{"id":3636,"date":"2020-10-16T17:40:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T14:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archerymind.com\/?p=3636"},"modified":"2022-05-07T22:28:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T19:28:15","slug":"how-to-hold-your-bow-steadier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archerymind.com\/how-to-hold-your-bow-steadier\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Hold Your Bow Steady In 6 Simple Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Shooting a bow, the steadier you hold it, the easier it’s going to be consistent with it. I wanted to learn how to improve stability with a bow, and here I’ll share what I’ve learned with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve detailed the different things that might affect your stability into a 6-step checklist process you’ll need to follow. By going through this process, you’ll be sure to work on all the major things that influence your stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing we’re going to consider when discussing how stable you are with your bow is your shooting posture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You must understand that your archery abilities have a lot to do with technique, and not only with strength. Your posture will determine how consistent you’ll be, and a big part of that is because it affects your stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are actually a lot of different things you might want to work on when considering your shooting posture. I’ve actually detailed many of them into a guide about archery shooting form<\/a> you’ll benefit from reading. But here we’ll discuss the most common mistake you might be making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing you should consider is the positioning of your legs<\/strong>. Since it’s the base of your body, it has a lot to do with your overall stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 3 common stances you might use, where the most common one is the square stance. In this stance, you place your feet will point forward, and the target will be on your side. I’d recommend mastering this stance if you’re a beginner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter what stance you choose, you should make sure your feet are grounded and about shoulder-width apart. Keep them relaxed and make sure your base feels stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your grip <\/strong>also has a lot to do with your bow stability. It’s a common mistake to grab the bow harshly with your holding hand. That can cause your muscles to shake, moving the bow around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure to have a relaxed, light grip on the bow. Your holding hand should simply rest on the bow, and the weight of the bow will keep it in place. Your fingers should be completely relaxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By using the weight of the bow instead of your muscles, which are an unstable base, you’ll feel much more stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last thing we’re going to discuss here is your shoulders<\/strong>. Having shrugged, overextended shoulders can cause a lot of stress on your muscles, tiring them and making them shake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure when shooting that your shoulders are in their natural position, and a relaxed. Don’t pull them up or down, just let them rest in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An easy way to make sure your shoulders are correctly positioned is to pull your shoulder blades together. You’ll feel your shoulders pushed to their correct position, and the pull will indicate you need to change your posture. This will also eliminate most rounding of your shoulders, which is a major issue for your accuracy and overall posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, these are just some specific posture tips you might find useful, specifically for your stability. Working on your shooting posture is always a good idea, which will benefit you both in the short and long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another big component with your ability to hold the bow steady at full draw is your draw weight. That’s basically how much weight the archer pulls and holds when drawing the bow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the bow is set to a draw weight too high for you, you’ll have a draw time holding it at full draw. At some point, this can actually be dangerous, but for most archers, this only means that your muscles will shake and that you won’t be able to hold the bow in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To check if that’s the case, I suggest you find check if it feels physically hard to pull the bow. If you can, try shooting a lower draw weight bow and see if you feel unstable with lower draw weights as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I actually wrote a post about measuring and adjusting your bows’ draw weight<\/a>. A big part of the post is about what your draw weight should be, and I think it’ll really help you if your issue is with the draw weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The draw length is another critical component of the stability of your bow. This is simply the length that you have to pull the bow from the resting position to full draw. This distance should fit your body’s natural proportions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shooting a draw length too short for you can easily cause your bow to feel unstable. A draw length too high will cause you to overextend and not allow you to shoot with proper posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 2: Lower your draw weight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Check your draw length<\/h2>\n\n\n\n