Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Training for heavy bow shooting
Glennan:
It does make me chuckle, this fetish for drawing the heaviest bow.
:D (This is me, chuckling)
Learn to shoot properly first, then the draw weight will come quite naturally. Power and strength come from good technique, never the other way round.
Lloyd:
--- Quote from: Yeomanbowman on May 21, 2007, 04:01:06 pm ---I seems that we all agree that a physically active life style is, in some part, conducive to shooting in the warbow. But where we seem to differ is to the degreeof this and whether additional training is required in lieu of specialised training from early boyhood, as in medieval times. If I may paraphrase Jaro’s and some others sentiments, they seemed to feel that activities such as my bow exerciser were ‘artificial’ in some way and unnecessary. What was important was a rugged life style in order to draw and shoot realistic medieval draw weights.
In 1509, Sir Roger Williams wrote his military treatise, ‘Briefe Discourse of Warre’. This was at a time when agriculture was still the most significant industry in Britain and manual labour, largely, as arduous as 200 years before. However, even though the British still lived a very vigorous and physically demanding life this he writes… “Out of 5000 archers not 500 will make any strong shootes”. Only 1 in 10 can shoot well with a warbow. He bemoans, “…few or none do anie great hurt 12 or 14 score off.' Clearly this is not the strong shooting the Anglo-Welsh was once famous for. Equally clearly is the fact this is down to lack of specialised training and not a sedentary lifestyle.
Jeremy
--- End quote ---
I think you are have a typo there. Roger Williams was a contemporary of Phillip Sidney so that would put him in the late 16th century, not the early 16th.
I just checked
Sir Roger Williams, A Briefe Discourse of Warre (London, 1590)
Yeomanbowman:
Yep! Typo corrected :).
Josh, the book is on Amazon.
Cheers,
Jeremy
sagitarius boemoru:
That is well past decline of military archery. Consider Flodden last major longbow engagement. There is continental campaign of Henry VIII. which sure included archery contingent, but its more like he liked the idea of indomitable english longbow than anything else (and attempted to hold the tradition alive). Continental battles by 1550 were routinely won with superiority in firearms as (one of) decisive factors.
J.
Yeomanbowman:
--- Quote from: Glennan on May 21, 2007, 08:21:29 pm ---It does make me chuckle, this fetish for drawing the heaviest bow.
:D (This is me, chuckling)
Learn to shoot properly first, then the draw weight will come quite naturally. Power and strength come from good technique, never the other way round.
--- End quote ---
Glennan,
This is me perplexed at your attitude :-\,
Don’t be so dismissive, how do you know how we shoot? If you don’t agree with anything I say that’s fine and you can choose to say so. But when you use derogatory language like ‘fetish’ it's too much. We both know what a realistic medieval draw weight is and what it takes to shift a heavy arrow. I shot a 65 gram war arrow 273 at Margam the other day and I defy you to do it with any thing under 120Lb, even with a laminate bow. War arrows are ineffective with sub 100Lb bows; it’s as simple as that. It’s a case of fitness for purpose not wearing fetish rubber bondage gear ;). Power is generated by the application of strength, via technique. Who’s saying technique is not important, certainly not me. You’re not a small chap and have a natural advantage so be more flexible.
Jeremy
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version