bending bowarm or not
Question:
Is there a website where I can find an instruction from a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound shooters? It is the question, should a compound shooter (FITA target) shoot with a bended bowarm or (like the recurve shooters) with a straight bowarm. All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, etc.) are shooting with a bended arm. But our german national coach teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion to the rest of the german coaches. — Sven
Response:
> Is there a website where I can find an instruction from > a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound > shooters? > It is the question, should a compound shooter (FITA target) shoot with > a bended bowarm or (like the recurve shooters) with a straight bowarm. > All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, > etc.) are shooting with a bended arm. But our german national coach > teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion > to the rest of the german coaches. > — > Sven
Go with what feels right for you. Tom
Response:
>Is there a website where I can find an instruction from >a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound >shooters?
Not that I know of. >All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, >etc.) are shooting with a bended arm.
Take a look again – look at video of World Championships in particular. There are many top-level compound archers shooting both bent bowarm and straight bowarm. I’d say though that the majority do seem to prefer bent… it’s down to what works for you. Don’t allow any coach to bully you into using a particular style if you’ve tried it for a significant period of time and it isn’t working for you. >But our german national coach >teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion >to the rest of the german coaches.
I personally wouldn’t rate any coach who will not accept any individual style differences… national or not.
Response:
Sven It depends upon what you mean by "straight". If you stand upright with your arms relaxed and hanging from the shoulders they fall into a natural unstrained position. To straighten them further you have to push your hands down towards the ground. To put more bend into the elbow you hav to lift the hands away from the ground using the muscles of the upper arm. When I lift the bow, I try to reproduce the "natural" position that results from letting the arm hang. It means that the arm is extended, but not over-extended. I find that extending the arm beyond this natural position tends to cause the shoulder to rise and makes it more difficult to get back muscles into play. It also means that there is no provision for further extension and follow-through on loosing the arrow. I know a lot of good compound archers who shoot excellent scores with what I would consider to be an exaggerated bend at the elbow. I find it uncomfortable personally and really only possible because of the low holding weight that results from the let-off on the compound bow. Since I shoot both compound and recurve I seek a basic stance that will work with either and I just cannot find a consistent draw length when I try to shoot recurve with a bent elbow. Chris – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Is there a website where I can find an instruction from > a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound > shooters? > It is the question, should a compound shooter (FITA target) shoot with > a bended bowarm or (like the recurve shooters) with a straight bowarm. > All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, > etc.) are shooting with a bended arm. But our german national coach > teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion > to the rest of the german coaches. > — > Sven
Response:
>Don’t allow >any coach to bully you into using a particular style if you’ve tried >it for a significant period of time and it isn’t working for you.
Thanks. :-) — Sven
Response:
>Is there a website where I can find an instruction from >a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound >shooters? >It is the question, should a compound shooter (FITA target) shoot with >a bended bowarm or (like the recurve shooters) with a straight bowarm. >All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, >etc.) are shooting with a bended arm. But our german national coach >teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion >to the rest of the german coaches.
Hi Sven, Check this out: http://www.arco-frecce.com/cam/wbeste.htm Pics of top archers before/after release. Very nice to confront dogmatic coaches with.. 
Response:
>http://www.arco-frecce.com/cam/wbeste.htm
Wow, great, thanks. — Sven
Response:
> Is there a website where I can find an instruction from > a high level coach (maybe the US national coach) for compound > shooters? > It is the question, should a compound shooter (FITA target) shoot with > a bended bowarm or (like the recurve shooters) with a straight bowarm. > All what I see is that the top archers (Morgan Lundin, David Cousin, > etc.) are shooting with a bended arm. But our german national coach > teach the straight bowarm for ccompounders and is in oposite opinion > to the rest of the german coaches.
IMHO and still learning, if your basic techneque is solid you should go with what feels right for you. John
