What really is back tension?
By George Ryals
Many shooters are mystified with the notion of “back tension.” For many shooters it is this mysterious feeling you get in your back when your shoulder blades are rotated, tucked, pulled, and squeezed into just the right contorted position that enables the elusive “perfect shot”. For others it requires a medical degree and a body chart to locate ambiguous muscle groups that must be flexed and pinched at just the right interval while poking at your release trigger. Ultimately, it is a confusing distraction that takes our mind off aiming, and aiming is the grand wizard of tasks that must be completed without distraction to complete the perfect shot.
All kidding aside, “back tension” can be simplified as a dynamic tension that is set up at the beginning of the draw and it is continues through the release of the arrow.
I feel that it is second only to aiming as the key fundamental part of shooting form that generates accuracy and consistency. Proper setup and use of this "tension" can help you shoot longer by relieving fatigue. It will make you a more stable shooter by relieving muscle tension in the arms and hands. Dynamic tension also reduces the amount of muscle groups involved in the shot. This will diminish muscle tremors that can cause sudden misses, quick shots, and general unsteadiness.
What does it feel like?
Try this exercise. Make a bow drawing motion (without a bow in your hands). For most people it is easier to isolate the back without the weight of the bow or the tension of the string. While making a drawing motion, make sure your hands, forearms, and shoulders are relaxed as they can be. Actually let your hands dangle loosely as you do this. Keep your back straight, head up and turned towards the target, and straighten your bow arm, but keep the elbow unlocked. As you reach full draw, you will be able to feel your back working to hold full draw. Keep your elbow high. The lower your elbow gets, the greater your chances become for your back transferring the pressure to your arms and hands. Loss of tension is usually unrecoverable without letting down and restarting the shot. Leaning back at full draw is also another common cause of tension loss. I had this problem and it is hard to fix because you can’t feel it. Stick a bow square or an arrow in your waistband and let it go down into your pant leg next to your leg. Usually an arrow works best because of its length. It will remind you to stay straight as it stops you from leaning as you draw. This feels weird, but it does help.
This is the critical juncture in the whole technique. If your hands and arms take over, you will increase your shot time and will lose stability. The longer you stay with the shot the more unstable you will become, almost guaranteeing a miss. You can test this feel just as you did above by going through the same motions except make your fists super tight. You will be able to feel a diminished amount of tension in your back and if you keep your hands balled tight enough, you can feel the shaking and muscle tremors caused by this loss of tension.
How do you shoot a bow with well placed tension?
Dynamic tension is a simple push pull technique. You need to feel a balance between the push and the pull. Imagine drawing a bungee cord and you are stretching it between your bow arm and your drawing hand. Dynamic tension or the push pull effect stretches the cord. Most pro shooters set up this dynamic tension when they raise the bow to the target. This stages the proper muscle groups. The muscles that you use to draw the bow are the very same muscles that you use to aim the bow, and the back muscles will give you the most stability. I feel that it is virtually impossible to reach your full potential as a shooter unless you draw the in this manner because it is extremely difficult to draw the bow with one muscle group and then, at full draw, switch to the proper muscle group. If you draw it with arm and hand power, you are doomed to aim it with arm power, which is incredibly unstable. As you reach full draw you should pull the bow into the stops and continue to apply mild pressure as you align your peep with the scope and the dot with the X. Once everything is centered and anchored in the center of the target, You will then commit to the shot and the release opens in time.
How do you shoot a release while using Dynamic Tension?
We have reached full draw and aligned the whole shooting match up with the X. Now what do you do? Well the release better go off pretty soon or you will pull the wheels off of the bow. right? With a trigger style release, usually you will need a slightly stiffer trigger than you are used to. This will let you build strong tension with you r finger on the trigger without risk of pre-fires. I allow my wrist muscles and the tendons in the back of my hand to slightly relax as I pull. This causes my hand to yield on the release. There is no real perceivable movement, but it is just enough to change the pressure on the trigger, and the shot is released. A rotational style release works in the same manner. When you commit to the shot and your tension builds allow your hand to soften or yield on the release and that is just enough to change the attitude of the release handle to make it fire.
How do you know if it is right?
This is where the mystery is revealed. If your elbow is above the plane of your shoulder, your are pushing and pulling, and there is no undue tension in your hands or arms, you have to be doing it right. Your bow will feel easier to hold, and your sight will hold tighter on the dot. If you feel like you are working too hard you are probably not doing it right. You may be over pulling. If your shot will not go off, you have lost tension. Let down and reset.
Do not over complicate the feel just push and pull. Practice this on a blank bale until you get it down. Then practice it on a target at close distances until you can forget about it and allow it to naturally happen. Then move to your normal distances and go for it.
If you need a visual aid go to www.archeryhistory.com and click on “archers” at the top of the page is a video of Terry Ragsdale and Eric Hall in a shoot off in Australia 1985. Terry, in my opinion, is the model by which all form should be judged. In the video, he exhibits flawless form and perfect shot execution. Grab the 20meg file. It will take a while, but it is worth it.
George Ryals IV
By George Ryals
Many shooters are mystified with the notion of “back tension.” For many shooters it is this mysterious feeling you get in your back when your shoulder blades are rotated, tucked, pulled, and squeezed into just the right contorted position that enables the elusive “perfect shot”. For others it requires a medical degree and a body chart to locate ambiguous muscle groups that must be flexed and pinched at just the right interval while poking at your release trigger. Ultimately, it is a confusing distraction that takes our mind off aiming, and aiming is the grand wizard of tasks that must be completed without distraction to complete the perfect shot.
All kidding aside, “back tension” can be simplified as a dynamic tension that is set up at the beginning of the draw and it is continues through the release of the arrow.
I feel that it is second only to aiming as the key fundamental part of shooting form that generates accuracy and consistency. Proper setup and use of this "tension" can help you shoot longer by relieving fatigue. It will make you a more stable shooter by relieving muscle tension in the arms and hands. Dynamic tension also reduces the amount of muscle groups involved in the shot. This will diminish muscle tremors that can cause sudden misses, quick shots, and general unsteadiness.
What does it feel like?
Try this exercise. Make a bow drawing motion (without a bow in your hands). For most people it is easier to isolate the back without the weight of the bow or the tension of the string. While making a drawing motion, make sure your hands, forearms, and shoulders are relaxed as they can be. Actually let your hands dangle loosely as you do this. Keep your back straight, head up and turned towards the target, and straighten your bow arm, but keep the elbow unlocked. As you reach full draw, you will be able to feel your back working to hold full draw. Keep your elbow high. The lower your elbow gets, the greater your chances become for your back transferring the pressure to your arms and hands. Loss of tension is usually unrecoverable without letting down and restarting the shot. Leaning back at full draw is also another common cause of tension loss. I had this problem and it is hard to fix because you can’t feel it. Stick a bow square or an arrow in your waistband and let it go down into your pant leg next to your leg. Usually an arrow works best because of its length. It will remind you to stay straight as it stops you from leaning as you draw. This feels weird, but it does help.
This is the critical juncture in the whole technique. If your hands and arms take over, you will increase your shot time and will lose stability. The longer you stay with the shot the more unstable you will become, almost guaranteeing a miss. You can test this feel just as you did above by going through the same motions except make your fists super tight. You will be able to feel a diminished amount of tension in your back and if you keep your hands balled tight enough, you can feel the shaking and muscle tremors caused by this loss of tension.
How do you shoot a bow with well placed tension?
Dynamic tension is a simple push pull technique. You need to feel a balance between the push and the pull. Imagine drawing a bungee cord and you are stretching it between your bow arm and your drawing hand. Dynamic tension or the push pull effect stretches the cord. Most pro shooters set up this dynamic tension when they raise the bow to the target. This stages the proper muscle groups. The muscles that you use to draw the bow are the very same muscles that you use to aim the bow, and the back muscles will give you the most stability. I feel that it is virtually impossible to reach your full potential as a shooter unless you draw the in this manner because it is extremely difficult to draw the bow with one muscle group and then, at full draw, switch to the proper muscle group. If you draw it with arm and hand power, you are doomed to aim it with arm power, which is incredibly unstable. As you reach full draw you should pull the bow into the stops and continue to apply mild pressure as you align your peep with the scope and the dot with the X. Once everything is centered and anchored in the center of the target, You will then commit to the shot and the release opens in time.
How do you shoot a release while using Dynamic Tension?
We have reached full draw and aligned the whole shooting match up with the X. Now what do you do? Well the release better go off pretty soon or you will pull the wheels off of the bow. right? With a trigger style release, usually you will need a slightly stiffer trigger than you are used to. This will let you build strong tension with you r finger on the trigger without risk of pre-fires. I allow my wrist muscles and the tendons in the back of my hand to slightly relax as I pull. This causes my hand to yield on the release. There is no real perceivable movement, but it is just enough to change the pressure on the trigger, and the shot is released. A rotational style release works in the same manner. When you commit to the shot and your tension builds allow your hand to soften or yield on the release and that is just enough to change the attitude of the release handle to make it fire.
How do you know if it is right?
This is where the mystery is revealed. If your elbow is above the plane of your shoulder, your are pushing and pulling, and there is no undue tension in your hands or arms, you have to be doing it right. Your bow will feel easier to hold, and your sight will hold tighter on the dot. If you feel like you are working too hard you are probably not doing it right. You may be over pulling. If your shot will not go off, you have lost tension. Let down and reset.
Do not over complicate the feel just push and pull. Practice this on a blank bale until you get it down. Then practice it on a target at close distances until you can forget about it and allow it to naturally happen. Then move to your normal distances and go for it.
If you need a visual aid go to www.archeryhistory.com and click on “archers” at the top of the page is a video of Terry Ragsdale and Eric Hall in a shoot off in Australia 1985. Terry, in my opinion, is the model by which all form should be judged. In the video, he exhibits flawless form and perfect shot execution. Grab the 20meg file. It will take a while, but it is worth it.
George Ryals IV
