use different combinations of all of the above.  Some use core muscles to achieve different degrees of upper body rotation to take some of the weight off the upper body muscles and transfer it to the bones.  There must be at least a thousand different ways to use different muscles in different combinations to draw the bow.

[Red Beastmaster]

OK OK so there's a zillion ways to draw a bow.  Some use this and some use that. The question was do you use different muscles to draw a recurve and a longbow. 

I would assume he's talking about the same person, not one person using traps and another person using lats, core rotation, etc, etc.

[McDave]

I draw a longbow exactly the same way I draw a recurve, or at least I try to.  But my longbows are all r/d, cut to or past center, with contoured grips.  Some would say those aren’t really longbows at all.  I've tried shooting my friends' straight limbed longbows with straight grips, without much success or desire to master them.  From what I observe, they all shoot them much the way Asbell describes in his book, with a grip “like they are trying to choke a snake” and more canted on average than I do.  They do pretty well at it, and really enjoy them, so to each his own.

[Rob DiStefano]

There are two possible prominent differences 'tween a longbow and recurve - the grip shape/type, and how the string lies on the limbs.  I prefer a longbow solely because there is no limb slap, not ever, no matter what.  Most any grip usually works fine for me.

 

[M60gunner]

I seem to remember a picture with Howard Hill and a couple other archers at full draw comparing the body form between a recurve man and Hill bow man. It was a promotional ad saying how much less stress the body has shooting a LB. Even had some doctors recommendations. I often thought about this as just another sales pitch because I don’t notice any difference switching back and forth except for the grip and sight picture.