Archery Tips: How To Get A Good Release!

Today I'm going to talk to you about how to get the perfect release. The idea of archery is to keep everything in a nice straight line when you're shooting. So I'm going to give you some tips and tricks today to help you so you look like a pro the next time you're out shooting. There's two things that you want to focus on. Number one, you want to make sure you have a flat hand. Now when I say flat hand, a lot of times beginners will have their knuckles sticking out when they're shooting. Archers will put too much tension in their hand and when they pull back, you'll see, watch my forearm here, you'll see all that tension in the hand and then the forearm. When you're doing that, it's going to be hard to get into good alignment. It's going to be hard to get a good release. So what I want you to focus on is I want you to focus on keeping the knuckles nice and flat. The second thing we're going to think about is also the wrist position. A lot of beginners will cave their wrist in when they first start shooting and they'll be at this angle. When you pull back, it's hard to get your elbow into alignment because your elbow is facing this direction because of your wrist. If you think about it, when you go to the grocery store and you're carrying a heavy bag of groceries, you're not walking around with your bags like this. Naturally, you're holding your bag like this. So we have to think of the same terms in archery. When you're pulling back 20, 30, 40 pounds of draw weight, you want to make sure you're in that same position with your hand. Okay, so now you're going to think about keeping the wrist flat and the knuckles flat and that's going to create that flat hand. Now that we've created less tension in the hand and the forearm by keeping everything nice and flat, now what we're going to do is we're going to focus on how do you actually pull the string back? What should you be thinking? There's two ways to shoot. You could be shooting in your arms or you could be shooting in your back. In archery, you always want to focus on using bigger muscle groups instead of the smaller muscle groups. So today, we're going to focus on using the back versus trying to shoot in the arms. First, let's talk about the scapula. The way the scapula works, it's going to be here and as you pull the string back, it's going to come down and in up against the spine. I teach a lot of beginner classes and archers have a hard time getting that feel in the back, feeling the scapula and they'll say, I'm setting up, I'm pulling back, I just don't feel anything back there. So if that's you and you try this, then what you can also do is you can try focusing on a different area on the body. If you can focus on this area when you set up, focus on as you pull back, you're going to pull that lantoo back behind you and you're going to hold that tension in the lantoo. When you release, you're going to continue moving that lantoo back behind you. We're going to go ahead and shoot a shot. I'm going to focus on the lantoo. So this area back here, I'm going to pull the string back and I'm going to think about the lantoo actually pulling the string back. That's going to alleviate a lot of the tension in your hand, in your forearm and let's see how it looks. I'm pulling back, I'm focusing on the lantoo, lantoo, lantoo, lantoo. I'm holding the tension in the lantoo and on the release, I'm going to keep moving the lantoo and as you can see that release comes straight back. This here all works as one unit with what's going on back here. This, your release, is going to be a result of whatever you're focused on in this area and back here in this area. So if you can keep everything engaged back here and you can hold the tension and you can continue to follow through with that tension on the release, the only place for your release hand to go is straight back. Instead of when you're in your arms, you could be doing this, you could be doing this and anything out here is when you're shooting in the arms. Number one, a stretch band is always the best. When I first started learning how to get in the back instead of using the arms, I used a stretch band hundreds of times to try to get the feel in my back. Number two, if you don't have a stretch band with you but you want to start getting the feel of the hold in your back, you can do a drill. It's called draw to hold and what you're going to do is as you pull back and you get set into your anchor position, you're just going to hold that tightness that we're talking about. Try to think about focusing on either the scapula or that back lantoo area that we just spoke about and you're just going to hold there. Hold, hold, really feel it. Feel the tightness, feel the tension and then you can go ahead and let down. You can practice this over and over again. The more you practice it, you're going to start to feel it back there so that way when you get up and shoot, you feel it in the shot. There are two things you want to be cautious of when you are trying to learn to get into your back. I'm going to show you those two things right now. So the first thing is really important. First thing is remember to always keep the same anchor position because when people are trying to get in their back and they're trying to hold and the tension, I see this happen a lot. They'll set up, they get set in tight and then I'm getting back in my back. I'm feeling great and now their anchor is way back here. Once you change your anchor, your shots change, your shot's over. Second thing I see archers do when they're trying to learn how to get into their back is when they set up, they look great. As they pull back, they get set tight into their anchor and then they start aiming. You're aiming, you're aiming. You're trying to be perfect to aim but if you notice where my back elbow is, now I'm out of alignment. They start out nice and strong, they have the tension, they have the tightness in their back and as soon as they start aiming and they're holding, they lose all that tension. Once you lose the tension in your back, that means you're back in your arms shooting again and when you're back in your arms shooting again, you're out of alignment. You can do anything with your release now and you're not going to have that straight line, that ideal line that we're looking for in archery. So if that happens to you and you realize, oh I'm holding, I'm coming out of, I don't feel the tightness in my back, go ahead let down the shot and start the shot over again. When I'm learning how to use the back is I think about a racetrack. So a racetrack, you have a start line and you go all the way around back to the finish line. So in archery, this is how I kind of think of it. I think of this as the start line and all the tension is coming around the track. Okay, so I'm thinking about the lantoo or your back scapula, whatever works better for you. So bring all that tension from the string all the way back, get set tight into your face and as you get set tight into your face, now you have to think about all that tension getting around the track back to the finish line. So you want the tension, it's coming around this way as you pull the string back, you get set into your anchor and now all that tension from your back has to get back to the target. So it's going to look something like this. Okay, so I set up, here comes the race car, coming around the racetrack, I got all that tension in my back, I come into my anchor, I'm holding that tension and I'm on the race, all that tension has to go back to the finish line. Finish line is your target. You want to make sure you keep the hand nice and flat, knuckles stay flat, wrist stays flat. Start thinking about that lantoo back here, doing all the pulling in the string and that'll get all the tension in the back side instead of too much tension in the hand. That back tension is going to help create that perfect release for you. Have a great day, happy shooting!