Like most hunters at the end of the hunting season, their bow is hung in the garage or placed in its case until late August, just before the archery season begins. Typically the first pull of a bow usually with cold unused muscles tends to stress the wrong muscle grouping. Thus, when the typical over pound aged bow is drawn, the wrong set of muscles is immediately put into a conditioning mode. After several pulls the over strained muscles turn into a shock mode and start to protect and not to serve. Immediately your chest, arm and shoulder muscles are off tract and will now end up taking some time to correct the proper pull with the correct muscle usage.

To avoid having set-backs, injury and potential long-term damage to muscle groups, proper warm-up is critical. Not only will this prepare you for a successful season it can be applied into your daily routine. Doing these simple exercises daily will dramatically improve your hand eye coordination, focus and muscle condition. The first drill is a simple finger sequence drill that will build your hand strength, focus and coordination. Start with your hand expanded out with palms faced up. Take your Thumb and touch your Ring finger tip to tip. Next, take your Thumb to your Index Finger and then your Thumb to your Pinky and then Thumb to Middle Finger. Focus on the proper finger sequence while building speed. After a few sequences you will build Finger and Hand Strength. More so, Finger Shooters and people, who shot with “Back Tension”, mentally will be in tune with finger placement and finger awareness.

The next exercise can be done standing in front of a mirror, driving in a car or sitting watching television. Extend your draw arm out horizontally to shoulder height with your thumbs pointing up. Bend your elbow, bringing your draw hand to the center of your chest. Now, move your elbow backwards as if you were to make a draw. Do this several times moving 2-3 inches along the center of the chest. You should be able to distinguish between the back muscles being used verse the arm and shoulder. This exercise focuses on developing the Rhomboid muscles. In true form the purpose is to retract the scapula, pulling it towards the spine. When done correctly, you have executed the correct back tension exercise.

The third exercise is to raise your bow arm to shoulder height and perform small rotations in both directions. This will strengthen your shoulder muscles, lower stress points helping to reduce a shaky picture sight. Perform six rotations in each direction. Then raise your bow arm out as if it was facing a target. Make a “Y” with your Fingers and Thumb. Allow your fingers to relax letting your knuckles end up at a 45 degree angle with your thumb pointing towards the target. The pressure of the bow grip should be centered. Hold you hand against a door or out as if the door angle was present. Practice rotating your bow arm by rotating your upper arm clockwise (RH) until the inside of the arm is straight up and down. Make sure to keep the shoulder down and back. Keep your bow hand in the proper position, with your palm down and your knuckles at a 45 degree angle. By doing this exercise in secession, the shoulder will strengthen to hold the bow steady longer, and keep the arm in position when fatigued, thus reducing cantering and a floating sight window.

These simple exercises can be applied easily into any daily routine to increase your focal performance and build endurance. As with any training with muscle groups, proper stretching and warm up is recommended.