What exercises for building bow pulling muscles?

[Terry Green]

Elk...I didn't say you shouldn't do other exercises, but simply doing push ups and pull ups aint going to automatically able you to pull a heavier bow. Anyone that knows about body training knows that you must work the muscles needed in the motions used to gain strength for that use.  Its not an opinion but a provable fact.

If your chest is use during that motion, then you will condition the chest and strengthen it to do that job.  Its not what muscles I 'think' I am using....its what muscles I AM using when I draw the bow because that's what I am doing.

I will say that if I work on drawing my heavier bow, and not do push ups, I WILL gain strength in that realm. And if I only do push ups, I will not get anywhere near the same results.  That is provable.

I also draw both left and right handed to keep the balance.

I remember in the mid 80's there were 'roid' guys that trained their whole bodies that could not pull back my 80# compound.  These guys competed, and they thought I had a trick switch on my bow.  They couldn't break over the wheels, and then I proceeded to do so 10 times.  They were a lot bigger guys than me, they just had not done THAT motion as a workout, and I'd done it since a young kid.  But, they could bench press 100 pounds more than me.

Glad I'm not a Korean archer.     :D

[amar911]

I know a bunch of people much stronger than I am who cannot pull back the recurve bows and longbows I can draw without any difficulty -- even guys who can pull back much heavier compounds that I cannot begin to draw! Just like any motion, the muscles are very specific and must be trained specifically. Ultimately, drawing a heavy bow is what will have to be done. In the meantime, cross training your muscles is very important too. Terry knows what he is talking about. All I am doing is agreeing with him.

Allan

[Bob Sarrels]

Pull your bow a lot sittin in front of the tube.

[Elksong]

Terry - You are right. If all a person is interested in is "pulling" a heavy bow then focus only on the muscle groups that work the drawing motion.  That being said if you want to "shoot" the heavier bows accurately then you need to train your chest and shoulders, your legs and your core.  Because to shoot accurately they all come into play, especially in a hunting situation.

[Sam McMichael]

I agree with shooting the heavy bow till you can handle it, but it takes time. Don't try to rush it by shooting many, many arrows at each practice session. Increase the number of arrows fairly slowly - it helps avoid injuries and bad form. I like heavy bows and shoot a 78# bow and a 65# bow and really like them. However, after a layoff, I must work back into them over a period of several weeks or else the bow handles me instead of the other way around. Not knocking the exercise methods, but they don't allow you train your form as you train your muscles.

[michaelschwister]

Pushups and drawing your bow. I do 75 pushups 3 days a week and draw 74# with ease.

[cedar swampman]

Price Ebert had a video some time ago "Pulling Big Bows" it listed a series  of exercises that incorporate your bow and a spring chest expander. Gary Sentman   used one to increase his strength prior to setting the world record of 176l b @28" back in 1975. It is a very effective set of exercises that specifically target muscles of the back that are used in shooting a bow as well as forearms  for grip.

[david janssen]

Thanks to all for all the advice.

[Terry Green]

I'd like to apologize for getting out of character this AM with my post.  I broke my own rules, and for that I am sorry.  Rough morning and bad timing but that's no excuse for my response.

Here's a better response....

I think you can certainly get accurate shooting a heavier bow by shooting a heavier bow.  Once you work up to the weight you want, then more practice is always rewarding if its the correct practice.

I usually shoot 60-64 pounds in the winter, and again build up to 70 every spring.  I drop down in weight due to deer hunting in cold weather as being still and not necessarily warm like when hog or bear hunting when I'm much more mobile in warmer whether.

Sure, I'm not as accurate the day I pick up the 70# bow, but by week 3 it starts coming around, and within a month my accuracy is the same as with my lighter bows.

So for me, I don't have to do any other work outs with any other parts of my body to build up 5 to 10 pounds, nor do I loose any accuracy once the build up is acquired.

Again,....sorry for getting out of line this AM.

[maxfit]

I trained an olympic archer 4 yrs back.. Besides doing what many here have already said.. We took dbs 10-25 # and simulated drawing and holding. A static hold will do wonders for strengthening your draw, anchor,and hold. Both sides. You will notice that most archers have more development on the side that pulls the bow. If you look  the rear delts, upper lat, rhomboid, and trap will be larger. Training the other side as well will balance your muscles and help as well.
Of course pulling your bow should be a constant(Its the best) and the workout an enhancement.

[Bakes168]

Just don't over-shoot and get tendonitis like me. Exercise all the muscles evenly by drawing right and left, doing the exercises mentioned above. And most importantly, as soon as you're tired, put the bow down. If I would have done that I wouldn't be in this mess.

Zack

[Dave Lay]

I remember Paul Brunner sayin "ya will never shoot a heavy bow by shooting a light one.".. he also advocated drawing and holding a heavier bow as excersise...

[Rick James]

I think it was Brunner that I read about where he advocated having a heavy bow easily accesable and pulling that bow every morning back past full draw (like to your ear) and holding for 5 to 10 seconds and working up the number of reps you can do--I don't have a really heavy bow but I have done this with my normal hunting weight bows and it seemed to help and condition the drawing muscles.

[Terry Green]

Yes....I think holding at full draw helps, and do that as well.

When I start to move up, I do 3 sets of ten and don't hold....then after a week I do 3 sets of ten....and then after another week I do 3 sets of ten and hold on the last 3 reps for 5 seconds.

I do that every other day as to let the muscles repair and build.

I should have posted that earlier,....but as usual, I'm running 90MPH.

[Steve Nuckels]

Try the "Perfect Pushup" they are really helping me!  When you start you will be able to do about 1/3 the amount of pushups that you could normally do.  And the payoff is rapaid!

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IN GOD WE TRUST

[BTH]

All great ideas. I don't have an extra heavy bow laying around so I use the heavy bow fit band. You can double the band back on itself to get even more resistance. Nothing like drawing to get the bow drawing muscles built up.
Now, that said, a whole body conditioning workout helps to increase your whole body strength and endurance and keeps you in shape for the hunt. I'm a great fan of the Matt Furey Combat Conditioning system. He also has a great set of exercises for keeping your shoulders loose, strong and pain free.

[Double Tee]

I 3rd the bow fit,you can take it with you and it works the muscles that you need to shoot exactly.Not to say you don't need to work the rest of yourself,rows,pullups etc. all of the above are very good too but the bow fit is so handy!I have a bowflex home gym and love it but its hard to take on trips and to work.

[Roy Steele]

Keep shooting as you do move up in weight.Your building the right body parts and muscles.When it comes ot bow shooting it's not just all muscles.

[Rick McGowan]

Pretty much all has been said here by somebody or other. Here's what I have done to work up to 85#'s. I do have several bows from mid 60's to the 85# so I don't try and do it all at once, but I could if I wanted to. I keep the heavy bow strung all the time, right where I will see it and whenever I notice it, I will draw and hold it as far back as a can, without forcing it, yanking it back, is a sure way to hurt yourself. Even when I get to the point where I can draw and hold it at full draw for 10-15 seconds, I will stop at 1/3 and 2/3rd's draw and hold it there for 10-15 seconds. After I do that as many times as I can without forcing it, I switch hands and do the same thing left handed. You are much less likely to have problems if you develop both sides equally AND you will develop faster, since ANY exercise helps the whole body, hench crosstraining. When I start out, I only draw the bow every third day at most. Exercise dosn't build muscles it tears them down, BUT when they rebuild they rebuild stronger, but it takes about 72 hours for that to happen. After the muscles get built up where you can shoot the heavier bow, I shoot it almost everyday, but not to the point where I am having a hard time drawing it and if the muscle hurt the next day or day after, I go run up and down the mountain or do some situps or some other exercise not involving my arms. After a couple months, I can draw and hold 85#'s with out any trouble, both right and left handed 10 or more times in a row.

[Roy Steele]

It all helps put the best way is get a heavyer bow.If you can come up 2,3 to 4 pounds at a time.The slower the better is the way to go.This way your not just building muscles.Your slow'ly changeing your form.