# How do you break a slump??



## mdbowhunter (Oct 22, 2002)

I believe a break for a few days is good medicine. Continuing to practice and increasing your frustration level only compounds the problem. Relax and reflect.

If you have some archery books, give them a read. One of the best I refer to on a regular basis is 'Understanding Winning Archery' by the late Olympic coach Al Henderson. He has some great no-nonsense, be honest with yourself advice written in those pages. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Just my 2 cents worth. Good Luck and let us know how things progress.


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## XQuest (May 5, 2003)

GATOR-EYE said:


> Have you ever fell into a slump where your form breaks or shot breaks down and you just can't figure out what is going wrong and you start slinging arrow everywhere but in the center???
> 
> The more you work on the problem the more you spray arrows all over the target. This goes on for a couple days.....what do you do??? Set the bow down for a week and take a breather to clear your head???Or??? Fight through the problem intil you figure it out???


If you have two bows work on the other bow for awhile.If not just keep messing around with what you have and sooner or later it will come around.Be patient and keep the emotion or "ticked off" feelings out of it,try to learn from it.Usually it's some little thing that will suprise the "fool" out of you.


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## XP35 (Oct 11, 2005)

I just stop shooting for a couple days and REALLY look the bow over. If I can't find anything wrong with the bow then IT'S ME.:embara: So I grab my string bow and get to work while watching TV or whatever for the next couple days. When I get the bow back out I usually shoot fine again. But this hasn't happened in quite a while.


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## GATOR-EYE (Jun 30, 2006)

XP35 said:


> I just stop shooting for a couple days and REALLY look the bow over. If I can't find anything wrong with the bow then IT'S ME.:embara: So I grab my string bow and get to work while watching TV or whatever for the next couple days. When I get the bow back out I usually shoot fine again. But this hasn't happened in quite a while.


Yeap, maybe give it a rest for a day or two...do some hunting and blank bale shooting..... 

Fustration level was reaching a all time high this past week. right side fliers are getting the best of me(left hand shooter). OBT distance shoot will have to wait this week.


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## Dave T (Mar 24, 2004)

I went into a 6 month slump and my shooting got worse and worse. What I finally did was to start litterally at the ground level and build my shot sequence back up, one step at a time. Lots of blank bale work and use of a mirror (don't have a video camera) to see what I was actually doing. It's taken another 6 months but I'm back on trac and have recently set a couple PBs.

Dave


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## GATOR-EYE (Jun 30, 2006)

Dave T said:


> I went into a 6 month slump and my shooting got worse and worse. What I finally did was to start litterally at the ground level and build my shot sequence back up, one step at a time. Lots of blank bale work and use of a mirror (don't have a video camera) to see what I was actually doing. It's taken another 6 months but I'm back on trac and have recently set a couple PBs.
> 
> Dave



LALALALALALALALALALALLALALALALLALA:zip:
(that's me with my fingers in my ears not hearing what your saying)


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## DarrinM (May 21, 2002)

Set the bow down and rethink WHY you are shooting..........

Pick the bow back up and examine it to see if there is "something" missing. Then begin the game at 7 yards alone and work on getting "it" back.... "It" is the feeling of that smooth shot. (Zen in the Art of Archery) read it, learn it, know it live it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once you have ingrained a smooth shot and become reaquainted with "it" allow yourself to execute the shot without performance pressure and eventually you will realize that all along YOU were the reason you could not achieve your goals


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## SSIUV4L (Mar 4, 2005)

DM, i truly believe your last paragraph. i have a long way to go by far...i just need to get outta my way. hard to do though!


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## Dave T (Mar 24, 2004)

GATOR-EYE said:


> LALALALALALALALALALALLALALALALLALA:zip:
> (that's me with my fingers in my ears not hearing what your saying)


Not sure what was so wrong that you don't want to hear it...but knock your self out not listening!

Dave


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## ramboarhunter (Jun 5, 2006)

*slump*

IMHO Layoff for a couple of days then do some blank bale shooting, from there shoot a few arrows at each session. Be sure that you go thru your COMPLETE shot routine step by step for every shot. 
Shoot 10 good shots rather than 30 shots that you do not go thru the shot routine for each arrow.
Every time you go to practice shoot 3 or 4 blank bale shots before going to your regular distances. 
GOOD LUCK
Blank bale shooting should be done with your eyes closed so you can feel the shot.


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## field14 (May 21, 2002)

When one or more of you figures out the CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF AN ANSWER...please let me know....

I've been in a major "slump" since my heart attack and surgery...SEVEN YEARS AGO!

I can "blank bale" and "blind shoot" and pull back tension with my eyes closed, and all that stuff to perfection.

I CAN and HAVE shot 25's at 10, 15, and 20 yards on a single spot face WITH MY EYES CLOSED (can't do it everytime, but I CAN DO IT)...but...

I still am NOT shooting the scores I used to be capable of...not even close.

Like Dean says above, and had told me years ago..."IF AT ANY TIME ANY DOUBT SETS IN DURING A SHOT SEQUENCE..>STOP IMMEDIATELY, LET DOWN, and START COMPLETELY OVER! Step away from the stake if you have to, BUT START OVER.

This is SOUND advice for sure.

one other piece of advice...DO NOT STOP SCORING AND GIVE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROUND...FINISH WHAT YOU START...

Here's the reasoning on it. IF you QUIT during a scoring round, even a practice scoring round...you have just subconsciously taught yourself the unforgivable!! You have taught yourself that if you aren't doing well, you can ALWAYS HANG IT UP AND QUIT...and you'll have started a snowball rolling upon yourself.

It is akin to getting away with punching off a shot...next thing you know, you punch off two...then three...and before you know it..>You can't even get close to the bulls-eye and you wanna PUNCH H**L out of it....sound familiar to any of you?

NEVER QUIT during a scoring round EVER...Finish it, then go hang it up for a few days.

Don't stew over it...I do that and I can tell you...it does you no good at all.

field14...the longest slump going, that I know of..


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## ramboarhunter (Jun 5, 2006)

To Field 14, Just keep in mind that we are a little older and the eye's and reflex's are not what they used to be.
If you had a heart attack and are still shooting a reasonable amount of draw weight and your scores have not dropped dramaticly be thankful.


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## field14 (May 21, 2002)

ramboarhunter said:


> To Field 14, Just keep in mind that we are a little older and the eye's and reflex's are not what they used to be.
> If you had a heart attack and are still shooting a reasonable amount of draw weight and your scores have not dropped dramaticly be thankful.


Dramtically is an understatement...

From averaging 58X indoors to struggling for 295 or better
From averaging 298 or better on Vegas...to struggling to hold in the mid 280's
From shooting into the 550's on field/hunter...to struggling to break 500...

THAT is dramatic...and MOST people would have quit long ago...tempting for me too....but some inanimate thing is NOT going to stop me from TRYING.

But if you all think YOU are in a slump...just think about a SEVEN YEAR SLUMP from the top of the heap to dead last (or at least for me it feels like the cellar)...and THINK AGAIN!

Do I make a point for you all to think about?

field14:wink::tongue::darkbeer:


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## XP35 (Oct 11, 2005)

Loud and clear, Fieldy.:tongue:


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## GATOR-EYE (Jun 30, 2006)

*the rest of the story*

I took your advise..

I sat down and stared down the bow, took measurements and look the thing over from top to bottom.

Well here come the stupid part....About a week ago I was messing with cam timing and cam lean on this shoot threw system....anywho...in the middle I got company and I never went back and finished what I was doing.:embara: I just picked the bow up the next day and started shooting. I had both of the cable on the right side tighter than the left side.......:embara:

I straighten out my cables and timing and the arrows came right back in line.

Lesson learned(I hope) Look at the small things first.

It's amazing the straws I was grabbing at as my shot was going down hill....I changed my grip, changed my scope, changed my peep(three times), change my arrows, changed my stance, moved my anchor points. It took most of the night to put the bow back to the way it was. Once I got it back I shot a 297 Vegas....not my best score but it's worlds above what I shot earlier this week.


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## Marcus (Jun 19, 2002)

When I was a junior I was a good shooter. Had quite a few 1330-1340 FITAs with round wheel bows. Took a break, came back and shot a 300 Vegas with ACE's. Took another break and when I returned expected to start where I left off. 
At first things were going well, then it started going downhill fast. I dropped to 293's, then 290's then finally 285's before I got help from Jim Park and another guy. They rebuilt my form and taught me alot of about the biomechanics of technique. Within a week I was back to 296's and then up and beyond. Now average 298.5. 
That was a 4 year struggle. I refused to quit though. 
I still feel I have alot to learn and along way to go, but the difference that help made has been huge.


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## PA Deer Chaser (Dec 20, 2003)

Does a baseball player hang the bat up when he's in a slump? Usually, he takes *more* batting practice, not less. Often with the supervision of a coach. Even when a pro coach isn't available or feasible, most of us have a few accomplished archers around who are qualified and willing to help. When you don't have someone to coach, set up a video camera, as someone else suggested.

Whatever the cause of your slump, if you put the bow down for a few days, that problem will still be there when you pick it back up. And if it's a problem that takes, say two weeks to work through, it will still take two weeks. All you've done is delayed getting yourself back on track - and you might have to deal with some protesting muscles on top of it! If you shoot every other day, keep shooting every other day. If you shoot every day, keep doing that. Keeping your regular routine is important, also, I think. Breaking routine just throws another wrench in the gears a lot of times.

I also think there may be a couple exceptions to this. If you have a physical reason for your slump, you need to take time to heal. If you have things going on in your life outside of archery that are affecting your mental game, then you should probably go deal with them first. And they're probably more important than archery anyhow.

Everyone feels the frustration build as a slump continues. I don't think that is a valid reason to put the bow down, however. Why? Because the frustration will come right back when you pick the bow back up and find yourself shooting the same as before your break. Working out of slump will be no more fun tomorrow than today. Part of dealing with a slump is dealing with the mental aspects - convincing yourself that you WILL work out of it and you WILL be having fun again soon. _The sooner I start working out of this slump, the sooner I'll start having fun again._ Learning how to control our emotions is as important as working on form.

Now it might be a good idea to back off of tournaments and competition while working things out. Getting back to form is all about practice; added pressure isn't going to help. And practice has to be quality practice - the things others have suggested - not just flinging arrows.


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