# Back Tension Release Aid: Best change I've made



## ukxbow (Aug 17, 2018)

Hi, I just thought I'd mention my experience here. I started compound 18 months ago with a thumb trigger. I have never had a coach and have tried to improve using videos and other resources, as well as my own 'feel'. It has been going great and only 4 weeks ago I was shooting the best scores ever - 575-585 on a UK Portsmouth round, which isn't amazing but its pretty decent. Then it went to sh*t. I started to anticipate the shot. I became tense. I even found my jaw clenched and, try as I might, i could not stop it. My whole shot cycle fell to bits.

So I bought a Carter Evolution + back tension/pressure release aid. In less than 5 minutes, the twitches of anticipation stopped. I relaxed. I brought my back 'back'. My pin settled and my whole cycle now revolves around that balance of relaxation and 'correct' tension in the right places. After one day, I am not shooting my best yet (duh)..... but I am shooting reasonably well. Most importantly, I am relaxed again and loving the compound! No arrows are being jerked high, or wide. Most of all, it is proving an amazing coach. Any issues with how I set up for the shot are revealed straight away, as either the release going off too easily, or with too much difficulty. It is forcing me to be really consistent with my bone alignment and use of muscles. It is forcing me to actually hold on target and not cheat by being good at releasing the trigger at the right moment.

This thing is fantastic. I now know my form was breaking down well before a version of 'target tension' took hold. I also know my peep is too low, just a touch. It is allowing me to figure things out by virtue of requiring my body alignment and shot cycle to be bob on and making everything else revolve around that.

So, if you've wondered about getting one, maybe give it a go? This little release aid has made a massive impact in one afternoon. Target panic? What's that? In my case it was most likely just crappy form building up until it broke, followed by a complete loss of relaxed, unconscious shooting.


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## merlinron (Mar 23, 2020)

the release you use has nothing to do with back tension,....there are no releases that are "back tension releases", and at the same time,...every release there is, is a back tension release. this is a major misconception throughout the ranks in archery. "back tension" is a muscular process that can be used with every release there is and is generally recommended as a method of maintaining the tension in your upper back to allow steady aiming and good follow through. in simple terms, it is simply drawing with your rhomboid muscle and using them to hold your bow's draw weight. to do it, as you draw, flex your rhomboids and pull your shoulder blades together,... the muscular tension you feel in your upper back, between your shoulder blades, is "back tension",....it can be done with any release there is. along with back tension, should be activating the muscles that keep your shoulders down and level,....this locks your shoulders and upper arms in place and makes a solid platform for a steady hold.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

ukxbow said:


> Hi, I just thought I'd mention my experience here. I started compound 18 months ago with a thumb trigger. I have never had a coach and have tried to improve using videos and other resources, as well as my own 'feel'. It has been going great and only 4 weeks ago I was shooting the best scores ever - 575-585 on a UK Portsmouth round, which isn't amazing but its pretty decent. Then it went to sh*t. I started to anticipate the shot. I became tense. I even found my jaw clenched and, try as I might, i could not stop it. My whole shot cycle fell to bits.
> 
> So I bought a Carter Evolution + back tension/pressure release aid. In less than 5 minutes, the twitches of anticipation stopped. I relaxed. I brought my back 'back'. My pin settled and my whole cycle now revolves around that balance of relaxation and 'correct' tension in the right places. After one day, I am not shooting my best yet (duh)..... but I am shooting reasonably well. Most importantly, I am relaxed again and loving the compound! No arrows are being jerked high, or wide. Most of all, it is proving an amazing coach. Any issues with how I set up for the shot are revealed straight away, as either the release going off too easily, or with too much difficulty. It is forcing me to be really consistent with my bone alignment and use of muscles. It is forcing me to actually hold on target and not cheat by being good at releasing the trigger at the right moment.
> 
> ...


The Carter Evo and Evo+ are excellent releases. Some folks like to argue semantics. Fine.
The Carter Evo and Evo+ are tension (pull force) activated releases. The Evo series of releases has a thumb button that acts as a safety, to will not allow the release to fire, during the pull motion to full draw. Once you reach full draw and anchor, you now release the thumb safety button, and the pull tension release is ready to fire. Upon increasing your pull tension motion, in a steady increase of pull force, you reach the threshold firing tension force, and the Evo series of releases will fire.

The Evo series of releases are excellent training tools, to kill the twitches for anticipation. Well done.


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## roving (Jun 26, 2020)

Would this be an ideal release for someone brand new to archery / bowhunting?


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## merlinron (Mar 23, 2020)

it is the process of "using back tension", to execute your shot that makes the improvement in your shooting, .... not the specific type of release you choose. some releases are more compatible with the "back tension process" than others , but in general,... any release can be shot with back tension and any release can be improperly used, as well. "back tension" is an element of a specific style of shot execution, not a specific design of release. as far as a new shooter goes, there is no reason that someone should not or cannot learn to use back tension right from the first arrow they shoot. as a matter of fact,...those that do learn back tension right away are the shooters who understand that back tension is a shot process not a release design. those that have learned to shoot without back tension and then , at a later time, attempt to learn the back tension process are usually the people who confuse "back tension" as a process and call a release, a "back tension release" there is no such thing as a "back tension release",...just the same as there is no release that cannot be shot with the back tension process of shot execution. one is a mechanical object, " a release",....the other is a physical, muscular process, "back tension". the release used doesn't produce back tension,...back tension produces the release.


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## Cory F.26 (Mar 18, 2020)

I can't wait to get mine dialed in


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