How much practice

nig295

New member
As a beginner, how much practice is too much? I have been down our practice Butt today and shot 200 arrows with no aches and pains, as long as I am not feeling the effects it that many a good idea. I know quality is better than quantity but my technique is not grooved yet which is why I am "cramming".

Nige
 

lbp121

Member
The lack of aches and pains is good. What you may like to consider is whether you are actually practicing or just banging arrows at a target?
If you begin to allow a poor technique to creep in at that intense level it could be very hard to change later. Try to get some quality supervision or coaching to make sure this doesn't happen.
 

Aysyr

New member
As long as you have proper technique, I wouldn't say it would hurt to do as many as you can possibly do. Just like people get used to running or doing pushups until it becomes easy, your muscles adjust to pulling a bow over and over again and if you don't increase the weight of your limbs, it should only get easier and easier to do more and more. But yea like lbp said, just make sure that your form is right and if it is, then don't worry that you can shoot over and over but just make sure to take your time aiming.
 

JoeBrown

New member
Technique, technique, technique.
Every time you raise the bow you are doing microscopic damage to the body and if you do it wrong. it increases the chance of chronic damage. Work on technique and listen to your body when it's time to take a rest, if you don't your form will inevitably dip.
 

Batteryman1970

New member
Hi

Agree with the above comments about getting the technique correct - sometime less is more!

My son is under the Archey GB Youth Development Scheme and spent the first 15-20 weeks of his programme just practicing in front of a mirror with an exercise band practicing the pre-draw and Draw positions and making sure his shoulders, arms etc we in the correct positions and rotating correctly

He then progressed onto a very light training bow (15lbs) to put these into practice, not shooting but practicing the correct posture and technique etc

ok its not the best fun in the world but it drills home and gets the body training in the correct methods :)

having said that the top Korean Archers can shoot up to 1000 arrows a day - but they are the best in the world and have developed the correct techniques since being able to walk!
 

arjun2012

New member
There is a saying in Bodybuilding world!!! No pain, no gain. But too much pain, negative gains. So pushing little bit over your ability makes the body increase its abilities. But listen to your body. Take good rest, good nutrition and often ignored... good stretching.
 

archer_dk

New member
When training on your own keep a record of your score.
If you got a smartphone, get a scoring app with the target face.
Note down each arrow you shot.
Review your statistics every week.
Look at the target face and locate the groupings. If they are getting closer and closer week after week then your practice is working. If your grouping is inconsistent then you know there is something wrong.
I personally believe that your shots should end up around the same place time after time. Maybe in the same region everyday due to wind and other climate conditions.
But to sum it up warm up well before shooting and warm down too!!!
I try to shoot 100 arrows everday on week days and around 200 on saturdays and sundays.
My average is around 700 a week.
To some it may be little to other it may be a lot. But there is one thing to consider here. I didnt start with 100 everday from the begining but have rather started with 50 and been gradually increasing until am able to shoot up to 300 a day before I start to get tired.
This process nearly took me 6 months. But at least on a good day am able to do a double FITA without dropping in my average score.
That's fatigue eliminated. There is also a question of physical well being.
Shooting everyday can be a very physical task. I don't know if it applies to everyone but for me certainly when I start to get some pain its usually in my bow arm (I have plenty of weight on my Stabilisers). Even though I pull 42# on the fingers.
Watch out for shoulder injury in the bow arm/shoulder rather than pain in the drawing arm. As soon as you feel pain either stop or have a look at your form!!!
 

Howi

Member
As a beginner, how much practice is too much? I have been down our practice Butt today and shot 200 arrows with no aches and pains, as long as I am not feeling the effects it that many a good idea. I know quality is better than quantity but my technique is not grooved yet which is why I am "cramming".

Nige
When you say you are shooting 200 arrows a day, over what time period?
A FITA or York round is 144 arrows and usually shot over a (roughly) 6 hours period and most archers will feel the effects, try a double FITA over two consecutive days and you will know you have shot 2 X 144 arrows, can you see where I am coming from.
If you are 'cramming' as you say, then you are more than likely not thinking about the shot cycle, not taking time to set up properly, not aiming properly etc etc etc. I find most beginners don't take enough time to properly aim, soon as sight is on gold, bang the shot is away. Get an experienced archer to talk you through his shot sequence from standing on the line through releasing the arrow.
Forget cramming, good shot execution will benefit you a lot more, + what has already been said, you are more likely to do lasting damage if you carry on as you are.
As for shooting a thousand arrows in a day!!! can any Olympic class archers on here offer any comment
 

potnoodle

New member
I know Olympians are shooting thousands of arrows a week, but it's far more important to make all the shots good shots. In my opinion, it's better to shoot 100 good arrows than 1000 bad ones!
 

Alun

Member
Not just your opinion Potnoodle. It isn't a matter of neurophysiology. Shooting a bow seems really simple, but we all now that the kind of fine, repeatable control necessary is not easy at all, and it seems impossible to keep in our conscious mind everything we should be doing while shooting an arrow. Every nerve is wrapped with myelin, which serves as an insulator. There are cells around the nerve cells which respond to the nerve being fired by wrapping it in more myelin. The result is that the more a particular nervous pathway is used, the stronger and faster the signal down it, compared with other pathways that may do the same sort of action in a slightly different way. Skill development means wrapping the right neural circuits with lots of myelin. When you stop thinking about it and just let your unconscious 'take over' it is these well-used pathways that will fire. Now you can see that if you do an action in a slightly different way each time, myelin gets wrapped around a number of neural circuits, and none of them become dominant. The result is it is pot-luck which pathway gets fired when you don't think about it (ie exactly how your muscles get excited to carry out the action).

But there is a bootstrapping problem. You want to make sure that you do only 'good' shots so that only the nerves involved in exactly the actions of a good shot get reinforced, but you can't think about it all consciously at once, it is too much, so you can't just do 'good' shots from the start. This is why the task is broken down as mentioned above. Do one thing, like raising the bow, lots of times, and because it is a very simple action you can concentrate on doing it right. Every time you do it, that way of doing it is reinforced. Now you can move on to the next bit of the action, forgeting about the first because the unconscious will now do that automatically the way you have trained your nervous system. Get the idea?

Also, warmups are of dubious benefit to archers, in my opinion, but if you choose to do one make sure it is a warmup and not a stretch. Stretching before exercise is a bad idea, as it decreases strength in the stretched muscles by up to 30% for up to 1/2h afterwards, which is not what you want. By all means stretch after exercising.
 

anchorman47

New member
What everyone says is correct. I can shoot 144 arrows at 20yds. non stop easy if I am not aiming. If I aim then this number greatly reduces as technique comes into play instead of just muscle power.
 

PlaneCrazy

New member
Far from qualified to fully answer

But what I can say is that when I have my coaching session, it lasts an hour and I shoot maybe a dozen ends of 6 arrows, but because each arrow is shot with a lot more focus and thought and care than just flinging arrows in a field, I am quite done up at the end. Shooting consciously is more tiring.

I've noticed this in other thing as well. When I took Tai-chi lessons years ago, we would practice in an unheated space in the middle of winter and after just 45 minutes of slow, controlled movement, we would be sweating.

My coach is working on an area at a time with me, and each one is breaking bad habits I've developed over the years of un-coached flinging. While I fully understand the desire to shoot many, many arrows in practice, I can also see the great advantage of quality over quantity, at first.

One way I'm trying to balance my desire for shooting, and my desire to not ingrain more bad habits, is that my recreational shooting is with a longbow, and my coaching is with my recurve. Two very different shooting styles. I have less concern about picking up bad habits with my longbow because it's purely for fun. As long as I'm doing it well enough not to hurt myself, I'm ok.

Something to think about. Or not.
 

Little Miss Purple

The American
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
American Shoot
When I'm practicing seriously.. I always shoot more arrows than the round I may be shooting, this lengthens stamina which means when competing your last arrow is still as strong as your first. Indoors.. Notice how many people's scores drop in the afternoon of a double session!

It is about technique though, shooting hundreds of arrows repeatedly will consolidate bad arrows as much as it will good arrows.. You need to feel the shot & recognise when it is good & when it is bad. Some days it simply won't come together and the best hing you can do is pack up & go home before it messes with your mental game. Always remember the good shot cycle & focus on that, let the bad arrow go and forget it.. This is the biggest issue I've seen archers struggle with and it will cost you points, matches & medals!
 
Since shooting field my volume has decreased but focus on quality has increased.

In the winter I shoot about 150 - 200 a week. In the summer maybe 350 or so.
 

ghound

Member
This is only my personal view, so i hope i don't offend anyone.
I go shooting usually on a friday night for 2/3 hours, i can easily knock out 400+ round with ease on a 40cm 18yrd target with my longbow without any real effort, in contrast there's other archers who can't get near that score after years of training 3 or 4 days a week, so what i'm trying to say is if your going to be putting in hundreds of arrows a day you would need to be at the very top of the sport and getting some success and reward for it, if not then quit life's too short, because there's always going to be some lazy #### with natural talent who can beat your score with very little effort, and that goes in all walks of life and sports, eg i could practice 12 hrs a day 365 days a year at football, but i know i will never be a Wayne Rooney, no scrub that, Geordie Best!!
Again sorry if this offends.......i'll get me coat then...
 

el_t

New member
Lanny Bassham (look him up) says there are only two types of arrow: good ones, and ones that need work. Keep this in mind and practice as much as you can. For some that will be hundreds of arrows per week, for others only dozens. No matter what, practice as much as you can, never pack up during a 'bad session', shoot and shoot again until you rach your goal. That might be three shots in a row that are good, or ten or whatever. Never finish on an arrow that 'needs work'.
I find that this approach helps, especially indoors. It stops me getting bored as I concentrate on executing the shot. No matter where the arrow goes, if I feel like it's a good shot, then it's a good shot. Stick to this during practice and you can't go wrong...but that's only in my opinion.
Good shooting everyone!
Cheers,
Linda
 
Lanny Bassham (look him up) says there are only two types of arrow: good ones, and ones that need work. Keep this in mind and practice as much as you can. For some that will be hundreds of arrows per week, for others only dozens. No matter what, practice as much as you can, never pack up during a 'bad session', shoot and shoot again until you rach your goal. That might be three shots in a row that are good, or ten or whatever. Never finish on an arrow that 'needs work'.
I find that this approach helps, especially indoors. It stops me getting bored as I concentrate on executing the shot. No matter where the arrow goes, if I feel like it's a good shot, then it's a good shot. Stick to this during practice and you can't go wrong...but that's only in my opinion.
Good shooting everyone!
Cheers,
Linda
I *NEVER* finish my practice sessions on a bad arrow. I will only walk away on the best shot I am capable of.

Its something I have done for a couple of seasons and has served me well.
 
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