# bow hand stability



## dmcgbt10 (Feb 23, 2013)

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tricks to getting my bow hand to sit still for longer. When I look down my sights they are bouncing everywhere


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

There could be a lot of things causing this.
I would make certain your draw length isn't too long... even a quarter inch off can make you shake some.
Also, to a lesser extent, a draw length that's too short can be unstable.

The big one that really helped me was muscle relaxation at full draw.
It could be that you're not relaxing muscles like you should be.
Tension in your muscles will cause your sights to wobble and jump around. 
Your muscles have to be relaxed at full draw... and remain relaxed... in order for your sight pins to be steady. 
At full draw, your release hand as well as your bow hand, should be completely relaxed. 
You don't want to be squeezing the barrel of your release or the grip of your bow handle. 
Also, do not force either of your hands open. Your fingers should be hanging limp and relaxed.
Once at full draw, relax every muscle in your arms, shoulders, torso and legs that you don't need to use to stay at full draw. 
If you can learn to relax everything that isn't needed to hold at full draw, your sight pins will barely even move.

Another thing that will make you even more steady is controlled breathing.
Just like a long distance rifle shooter, you can take in 2 or 3 deep breaths, holding in 80% of the last one.

Make sure you aren't over-bowed... fatigue will degrade your steadiness. 

Play with adding or subtracting weight to your bows stabilizer.
A very light mass-weight bow is harder to hold steady... all things being equal and up to a point.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Zane pretty much covered it, Excellent post!

A couple of other things that have helped me:
- Bow shoulder. Some say down and back, others say down and forward. Down & back may be a little more steady, down and forward allows a little more range of motion in your release side shoulder.

- bow hand - Zane mentioned this but I want to emphasize it. It has to be completely relaxed or completely tensed. Very few archers have done well with a completely tensed hand since it's very difficult to do this without torquing the bow. Keep it completely relaxed from the start of your draw through follow through. One of the things that I see from archers with target panic is that they try to use the muscles in their hand to bring the pin back to the X. Avoid this, it leads to bad things.

- Peep height - this is almost as important as draw length in getting your bow to fit. You want to be able to easily see through your peep when your head is erect and balanced over your body mass at full draw. You will have much less swaying when your head is erect and centered.

- Don't stop - When you begin drawing your bow, don't relax the pressure. You will transfer the pressure from your arms to your back, but don't stop until you finish follow through. It's normal to relax a little as the draw force curve hits the drop off. You will be much steadier if you can maintain the pressure on your release while relaxing everything else. 

- Draw on the target - Acquire your target (look at the X or spot on the animal), then draw on the target so that when you anchor and first look through the peep you are on it. The less adjustment that you have to do to get your pin on the target, the steadier you will be.

Allen


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

the natural position your shoulder takes when you flex your rhomboids is the best condition for your bow shoulder. it sets up an alignment that stabilizes your entire bow arm and allows your bow hand and arm itself to fully relax without giving up stability. after that your draw length and peep height has got to be spot on. I know that my draw length is critical to about 2 twists of the string when I approach that ideal spot where my float is in it's best range, and the release goes automatically, without thinking about it. know that I have a very narrow range of that correct tension that is needed to make my shot process run reliably. everyone needs to find that sweet spot. it's just like I told my son when he was racing karts,....he always got upset with himself when he'd spin out.... "don't be ashamed of looping the kart, you have to drive to the limit and find where it's going to loop, other wise, you never learn where the limit is, and if you don't find the limit, I can't tune the kart to make you faster. the same holds true with your shot process. adjust everything until the shot won't go, no mater what you do, then back it off, until the shot happens. start out long, or start out short, either way, if the shot happens too soon, lengthen things twist by twist until you reach the point that they won't go reliably, if the shot doesn't go reliably, shorten things twist by twist, until the shot goes too soon. then back off either condition, just a bit, to find that sweet spot where your float is good and the shot goes after just a few seconds of float. then all you have to do is put the dot or pin on the X and wait a second or two, and the shot leaves, without consciously making it go. at point you can immerse your self in aiming, knowing the shot will take care of itself, if you just stay on/around the X . the key is that you have to establish what's too long and what's too short, to find that sweet spot....if you don't, you'll never know where that sweet spot is for you and sometimes, it is truly, just a matter of a twist or two on the string. 
when you find it, both aiming and the good shot will seem effortless.


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## AJ the TP Guru (Jul 29, 2011)

dcm - you can do all the things prescibed above, and still have more "float" than you'd like. Not that there's anything wrong with the advice you've gotten, just that two other things come into play here: 

1) some folks simply are not able to hold as still as others. To some degree, this is what separates the champions from the rest of us. You may be holding as still as it is likely you'll ever be able to hold (assuming your form is good, and you're not overbowed).

2) While your eyes are telling you the movement is too much to allow for consistently good shots, there may well be other things going on with the relationship between your conscious and subconscious minds, or what I call a _harmony _between the minds. This is what I try to instill in all my _Solution _messages. It seems to work.


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

add some more weight to the stab.


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

You guys are good! It never occurred to me that the peep height may be off... good thinkin', Allen! 
And you too, Ron... micro-adjusting the draw length is something very few archers do, but not doing it is akin to shooting a shotgun that has a length of pull 3" too long... not smart.

Something I should have mentioned... in order to relax your arms and shoulders, you have to be flexing your back muscles.
To find the right muscles to use, have someone stand facing you while you pretend to hold an imaginary bow at full draw. 
Have them grab hold of each of your elbows and try to gently force you to give them a hug... while you resist, all the while keeping your arms completely relaxed. 
The back muscles you feel resisting are the ones you need to flex to make the release fire. 

Oh, and Mike... what do ya think... does 12 lbs sound about right? :wink:


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