Building Weight

[chanumpa]

Those robber band deals are good,cause you can do those while you watch Barta or football,etc.

[Andy Cooper]

I think the rubber bands, pushups, and pullups would be easier on my liver and my prostate than steroids! Just sayin...

 

[gordie]

trad. bowhunter mag., jun/jul 2004
"strong like a bull", by G.Fread Asbell.    

[Bowwild]

I would simply like to make myt 46# bows as comfortable as my 40#.

[Hit-or-Miss]

Those 'roids might be great for your ego, but not so good for your insides... and they shrink your chestnuts...LOL!  

I would suggest a Bullworker. It builds great tendon strength and tones without the bulk. Quite popular in the 60's / 70's.  Muhamed Ali and Bruce Lee used them. And your chestnuts will remain A-OK!!!!

[Raging Water]

Guys,

The Steroids comment was a joke. That's all natural, baby. Just weight training and running.

More to the point, I have lots of meat head buddies that can't draw my bows. Why? Muscle memory.

So, train the thing you are going to do. Bench Press won't help you scale a fence with a Pit Bull on your butt.

So, do exercises that mimic bow hunting. Do Push Ups, Pull Ups and shoot with a little heavier bow than you hunt.

Slowly and surely you can move up in draw weight. No big secret there. Just train the muscles for the activity they will be doing.

[Rob DiStefano]

using yer current bow, draw to your ear and hold for 3 seconds.  start off with 6 reps of this at least morning and evening.  increase the holding time and number of reps as strength increases.  do not do this exercise if your are tired or not feeling well.

it also pays to change the "hand" for reverse muscle balance training - if yer right handed, hold the bow with yer right hand and draw with yer left.  make believe yer a navi avatar.  

[SOLDIERII]

Stetching and hitting the weights, high reps works for me

[Andy Cooper]

Originally posted by Raging Water:
The Steroids comment was a joke.

Hey Matt,

I took your comment as a joke...maybe we need a 'tongue-in-cheek' smiley?      

I'm curious, though. What's the difference between doing pushups (pushing your weight away from the floor using the pecs) and bench pressing (pushing the weight away from you using your pecs)...with regard to building up strength to increase bow weight??   :confused:

[Andy Cooper]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
  make believe yer a navi avatar.    

If I only had a tail for balance...

[Raging Water]

Originally posted by Andy Cooper:
 

Originally posted by Raging Water:
The Steroids comment was a joke.

Hey Matt,



What's the difference between doing pushups (pushing your weight away from the floor using the pecs) and bench pressing (pushing the weight away from you using your pecs)...with regard to building up strength to increase bow weight??     :confused:   [/b]

Push Ups use more core muscles.

The Bench Press "Bench" does not require as much stabilization muscles as a Push Up. Your back muscles are more at rest on the bench.

An example, many people you an incline bench seat that for upright presses (Military Press) that has a long back rest.  I don't. I get flat bench, sit up straight and use some barbells. It activates WAY more back muscles and makes me functionally stronger that guys who use a full back rest seat. They may press 225#, on a smith machine, but can't press 60# barbells over their head.

It is a difference between lifting lumps of steel and building "Functional" strength.

However, with a Bench Press you can use more weight and thus make the pushing muscles stronger. But, then you increase the risk of injury. If a safe Bench Press environment exists, go for it. It is all good.

This thread is about building bow strength and not a dissertation on the pros and cons of weight lifting. So, I think that simple body weight exercises are sufficient to build bow strength.

But, sticking to the point of Bow Hunting. It is crucial to do exercises that use the muscles that are used in drawing the bow.

Matt

[Lee Robinson .]

Keep it simple. Just pull a bow. To build strength, pull it and hold at full anchor for a few seconds then let down and repeat as if you are lifting weights.

The number one cause of sport's related injury is OVERUSE. So, I would start with a bow that you can pull about 8 to 10 times holding for 1-2 seconds each rep with a half a second or so let down between reps so you can take a breath. I would do about 3 or 4 sets...build up until you can do it 15 times for 2-3 seconds each rep. Then step up in weight. This should give you the strength that if you were to draw the bow (after warming up) that you should be able to draw the bow once and hold the weight plenty long to make a shot. That's how I would do it. Do this about 3 times a week.

[Andy Cooper]

Thanks for the explanation, Matt...makes sense! I primarily use a bowflex, but don't like to mention it on this site, since it isn't a trad bowflex...it has wheels!    :cool:    I have noticed that pushups are harder than benchpressing my weight.

This thread is of great interest to me, as I'm wanting to work up to 70#, or more, bows in the next couple of years, for some special hunts for large and dangerous game.

[Andy Cooper]

Originally posted by Lee Dogman:
Do this about 3 times a week.

Allowing your muscles to recover and repair themselves between sessions is as important as the workouts themselves!!

[Bow Bum]

Just take it EASY! Or you'll mess up yer shoulder like I did and have to shoot with training wheels.

My 45Lb Kodiak hunter will hurt my shoulder now.  :(

[Andy Cooper]

Yeah, I'm moving slowly...already had a torn up rotator cuff! Sure don't want an encore performance!    But I'm only 55, so it'll be ok if I work up slowly.