# Well-endowed Proper Form



## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

An open stance would make it worse, in my opinion. Check out this photo. This woman is fairly well endowed and the string is nowhere near hitting anything.









A regular sports bra should be sufficient, or even anything other than a pushup.

Here's another photo:


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## sprinke (Jul 9, 2015)

Is your wife OK with you publishing a picture?


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

She might also be holding her shoulders up and chest out, which isn't good form. Have her hold shoulders down and relax chest inward before drawing and see if that helps. And I'm assuming draw length is proper.


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## john800 (Nov 18, 2015)

Is it just be or does the lady in the bottom pic look like she would be better off anchored higher on her gace with a shorter draw length? Its hard to tell but she looks like she is leaning backwards as well.
For the issue you speak of you definitely would not want a longer than ideal draw length.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

It is hard to tell from the angle the photo was taken. You might be right.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

Another pic for your consideration.


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## john800 (Nov 18, 2015)

One other thing you may be able to do watch the womens compound finals on youtube at a major tounament like vegas or lancaster ect. You may be able to pic something up.


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## JPR79 (May 18, 2010)

john800 said:


> One other thing you may be able to do watch the womens compound finals on youtube at a major tounament like vegas or lancaster ect. You may be able to pic something up.


Thanks I'm going to try this for the time being to get some ideas. It is difficult to tell in the above pics but most of those women look like they are leaning back or "hipping" it with their rear hip. I have not ordered my wife's bow yet, just in case a longer bow may hold some key differences.


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## john800 (Nov 18, 2015)

JPR79 said:


> Thanks I'm going to try this for the time being to get some ideas. It is difficult to tell in the above pics but most of those women look like they are leaning back or "hipping" it with their rear hip. I have not ordered my wife's bow yet, just in case a longer bow may hold some key differences.


Its interesting to see how some of the top level archers are picture perfect form wise, and some get amazing results doing this or that which is supposedly wrong.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

JPR79 said:


> Thanks I'm going to try this for the time being to get some ideas. It is difficult to tell in the above pics but most of those women look like they are leaning back or "hipping" it with their rear hip. I have not ordered my wife's bow yet, just in case a longer bow may hold some key differences.


You can't tell from this angle of the pics what their hips are doing. I was only looking for pics that show where the string should be in relation to their chests. With a proper bow fit, form and draw length, there shouldn't be any difficulties with a large chest. Unless they have an abnormal chest or bras that are pushing up into their armpit areas.


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## sprinke (Jul 9, 2015)

This is me. I'm not well-endowed by any means and I'm probably wearing a compression sports bra, but you can get a feeling for the string location. Like laur said, there should not be any difficulties or contact with the chest.


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## RingLady (Oct 6, 2013)

Someone asked me that question many moons ago and I swear it was like asking the centipede "when you walk-which leg do you move first?' Took me awhile to run it thru my head that the string barely touches my shoulder when I shoot.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

It's like asking a male golfer how he doesn't whack his thing when he swings the club. If you do then clearly you're not doing it right.


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## CT Howard (Jul 28, 2018)

My better half is having this same problem, but shooting a 66" recurve. There's no way she can get to her actual draw length. We're considering switching her to a compound bow since the shorter length seems to be a helpful factor in avoiding string to body contact.


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## PurpleArcher713 (Sep 5, 2016)

I'm well endowed and don't have a problem with my shorter ata bow but do with longer ones. Anything longer than 35" ata I have string contact, it's not a huge problem until I get to a 39" ata. Stick with shorter ata or might be able to use a compression sports bra.


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## CT Howard (Jul 28, 2018)

PurplePirate713 said:


> I'm well endowed and don't have a problem with my shorter ata bow but do with longer ones. Anything longer than 35" ata I have string contact, it's not a huge problem until I get to a 39" ata. Stick with shorter ata or might be able to use a compression sports bra.


This seems to confirm my hypothesis. This is unfortunate as she is much more interested in shooting recurve.


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## Corene1 (Apr 27, 2014)

I am just taking a guess here. I shoot recuves barebow as well as Olympic style and don't have a problem but I am not large in the chest area. I do use a chest protector though . I do use a chest protector though. Not being able to see her form makes analyzing the problem a bit difficult so I got my recurve and tried to draw it in a manner that would cause a problem. The 2 main problems were in the stance. If I did not set my bow arm correctly and leaned backwards it away from the target it brought the breast in front of the string. Also, not loading the core correctly would cause an arch in the back putting the breast in front of the string as well . When you load the core correctly you will be in a slightly forward lean and it will keep the string in front of the breast. I would suggest looking at some of the world archery tournaments on you tube in the Olympic recurve division and watch their form. There is one girl from Russia that is well endowed and she has no problem , The string always pulls into the front of the breast not behind it. Look at this photo . See how her body is straight with a touch of forward lean and the bow shoulder is set solid. The string stays in front of the breast.


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## CamoQuest (Mar 3, 2012)

laur said:


> It's like asking a male golfer how he doesn't whack his thing when he swings the club. If you do then clearly you're not doing it right.


This is the best post yet.


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## akfeathers82 (Jan 4, 2015)

To echo what Corene said, I shoot Olympic style as well and wear a chest guard ever time I shoot. The string pulls against it when I'm at full draw, I tend to use that part of the string as another anchor point. So long as it pulls into the same spot every time I know that I'm anchoring properly. I looked at pics of several female World Cup archers, including Khatuna Lorig and Ki Bo Bae, and almost all had string/chest contact.


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## laserbeam1001 (Jun 30, 2013)

My wife is struggling with this very issue. The bow string touching at full draw. I Know part of it is her short neck another is form needs some work she's leaning back a bit. Just not sure if proper form alone will solve the issue. Any advice?

I did ask her permission to post her picture. 












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## Sara-s (Mar 2, 2014)

Her bow arm looks low. Also, her hips do not appear level. She seems to be leaning back a bit. If the bow arm were higher, she would avoid chest contact. BTW, my build is similar to hers & I have never had. Problem with chest contact.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

Her feet should be closer together, not spread so wide. This will help her stand straighter without leaning. Also she should relax her shoulders before drawing and collapse chest in, the opposite of thrusting chest out. I think many people, especially women thrust the chest out in an attempt to easier pull the weight. More back muscles, less chest/arm muscles should be used. It is hard to tell from this angle of the picture but it looks like her upper body may be leaning a bit forward from the waist. Stand up straighter and tuck the butt in.


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## laserbeam1001 (Jun 30, 2013)

laur said:


> Her feet should be closer together, not spread so wide. This will help her stand straighter without leaning. Also she should relax her shoulders before drawing and collapse chest in, the opposite of thrusting chest out. I think many people, especially women thrust the chest out in an attempt to easier pull the weight. More back muscles, less chest/arm muscles should be used. It is hard to tell from this angle of the picture but it looks like her upper body may be leaning a bit forward from the waist. Stand up straighter and tuck the butt in.


Thanks for the advice, we will give it a try this weekend. See if we can improve her form and get the string from touching her chest. 

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## john800 (Nov 18, 2015)

when it comes to leaning, one thing that can help cement standing straight up and properly distributing weight, keeping her bottom half in good consistent form is that if you point your toes differently you will naturally distribute weight differently. I would guess if she had her feet closer, rear foot at 90 deg or a hair toes forward and front foot about like it is now would be a good start.
This is just something my wife picked up that helped make her leaning habit go away, hopefully someone else will correct menif it has the potential to create other issues.


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## laur (Sep 6, 2017)

I stand with my feet about 12 inches apart, and toes pointing straight ahead, not angling the toes on one foot differently than the other. At a 90 degree to the target. I experimented with a more open stance but it didn't work well for me. 

The other thing that I can't quite tell from the picture is if possibly the draw length is 1/2" too long.


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## sprinke (Jul 9, 2015)

As an addendum, search Google Images for pictures of Paige Pearce Gore.


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## Brnz88 (Jul 15, 2015)

Posture will help. Feet shoulder width apart, and standing up straight, balance over your feet. This should help, but I would still invest in a comfortable chest protector, just to keep it off her clothes.


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## Valkyriehunting (Jul 8, 2018)

laserbeam1001 said:


> Thanks for the advice, we will give it a try this weekend. See if we can improve her form and get the string from touching her chest.
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk


My advice as a woman is this - if the string is touching your chest SOMETHING isn't right. Form, draw length etc. Look at Sarah Lopez or Sarah Bowmar depending if you're a target or bow hunting type. 

In regards to your wife he front shoulder has dropped down and in front = going to cause the string to touch. It's also hard to tell from angles, but looks like her elbow might be rotated inward. Do you have any dumbells at home? If not use a bow in one hand and just try to be even with the other, but my front shoulder likes to run away on me too. I do a lot of work at the gym holding two dumbells straight out (make a T with your body) and really focusing on engaging my lats and pulling my shoulders down and back. Think about squeezing a pencil between the shoulder blades and sitting them on top of the rib cage. Keep abs engaged. I find it easiest to feel right with two equally weighted dumbbells, but you can 100% do this with just a bow. Hold 30 seconds, rest. & repeat. For female archers your training that aren't your wife I know that physically moving them can be a challenge without being "that guy." put a pencil, stabilizer, whatever between their shoulder blades right at the base - tell them to try and touch it. Compensates for some form shifts and helps a ton .


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## Valkyriehunting (Jul 8, 2018)

sprinke said:


> As an addendum, search Google Images for pictures of Paige Pearce Gore.


Yes! Love her! She's a machine!


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## khromrell (Sep 18, 2018)

A compound or a shorter riser/shorter limbs will make the angle of the string work better.


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