My stupid brain, responsible for most of my archery woes, is winding me up again.
I have a lifelong shoulder issue but it’s very manageable and mostly okay but a slightly over zealous mission to strengthen it for archery did more harm than good so I’ve been off it for months.
I’ve always had a slight touch of nervousness around my bow after some release experimentation some years ago; a number of accidental release plus the arrow hopping off the rest left me feeling rather anxious wielding my very good but potentially very dangerous bow. A wrist release almost got it back on track and taught me to stop faffing about with kit. But the rest wobble still bothered me even though I haven’t had it for ages; so I got a prong rest for stability then my shoulder decided to really go bad.
Anyway I found some really good warmup exercises which I should have always been doing but they seem to almost remove that shoulder soreness.
So I plucked up the courage (yes this sounds ridiculous but that’s what it feels like), warmed up and shot a few arrows; only 18 yards but they all hit almost on top of each other; so I can still aim.
The possible issue now is that while completely steady, my draw is slow. I mean really slow. No wobbles , no sky draw, just slow. Is it too hard? I don’t think so. I have to consistently pull hard but at no stage does it feel uncomfortable.
So do I carry on shooting when I feel brave enough, try a lighter bow of a different sort (a semi plan I had; no idea what poundage would suit but I’m thinking AFB or similar) or something else?
I want to get rid of this niggling nervousness which I get none of shooting my air rifle or any other activities I do but it’s a tricky one; my mind is playing tricks on me.
I have a lifelong shoulder issue but it’s very manageable and mostly okay but a slightly over zealous mission to strengthen it for archery did more harm than good so I’ve been off it for months.
I’ve always had a slight touch of nervousness around my bow after some release experimentation some years ago; a number of accidental release plus the arrow hopping off the rest left me feeling rather anxious wielding my very good but potentially very dangerous bow. A wrist release almost got it back on track and taught me to stop faffing about with kit. But the rest wobble still bothered me even though I haven’t had it for ages; so I got a prong rest for stability then my shoulder decided to really go bad.
Anyway I found some really good warmup exercises which I should have always been doing but they seem to almost remove that shoulder soreness.
So I plucked up the courage (yes this sounds ridiculous but that’s what it feels like), warmed up and shot a few arrows; only 18 yards but they all hit almost on top of each other; so I can still aim.
The possible issue now is that while completely steady, my draw is slow. I mean really slow. No wobbles , no sky draw, just slow. Is it too hard? I don’t think so. I have to consistently pull hard but at no stage does it feel uncomfortable.
So do I carry on shooting when I feel brave enough, try a lighter bow of a different sort (a semi plan I had; no idea what poundage would suit but I’m thinking AFB or similar) or something else?
I want to get rid of this niggling nervousness which I get none of shooting my air rifle or any other activities I do but it’s a tricky one; my mind is playing tricks on me.