How To Stop Hitting Your Arm | Archery Basics 

I struggled a lot with string slap back when I was a beginner, I hope that someone could've taught me this back in the day. Glad to have gained a better understanding of this issue. Always a pleasure to learn from your videos Nusensei.

Damn, this is the best advice I've had so far. I tried turning my wrist in the air without a bow and could immediately see a massive difference!

For anybody seeing this with large forearms, just get an arm guard. Even with his tip, I still get arm slap. Just do yourself a favor and get one so you’re not worrying about it while shooting. You can always take it off if you find you don’t need it anymore.

Many thanks for this, as a newly qualified instructor I found it really tricky trying to explain to young cubs and scouts how to avoid 'twanging' their arm, its the one thing to really put a young person off from trying again.

I easily learned to turn the arm correctly but no one ever discussed my hand position except to suggest I should not “hold” the bow but rather “rest” it and allow the natural balance of the bow to reside in the space between my thumb and index fingers. I use a longbow, which are large, and am a woman so it’s quite amazing how a bigger bow can still sit easily in that space. Thanks for this reframing of an important beginner skill!

A Huge thank you from a yellow and blue armed beginner. Straightforward explanation, great demonstration. Problem solved 🙂

I cannot thank you enough for this video. String slap was deterring me to go out and practiced

As an instructor also for very long time I find it refreshing and helpful to always keep learning, especially from this great coach Nusensei. We can also learn from new archers as we help them with avoiding string slap because everyone is unique and different in build. To go without an armguard is with some degree of risk, in that certain things can happen unexpectedly. New archers can quickly forget and then as they draw the bow, suddenly turn their bow arm elbow inward, to get string slap. We had a young woman to forget this while wearing an armguard and it hit the soft inside of the arm flesh above the armguard. She passed out on the spot from the pain and after she recovered told everyone that archery is not for her. She needed a much longer armguard as a beginner. String slap can happen to ANYONE regardless of how much or little their experience levels. For example if a bow’s varnished grip is glossy slick and it’s a hot day, the perspiration can make the bow suddenly torque and slip in the hand. This happened to me with a just-purchased Ben Pearson Rogue recurve bow, in which the bowstring slammed into my forearm to drag up a ball of flesh underneath the skin the size of a golf ball, which turned black and blue immediately. After icing it down the rest of the afternoon, fortunately the balled up flesh settled back down. That was to happen to this guy (me) who had been shooting traditional archery for 30+ years and seldom suffer string slap. The grip on that particular model didn’t fit me well in the first place, but it was a pretty bow so that’s why I bought it.

Hi NUSensei, I found your channel around an year ago when I was thinking of joining archery, when I was looking for an archery school where I live here in Vancouver. I found Lykopis, and I saw you had a video with Patricia. So I decided to join to actually try archery for the first time there, now I've been there for 7 months and I'm even an instructor in training! She uses a couple of your videos in instructor class, so that's very fun as well! Lots of love from Lykopis

You haven’t lost your enthusiasm for coaching, keep it up !

As a beginner with really flexible elbows that really protrude out, I really appreciate the video 😘✌

Totally agree with power puncher, this is a great way to re-see a common problem and a path to improve the situation through correction

Great video. Your advice was very clear to this beginner.

Thanks a million bud. I thank you. My forearm thanks you.

Best advice I have ever heard after years of watching youtube archery videos!

I really needed this. I have been trying to twist for so long and it's been making me very sore. The v-grip looks like it'll help a lot

Thank u for all the videos u make for us. Each one helps me alot and now I am properly shooting bc of you.

I had the most trouble with string slap with my first bow, a cheap fiberglass beginner's bow with an ambidextrous grip. I held it with my entire fist and I had to use an arm guard to protect my forearm. I upgraded to a wood recurve bow with a much higher draw weight, and even though I bought a leather arm guard to go with it I found I didn't need it. I'd discovered that I didn't need to hold the bow with my entore hand since the draw weight isn't supported by my fingers, it's supported by the bones of my hand and forearm. I was able to use a looser 2-finger grip and still shoot, without needing the arm guard.

So helpful and informative! Thank you!

Wow! What a wonderfully concise yet informative lesson. Thank you very much for taking the time to create this video. I'm positive that it'll be a fantastic help to me.

Slapped quite a bit with my recurve and once with the compound. The compound one was the bluest one I ever had. More poundage, more blue. The grip on the compound is different and after some adjustment I never slapped on that anymore. On my recurve it happed still from time to time slightly. But improved. Also because I changed the handle with a different physical shape make it easier for me to grip on the right side of life line.

Thanks David. This helped to solve my problem, when I've returned to shoot after winter time. Best wishes from Poland!

Very well explained! Thank you!

Omg! Thank youuuuu! My arms are all bruised up. So thankful for this video.

When I started shooting a bow I used a arm guard, but while shooting I noticed I never did hit my arm guard with the string. So I took it off, because here in Thailand it can be very warm and humid, I would sweat under the guard, making everything very uncomfortable. Listening to your videos, I saw that I was already holding my bow properly. I shoot usually 3-4 times a week, shooting around 100 arrows during a session, and have never hit my arm. Thanks for all your videos. Oh I have 2-3 very good leather arm guards for sale, that were custom made, that I have "For Sale" cheap.

Hiya from Mike in New Zealand, I’m a barebow archer and your videos have helped me so much, thank you

Brilliant. So much simpler.

I kept hitting the hill of my hand , this hand position fixed the issue. Thank you so much.

Worked instantly. All the unnecessary string slaps I’ve taken lol

Good video as always mate

Thanks for this one.

Ah yes, pretty much everything you say is true and yet I love the peace of mind that having the arm-guard gives me. One less possible distraction to my shot cycle. Good to keep loose long sleeve clothing out of the way and really weighs nothing and takes 10 seconds to put it on. Also it is a wonderful customisable archery accessory. I've seen and had made for me some absolutely beautiful arm-guards. Great video as usual but I'll keep mine :) even if it is only very rarely needed.

I am getting my first bow next month. I thank you so much for this. Fortunately, it looks like I naturally hold my arm out with flesh out of the way but I still plan to get an arm guard. I don't think pain will help my aim.

Thanks Nusensei...

Very helpful as always!

amazing video!

In short, if ur elbow is facing up, u screwed up. Force ur elbow to turn inwards but fixate ur wrist. Simple. Next thing would be to hold the hand in a way the props the bow forward while u pull the bowstring back. When u release, imagine the left hand propping the bow forward and the bow dropping onto the floor.. cause shooting the arrow is releasing the arrow. V shape grip props the bow

good video! we have several beginners at our club that were hitting their arms... i will send them this link.

Excellent, thanks!

100%! Also - open stance helps.

Thank you so much for this! Yesterday I hit my underarm so badly that I started bleeding internally, it was pretty bad.. But I’m fine haha I’m pretty knew to archery so I didn’t know about the elbow movement and was totally holding my bow wrong

That's a very good tip... I developed this habit last week and you also explained in your video so it removed all my doubts of holding the V shaped grip while doing Arcehry... Thanks a lot Secondly i am facing the problems on aiming from the mouth.Can you apload your video on aiming exactly from the mouth position...

Wow, this may be one of the most useful archery videos I've ever watched - I look forward to putting it in to practice!

I was taught to turn the elbow after you draw, or as you draw, because you can actually roll it out when you put just a little pressure on the wrist joint.

Your videos are always extremely helpful, thank you!

Thank you. This makes complete sense and totally solved my issue. Awesome.

Just got my first horsebow... Not sure if it's supposed to be for these kind of bows but this definitely helped!

Thank you!!!!!

Advice I've given is to first bend your elbow 90 degrees to the upper arm and keep both the upper arm and forearm parallel to the floor. Next grip the bow as you described. Finally when you extend the forearm to a shooting position, the elbow should be in good alignment. To periodically check your elbow alignment, randomly bend your elbow. If the forearm goes up at all, your elbow is coming out of alignment.

... thank you for sharing

Any advice for traditional bows like an english longbow? The v-grip works great with modern recurves, but haven't found a great grip for slap with my ELB. (That and the brace height on ELBs are so darn low...)

Also make sure your brace height is set correctly. When you shoot a lot, the string will elongate, and the brace height will come in closer to the bow. Then the string starts hitting the front part of your forearm.

Apart from the odd occasion when I'm not paying attention, or just messing about, I haven't hit myself in the arm for over 20-years, however I do own several arm guards, but apart from the first shots with a new bow, I just don't need to wear them. As far as trying to teach new archers to turn the elbow, if you simply teach them to turn the bow-hand the elbow turns automatically, it's all down to a biomechanics. However there are some circumstances where an armguard must be worn, for instance, there are certain medical conditions, such as "elos danlos", (a hereditary condition which affects joints), "hypermobility syndrome", and plain old double-jointedness, any Archer with these kinds of conditions would do well to wear an arm guard at all times, regardless of their shooting style especially with heavier bows.🙏

Thank you

Wish I knew this one purple elbow earlier))) (happened in my first archery attempts)

I have no need of these instruction videos, but it's always fun and interesting for me to watch 😁 Are you still an instructor at your club?

I hurt myself very badly couple weeks ago, now I always wear my arm guard!

I see. I always interpret outward elbow as the thumb points externally (supination movement) but in actuality it's the opposite, almost pronation move

Wena po Nu sensei, se agradece

Whether you hit your arm can also depend a lot on the kind of bow you are shooting. Not much correlating to the brace hight, though. I often slapped my arm with my selfmade longbow (normal brace hight) however careful I have been, but not at all with low brace hight horse bows. Shooting mainly mediterranean style.

I had to learn this the hard way. It hurt a little and my elbow got blue even with an armguard but I corrected my position and now I can shoot without a guard. I still use the guard to be safe but I don't need it.

Only recently started archery and I'm getting string slapped pretty often but I'm starting to adjust the grip before I set but then again sometimes when I forget and adjust it after the set, my accuracy is way off. I need to get a handle on this and hope your vid can help as I take further classes and perfect my form.

......yep, this is the video I should have watched.

I never use a wrist gaurd eventually you develop a leathery skin covering that provides the same protection as even a high end wrist gaurd.

Currently have a massive welt on my forearm from shooting today. Could not figure out how to avoid contact with the string. Should have come here first!

Thanks for sharing! Though a friend of mine hyper extends when she shoots and always seems to have this issue, even with the v grip. Any suggestions ?

Do all of these and also avoid Topoint R2 kit if you dont want to get string slap

This exactly my issue... grip. Changed that and the black and blue went away

Hopefully I didn't get much string slap, thanks to your videos I watched when I just started. Your V shape hand grip saved me a lot of time and hassle. Yet I just can't help but cringe when I see instructors still teaching that weird "elbow turning" thing, which doesn't work, as you admirably explain here.

I think u need to curve an angle our wrists rather than think about our elbows if you know what I mean so if you hold your bow in arm and just slightly angle it away from our arms lol I learned the hard way lol an it hurts lmfao and I bought a cheap armex bow and it came with a pressure button that has no spring it just hard uno wasn't to sure if it was a sight at first but found out it's a pressure button thing with a arrow rest but it's sold anyone know why or how think it's just a cheap one that came with the bow pls advise me lol very great full thanks

Easier to avoid with a recurve and a higher brace height, not as easy on a longbow with a shorter brace height though.

Should I also grip my bow like this if I'm using a traditional mongolian styled bow with no grip carvings?

I remember that beard in that old video

What about longbows with flatter grips?

What if the string hit my wrist instead? Is it technic problem or it it because the brace height is not high enough? It never happen with my small bow or any other bow that I had over the years, but with my 55# at 28, wich I draw to 32, it happens all the time and I end up putting ice on my wrist after each session.

Does all of this apply equally to asiatic bows? Horsebows, etc. without pistol grips?

Could've used this video an hour ago before I went and made schnitzel out of my forearm with a bigass longbow at the local medieval faire ^^' Oh well, you live you learn.

🏹 🎯 😁

I've been shooting wrong since cubs. Origato, Obligato, I've known Japanese people who say the latter. If I got this wrong, Apologies. Thank you so much. May God bless you.

I just open my stance a little bit

I try to instruct without using the word 'grip', prefer using 'handle' to avoid the mental image of tightly gripping the bow.

Yeah wont lie, my instructor just said turn your elbow and didnt give any more info after that lol.

Is a V-shaped grip effective for hunting?

Where are U mate

Ok, granted I’m not an instructor, and have only been shooting for the last three years (but almost every day) but this “rotate the elbow back” to me seems like dogma... a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Now maybe a person is hitting their arm so aggressively that it hurts through the arm guard or is deflecting the string and therefor the arrow on release, but I’ve yet to see that issue on anyone. And as I see it, rotating the elbow back creates a structural flaw that may lead to a bad shot. What I mean is this orientation of the elbow introduces a lateral hinge to the shooting wedge. No matter how aligned and stacked on bone the weight of the limbs are at full draw, an elbow back orientation creates a collapse point that must then be counteracted by tricep muscle tension. The best shot will always be the one that minimizes muscle tension. Even if we disregard the tendency to have shoulder roll from putting the elbow back, raising the shoulder to a less desirable position, even so much as putting a slight angle of the elbow down will lock off that elbow hinge... it simply won’t bend that way, meaning there can be greater relaxation in the bow arm. The more relaxation, the more calm. The more calm, the more poised the shot is. And that translates into accuracy. You wouldn’t think that shooting without a sling, tab or glove is a virtue, so why would one think an arm guard is any different? It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, and one that can cost accuracy. Anyway, that’s my take on it, for whatever that’s worth.

But armguards are cool and create interesting tanlines... Also the whole archery industry wants you to purchase armguards. Once again, NuSensei is gonna have some problems with the hidden power behind archery.

Not work

I think another issue is some people shoot with the bow slanted to the right (Thanks Hollywood).

Finally someone who perfectly explains how to grip the bow. You are seriously awesome! Thanks so much! You are such a precious help for the ones who dont have access to a club! 🙏🏻🤍 🏹