# What poundage are olympic men shooting.



## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

g - 

We could tell you, then then we'd have to kill you ... 

Viper1 out.


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

A lot more than you can.

Really - model yourself after their mental process and form, not their holding weight. It's not like they all hold what the thier top physical holding individual does - the shoot for their best personal scores. If I score two more points with a 10# less bow I still win.

One will note that Lee's page on SPT's show 58 lbs for some training (http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/Training/SPTs/SPTs.html). If you can do that with confidence then worry about it, otherwise ask what poundage you need to shoot given your physical condition (which most likely is not Olympian otherwise you wouldn't need to ask this question).

If you still really want to know the answer the some searches here and on google will give equipment specs. I do not known them off hand and do not care enough to spend the time to give you bad advice. If I knew it off hand I would give it and let you go struggle for months trying to do what someone whose full time job is shooting. These guys have archery as a full time job - for some it may be a second job for others thier first, yet it is a full time sport. Holding weight should be WELL after finding the appropriate coach to set you where you need to be to shoot your best scores. A 900 shot with an 85# recurve looses to a 901 shot with a 24# recurve no matter how much the person pulling 85# thinks they are better.


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## jmvargas (Oct 21, 2004)

based on my observations for the past few years the elite men would be PULLING between 45-48# and the women about 6-8# less....

our national pool male archers have 42-44# limbs but draw 29-31"...the women have 38-42# limbs but draw 26-29"...

am sure there are still some exceptionally strong male archers that pull 50#+ but they are a vanishing breed due to the improved efficiency of modern limbs....


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## ghost_STi (Jul 25, 2010)

Viper1 said:


> g -
> 
> We could tell you, then then we'd have to kill you ...
> 
> Viper1 out.


:lol3:


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## zal (May 1, 2007)

It used to be somewhere between 48 and 54, but these days with modern limbs it can be as low as 43-44. Most I know still shoot around 48 or so nevertheless. Galiazzo reportedly shot fairly low poundages, and the current world champion has been said to be shooting at 44-45 range. How accurate is that information, no-one knows.


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## calbowdude (Feb 13, 2005)

IIRC some of the guys were holding a ton of weight, high 40's-low 50's. Frangilli, Magnus Petersson, Butch Johnson, Brady Ellison are the names that come to mind. But I don't have documentation, so don't take this as gospel.


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## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

ghost - 

OK, I actually answered his question in a different forum ... http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1367019

strcpy -

Some of us were practicing with heavy "weight training" bows before we ever heard of coach lee or SPTs. 

Viper1 out.


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

Viper1 said:


> gstrcpy -
> 
> Some of us were practicing with heavy "weight training" bows before we ever heard of coach lee or SPTs.
> 
> Viper1 out.


Really? I never knew that. I had always thought that Lee invented *everything* about archery. Are you going to next be telling me that he didn't invent sights, stabilizers, and tabs. Blasphemy I tell you, Blasphemy! Stone the unbeliever!

But wait - maybe, possibly, I don't know - I just felt it appropriate to link to a high end archer with exactly the weight they were holding for exercises and then point out that unless you can do that it is an irrelevant question? Hmm, maybe that is the case since I can't even find where I implied that lee invented it. Dunno, surely I really thought Lee invented weight training.

Ah well, being a small muckity-muck it is important I get reminded I can't even agree with published archers, must remember my place and all.


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## Arcus (Jul 7, 2005)

Gee, strcpy, the guy said he was just curious. There was a time I was curious about this, too, but I had no intention of copying them.


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

Arcus said:


> Gee, strcpy, the guy said he was just curious. There was a time I was curious about this, too, but I had no intention of copying them.


Maybe, nor am I the only one that gave ans answer along the lines of "more than you can do". I gave the one weight I could reliably cite (holding weight for Lee's Archers in their SPT's), I answered to the best of my ability. It was certainly more specific than "it's a secret". Nor have I particularly been rude towards to OP or complained that he asked the question (the closest was the term irrelevant in the second posts and irrelevant questions are just fine to ask, they just do not do any much good other than curiosity), I was only rude to someone who I think very well knows that I didn't mean that and did it as a passive aggressive shot.


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## Arcus (Jul 7, 2005)

strcpy said:


> Maybe, nor am I the only one that gave ans answer along the lines of "more than you can do". I gave the one weight I could reliably cite (holding weight for Lee's Archers in their SPT's), I answered to the best of my ability. It was certainly more specific than "it's a secret". Nor have I particularly been rude towards to OP or complained that he asked the question (the closest was the term irrelevant in the second posts and irrelevant questions are just fine to ask, they just do not do any much good other than curiosity), I was only rude to someone who I think very well knows that I didn't mean that and did it as a passive aggressive shot.


Oh. Okay.


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## Vittorio (Jul 17, 2003)

My son is pulling 50.5# right now, Marco Galiazzo, Mauro Nespoli and Ilario di Buo' are in the 48# range
Maximum for Michele was in 1996 at 53#, minimum in 2008 at 49#
Natalia Valeeva is still in the range of 36 to 37#
You can judge the poundage of the archers by the size of the shafts they are using ... Korean men are almost all using 450, so it means from 45 to 47# with the limbs they use an the draw lenghts they apparently have.


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## grichards (Dec 7, 2008)

Thanks for the info.


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## Bamacrazy (Dec 20, 2005)

Good post!


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## lksseven (Mar 21, 2010)

when I watch the Indianapolis 500 time trials, I'm always curious how fast the cars are going, and how much horsepower they have. It doesn't mean I'm going to try and beef my car up to 800hp and drive 230mph to work. Curiosity need not be justified by 'intent'. Sheesh.


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## scriv (Jan 31, 2008)

Interesting question. Thanks for asking it.


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## titanium man (Mar 5, 2005)

grichards said:


> Just curious if anyone knows.



1 million pounds!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.:wink:


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## Borja1300 (Oct 12, 2007)

All men in the national team in Spain are around 50# (48-52) and the women I think around 40#.
I've heard that David Barnes shoot with 56 and Tim Cuddihy with 54.


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## redboyd7 (Nov 5, 2010)

It really comes down to what is the heaviest bow they can handle for a F.I.T.A. round. If they could all shoot 100 pounds they would. The arrow would not be affected as much by the elements and most importantly the release would be cleaner. This sport has always favored the strongest.


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## Vittorio (Jul 17, 2003)

redboyd7 said:


> It really comes down to what is the heaviest bow they can handle for a F.I.T.A. round. If they could all shoot 100 pounds they would. The arrow would not be affected as much by the elements and most importantly the release would be cleaner. This sport has always favored the strongest.


In the reality, there is no clear advantage in shooting high poundage if because of that you are going to shoot an heavier arrow. Or, in any case, there is no advantage but disadvantage only in some ranges of poundage/speed/weight combinations. 
So, at the end the poundage should be adjusted to the speed of the limbs in order to use the most performing arrow. Sometime this gives as a result a strange solution, like slowing down the bow to shoot them at higher poundage without changing the arrow spine. 
But, for sure real limit is only in the power of the archer. It is true that in the past some archers have shot up to or over 55#, but it happened for limited period of time, as you (and your hand's tendon) can't survive easily to that level of poundage. 
As my rule of thimb says that if you want to have a long archery career, thickness of (leather) tab should be 1 mm for each 10 pounds, 55# means in any case a thickness close to 6 mm, that becames really critical to handle, or to take wery high risk on tendons... 
My son has 5.3 mm of tab thickness presently, for your reference....


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## richardfrog (Jan 24, 2009)

Is there a reserch program that study how to increase the efficiency of the bow and arrow, I mean besides the manufactures that only wish to sell the samething? There are plenty of people reserching on guns and bullets.


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## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

gr - 

Don't know of any studies with ILF/Oly rigs, but I'm sure there are. Years ago, a bowyer named Jack Howard did some testing on his bows (excellent shooters, btw) and determined that around 57# with a correct arrow yielded the greatest efficiency. While materials and design will affect that number, I'd be willing to bet it still some where around there. The problem is that to make a heavier poundage, you typically have to make the limbs thicker or wider per unit of length. The more mass the greater the inertia, that's why there's a limit where increasing the weight stops giving positive returns.

The other half of the story is what Vittorio discussed. Given the number of arrows required for FITA/Oly matches and practice, there really is a limit to how much the body can take over a given length of time. 

Interesting side bar: In Olympic events, there seem to be a number of ladies matching or beating the guys and they are shooting 8 - 10# less. Hummm .... 

Viper1 out.


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

> Interesting side bar: In Olympic events, there seem to be a number of ladies matching or beating the guys and they are shooting 8 - 10# less. Hummm ....


Tony, that's only because they are more trainable... 

Merry Christmas to everyone!

John


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## lksseven (Mar 21, 2010)

limbwalker said:


> Tony, that's only because they are more trainable...
> 
> Merry Christmas to everyone!
> 
> John


John, You've obviously never met my wife ... oh wait! that's what she says about me, so I guess you're right :icon_1_lol:

Merry Christmas.


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