4 SIMPLE BOW HAND FORM FIXES

So today is going to be all about four simple errors that people make with the bow hand and four simple fixes that you can do to make sure that your bow hand is stronger and you deliver the bow to the target properly. So let's roll the intro and then we'll get to the video. So the first mistake people make is trying to put the bow hand into the grip far too early. So what I mean by this is with the bow here, at the position with the bow on the foot, it's very common for people to try and put the grip and set this too early. So here we are with the bow on the foot. You do not need to, at this position, you do not need to try and set the pressure point and angle the hand into the grip like this. It is not necessary. So what you do instead is you simply put the hand into the throat of the grip with the pivot point, not the pressure point. So you can have, you know, like a V of the hand, you locate that into the grip and that's your pivot point. And you do not, at this point, locate down with the pressure point because as you can see, the angle of the wrist is horrible. It's actually quite painful there as well. It's not good to do and it ruins the bow shoulder side. It ruins the connection. As you can see, it makes you hunch over. This is all wrong. It's not good. So pivot point and then when you lift the bow to the intermediate position here, you can actually still see there's a slight gap. That's also fine. And then at some point, you want to then set the pressure point better and open and raise the bow. So you can pivot point, up, pressure point, and then open and raise the bow like that. So this is the first key point and that is don't try and set your grip too early on. In this video actually of Kim Woo Jin shooting, you can see how actually how late he fully sets the hand into the grip. Now this is because of the way he opened the bow and this works for him. If you compare this to the next video clip of Lee Woo Sook, you'll see a very different method. So, you know, there isn't one way that will work for you more than the other in terms of, you know, you can't just recommend the same to everyone but what you need to do is find a way that you can set the pressure point consistently, but also get the rest of your set position good and open the bow a good way as well. And this is what both of these archers have done. They found a way unique to them that allows them to get the rest of the shot for them and, you know, integrates it into their whole shot cycle. So that's what you have to do, but definitely do not do it too early and compromise the rest of your shot. So mistake number two is not directing with the thumb enough. So what I mean by this is you might have the set position correct in terms of the grip and you set all that and then you open and raise the bow, but a lot of people don't direct with the thumb enough. So what they might do, they might come up and they've set the grip position and then they come up and draw and the thumb position isn't good and it's just kind of hanging down the side of the grip like this and it's not directing through. And what you can actually see as well when I drew up there, I'll do it again, is the whole bow arm is compromised when this happens because the force of the bow is not going nicely along the arm up into the shoulder. The hand is kind of sliding off around the grip slightly, which is not good. And this is because, you know, the knuckles are not back at a nice 45 degree angle. The knuckles are not pulled back and you're not directing through that side, which gets a nice consistent pressure point application and a nice consistent delivery of the bow. So I'll demonstrate that again. The bad way is not directing with the thumb and you can see the whole bow arm is much more wobbly and harder to get in the right position. I'll show you from this angle. Now with this angle, you can see how the hand is rolling off the side. You can see how the hand is rolling off the side like that, whereas if you direct like that, it's much better. So you want to make sure that the thumb is straight along the side of the grip and is directing to the target. It's also okay to have a bit of a curl in the thumb like that. What you don't want is for the thumb to be like this and to be kind of down and have the grip all rolled round to the side, so that's what you don't want there. And that's quite a common mistake actually, even intermediate archers who have got most of the other areas of the technique good, but this is quite a common mistake and it really can help the overall bow arm, bow hand position, and then also the delivery of the bow to the target. Mistake number three is trying to feel completely set at the set position, trying to feel a straight direction. This might sound obscure, but I'll demonstrate what I mean here. So at the set position here, if you have the thumb and the bow arm and hand set, if you try and feel directly like the string is, you're directing the string to the face in a straight line here and you're directly pushing the bow to the target, all in a straight line like that, what will happen is at the set position, you will get this. And then when you lift, you'll get the hand is close to the body and this wrist is kinked and it's not very easy to draw the bow. And this is a very common thing that I've talked a lot about, but this basically starts from this set position by this wrist angle, but also by trying to think of this in a straight line here, direct to the target and away from the target. So when people do this, they are thinking about directing the pressure point straight into the bow here and then also about drawing the string straight and that causes that. But at this set position, if you are here, what you want to actually have is you want to feel like you're using the thumb and the left side of the thumb against the side of the bow to direct the bow to the left. So rather than you're pushing straight, you want to feel like you're directing the bow to the left and you want to feel like you're directing the string to the right. So as a massive exaggeration, rather than feeling like, for instance, you're doing this at the set position and then you lift and do that, rather than feeling like that, you want to feel like you're doing that. So you want to feel like you're actually doing this with the hands and you're directing this hand that way and this hand that way. That is a massive exaggeration, obviously. You don't physically do this, but that's the internal feeling that you have at the set position or you should have at the set position. So I'll demonstrate that. So rather than here, having this straight, you want to feel like you're opening the bow and when you draw, you're using this thumb to direct the pressure that way and you're using the draw hand to direct the string. It feels like away from your body. In reality, it actually is very straight, but it's just making sure that you open the bow in the right way and on the draw hand side, when you do this, what you might feel or what you should feel is rather than the string feeling like it's directly in the grooves of the fingers, so rather than the string feeling like it's directly in these grooves, pushing in, what you want is you want to feel like the string is actually directing slightly to the side because you're effectively directing the pressure outward like that. So it's not going to be a straight push of the string in the finger joint. It's going to feel like it's slightly to the side and this is going to help you open the bow properly and get to the rest of your shot, specifically shoulder alignment and set up much better. So these are really key points here and something that's often missed at the set position. Finally, the number four mistake that people make, which is actually really common is having the wrong length finger sling. So obviously everyone knows what a finger sling is, what it does, but you need to have the right length and it's really important to get the right length because it controls and affects how you can deliver the bow to the target and how much control and basically direction you can give it. If your finger sling is too long, so this is actually an example of a good length finger sling. If your finger sling is too long, what you'll see is the bow leaves the hand and then it will obviously wildly leave the hand and someone might grip the bow through the finger sling like this here and the sling will be kind of past the throat of the grip like that and they'll be holding it and then the bow will be waving around and moving around too much because the finger sling is too long. If it's too short, the bow won't roll properly and it will just kind of stick in the hand and shoot and it might just go like that and then not really roll and not direct to the target. You might think this doesn't matter because the arrows left the bow and it's just kind of fancy, the follow through or whatever, it doesn't actually matter. But what happens is if you aren't able to direct the follow through properly, then over time it will migrate into your shot and you'll develop this knowing that your follow through is not going to be good. You'll develop that in your shot and maybe have some jerky movement on the bow arm, maybe not direct enough through the thumb and not deliver to the target because you can't feel it, you can't get the feedback because your finger sling is stopping you from getting this feedback. So you shoot the shot and you think, okay, yeah, you don't get the feedback because it's not allowing you and then you continue and continue and you don't realize that basically you're limiting yourself because you're not delivering in the right way because you're not getting that feedback. So it's actually really, really important to get this correct and make sure you've got the correct length finger sling. A good place to start with this is when you put your finger sling on like this, you can simply look at the gap between the finger sling and the riser like this. So when you see that gap there, you can see the gap between the finger sling and the riser this way and then if you look at that gap, a good place to start is roughly an inch. Obviously, it massively depends on the type of grip you've got, how thick the grip is, all that kind of stuff, but roughly an inch is a good starting point to try with and then go from there. So that's really important to try and definitely give that a go and make sure you've got the right length finger sling. As I said, you might think it doesn't make a difference, but it really does exactly in the same way as the double bow roll drill. By doing that drill, it gives you the feedback and makes you improve on the next shot. If you limit yourself with the finger sling, it's the opposite. You're not giving yourself the feedback on every single shot that you need and then you won't be able to develop the correct technique. So give it a go and make sure you've got the correct length finger sling. So that was a complete overview of four super common, super simple fixes that you can do for your bow hand to make sure that you deliver the bow to the target better and improve your technique on the whole bow hand and bow arm side. So I hope you found that useful. As always, be sure to destroy that like button and also subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. I'll also put the links to social media down below and thank you for watching and I'll see you next time.