S3 Archery - Back Tension: Simplified 

I have watched just about every archery video on utube , your video is the easiest to understand and the most helpful, thank you very much

joe! best example video for practicing ways to acheive back tension ive seen on RU-vid. Great job, great timing on this one to boot

I actually like the 'Arrow infront of the mirror' exercise. The biggest advantage of that exercise, in my opinion, is that the focus is on proper alignment which then naturally triggers back tension. Of course, it's not as simple as that due to things like elevation of the drawhand forearm from the shoulders which affect the ratio of stress on the shoulder muscles as compared to the rhomboids. Fortunately for traditional archers, the usual anchor on the cheek already provides enough elevation of the forearm that they don't really need to worry about it. The act of slightly leaning forward like you did on the video helps even more to ensure that the rhomboids are pulling most of the weight instead of the shoulders.

Joe you nailed it!. This is the video I`ve been waiting for about back tension. As you know I only shoot once a week (and that on a good week). I`m going to stop thinking about it so much and start having fun!

really good stuff..thanks for yet another great video

thanks Joe , another good one.

Great way of explaining back tention glad I watched your vidio as y explained it in detail I was definitely doing it wrong ill practice that thank you.

Awesome video. Thank you!

Thanks for this video. It's a big help.

AWSOME explanation!

Thanks for sharing this information.

Great video thanks for the info.

another good one joe, I've found an easy way, to teach back engagement, is to break the mind set of pulling the string to anchor, rather think of it as pushing the drawing elbow to the rear, also I am believer in use of the mirror

Very good video, thanks

Excellent Video Joe! Really like the isometric exercise you showed and the arrow in the mirror is something I never thought of. Gonna give that try. BTW - got my Hill Wesley Special and love it! I even picked up another ASL - a Hill Centennial. It's absolutely amazing. I will make a video of me shooting the Centennial soon and send you the link.

Joe, EXCELLENT video! Very informative and best overall description of the movement! I also liked how you mentioned target archers as well. (Yep, that's me.) I'm a LEVEL 2 JOAD instructor and tell our new members to "pinch a quarter", like your statement better. However, in your future videos don't forget us "lefties". Which brings me to a question about back tension. What are some exercises that you do, or suggest, to develop the muscles? I've been looking here on RU-vid but cannot find any good information. Other than push ups, one arm dumbell rows and just drawing the bow are the only exercises I know. Any suggestions? Thanks for your videos and keep up the GREAT work!

Thanks!

Wow that mirror exercise sure helped

I feel like my anchor point is not far back enough to achieve proper back tension. I like to anchor in the tip of my mouth, but when I try to get proper back tension my shoulders feel very out of place and awkward unless I anchor way back on the middle of my cheek. I think I might be doing something wrong?

Thanks for another good video. I agree, having fun shooting a bow comes first.

Joe, What if like me you shoot right handed but are left eye dominant and release the arrow the second I get to anchor and sadly quite often before I get to full draw! Is back tension possible for a fast instinctive archer? Thanks

Hey, Joe. This may be a very dumb question, so sorry. About the exercise you proposed, am i supposed to not see my elbow even when doing it with a bow in front of the mirror or just when doing it only with an arrow?

found this last night doing the mirror drill