[Legend_Of_Sherwood]

So, what do you think? Is my alignment good or can I make it better?

 

[c3hammer]

You should try to get the shoulders inline with the arrow. Some have suggested closer to inline with the bow arm, but I find this to be very painful and not conducive to relaxing. In any case, you should work on it a bunch. You have that front shoulder way out there.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[BILL B]

Your shoulders are way out of line with your bow arm and should be adjusted.


It has been found that the best archers have their shoulders in line with their bow arms. This is the biomechanically sound position for the bow arm and causes the least amount of stress. It is the method now being taught by the NAA in their BEST shooting method.

 

[Leighton]

A longer draw would probably help.

 

[BILL B]

Leighton. First you get yourself in line and then determine your draw length.

 

[salizex]

Could you please explain exactly what you mean by shoulders in line with the bow arm?

Do you mean that a line drawn from shoulder joint to shoulder joint is parallel to the bow arm?

Thanks

 

[calbowdude]

Essentially yes. A straight line drawn through the bow arm should go through both shoulders in a perfect world. I'm sure someone will post an overhead pic of how it should look like.

JMHO

 

[MerlinApexDylan]

Back and overhead view. Back view is up top and overhead is below. I will explain later. Right now I'm hungry and tired. :slice:

 

[Seattlepop]

check this thread for a good pic and discussion

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=184129&highlight=shoulder+alignment

 

[Leighton]

Leighton. First you get yourself in line and then determine your draw length.

Wouldn't he need a longer draw once he fixed his alignment?

 

[atyau]

You should ideally want your shoulders to line up like this...Its a universally accepted alignment, with your 2 shoulders squared.
Your draw elbow alignment is pretty good though well inline with the arrow.
Also attached is an example of "perfect" shoulder alignment...

 

[Legend_Of_Sherwood]

I was working on this today and I think I'm getting closer. It felt a little weird a first and it still does, but I think that I can relax more.
I had to go two settings up on my draw length, so it felt comfortable.

before:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4580/picture0100wx.jpg

now:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1379/picture0124os.jpg

 

[c3hammer]

There you go! Thats much closer.

You might need to shorten the draw length a tad to keep the string elbow from going behind the arrow line like shown.

Others will suggest pushing the bow shoulder closer to the arrow line to get the string elbow back inline with or just outside the arrow line, but like I've said before that is much harder said than done without adding significant tension to your shot.

Most importantly will be the fact that this new form probably won't improve your scores in the first few weeks. Give it a ton of blind bale shooting time to develope the muscle memory. Then your scores should start to really climb as you learn to hold this form and relax at the same time.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Leighton]

You might need to shorten the draw length a tad to keep the string elbow from going behind the arrow line like shown.

Doesn't Ki Sik Lee say in "Total Archery" that keeping the drawing arm elbow in that position is the best biomechanical position? I could be misinterpreting your statement c3, if so, I apoligize.

 

[c3hammer]

I haven't looked at that book for quite some time as I lent it out to Jurasic Archer, so I can't remember what it shows exactly.

All I know is that none, not even one of the top archers in the world has the tip of their elbow around past the arrow line or even perfectly inline with the arrow. It is always ever so slightly outside the arrow line or more.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Hoyt Dude]

I took a look at your pics before and after I like the bow shoulder much better in the after. I like your string elbow much better in the before pic. The 2 lines I look for are string shoulder, bow shoulder, bow elbo, bow wrist to bow grip. Like the after pic The next thing is draw a line straight down the center of the arrow your string elbow should be in line or better yet a little out side. Like in the before pic

 

[TexARC]

now:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1379/picture0124os.jpg

You also need to roll your bow elbow so that the crease on the inside is as close to vertical as possible. In the picture it appears to be close to horizontal - this is poor use of the bones and overuse of muscles.

When the bow arm is properly rolled as I suggest, you will have somewhat more sturdy stability since it allows the triceps to then be invoked, and more importantly for this thread, better string clearance, which in turn will allow you to continue improving your alignment.

The real improvement in stability of the bow arm comes from invocation of muscle groups under the arm, the ribs, and around the shoulder joint, locking the humerus into the shoulder, in addition to rolling the arm but that is another topic!

 

[Danish archer]

not very many compound shooters use the vertical elbow. I have done some research on that and I have found alot of top compound shooters with almost horizontal bow elbow.

 

[MerlinApexDylan]

Let off allows for that. If any of them were shooting a recurve. To be most efficient your elbow joint should line up at 90*. Makes the arm a stronger more singular unit.

 

[Hoytusa84]

If a compound archer was to place his elbow as vertical as possible, chances are he will get more up and down movement. You can try it. Went to Coach Kim's school some time ago and was told that recurve requires more horizontal force while compound requires more vertical force. To increase horizontal strength a vertical elbow is essential and for vertical strength, a more horizontal elbow is needed.