# Finger shooting and back muscles??Back Tension??



## mnjeff (Jun 19, 2004)

*back*

The way i have been taught to shoot is to set up agianst wall of bow and maintain steady back tension. not to pull like if you were shooting a clicker. i will exploed on the shot same as a release shooter. i like the strong shot.


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## Jorge Oliveira (Aug 13, 2004)

When you draw your bow, do not take it above your head - draw with the grip at about eye level.
This way, you are using the back muscles and not the biceps to draw.

Once at anchor, I start to pull with my back muscles and at the same time relax the draw hand fingers (not at once - just let it happen). And suddenly the string will be gone.


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## Unclegus (May 27, 2003)

You want to draw the bow back at around eye level. You hold your bow arm straight out and draw the string straight back toward anchor ( this prevents preloading the shot) and bring the elbow down to where it is an extension of the arrow( line straight thru arm into arrow shaft). The ticket is to bring all of this down in one unit so you get your shoulder blade to move in toward your spine. Then pull like you have someone with a rope tied to your elbow and is pulling backward. If you are in alignment, the hand will stay right in line on release and no fly away with the hand will occur. I wish I could do what I just said, it would make my life so much easier......

READ LARRY WISE"S CORE ARCHERY


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## gregs (Dec 28, 2004)

*To concur and add*

I learned the drawing technique others noted (start at eye level and draw with the back) when I was working on a FITA recurve. The book Archery Anatomy explain this very well. That's for a recurve, but the same principle applies.

GregS


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## Limey (May 6, 2005)

I am glad this was posted as I need to work on this.

I seem to get a dead release then my hand comes back to my neck after a short delay. I tend not to creep as I release but I do need more back tension to get the fingers to come straight back.

I guess shoot my 50# longbow will get me to use more back tension:darkbeer:


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## NRen2k5 (Mar 30, 2007)

Train yourself to use those back muscles by trying to crush empty beer/soda cans between your shoulder blades.


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## bownut-tl. (Sep 21, 2003)

Actually, practicing with lower poundage is a better way to learn how to use the back correctly. If you aren't using the back correctly in the first place, the higher poundage will guarantee more arm and less back. You can then add a stretch band to your bow and pull against it. This will allow you to control how much weight you add. Increasing it gradually is much better than all at once. The goal is to learn the process and then increase the poundage as you become better able to control it.

Terry


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## Greenbear (Jul 4, 2006)

*A few thoughts on back tension*

G'day Dave2,

I have been shooting for a while and have heard all sorts of back tension explanations and this is my take.

I have heard people say squeeze your shoulder blades together, but I find if I am doing things right that feeling of squeezing is not both blades being squeezed together but your drawing arm shoulder blade moving across your back further than your bow arm shoulder blade and therefore catching up with it and creating that squeeze feeling.

I have seen people draw with their arms and then squeeze their shoulder blades together, this is not the same as using back tension through the shot.

Imagine the forearm of your drawing arm is just a bit of rope tied from your elbow to your bowstring. Now pull your elbow back to your full draw position and the string comes with it. I actually had a draw trainer made up that was exactly that, a leather sling that went on my elbow and a bit of rope with a clip attached that went on the string and I could pull my string back to anchor just using my elbow and back muscles.

A simple way to describe the feeling is to imagine you are in a crowd and you have to use your elbow to elbow your way in front of someone and that is the sort of feeling you should be looking for.

Once you have felt correct back tension you will always know if you have it right.

And once you have this down pat your hand will pull back on release under your back's tension.

I also think (and this is just my opinion) that the term anchor point does not mean a rigid fixed point held before and after the shot, but try to imagine your bow arm as a boat at anchor straining against the tide (the anchor being your fingers on the string), if the anchor is released the boat moves away. Not the best description but it helps me.

Hope this helps a bit,

Mark


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## Bootch (Jan 16, 2007)

*Back tension??*

This probably one of the most sought after but unknown items in archery, i read with interest the above and will offer this.....a recurve archer exhibiting good back tension moves the arrow thru the clicker about 1 sixteenth of an inch, this is an extremely small amount of movement given most archers average draw 28 inches plus or minus!
- To shoot with fingers you need a good hook on the string - MANDATORY, this allows the string to hang on the fingers.
- if you do not have a deep hook your hand will always hold the weight.
- When you anchor, the string is of course "pulling' against your deep finger hook.
- Allow the hand to be calm and feel the "pull" weight transfer to your back muscles effectively tensioning up as it takes the load.
- Creeping is not allowed here otherwise back tension is NOT evident!
- As the load is now held by the back muscles (believe me you will feel it)you can very evenly increase the tension by almost isometrically increasing the muscle tension.
HOWEVER drawing the bow transferring the pull weight to back tension, AIMING and RELEASING all have to occur as part of one smooth motion. This requires lots of blank bale shooting as you discover what is happening thru the process.
Good luck with it because once you figure it out your release will be more consistent.


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## Greenbear (Jul 4, 2006)

*Another small point*

G'day Bootch,

After years of compound shooting I switched to shooting recurve (full FITA rig) for a number of years and used the clicker, and as you say that last movement through the clicker is very small. I used to hold a little bit of tension in my chest muscles at full draw and when I relaxed this the tension in my back would pull the arrow back that last little bit. Takes a bit of practice but becomes second nature.

Gone back to compound to try my hand at 3-D and have found a bit of laziness creeping in, which I will have to watch, caused by the holding weights of modern compounds being so small (60-70%) let off. 

When I was shooting jennings T-Stars in the 80's I was using 70# with 30% let off so there was plenty of back tension there (it kept you honest)

Cheers,

Mark


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