The forces of nature and the nature of my day job have been conspiring against my practice this spring! This year with my push to consistently shoot a Vegas style 300 I was unwilling to lay off of practicing for any extended period. Because of the unpredictability of Colorado spring weather and my need for business travel, I must employ other methods of practice.
Practice Loop
Enough cannot be said about the value of the practice loop (see main article here.) The practice loop is a valuable tool at home and on the road and I highly recommend taking one anywhere you may go. For my last trip I was flying and only taking on carry-on luggage and was worried that my Carter t-handle releases might look a little too much like a weapon to the airport x-ray operators. Someone unfamiliar with releases could mistake them for something akin to brass knuckles and so I went with a backup plan of a wrist release. Even though I have been focusing on using back tension with a t-handle, using a wrist release can still provide valuable practice without risking TSA confiscating it.
Form Practice Anywhere
I’m starting to develop several small habits to work on shooting form while doing just about anything. While sitting or driving you can move your shoulders down and into proper position while practicing breathing and tightening the abdomen. I’ve put up a small version of a single Vegas face on the post of my monitor at work and will take small breaks to spend a few minutes to focus on the “X” and nothing else. Little things like this can add up into good habits over the long run; any little bit can help.
Yoga Strength Exercises
Yoga is about strength, balance and form. There are many versions, and after experimenting with different versions and poses I have found several that are excellent for archery. Many of the poses require maintaining balance and placing differing amounts of your own body’s weight onto your arms and legs. These exercises promote stability in the muscles that is great for increasing the steadiness of your aiming and the shot.
Meditation and/or Self-Hypnotism
Any of the top-notch archers will tell you that consistency is the key to great shooting, even more so than form (though having good form leads to consistency.) You don’t necessarily have to do it perfect, but you have to do it the same every time! I’ve been experimenting with using both meditation and self-hypnotism to ingrain good form into my subconscious so that when actually shooting, I can concentrate on aiming and not worry about form. If your form comes purely from the subconscious, your conscious mind can fully concentrate on aiming and the rest will follow. This is something I have dabbled with in the past and will be more fully experimenting with in the future.
These are just a few of the many methods that can be used to practice when actual shooting is not feasible. I’m sure there are many more that could be added and I like to hear from any others that you have used and may be useful to me and other Archery Report readers.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is very helpful…. I think Im going to try the ‘focusing on the x’ here at work.. that might help my concentration.
Have you ever read the book ‘With Winning in Mind’? Lanny Bassham does a fantastic job talking about the mental part of Archery… its a MUST read.
B~
I haven’t read that book but it sounds like a great one to put on my reading list.