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Work up to war bow weight

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Badger:
I get very frustrated trying to draw heavy bows, I am 60 now and not quite as strong as when I was younger but I never could really get a heavy bow back and I have always been a well above average strength person. I have seen guys on here that weigh no more than 140# drawing over 100# and they are really skinny guys. It just amazes me. Steve

Jaro:
When I shot my old bickerstaffe bow, or that bow by Marc st Luis, I was only 10 stone - that is 63-65 kg. I have wen slightly up now with weight, but I havent done any serious shooting for a while due to old finger injury. I have also sold most of my tackle when I was buying my house.
Anyway, this is my favorite picture now, showing that there is no need to be awfully muscular :D



The bow is 105/30" and it does solid 190 m with standart. The guy - Janek is something like 65 kilos too, only he is tall and wirry. ;D

Jaro

peasant1381:
Hello Dogface.
Just have look at the videos on youtube and you'll soon be able to learn the technique. Then it's like Alan said- approach it the same way as you would weight training and you'll do it no worries.

nick1346:
Just take your time. Easier said than done, we all struggle and strain only latter to wish we hadn't. By that I mean study the available videos and get the technique correct on lighter bows then go for higher weights. As for 'working up' well there are no short cuts, some exercises will help but they must be seen as aids not as a substitute to shooting a bow. Shoot the bow and then work your body in that order of preference. I'm still working on it now :D

nickf:
I first thought 85pounds would be around my max, so I made a 'very heavy' 78# hazel bow for trainings purpose. Then anothre 92# hazel bow, since it wasn't all that heavy to draw. Both were too short to be drawn to the full 32" sadly. I decided to make some 32" draw bows, from ash. The logs hadn't been dried enough, and a week after I cut them they already shot their first arrows. Being wet they took more set than wanted, but I had my bbi already in the works. their 90pound drawweight seemed pretty nice to train with, and I did 3times 4 sessions of 15 draws in the next week. After that I had my 115# bbi finished, and some dry draws, and some shooting, I can draw it pretty easily by now.

I haven't shot it quite much, all this happened in the last 3 months, due problems with the nocks, strings and arrows I couldn't shoot it for a while, but kept drawing it without release. last sunday I shot it, and I must say those 115# were pretty much. I shot 3 arrows, grabbed them, and shot them back, using 2 sticks as 'targets'. After like 40 shots my accuracy started to decrease dramatically, I couldn't get the third arrow fully drawn or hit the target. the first 2 arrows went okay, but after 80shots, my left elbow and shoulders hurt to much to continue, and I just couldn't draw the bow anymore.

shot it today again, and everything went way smoother. got a 130pounder in the works, and I bet I can draw it already, but I gotto see how things work out.

my advice for you is;

get a lighter warbow, around 80# (if very long, and a smooth draw, 90# isn't too much either), and find out how to shoot in the bow.  Shoot it twice, or three times a week, try to shoot 3 arrows , gather them, and shoot them again. don't want to shoot more than 50 arrows since it isn't going to do any good, better wait 2 days and shoot again.

within a couple of weeks you'll notice you can draw way more. Get a heavier, say 100# bow, and keep shooting it. Keep doing this until you can't go heavier.

you don't need to be an arnold schwarzenegger, as Jaro said.
I'm like 73" tall, weight 160#, and I'm 16years old. Shooting 115# warbows ;)

I lifted weights for like 18months, and this helped me pretty much. If you fitness, or lift weights, you might want to train your back a little more, some good exercises are
wide chinning
dumbel rows
rowing machine

Nick

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