# need help



## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

daduck said:


> I have taken this 3d season off to rebuild my form and go back to the basics. I have built a shot ruotien but I'm having a problem getting my front shoulder down. Have read a lot of articles and talked to a few of them via facebook and could it be my dl is to short.
> 
> Thanks
> Duck


Either that or the bow weight is too high. Can you post a picture?

TAO


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## daduck (Jan 3, 2013)

I deleted most of them here is one


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## daduck (Jan 3, 2013)

Here is another I did with a pic program


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

daduck said:


> Here is another I did with a pic program


Your bow arm is definately bent indicating too short of a draw. Your bow arm elbow should be rotated to the 9 o'clock position (out to the side) and your bow hand knuckles should be at a 45 degree angle to the riser to help put you in better position. The first knuckle of your release hand should be below the ear canal. Try increasing your draw length until you can straighten your arm. Working with a coach is the best way to go but I've seen archers video themselves and make corrections with good results.

TAO


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## nickel shooter5 (Dec 26, 2009)

TheAncientOne said:


> Your bow arm is definately bent indicating too short of a draw. Your bow arm elbow should be rotated to the 9 o'clock position (out to the side) and your bow hand knuckles should be at a 45 degree angle to the riser to help put you in better position. The first knuckle of your release hand should be below the ear canal. Try increasing your draw length until you can straighten your arm. Working with a coach is the best way to go but I've seen archers video themselves and make corrections with good results.
> 
> TAO


Im not a coach by any means but if you look at people like jessie and chance there bow arm is bent(a little) and the elbow is more at a 6-7 o'clock.... 
Like I said I'm no coach but looks to me daduck is stretched in the second pic. And a streched bow arm is hard to to keep the front sholder down. A slight bend (or just relaxing the front elbow) helps drive the sholder down. Just my 2cents


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

I have the same problem keeping my bow shoulder down. There are a few things that you can do to help this.

1 - Find your optimum draw length. In both photos, your anchor looks OK, so start there to find the DL that allows you to execute your release with ease.

2 - Form parts that are set together tend to stay together. Set your shoulder as part of your draw to anchor, not as a seperate action after you hit anchor. I'm coming to see that a strong, smooth & consistent draw leads to better execution. I don't quite have this down, but the better I do it, the more easily I can execute the shot.

3 - Ingrain this on the blank bale and bridge. It's difficult to learn form changes while aiming. 

The top pro's such as Jesse, Chance, Reo & Dietmar are not always the best models of good form. Through hours & hours of practice over many years, these guys have found what worked for them. It won't necessarily work for your or me. I won't critisize their form because they have been so successful. They are good examples of "you don't have to have perfect textbook form, you just have to have perfectly consistent form".

When Jesse was growing up and learning archery, a bent bow arm was considered the best way to shoot by many compound archers. Today, the straight, but not locked arm is considered more "correct". The Olympic recurve archers have shown it to be more consistent. But "correct" (I dislike that word  ) is only a place to start. You have to find out what works for you. 

JMHO,
Allen


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## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

Upon raising the bow arm try to make a "scooping motion". This action will help keep the front shoulder down. Get you a stretch band and practice this in front of a mirror. Many times an archer will raise the front shoulder subconsciously to try to gain more pin control.....which actually does the opposite.

Great advice form those above....


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

nickel shooter5 said:


> Im not a coach by any means but if you look at people like jessie and chance there bow arm is bent(a little) and the elbow is more at a 6-7 o'clock....
> Like I said I'm no coach but looks to me daduck is stretched in the second pic. And a streched bow arm is hard to to keep the front sholder down. A slight bend (or just relaxing the front elbow) helps drive the sholder down. Just my 2cents


Some people bend their arm to create a little more room for string clearance. That being said, the most efficient way to hold a bow is to create a bone on bone support to effectivly remove muscles from the equation. Bending your arm at the same angle every time is hard to consistantly repeat.

You can get away with it using a compound since the let offs are so high, but watch a modern recurve archer like Brady Ellison or Jake Kaminsky and you will see the most efficient way to hold a bow. They hold 50lbs and more at their fingers by using a straight line from their bow hand through the rear shoulder and holding with their back muscles.

Rotating your bow arm elbow and gripping at 45 degrees makes it easier to get your front shoulder down.

TAO


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## MayDie (Jul 29, 2009)

I am by no means a coach so you can take what I say with a grain of salt if you want. But I would suggest another picture. This time get the arrow dead level by raising up the bow arm. Also relax your release hand, you have a bend in it and it should be relaxed and straight. Stand up straight, Keep your head level, raise bow arm so arrow is dead level, relax release arm/hand so there isn't a bend, and then take a picture. We really should be able to tell if the DL is good then.


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