episode 7 | the draw

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Transcription

So, in the earlier things that we have done, we have built a stable platform. We have looked at where the balance is, we have looked to the posture, and now we are going to get to the bit that everybody races to, and then fixates upon for the rest of their careers - how you are going to draw the bow. And because we are working on a principle again of this hand position, which is just a pocket of bone, bone, bone nothing pushing forward, all of the movement is going to have to come from this end.

I have to say at this point - it depends the level or how people have been shooting, it is rather nice at times to deal with people who are absolute novices because we need to dispel some myths and some things that people really concentrate on. It does not matter about an idea of a rotation. It does not matter where this shot, this elbow ends up with respect to how you are going to execute a trigger or how you are going to get an arrow through the clicker. It is vital as we have already said that we are going to work on a model where the front hand, the release hand (or tab hand) and the elbow stay in a line. There is never going to be a rotation. A rotation requires a movement within this balanced area of the shoulder and if you move this one, this one is going to move. And so a lot of the issues (outside of what have said earlier about the hand position) causing issues on the front shoulder and the push causing issues - having done all this, if you make the rotation here, you are going to cause a movement here. Also, a rotation while drawing the bow, some sort of movement into position this way is going to cause you to have to push. It is going to cause you to have to move this. So, at it is most simplistic - fro both compounds and recurves - we are looking for bone, bone, bone, we are looking for straightforwardly a movement in this plane and that is easiest to understand as a simple closing movement of this.

Do not be confused by an idea that this is going to be mean I am drawing this on my biceps, it is not. You are going to aim to close this particular joint early and then this will all work as one unit. Just to be aware, you sometimes see (with both recurve and compound archers) the start of this movement, rather than concentrating of closure here, [it] leads to a of movement in this wrist, and in compound archers you will see this as the arrow coming off the rest a lot, even on a well set up bow. They start to draw the bow and the arrow comes off. This is one unit, you are never going to make any sort of movement this way. You see a lot in novices [when] starting to draw the bow will go like that or even like that, and this means that none of this can fit in line and it is going to cause you really big issues with the recurve (as in) how you are going to fit [the hand in] and also with the compound you're just going to drop the arrows off the rest all the time.

So, we are looking for this to work as a solid unit. The wrist has no movement in it at all and the first movement is a closing movement and that closing movement then allows you to work this, trying to keep it all in a line as one unit - and you do not have to think about 'what am I doing here'. I am going to say because if you got a stretchy band in your hand watching this, you will see that that closing movement 'engages' the shoulder blade. That just happens, [I] really do not want you to think of it in terms of 'must engage shoulder' because as I have already said that engaging - and I can't say it too many times - a movement, any conscious movement of this shoulder is going to give you a movement here and this movement here will be disastrous - to the recurve shooter it's that 'I'm stuck at full draw, nothing is going 'click'' - as this shoulder moves more and more and more, your arrows are just 'getting longer'. For the compound archer it leads them to issues of drawing the bow using their body. So everything is flat, the balance we have already talked about and the movement is a closing movement and then this is compound going to fit in here, recurve going to fit in here and this line stays.

So, if we just grab the recurve to start with, we are looking for a pocket on the front end, bone, bone, bone on the arm and shoulder and then we are looking for close and fit it in, and we are going to talk about how you fit it in but really if you have just an interest in that closing movement, fit it in however you like - because you have actually reduced the options. You have made this (all of this back end) into one unit and really there is only one way it will fit, and it is driven by your stature and it is driven by what you have set up. So, you don't have to worry about that and that's always nice. The fixation with idea - and I'll try to show you now - that if you roll this - if there is some movement like this - look how the front shoulder goes and then you're in trouble.

So - and I apologize for making it simple: Nothing on the front end in the way of a push, close and fit it in. And with respect to the compound, this gives you an incredibly clean [draw]. You see a lot of idiosyncratic ([from] very good archers, don't get me wrong) draws of a compound, taking on from what we are talking about the balance and the posture, nothing on the front end - really don't want to see this move - in juniors and some females you are going to see a movement there - but basically: Close, no movement on the front end on a compound with the right draw length, this is setting pretty much where you wanted to be, fit it in, that elbow, this hand and this hand in line.