[luzarius]

Weight lifters work out their back a few times a week by doing pulling motions that involve a lot of weight.

Can an experienced bodybuilder pull back a 100/125/150lb longbow on their very first try?

Have any of you guys ever seen someone who could pull back a 100lb/125lb/150lb on their very first try without ever having touched a longbow?

 

[0nepin]

Nope

 

[0nepin]

None of my weight lifting friends could draw my 93lb bow

 

[Alaska at heart]

Different muscle groups working in a different plane of action. I shot recurves in the upper 50's for three decades and had a few beefy friends who had trouble pulling them back to full draw and holding. I am 6', 200# and lifted quite a bit in my younger days. Still do, but for conditioning and strength maintenance rather than bulking up. The heaviest stickbow I have drawn and shot was in the upper 70's, while the heaviest compound was 90#. Pulling 100# or more with a stickbow is for a rare few....likely with short arms and snap shooting at an actual lower weight.

 

[OK Cowboy]

The muscles may be strong enough, but the brain to muscle nerve connections for that move may not be wired out yet. It takes 30 days for this to develop for most athletes before the muscle starts gaining strength and size. So, it will take practice in the movement before one can pull the heavier bows, even if they have large strong muscles. There are some workouts that may make the transition easy though.

 

[Kdawg74]

That person would have to practice technique. They may have the strength and endurance, but if they don't know the proper technique, it would be very hard if not impossible.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using Tapatalk

 

[thirdhandman]

I've only known a few who could pull 125lbs. Our very own Whack and Stack from W. Virginia. I believe he was over 375lbs ex football player who shot a lot. Kevin Strothers hunted with his bow backed off to 120 pounds because he had ruptured disc in his back. Then there was a Guy Euhler from Indiana who pulled 125lbs. All were archers for many years before pulling that much weight. It is a totally different muscle group and technique drawing a bow and doing weight lifting.
I've had several muscle bound guys at hunting shows grab my bow set at 70 lbs. try to pull it and could not do it. Some of them look pretty foolish trying to impress their girlfriend. What really makes them look bad is when they hand it to an me and say, let's see you do it. :wink:

 

[ironman_gq]

I'm sure a few of them could but it's not a natural motion for most of them and they'd fail miserably. I have some friends that are very strong and athletic that struggle to draw a 60lb bow and I have some pretty scrawny friends that have absolutely no issues with a 70lb bow.

 

[Huntinsker]

I very much doubt it. I've seen some pretty huge guys fail to draw 70lb compounds let alone a 100+ pound recurve/longbow. The best part is when I show them how to do it, all 5' 11" and 180lbs of me. Typically their girlfriends get a kick out of that haha.

 

[ppkaprince98]

Wow, and I just turned my bow down to 63.....:Cry:

 

[Kstigall]

If he does not specifically train for pulling a bow back it is very, very highly unlikely he'll come even close to pulling a 150 lb long bow to full draw.

 

[pinwheeled]

If you can combine technique with strength you can. Just like any other sport being strong and have technique is always the best.

 

[simms125]

I sure as hell cant I've been dedicated to body building for three years now at 5'8" 215 bench over 350 and dead lift well over 550 ( just to give you an idea) I bet I couldn't budge that bad boy lol

 

[nestly]

I would think the Worlds Strongest Man competitors would have no issues turning a 150# bow into splinters.

 

[bruno82]

It's a ambiguous question with no definitive answer most probably can't some probably can..... I'm sure an NFL lineman would have a solid chance of doing it..

 

[GRIMWALD]

I started shooting a 150 lb. draw English war bow about 25 or so years ago. I was able to draw it (mostly) the first time but it took about an hour or so to work out the proper method of "Laying into the bow". From there it took about 2 weeks to be comfortable with shooting sessions of over 100 arrows.
Shortly there after (month or so), I moved up to 180 lb. draw and the following year, was able to have 4 arrows in the air at 200 yards before the first arrow impacted (on a good day 5 arrows). If I remember correctly it was shooting around the 200-220 ft/sec range.
I had to replace that particular bow awhile ago and am now shooting a 160 lb. longbow at 84" in. long.
It is possible for a novice shooter to draw a 150 lb. bow but it is a good way to get hurt or damage the bow so I would suggest not doing it without some guidance.

GRIM

 

[eventhorizon]

Absolutely if they can chin or pull up from full extension with proper technique (not kipping). If you look at the muscle groups that are involved in a back orientated chin you'll see the rhomboids and traps get utilized to start the movement. Also rear delt heads. That's the same group and very similar movement even if in different planes.

My first bow was a 70lb Carbon Element. Never had an issue pulling or holding it. I practice field rounds with a 70lb bow. Pull ups and chins are superior upper body strength movements.

 

[Alaska at heart]

Absolutely if they can chin or pull up from full extension with proper technique (not kipping). If you look at the muscle groups that are involved in a back orientated chin you'll see the rhomboids and traps get utilized to start the movement. Also rear delt heads. That's the same group and very similar movement even if in different planes.

My first bow was a 70lb Carbon Element. Never had an issue pulling or holding it. I practice field rounds with a 70lb bow. Pull ups and chins are superior upper body strength movements.

I totally agree that pull ups and chin ups are great upper body developing exercises......but your 70# carbon element is NOTHING like a 125# longbow. I owned and shot a 64# longbow and I would bet you would struggle more than you think to get that to full draw and hold it the first few times trying. Go to a trad show and watch the guys on the practice bales trying new bows. Most of them are short drawing bows like mad and snap shooting......not reaching anchor before releasing. They may convince themselves that they are hauling back 65-70#, but their actual DL is shorter and the amount of arrow sticking past the shelf is the first indicator.

 

[500 fps]

Here's my back. I have pulled a 120 lb compound before, but there is no way I could budge a 100 lb long bow. I used to shoot 80 lb pretty regularly but now it's 60 or maybe 70.....just not fun anymore at heavier weights. Too much like work.

 

[eventhorizon]

Here's my back. I have pulled a 120 lb compound before, but there is no way I could budge a 100 lb long bow. I used to shoot 80 lb pretty regularly but now it's 60 or maybe 70.....just not fun anymore at heavier weights. Too much like work.


View attachment 6230775

Oh man. I totally missed the long bow part... d'oh!!!