# How I cured holding low...



## krakin

I've been battling the dreaded "holding low" for a few months now. I would draw, aim and when aiming the dot would be sucked down below the bull. Attempting to raise my arm would overcorrect to above the X and then drop down through the X. I'm a hinge shooter so punching on the way through the bull was never an option. 

I spent a lot of time searching this forum for cures and did these things to no avail:
- Shortened my draw length and shortened it again. Ended up taking off 1 inch from the DL
- Cleaned up any lean I had. In fact I ended up even leaning forward ever so slightly
- Made 100% sure my shoulders were down (as per Griv videos)
- Took 10Oz of weight off the stabilizers
- Spent lots of time training the bow arm muscles and building them up
- Lots of blank bailing and shooting with just a ring and no dot

And after all of that I was no better off. It was as though someone had planted a large magnet in the grass below my bow. I ended up being sure I had target panic and that it was not form related but no matter how much shooting I did without aiming at a bull, I could always feel this uncontrollable force pulling the dot down while my firing engine was running.

So anyway, this weekend I decided to go back to basics, set up the tripod and take some photos of my form to see if I could spot anything weird. And - yes I did. What I saw was that the shortening of my draw length may well have been needed but it in itself moved the problem from one place to another. What I noticed is that my draw length on the back half was now too short. My release forearm was pointing up about 15 degrees (i.e. elbow about 3" higher than the wrist) because I did not have enough backwards extension to bring the elbow down and make my forearm line up with the arrow. To correct this I added 1/4" to the D loop and set my hinge quite a lot colder so that I could pull through it more than before. In fact I used the adjustment on the hinge as a way to fine tune my draw arm extension/position to get it perfectly parallel with the arrow.

Well low and behold, after doing this I could suddenly hold on the X without any sense that the bow wanted to drop down. Literally in the span of an hour I went from holding low to holding steady. It was as though I had taken a miracle pill. Why I didn't see this before I just don't know. Everything I had read about was about shoulders and draw length being too long and that's where I focussed. Now I can clearly see exactly what was going wrong:

1) I would draw and get comfortable
2) Come to the click
3) Start to aim (at this point dot would be in the X)
4) Transition all stress from the draw arm into the shoulders and apply back tension
5) Start to feel the dot wanting to drop low and then start to drop down below the X. The further into my firing engine, the harder the dot wants to go down

This picture shows the mechanics of what was going on (picture is showing side on view just like a "how is my form" photo):









A- Bow hand
B- Wrist
C- Elbow

When first getting to full draw and coming to the click, the wrist would still be fairly tense and act more like a weld than a hinge. The force along the forearm was translating into a purely backwards force on the D loop. Picture A-B-C as a solid steel bar bent at point B but still rigid. Now as the firing engine starts and the forearm relaxes and stress is transitioned to the back muscles, now the wrist relaxes and is free to bend. So now picture A-B as a steel bar and B-C as a steel bar with B being a ball joint. Its quite clear that the more the wrist relaxes, the more any force applied to C will result in anticlockwise torque around point A. Point B will want to rise up and point A will want to drop down. This force is the very real force you feel trying to push the dot down. And the more you get into your firing engine relaxing the draw arm and applying back tension, the more the dot wants to drop. You then tense up, raise the dot and enter the firing engine again... and again the dot starts dropping.

The bottom image shows how when the forearm lines up with the arrow, it does not matter if the wrist is tense or relaxed and any change will not create torque around point A

I'm not saying that this is the root cause for all forms of "dot holds low", but under my circumstances, its certainly is a miracle cure and I'm thrilled to feel like I'm on top of things for the first time in months (pun intended).


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## aread

Well done! :thumbs_up

Thanks for posting. We can all learn something from you.

Allen


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## cshs

Thanks, interesting


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## houndhamrick

I had the same issue.. Added 7/8" to my draw and bingo!!


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## MiniJCW

Having just dropped half an inch on my draw to see if it would help my low hold after reading a lot of form threads of similar issues I found that the low hold is still happening.
Lots of stress and questions of should I just sell up and go back to golf. Frustration is driving me nuts. Dot starts going low I tense up, arms start to shake dot moves all over the place, I stop and start my hinge firing then just let it go off and work on the next arrow.
At a comp on the weekend I saw a picture that was taken of me at full draw. My release elbow is very high and forearm is aiming down. Release shoulder seems scrunched up. My anchor feels great but after reading the above post I am going to try some new d loop lengths and see how I go with the dot.
Thanks to the OP for the write up this could be the bit of info I need to grow my shooting to the next level.


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## aread

MiniJCW said:


> Having just dropped half an inch on my draw to see if it would help my low hold after reading a lot of form threads of similar issues I found that the low hold is still happening.
> Lots of stress and questions of should I just sell up and go back to golf. Frustration is driving me nuts. Dot starts going low I tense up, arms start to shake dot moves all over the place, I stop and start my hinge firing then just let it go off and work on the next arrow.
> At a comp on the weekend I saw a picture that was taken of me at full draw. My release elbow is very high and forearm is aiming down. Release shoulder seems scrunched up. My anchor feels great but after reading the above post I am going to try some new d loop lengths and see how I go with the dot.
> Thanks to the OP for the write up this could be the bit of info I need to grow my shooting to the next level.


Please let us know what you figure out.

If more people post their solutions to holding low, this could be one of the most valuable threads on AT.

Allen


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## aread

Here is how another archer cured the problem:

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1861737&highlight=stabilization


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## DrewJF8

I have this same problem. Thanks for posting


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## horsehands

Raising the peep a little will help in some situations.


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