Contributors to this thread:
I was shooting poorly lately...no surprise I haven't been shooting much lately. I noticed I was losing shots from side to side which is a bit unusual. Of course my first thought was, "This darn bow" grin...but a bare shaft flew well [ recurve] Hmmm? I barely shot it during elk season.......
So I picked up my compound that hasn't seen 20 arrows though it in the last 6 months....dang scattering arrows with that too.
I video'd my shooting and the answer was obvious- it wasn't the bow...its the Indian. My bow arm with both bows was all over the place...or at least enough to scatter arrows.
I started to do some dumbbell exercises with the weight I have used in the past....I hate to admit but I'm much weaker than I used to be. My gym went under when Covid hit. I don't do those arm raises[ forming a T] then swing both arms parallel to the ground, back to the side and down- anymore. I do a little bit of weight lifting on my Smith machine but obviously the wrong exercises and not enough.
I used to have a solid bow arm [ugh...and how long ago was that? Grin] ......and good follow through...but that was when I could do sets of the above exercises with 20# dumbbells- sadly, not anymore. Anyway, I've embarked on a bow arm routine to get it back.
So how is your Bow arm? Hopefully better than mine...
I've had multiple shoulder surgeries and I'm convinced that the only reason I'm still at is regular exercise. I'm a regular at the gym. My shoulder will never be 100% but strenghtening adjacent muscles has allowed me to continue bowhunting. Stay with it.
Join the club… I’ve had a couple shoulder surgeries 5 back 2 knee as well as fake disks in my neck… My biggest problem is the neck disks which have weakened both hands as well as my arms…
It takes daily exercise to just maintain the mess that I am now…
Keep it up
Push the bow toward the target will help to steady the bow arm. Just keep working on it.
Sometime back in the 80s I read an article in bowhunter mag I think it was. It was an interview with Paul Shaffer and the two most important things he said to him shooting well was a strong bow arm and follow through and the second was he always practiced with broadheads. Said he just took his shooting more seriously with a broadhead on the arrow.
My bow arm is great, it's the bow shoulder that is absolutely barely hanging on.
I've carried my target panic monkey on my shoulder for the last 25 years.EVERY arrow I loose requires the mental excercise of killing ALL tension in my bow arm from my shoulder,forearm and lastly hand.I've had to do this on every shot from practice to shooting animals.It's comical sometimes on animals as I have to draw early and aim longer,so animals move around while I'm waiting for the bow to go off.
For me,my bow arm is okay if I mentally remove it from the equation
