I was the beginner archer who saw a few videos on back tension and thought it would cure everything. Then I was forced into a several week hiatus where I couldn't shoot at all and my confidence had bottomed out due to having no idea what to correct and not improving at all. I finally got to shoot yesterday after having skimmed (kids are distracting!) this video and just focused on feeling and movement. I shot the best I ever have, made some new personal bests, and felt great. I'm just here rewatching it now. Much appreciation for all your hard work. I hope someday I can support it or pay it forward. Have a great day!
Finally someone with common sense speaks wisdom. Almost everyone who learns watching RU-vid is someone who can’t afford a decent coach. And these novice folks can’t filter out back tension crap.
For me, probably one of the most valuable archery videos of the year. I'm working on my shoulder and arm alignment (the wedge) and I was wondering about "creating" back tension (when/how). Focusing on the movement, maintaining it to keep the elbow from collapsing forward worked. I did not thought about scapula in the same way, until now. Makes sense, thanks!
It's just like lifting a heavy weight off the ground. People say "lift with your legs not your back", but you can't lift with your legs if your knees are locked and your spine is curled over. Once you get into the right position, you can think "lift with your legs" to optimize the correct lifting motion.
Back tension is not a step or something you do in archery. Back tension comes from a build up of all the steps in the draw cycle. From the moment you lift the bow until you release the arrow, when done correctly should draw all the back muscles to be doing the work of the shot and increases accuracy. It's a process not an act.
Are you suggesting that archers fokus on gross motor skill to pull trough the trigger rather than fine tuned muscle skill, giving up cognetive controll for muscle memory?
I was having the last thing you mention happen to me. I called it a micro collapse . I would lose the scapula movement right before release, this then puts all the tension on my forearm and bicep resulting in a pluck. Externally it wasn t that noticeable to people looking at my form as the elbow movement was minimal.
Back tension, as I've understood it, is used at the point of release using a specific release aid, like a hinge. I've never seen anyone espouse that it's used to hold weight and don't understand how the last half inch of motion could cause so many archers trouble. I have seen many archers get into correct form and use BT to pull through excellent shots. So to perhaps summarize incorrectly, your points address having good form primarily. Agreed. But the point of release is specific to how someone trains and is taught. Thanks for addressing how many archers use back tension incorrectly. If taught and used properly though, it's indeed effective.
Thank you for this video. I just finished reading the book by Kisik Lee, Total Archery, and although the book is quite insightful and has great photography the author uses a lot of mythical magical woo woo in explaining the connection the Archer has between his back muscles at the ground and everything else , yadda yadda yadda. If you can filter the b******* it is a great book.
So we have a video about how to move to make a shot and tries to discount the back tension release. How about a video about the back tension release and how good they are instead how bad a person executes a shot.
I tried to put myself in a position to shoot a bow. I don't actually own a bow so I just moved my hands. from what I saw on youtube is that you put the string close to your jaw. I found it to be very difficult to do that if I want to keep my elbow from going too far outside. the only way that I could turn my scapula backwards enough to straighten out my elbow was to put the string further away from my face. I did this without a bow. I imagine that with actual bow it would be even harder. How do I keep my elbow aligned with an arrow yet still have the bowstring close enough to the face?
The flexibility required takes a long time to develop, especially being able to close the gap between upper and lower arm which lets you have the anchor and also get the elbow round. You're doing the right thing, keep trying with just your hands and light bow!
Can someone who is 42 years old and has mild scoliosis get into archery. I'm not talking about Olympics or anything just become a good archer in general.
Why would it? Anchor point is behind the jaw in the cradle where the trspezius is thin, and pytagoras stil count and bow tuning can correct for the angel in your alignment
Interesting take, which "may" point out what is happening physiologically vs. how back tension is being explained by some. I notice a few things every now and then when shooting my bow and I try to associate what it was that I did when a good shot is made. My biggest challenge is avoiding a trigger punch and whatever helps me to avoid that is fine by me.
