Learn to Shoot a Compound Bow in 8 Easy Steps

Today I'm going to show you 8 simple steps on how you can improve your compound bar accuracy and make sure to stay till the end where I'll give some extra tips on how you can improve your accuracy even more. Step number 1 is stance and posture. For everybody that's starting out, very important is to get 90 degrees with the target that you are facing, making sure that when you look to the target that you're 90 degrees with it. Make sure that your feet are shoulder width apart, your stance is equally balanced, you've got 50% weight on both feet. Make sure that you are standing nice and upright, that when you are getting to full draw that you are not leaning back, that you are standing nice and upright, that your shoulder is down and then when you do get to full draw, a simple tip to do to know what kind of stance you need to have, a little bit of an open stance or closed stance, is draw your bow, close your eyes, get comfortable and anchor, open your eyes and see whether you're facing to the right of the target, then open your stance a little bit and if you are to the left, then close it a little bit. That'll give you a good indication of where your natural stance will be, whether you should be open or closed. Make sure you are balanced, make sure you are nice and upright, do not lean back and if that is the case, make sure that you move your hips back and you lean more forward making sure that this shoulder is down. Step number 2 is your bow hand. I want to identify what most people are doing wrong, is they are actually just holding onto the bow and gripping it tightly. What you do need to do, relax your hand, turn it 45 degrees and put your wrist down. This here is the optimal way of holding your bow. You are not having any sidewards pressure, there's no fingers that are adding to any torque to the bow itself and you can even put these fingers next to the grip, making sure that there is no sideward pressure left and right. Just to show you a little bit of a better way on how you can identify where you should place your grip itself, is make sure that you have a 45 degree angle, open up your hand and you can literally just put an arrow shaft in the middle of your grip. To be a little bit more consistent and a tip on the grip, and what I see some people do is they are not as consistent with grip, try and make a mark on the front end of your hand and the bottom end and have a line on your grip itself and make sure you put it in the same position every time. Put up a piece of paper in front of your butt and shoot your arrows through paper and make sure you get a consistent tear every single time. This will give you an indication if your grip has got any sidewards pressure or torque on it and if you need to relax your hand a little bit more. Step number three is knocking the arrow and drawing the bow. Make sure you've got it nicely between the loop itself, make sure that the knock is inserted properly. I have seen some people where they put the knock slightly into the string itself, make sure it's all the way in, it's knocked properly that the arrow does not fall out. Step number two is getting to full draw and this is where posture that we spoke about is very important. Make sure your shoulders are nice and down when you draw. When you lift the bow up, make sure you also draw with your back muscles, not just with your arms. Grip's in a good place, make sure that when you draw, you pull with your back muscles pushing down the arms, make sure that your shoulders are nice and down and you've got good posture, standing nice and upright, shoulders are down and then it allows you to get into your anchor position. I am used to knowing where I need to, how I need to knock my arrow itself. To have a cockbain indication, knowing the one color is always facing up is always a good indication for you starting out, knowing that you are putting your arrow in the bow exactly the same time, exactly the same every single time. Sometimes the right fletches might make contact on the cables and all you need to do is just rotate the nock a little bit to make sure that the fletches do not make any contact on the cables itself or on the rest. If you have a shoot through rest, meaning that you've got a prong rest and you shoot through the prongs itself, make sure your cockbain is facing down and you do not have any contact whatsoever. If you do have a drop away rest, make sure it falls away, it is set up properly and you do not have any vein or contact whatsoever causing bad arrow flight. Step number four, getting to your anchor point, whether you've got an index finger release, hinge release, thumb release, what is very important is when you get to full draw is that you've got your tip of your nose slightly touching the string and on the corner of your mouth, you do find a good anchor on the side of your jaw with your thumb trigger, it's always good having these two fingers on the side of your jaw and then the fourth indication of a good anchor point is making sure that your peep is aligned properly with your sight housing. So just taking you through the process itself, make sure you've got your posture right, getting to an anchor point where you are underneath the jaw, corner of the mouth, tip of the nose and then you are looking through the peep, squaring it up and making sure it's aligned properly with the actual sight in the front and this is the four steps. Aligned with the peep, tip of the nose, corner of the mouth and on the side of the jaw. The more consistent your anchor will be, the more steadier you will aim and the more consistent and the more accurate you will be. The most crucial part for everybody mentally is aiming, a very important point for me and what a lot of people are doing when they are getting to full draw, their focus is actually on their pin or actually on the dot, depending on what sight you are using. What you want to focus on is when you get to full draw is you want to focus on the front of the target, whether it's an animal, where do you want to hit it. If it's a target that you are shooting at, make sure that you focus in the X and keep on aiming at the X. The shot and the execution process will be second nature, make sure you keep on aiming. When you are focused on the pins itself, you will get more anxious because the pins are moving and that's got a snowball effect. The more anxious you are going to get, the more you are going to shake and the more nervous you are going to get, especially for the target archers out there. Make sure you concentrate on keeping your focus on the front end of the target, not nearby, but what is important for aiming is make sure that you align the peep with the housing and that everything is nice and in line. When you get to a full anchor, you are aiming and your peep sight actually feels like it's moving upwards. It either means that you are creeping and you are not nice and hard at the back or that you are not as solid in your anchor position as what you should be. What is very important and to help steady your aim is when you get to full draw and you do the alignment, is lift your elbow up and have a little bit of more pressure on the back to make sure that you are steady with your bow, steady with your anchor, steady with your aim. I'm also going to show you something which a lot of people are talking about which they call a six o'clock lock and that happens when people are shooting either a lot, they are not as fit as they should be and this is what usually happens. When you get to full draw, your posture should be shoulder down, solid anchor, slightly touching the string. As you shoot more and as you get fatigued, people are leaning back and this elbow actually moves back and the more you get stuck on the bottom of the pin, you reckon lean back more, that will lift the bow up and actually it gets the bow moving downwards. If you need the bow to move up if you've got six o'clock lock, focus on your posture, lean more forward, push the bow up, get your alignment right, get your aim steady and execute a good shot. And talking about executing a good shot, that brings us to our next point. Point number six is release technique. I'm using an index finger release which most people are using, whether you're using a thumb trigger, whether you're using a resistance activated trigger or an inch release, it all boils down to release technique. With an index finger, extremely important is make sure your step number five in aiming is down and you've got that covered. That'll help you with your release technique. The most important thing when you get to full draw after getting your solid anchor point is to make sure you can put your finger on the trigger without the shot being executed. Make sure you've got pressure on it, squeeze it slightly, rotate the elbow at the back, pulling with your back and having the shot executed in line with the arrow and a positive executed release. That gives you the best shot in line and most consistent shot every single time. What I do see a lot of people do is when they get to full draw, there's no back tension, there's no elbow movement in line with the arrow. A lot of their strength that they are pulling the bow back with is actually with the shoulder or with the bicep. The elbow is not in line with the arrow and when they execute the shot, the release is actually moving away from their face, causing the string to move left to right, causing bad arrow flight and inconsistent groupings and accuracy. Make sure that when you do get to your release, make sure you put your finger on the trigger, elbow in line with the arrow and when you execute the shot, that you release it in line with the arrow. That is very important. If you cannot put your finger on the trigger and it's too sensitive, make sure that you do make an adjustment that you can put your finger on the trigger. Why do I say so? I see so many people that do not have their finger on the trigger and when they get to full draw and they want to shoot, the movement from this position to executing the shot, it's a big movement and there's no way that that pin will stay on the center of the target every single time when you do that. And that mental image builds up all the time and that just builds up to target panic, bad execution and bad aiming, so bad shooting technique. So make sure that even if you do, this is going against the grain a little bit, but when you do get to full draw and you do want to punch the trigger and you cannot get rid of punching, put your finger on the trigger and then punch the trigger. That'll give you more accuracy and more consistency and then progress and work towards executing better shots and proper release technique. Point number seven is follow through. I've seen in the hunting field that when I am aiming at an animal and when I am a little bit jerky on some of my shots, obviously the animal gets a fright and he moves quickly. So follow through, very important, is you keep on aiming at your target and when you do shoot, just keep on aiming at your target and keep your bow in line with the target space, releasing and executing in the same direction as the arrow and the target itself, making sure you are consistent every single time. Follow through with your release, follow through with your aim and keep on looking at the middle. Point number eight, consistency is key. Archery is all about repetition and it's one that is so difficult to master. Make sure that you've got your grip in the right way. Make sure that you anchor the right way, it's consistent. Make sure you execute the same way and spend time on good posture that will help you with your aiming, that will mentally help you with your shot execution, that will help you with your confidence and with your consistency. And the extra tips for the video, take some time, get yourself a finger sling. When you are shooting and you are grabbing the bow all the time, make sure you get a finger sling that when you shoot, the bow falls out of your hand and the finger sling will end up catching the bow and it will give you more confidence to keep your bow hand relaxed shot after shot. Make sure you spend some time in front of a blank bale. Do not aim at any target, perfect your shooting form, perfect your posture, perfect your execution. That is very important to improve your accuracy and to improve your consistency. Make sure you spend some more time behind the bow. The best training for archery is archery and shooting it. Make sure you get your bow set up the right way, tuned, make sure you spend time behind the bow. If you like the content of this video, make sure to like and subscribe. Please leave me a comment on what you want to see on some future videos or what you like in this specific video. I am going to catch you on the next one.