episode 1 | bow hand position

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Bow hand position is an area which is criminally neglected in the coaching literature. Hand position is the only interface between archer and bow and therefore vital to get right. Poor hand position is the root cause of most technical failures and so can not be overstated...

Transcription:

We are going to look at hand position - the front hand [or] bow hand position on the bow. This is critically important because it is the only interface between the archer and the bow. It's quite shocking that people don't spend a lot of time getting this right, and it causes them huge issues from tuning through to shooting distance as well, everything.

So, what is the basis of a good hand position? We are trying to make a pocket to sit the bow in. We're trying from the very outset to understand the concept that the bow is only going to push back against this pocket (that we make). The pressure is going to be through the wrist, not high up, no concept [of], no idea of a push.

One of the things that has gone out of fashion (but when I first started shooting was done with a lot of novices, and it's a useful thing to do) is - if you try and make a bow balance at about just off center, you will find that you can move your hand around in the grip, but [you get] the most consistent balance position if you put two fingers on the front of the riser and come down, that is an almost perfect wrist through the grip and I can't state [enough] how important this is, because this is going to be the basis of all of the rest of shot, whether it is recurve or compound.

If I try and hold this [the bow] out, if I try and put my wrist not through the center of the grip, when I come down a) it's uncomfortable but b) I am going to have to use (when I draw the bow), we're going to have to use a push, and I am going to have to try and make up for the fact that this wrist does not go through the grip.

There's a lot talk about what you are going to do with your fingers. This position, this natural position, comes out at what you have probably heard of before - this 45 degree knuckle. Now, what are you going to do [with] your fingers. For me, because I originally started with the recurve (and I appreciate sometimes the compound is a little bit different with a little bit less kick) - fingers inside the palm - you're trying to make a pocket as we said before so this is just coming back into here. So, there is very little need to do any of this and if you do put your fingers in front of the riser, you are always going to be making a movement down the finger side, and making it more difficult to keep this wrist in line.

So, if we take this position, I will just show you, as you draw the bow. As I've said, it is absolutely critically important where the pressure goes through and what you do with the front hand. 90% of all front shoulder issues, recurve or compound are driven by bad hand positions, [and] are driven by people trying to make up for a bad hand position [which] translates all the way through the shoulder. If I just show you here, the wrist is going through the center of the grip. The bow (little bit of tension in the bow), the bow is coming back, there is no push, there is no movement here. We're talking somewhere in the region of 95% of all pressure - much lower than most people think - going through the wrist. This is why people choose high grips, is to move this wrist position because that's the only reference you have got. You don't want to be out on this fat part of your thumb, because it is inconsistent. So immediately we do this, the thumb is over this fat fleshy part [and] your thumb is over the edge of this grip. The bow is definitely just a pull back into the hand, no push forward, wrist is relaxed and through it goes. This is a medium [recurve] grip - if I pick up the compound which tends to have a lower grip and smaller holding weight, [then] again, you'll see a lot of people putting lots of pressure on this wrist. It can't work. If you start using these muscles here, it is going to translate into here. So, again with this, you're looking for a relaxed 45 degree knuckle, thinner grips, so the hand is even further across [and] everything through the wrist. The pull back, the pressure comes with [the] bow low through the wrist. There is no movement on the wrist as you draw the bow, shoulder stays down and that's fine.

To summarize, the pressure has to come through this part, has to come low through the wrist. The wrist then is the solid part that the bow rests against. The hand and the fingers make a pocket for it [the bow] to sit in and you are [therefore] in no way torquing or twisting the bow.