# Compound Bow Shooting



## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

The bow arm should be straight but relaxed. With the bow shoulder low, there should be bone to bone contact all the way to the grip. 
Here's a simple test. Take your bow arm and and bend it slightly and use it to hold yourself up against the wall. See how long you last. Now drop your shoulder low in its socket and straighten your arm and lean against the wall. You will notice with the straight arm you can stand there for a long time. 

Why? Cause your not using any muscle. It's bone to bone. So a straight relaxed arm is the way to go.


----------



## Airport22 (May 12, 2012)

Thank you for the information!


----------



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Good advice from Sub. 

Unfortunately, I'm intimately familiar with the pain that you are experiencing. It shut down my archery for about a year. It was so long because I tried to keep shooting without letting it heal. It is very similar to tennis elbow which is a repetitive stress injury. The more you shoot, the more it will hurt until you can't stand it. 

If it's not yet bad, there are a few things that you can do. First get an elbow strap. All of the sporting goods stores sell them. They are usually less than $15. While you are shooting, wear it just below your bow arm elbow and keep it as tight as you can stand. Be sure to loosen it occasionally to keep the blood flow going.

Take a couple of Aleve about 30 minutes before shooting and ice it down after shooting. These will reduce the inflamation. 

Google the exercises and stretches for tennis elbow. The stretches seemed to help me more than the exercises.

Shooting form - when you drawing and are at full draw you are probably tensing the small muscles in your elbow. Try to relax those and use the large triceps muscles. It's pretty easy to tense these muscles and the shock of each shot will slightly injure them, and gradually build up to a serious injury. 

Last, but not least, never take medical advice from a forum like this. Always consult a real doctor. 

Hope this helps,
Allen


----------



## zephus (Apr 28, 2012)

aread said:


> Last, but not least, never take medical advice from a forum like this. Always consult a real doctor.


+1 for Allen suggesting Aleve while taking no responsibility for it, haha.


----------



## WSUBowhunter (Feb 19, 2009)

subconsciously said:


> The bow arm should be straight but relaxed. With the bow shoulder low, there should be bone to bone contact all the way to the grip.
> Here's a simple test. Take your bow arm and and bend it slightly and use it to hold yourself up against the wall. See how long you last. Now drop your shoulder low in its socket and straighten your arm and lean against the wall. You will notice with the straight arm you can stand there for a long time.
> 
> Why? Cause your not using any muscle. It's bone to bone. So a straight relaxed arm is the way to go.


:thumbs_up:thumbs_up


----------



## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

very good advice from sub; ill add this, take some lbs. off the draw weight too... if you can. most hunters i see think you MUST have a 70 lb. bow for deer. and i see these same people trying to shoot the same set up in indoor spots.where the top shooters are holding 35-50 lbs and just killing the x .... archery is not a game of how much weight you pull but how much skill you have.:juggle: and they can do it every time.


----------

