# Exaggerated follow through??



## Longshore (Oct 15, 2010)

I think a lot of follow throughs are fake. People throw their hand back because they saw someone else do it and it looked cool.  The way I was taught was that the follow through is just an involuntary response to the back muscles contracting and the string releasing. It's actually the elbow that goes back and down and the hand just follows. My coaches are always looking at follow through as it can tell you what you did with the back muscles during the shot. Lets see what some other have to say.


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## hrtlnd164 (Mar 22, 2008)

Sometimes that big movement on the back end can be attributed to carrying the holding weight in the draw arm and shoulder and not transferring to the back muscles.


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## rafca_age (May 21, 2014)

usually i tend to see this more in sweep shooters than someone who holds the target tho i must say i know a couple really good sweep shooters that do this it seems to work for them


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## Blue X (Dec 22, 2007)

Follow thru is involuntary with a subconscious release. Its also the end of your shot. 

Some archery coaches, including me tell people to concentrate on conclusion. This is to give you something to worry about past the point that you can negatively influence the arrows path.

I myself am and have always been addicted to the feeling of the total release of tension after a good shot breaks. Both ends move around the spine and your shoulder blades bottom out against your spine and its a moment of pure relaxation, your mind is blank and stress free for just a moment. Thats the reason that I love archery and still shoot. 

At the end of every shot, I hold my follow thru to prolong that totally relaxed feeling. The by product is im focused on something past the shot and dont anticipate the release going off. If it wasnt for the relaxation of a good follow thru, id quit tomorrow.

Blue X


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## jmann28 (Nov 22, 2010)

Blue X said:


> At the end of every shot, I hold my follow thru to prolong that totally relaxed feeling. The by product is im focused on something past the shot and dont anticipate the release going off. If it wasnt for the relaxation of a good follow thru, id quit tomorrow.
> 
> Blue X


That might be the best few sentences I've read on this forum since I joined. Hands down.


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## bhutso (Jan 4, 2007)

jmann28 said:


> That might be the best few sentences I've read on this forum since I joined. Hands down.


Best piece of advise I've gotten from blue x and he offered me alot of tips, but once you have a shot sequence that you are happy with and you shift your focus to the "feel" of the finish....well the rest just takes care of itself. Never shot better in my life than I am right now !!


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## Mahly (Dec 18, 2002)

I think for SOME it's fake, but for others the exaggerated follow through is something they were coached to do. Like Blue X mentioned, I suspect many are told to not react until "X" happens (maybe the sound of the arrow hitting the target or some other trigger that you don't react until that trigger is hit).
A great example is watching most world class recurve shooters. Many will let the bow swing down until the limb smacks them in the elbow (trigger?) Then you watch Brady, and he ends his follow through MUCH earlier (no trigger to end follow through?).
What I don't understand, is some blatantly obvious "extra" follow through movement. I'm not sure of his name but I think he's the 3rd guy shooting in this video. He gets what looks like a clean, surprise release, then after that, moves the release to the back of his neck and touches it there. It's an obvious, conscious movement, but he is VERY consistent with it (and he shoots better then I so I'm not knocking it....just don't understand the logic and/or reasoning behind it.


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

Blue X said:


> Follow thru is involuntary with a subconscious release. Its also the end of your shot.
> 
> Some archery coaches, including me tell people to concentrate on conclusion. This is to give you something to worry about past the point that you can negatively influence the arrows path.
> 
> ...


Good info.


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## Carbofastdirect (Nov 25, 2013)

Blue X said:


> Follow thru is involuntary with a subconscious release. Its also the end of your shot.
> 
> Some archery coaches, including me tell people to concentrate on conclusion. This is to give you something to worry about past the point that you can negatively influence the arrows path.
> 
> ...



Nicely put!!


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## Tiroarco (Nov 6, 2012)

Blue X said:


> Follow thru is involuntary with a subconscious release. Its also the end of your shot.
> 
> Some archery coaches, including me tell people to concentrate on conclusion. This is to give you something to worry about past the point that you can negatively influence the arrows path.
> 
> ...


Phew......You just summed up what I always thought but could never put in words. There are few things as good as a crisp shot.......you know the one, when you know it's an X before the arrow even leaves the rest because EVERY component of the shot was perfect.
I like what you said and I will see if I can apply it on a consistent basis.
This was a great post.


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDraRcgqqMA&app=desktop

3:20 in Shane Willis starts shooting. This is one of the examples of exaggerated follow through I was thinking of.


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## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

at an intermediate/advanced level, the answer to the question is well known...Though it makes for a decent General Archery discussion..should be considered for movement to a non-advanced section.


need to determine if you're referring to compound or recurve...though may find the flyback of the draw and to be for the same reason on both.


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

Fury90flier said:


> at an intermediate/advanced level, the answer to the question is well known...Though it makes for a decent General Archery discussion..should be considered for movement to a non-advanced section.
> 
> 
> need to determine if you're referring to compound or recurve...though may find the flyback of the draw and to be for the same reason on both.


I'd rather delete it then move it. Gen pop is pretty useless when it comes to anything. If the search function worked like it used to a few years I would have just searched it but that's useless now to.


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## mosierls (Oct 2, 2013)

mgnasi said:


> Phew......You just summed up what I always thought but could never put in words. There are few things as good as a crisp shot.......you know the one, when you know it's an X before the arrow even leaves the rest because EVERY component of the shot was perfect.
> I like what you said and I will see if I can apply it on a consistent basis.
> This was a great post.


It was a great post. As advanced archers how many of your shots are these shots that you know is an X and everything feels perfect. I'd say that only 25% of mine are like that. I have a lot that don't feel bad and score well, but not all feel like the ones that your mind is completely blank and never leaves the X. Once my mind leaves the spot even for a millisecond it is not the same even if it scores well.


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

Fury90flier said:


> at an intermediate/advanced level, the answer to the question is well known...Though it makes for a decent General Archery discussion..should be considered for movement to a non-advanced section.
> 
> 
> need to determine if you're referring to compound or recurve...though may find the flyback of the draw and to be for the same reason on both.


I'm talking about compound. I would consider myself an intermediate shooter and never once have I had a discussion about exaggerated release side follow throughs other than when in the context of working on something completely new. I must have missed it. 

Check out my post above with the youtube video.


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## Ned250 (Aug 10, 2009)

Blue X said:


> Follow thru is involuntary with a subconscious release. Its also the end of your shot.
> 
> Some archery coaches, including me tell people to concentrate on conclusion. This is to give you something to worry about past the point that you can negatively influence the arrows path.
> 
> ...


The bolded is exactly what I look for/crave. :darkbeer:


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## dua lam pa (May 29, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TISDxbN2XII

there is a reason


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

dua lam pa said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TISDxbN2XII
> 
> there is a reason


That's another good example of what I'm talking about and I thought Blue X did an excellent job posting his response. 

Is the relaxation the only point? Is there a muscular benefit? Does it aide in faster muscle recovery between shots?


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

dua lam pa said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TISDxbN2XII
> 
> there is a reason


Jessie and Shane grew up in the same archery club in Cumberland, MD. Any resemblance in their follow through is not a coincidence. 

I expect that these guys and Braden were first taught follow through by exaggerating the motion on purpose. Their current form is simply a carry over from that. 

JMHO,
Allen


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## Fury90flier (Jun 27, 2012)

Looney Bin said:


> I'd rather delete it then move it. Gen pop is pretty useless when it comes to anything. If the search function worked like it used to a few years I would have just searched it but that's useless now to.


use google or yahoo- I prefer yahoo (better results). Just enter archerytalk first before any questions...pulls up all kinds of info.

gen pop useless- sometimes.


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## Blue X (Dec 22, 2007)

Looney Bin said:


> That's another good example of what I'm talking about and I thought Blue X did an excellent job posting his response.
> 
> Is the relaxation the only point? Is there a muscular benefit? Does it aide in faster muscle recovery between shots?


You know the yankton Jessie video is my favorite archery video, I would not call that excessive follow thru but more of a continuing fluid movement to get your arm back down to shoot again. At the end of thousands of shots, you will find better ways to do stuff, just like you do where you work and what you do there. 

At the end of the shot, your shoulder blade is bottomed out on your spine, your release elbow is down. To reset for another shot or to just lower your arm, theres only two ways you can do it. One requires you to move your arm back forward then down. the other is to just let it follow its circular path and momentum and gravity will get your arm down for you. Id say that the latter is true. If you watch that video, you can see where follow thru stops and the rest is momentum and gravity reseting his body to a normal position. 

What if a man committed to looking thru his binoculars immediately after his shot fired as a conclusion to the shot. Arrow has done left, his mind would be occupied with something past his shot, that is a good way to not anticipate the shot. Id say look thru binoculars is the last step in his shot sequence and the motion you see is just the most efficient way to get to that step. 


Blue X


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## bowfisher (Jan 21, 2003)

Braden looks more like the usual back tension where the elbow moves around and down. Not sure how Jessie does what he does, his elbow doesn't come around and down. But you cant argue with success.


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## Azzurri (Mar 10, 2014)

How do I put this? When someone shows you how to do the back tension release right, the release and follow through comes naturally. Some people may have an obsessive or theatrical flourish at the end, but you get the basic motion from the shot process. That being said, there is also a "fake it til you make it" strain of thought where people are encouraged to imitate the endgame so as to have them working on a good looking followthrough, but without necessarily doing the release right where the motion is natural. Superficially the appearance can be similar, but in the former it's the back tension creating angular motion where the latter is you're just flinging the hand back to imitate same. There are worse things than trying to develop the components of a good shot, but if you're not getting the back tension component right you're going to have to relearn and re-feel the whole process again when the process is done right and the motion is natural.

I go back to, distance will expose all ills, if you are faking good followthrough but not truly expanding and back-tension-ing, it will show up as the bales go back, as collapse and a shortened shot. Compound guy from my indoor range was at my outdoor range the other day. Very accurate inside but was dropping short outside trying 70. Looked to me like he wasn't following through and was collapsing as the shot finished. Shot was good right to the end. Didn't have the heart to say anything because it's like, this is a 299/300 guy inside, I'm a recurver, I don't shoot that good out to 70, who am I to talk. But if the pop back is not quite real it will drop over distance.


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

I once sat behind the line at a shoot and watched a young girl shoot, and every shot, her release hand would swing in a big arc, all the way back ad around until it stopped at her waist. i'd a little worried about walking behind her as she shot. every once in a while she would stop her hand where you might think a natural follow through would end,...and then quickly continue it through to her waist. I noticed the fella next to her doing the same thing and later found out they were husband and wife.....imagine that!.


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## Tiroarco (Nov 6, 2012)

dua lam pa said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TISDxbN2XII
> 
> there is a reason


I don't think its an exaggerated follow through at all! If so, then I wish mine was like his.....When you look closely, his hand (and elbow go straight back). The only difference with him is he doesn't pause after the shot. He appears so relaxed that his arm just carries through from the perfectly executed shot (release) straight into grabbing his next arrow or the bins.


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## Looney Bin (Feb 9, 2009)

mgnasi said:


> I don't think its an exaggerated follow through at all! If so, then I wish mine was like his.....When you look closely, his hand (and elbow go straight back). The only difference with him is he doesn't pause after the shot. He appears so relaxed that his arm just carries through from the perfectly executed shot (release) straight into grabbing his next arrow or the bins.



Jesse's release on the Yankton video looks super relaxed. I may mess around with trying to emulate it. I always stop my release side follow through. I don't cut it super short but nothing like that. More like Reo's release side follow through, but just a little further.


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