Author Topic: exercise bow  (Read 8699 times)

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Offline Frode

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exercise bow
« on: July 13, 2010, 10:22:44 am »
Hi all,
I hope this isn't in the wrong place, though it does involve building a bow, of a sort.  A poster on another list (not me  :D) was trying to find a cheap, strong (75-100#) long bow to use for strength training.  They felt a bow would give better results than an exercise machine, or lifting milk jugs, or what have you.  They were also lamenting the difficulty of finding reliable information about the thousands of bows available at online auction sites.
So, the question is this; wouldn't it be possible to build a heavy weight bow that was maybe a terrible shooter, slow, heavy, loads of hand shock, made out of spit and baling wire and who knows what else, never meant to be fired, but by its form would allow for strength training while helping the shooter to work on form and stance?
Or has this already been done?
Just curious.
Frode
If it doesn't rap the lintel, it might not be a longbow.

Offline dwardo

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2010, 02:24:40 pm »
I have seen bow with wheels on the end and just assumed they were "exercise" bows.. ::)

I use the rubber exercise bands and if held properly can ROUGHLY imitate a bow being drawn.

Offline Frode

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2010, 09:51:30 pm »
I have seen bow with wheels on the end and just assumed they were "exercise" bows.. ::)

I use the rubber exercise bands and if held properly can ROUGHLY imitate a bow being drawn.
So then, that would mean that all those wheelie guys are... Iron Men?! :D
Sounds like the exercise bands would be the way to go to me too.  Thanks dwardo!
Frode
If it doesn't rap the lintel, it might not be a longbow.

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2010, 01:17:33 am »
I made an excercise bow with the bandsaw and an inch and a half wide stick of hickory that was 6' long.  I just kept reducing the thickness until I could get it strung.  It pulls about 65# and is less than a half inch thick the whole length and only the simplest narrowing at the tips. 

Made pulling and holding a 50# hunting bow much easier.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Frode

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2010, 06:09:34 pm »
I made an excercise bow with the bandsaw and an inch and a half wide stick of hickory that was 6' long.  I just kept reducing the thickness until I could get it strung.  It pulls about 65# and is less than a half inch thick the whole length and only the simplest narrowing at the tips. 

Made pulling and holding a 50# hunting bow much easier.

That sounds like what I was originally thinking of (though I hadn't worked it out to that level).  Thanks!
If it doesn't rap the lintel, it might not be a longbow.

Offline AvidArcher

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2010, 04:18:41 am »
JHO
Great question! I was wondering also and you beat me to it! I definitely need to build up my upper body strength bunt here are some hunting pictures and fish pictures for you to share an enjoy I think now I found a solution.
Jesses HuntinG
Fish pictures
AvidArcher
lot's of great hunting blog information
hunting pictures
hunting blog
« Last Edit: March 14, 2011, 11:31:43 am by AvidArcher »

Offline Justin Snyder

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2010, 04:33:20 pm »
Why not build a good bow and use it for exercise? An 80# bow pulls 80# wheather it is a clunker or a rocket.
Everything happens for a reason, sometimes the reason is you made a bad decision.


SW Utah

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: exercise bow
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2010, 11:20:12 pm »
Tillering a high weight bow is significantly harder in my experience.  Since I have no desire to hunt with a bow that makes me pop veins in my eyes, I have never given it much more thought. 

Maybe I will have to make one just to do it, why not?
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.