# keeping draw arm shoulder down



## WhitBri (Jan 30, 2007)

Finally got to the range with someone else there to watch me. I have a few problems interelated. My biggest is my bow arm shoulder is creeping up on me when I'm adding back tension, then of course I'm pulling harder to get it to go like I shouldn't, both have caused me not to have confidence in my routine at full draw and I'm trying harder which when I do that I tense up things like my release hand making it not fire right, so I pull harder which makes my bow shoulder creep farther. 

Any tips on routines, drills, etc that would help with my draw shoulder, feel like its the start of my problems. I feel like if I focus on rotating my upper arm with my shoulder to ger my hand into a good 45 degree angle with my knuckles instead of rotating my lower arm it helps, but feels uncomfortable to me right now.

thanks for the help,
Brian


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## dchan (Jun 29, 2004)

Even before you even raise your bow, use your lats (like doing a lat pull down) to set or draw your bow shoulder down. You should be able to do this, and set your hand at that "45 degree" first. Then raise your bow arm and bow up keeping that muscle engaged.. Try to keep that muscle engaged from the beginning of your shot to the end.


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

dchan said:


> Even before you even raise your bow, use your lats (like doing a lat pull down) to set or draw your bow shoulder down. You should be able to do this, and set your hand at that "45 degree" first. Then raise your bow arm and bow up keeping that muscle engaged.. Try to keep that muscle engaged from the beginning of your shot to the end.


Rotating your bow arm elbow to 9 o'clock (right handed archers) and keeping the back of your upper arm firm will help move the shoulder into the right position.
Practice with a stretch band or a very light (15 lb.) bow at first to get the motion.


TAO


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## Moebow (Jul 8, 2010)

" rotating my upper arm with my shoulder"

Sounds to me that you are trying to get the vertical elbow position by rolling your shoulder. You get the elbow position by holding your shoulder still (down and back) and rotating your upper arm (humorus) only. The shoulder should not move.

Arne


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## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

Many times the front bow shoulder will come up during the aiming process to try to steady the pin. This leads to tension in certain muscles that need to be relaxed in order to properly use dynamic back tension with relaxation in the front and back half. 

You have to go back to the blank bale and work on form and relaxing thru the shot. It is near impossible to try to develop a new relaxed shot while aiming. The reason I tell you this is because it happened to me. I could hold the pin rock steady in the "x" but I was so tight I could not relax to get it to fire - correctly.


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