Equipment

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Equipment

Don't get distracted by it. Don't overspend. I did.


On one occasion I was complaining about my bow's quality and blaming the limbs and bow for having not been able to shoot consistently. Our coach, Serdar Şatır, a veteran archer contested in olympics games in Sydney as a national athlete, with no warming up, grabbed my bow  and arrows ( cut to my arms length, not his ) shot 3 arrows with a proximity that I had never done before.

On another, two youngsters at the competition, one with a 3000 USD bow just barely won over another kid with a 400 USD set over 30m at shoot off.

Equipment matters, but not to the extent you think. Your style is far far more important. Though being an engineer  I have the reflex of putting a percentage of how much emphasis should go over style and to equipment. But with moderate gear, 90% consistency comes not from gear but yourself.

That is more true in indoors where no wind is present to take advantage of different rod and fletching styles you may afford to have. And you will start indoors anyway.

Budget

Allocate something 500 USD at starter set, 2000-2500 for medium ( lasts 2 years ), 3000+ for follow on years. Quivers, base, and all relevant accessories inclusive in this budget.

So how to spend your money ?

Start with  a moderate bow where you may be able to change the limbs for pro . There are some standard clutch settings internationally used thus you may interchange freely , your coach should guide you on details.

After the basic  equipment, generically you will opt for a  WinWin, or Hoyt bow and similar brand limbs. They are various options amongst a wide spectrum of price even with well known brands. I have worked with a Sebastian Flute bow and limbs for the first 2 years. They are still at use , though at some different hands. That is, they don't wear out that easily.

Your bow and limbs

A moderate aluminium bow and carbon limb would possibly endure 80000 shots if you  don't dry shoot. The first half would be enough to sustain shooting consistency  at even 70 m for new bee for 2 years.

However while your style gradually improves , a better bow configuration would enable you to shoot not only better ( at least at first ) but would enable you to understand your errors as the bow "speaks" to you

A better bow reflects your move on you, while with the bow with less precision also adds its own discrepancies  to you while it "speaks" to you. At some stage you will be able to sense this "noise" which generally becomes audible in a year  and a half.

Full books could be written on bow selection. Average is good enough at this point.  Pricepoint should not exceed 1000-1200 USD to my hunch. You could easily overspend for some 3000 USD bow-limb equation without really understanding the difference. Spare that money for future.

Shafts

If you are training alone, you will be breaking too many arrows. Start with a fund enough to spend 10 or more arrows. You will break them. Many of them. Starter shafts , around 5-7 USD each are generally sold with point, knocks and fletches mold together.  Since at the very start you wont be using the infamous "clicker" you wont be cutting them for fine tune anyway. The starter shafts are not designed for precision. just for your self to start. if you are able to hit gold of 30m target face at  18m  distance, thats more than fine.

You would mostly be using those shafts starting with your starter bow, and it would be no surprise if the club has a number of them  at different lengths. You may be confused on why to have different lengths. Idea is not precision at this point. Rather more of you improving yur feeling among your shoulder, forearm , stance etc.

Next shaft set would be the ones you would be using in your first personal aluminium based riser and carbon limbs. Those shafts will be tailored to your clicker.  they would be sold in dozens.

They will be cut, and re cut and may be recut.  Each cutting operation will wear down the precision and lifetime of your shaft since points will be heated taken away, and re inserted after cut. Anyway, you would possibly crash them at closed quarters, loose them at open fields. So you possibly be advised to go for something like Carbon One. Moderate precision but low endurance. They wont last a year. But by the end of a year, which would be your  first and a half year in your journey, you possibly would be going for another dozen of them.

Only after your second pack, based on your quality of shooting opt for something better shaft like ACE or X10. Champions shoot with them as well. They are double the price of Carbon Ones. So each miss in the open field  is something close to 40 USD, accessories included. Buy those shafts only if you are

• very rich
• good enough not to miss the target at one arrow per day.

It is so boring to look for your arrow among the wilderness while sun sets. You would be wandering twice if not more if you loose a X10. Done that...

Pros do spend an extra money on shafts. Although  high end shafts are packed based on their proximity of weight and other attributes, they are not the very same in milligrams. Pros buy a couple of packets and regroup them for more consistency. An exercise which is too costly and cumbersome for a serious hobbyist.

Points

Don't  go for tungsten. Don't even get tempted at your first years. I have seen so few pros using Tungsten in recurve.

The idea is that Tungsten is more dense , so the arrow insert part is shorter, making the arrow stiffer. However flexibility of the shaft is important as well as its stiffness. We want the shaft to bend during the release and stiff after it leaves the rest.  There are steel points costing 25% of tungstens. And many champs still use iron points. Do spend your money on your coach if you have surplus. Buy him a beer.

Fletches

I have tried so many of them. As for a starter, SpinWings is more than enough. It does not cost much, multiple colours to your like and differentiate amongst other trainers, and they are used by champs.

Learn fletching though. You will need it. Coaches don't have the time to rectify your fletches any time you break or wrinkle them. Fletching is not easy as it seems. Making them 120 degrees apart for an adult having a hard time in near sights is not that trivial.

You may be willing to explore other fletches such as Xwings. I prefer them but could have tested the significance of them only after 3 years. They are much more durable and less flexible than SpinWings but  half more in price. but there are many different lengths and widths you may try to use to understand the flight dynamics of an arrow

Regardless of the brand, I would advise you not to use dark coloured fletches. They are so hard to find in wilderness. Glowing yellow, orange would create more contrast in field, much easier to find in open air.

Rods

After 4 years I have failed to understand  the  difference between a very good rod and and an excellent rod. True, a starter rod set is so different in feeling than of a  WinWin-HMC 22 and Doinkers high end.. But I have an odd friend who manufactures rods from Carbon tubes with silica poured in, quite giving the same feeling as an HMC 22 with half the price. Most of these shafts use the same graphite tubes. So why you should spending an extra 200 USD if not more at start ?

Cartel, Fivics, or any rod set costing total of 200 USD would do at day one. You may have to double the funds after year 2 for a better feel, to be able to understand how the bow "speaks" to you back after your shot.

( Having said that, a high end Doinker does make me feel different, but price is way up.  Shooting with a doinker is something shooting with a silenced gun. Almost no bounce backs. A slight noise after your shot is released with a "click" noise - thats all. No vibrations.. )

Other Basics

Buy a "good" stance for the bow. It has to endure. You will change many bows but that would hardly change. A stable one would help you to keep your bow intact and safe during trainings and competition. It is so important to  keep the string of the bow clean, you could not exaggerate. That said a solid but short and small would be enough since during competition, you have to pack it up

Buy a good arm protection. Interestingly, I would say, pay more for quality. You should be able to put on easily with one hand and loose it easily.  I have tested many of them. People mock me with me having a collection. Indeed I did.
The surface should be glossy. The string when hit has to slide through surface.  the surface should be large enough to protect your arm at your inconsistent shots, with each time string hitting else where at your arm. Easton has a glossy surfaced , magnetic clipped arm protector which is very handy in this respect. I still use it and would not use any other one. But you may prefer other brand.

Finger tab - I say Fivics. AAE, Gold Tab, develop by the famous Korean archer KSik Lee is a very good option but I did not feel comfortable. You should try for your own ergonomics. But don't opt for the cheap. your fingers would get grated  like cheese. Fivics is good enough, thats is what I have seen at competition fileds.

Sight

This is also a very good point where you may spend an entire fortune on. You would be told "sight is just a bar, not a moving element so dont spend 100 USD .
While that seems correct, it isn not. When you pay more, you pay for the sight elements "not to move" at each shot. inexpensive ones , after 1000 shots tend to create noise and then break apart. Though somewhat expensive, after 1.5 years of your training, go for a 250 USD sight. It pays off.

I have seen sights coming out at my daughter's competition at the instant of the shot. You loose the entire game and focus.

There are so many adjustable 500+ high quality sights.. I have never used them so I dont' have the right to comment, but with barley hitting a competition 3 times a year, those many adjustments are not critical for me. But that said, I have not seen a lot of pros using the most expensive sights anyway.

Sight pins

You have to try and find which sights you feel comfortable with. Try as many as you can. Borrow and lend till everybody is happy. The crucial point is as follows :
When you aim the target, you should not get distracted by the sight pin focusing on the gold. The sight pin should not be blocking  the gold, nor be more luminous than the target it self. I use 2 pins. One is "empty", especially when it gets dark or indoors,  so there is nothing to block the gold and I can focus on the shot rather than wrestling with the sight pin.
The other is a Shibuya, luminous sight pin I prefer in open air sunny days. That gives an extra assurance of being more precise but as I said, try and see. I bought 12 different sight pins till I came at my own conclusion.

Quiver

This is an item less focused on, but important. The quiver should be able to
hold at least three sets of arrows ( you may use different sets for distance or technique training )

• Has to have a solid bottom so arrows wont dig in their way to fall
• Have enough pockets to accomodate your pulling rubber, pens, etc. even holding your monocular. I strongly advise to bear hooks so you may hang on towels etc extra, easy in your reach. It is worth the expense especially on a hot outdoor day.

Binoculars  - or monocular.

You wont need on day one.  It is hard for a recurve archer to handle a binocular. While shooting it becomes distracting to handle it from your back, as  you had to push it back during the shot unlike compound archers. A monocular is preferable. On an open field, if you have a chance, go for a sighting scope. So what should be the specs ?

• magnification  between 10 and 20. Any magnification smaller would not help you to see outdoors, anything beyond would be too heavy and sensitive for 70M
• Exit eye > 10 mm, anything less , you will have trouble accommodating your eye.
• Front lense diameter > 40mm . Anything less, light will not be sufficient to cover the details you need
• Grip : rubber, so it does not get slippery when wet in rainy or very sunny days
• Resolution : that is where it gets hard to find out. Few manufacturers post it.  Not all lenses are equal with above specs being the same. That depends on how the lenses are manufactured.  
• I am using a Celestron monocular for 100 USD, but recently bought a 30 USD spotting scope from Ali Baba, risking my money in, but it was good enough. Clarity under cloudy weather sucks but I had that equipment for outdoor archery anyway
• Weight : lighter the better. You have to travel with it. you wont be willing to pay for extra baggage at the airport for it would you.
• Tripod : If you use a scope, you have to buy it. A light one with a hook underneath would do . Why ? It has to be lightweight at your travel but it has to stand still in windy weather. The hook will enable you to place a bag with load to make the tripod more stable. You may dump the load  when shooting is over.
• A word on scope : there are two different types : one with a bended eye sight one not. Go for the former for obvious reasons.

So how much for scope and tripod ? 200-300 USD would cut combined

Amount of training

How much should I train ?

Question no 1 : What is your aim ?
Question no 2 : How much time do you have ?

Question no 3 : Is that realistic ?

Generally it is not.



You probably aim a full gold at a full training set ( 30-36 shots )  hit by year end. No way. Spare 2-3 years to reach 70% hitting gold with as much training that I do. THat is what I saw at my comrades as well - for those who had not let it go.

So how much  training ?

The more the better....

No

The more correct the better.

What is correct ?

It is not when you hit gold. It is when you feel "good"
Good need not be "correct". But when you give enough emphasis on how you  feel, any fluctuation on how your activities differ at every shot cycle, you get a sense on.  Then you will be able to re master a portion of it, to get it correct. To be able to master it, you must first feel comfortable enough to feel consistent on what you do.

At each training session, plan for shooting at least 120 arrows. That takes 2 hours at least with 15 min break at the end of an hour.

Your first 3-4 months will be pulling elastic bands, and then try on a starter bow, mostly a wooden bow with 14 pounds ( 7kg ) full length draw with no rods.
14 KG is not a hard pull. But the muscles you use are ones that you don't utilise in your daily life so they are very weak. Whats more, since those muscles ( trapezoid ) are not pushed hard enough on daily  desk top job, they erode *very* quickly. A week of break will take 3 weeks to recover at an age of 45 -tried and tested.

Don't take this period lightly. Do not rush into shooting while rest of the crew is banging their arrows on target. Some basic posture is hard to settle down and it takes at least 1000 trials to feel comfortable and another 1000, totalling up to 2000 trials to have some "consistency" in what you do.  At an average 3 trainings per week and 120 trials per session that leaves 7 weeks at least.

During this elementary training, notify the following elements
Learn and assure that you do not move your head. Keep it "free" and do learn not to contract any neck muscle. Your coach  or a friend should be able to push their finger to your neck at ease. Easier said than done. That takes  a very considerable effort.

Learn to keep your bow arms's forearm as much relaxed as possible, just your neck is. Someone should be able to push their finger in your  forearm at ease.

Why : 

Your neck stands the ultimate "pivotal point" or reference plane . Any seizure  will result in slight movements which by even 1 mm of move will have 10-15 cm distraction of the arrow at 70m
The best way to  keep you neck at the same posture each and every time is to keep it "relaxed" and steady. So you must not convulse your neck muscles except than to  keep it straight. Learn these muscles and have them relaxed

Your bow arm is the ultimate point that holds the arrow before it leaves the rest. Any seizures - trembling on the bow arm will result in a miniature move, resulting the same as above.

By the end of your "blind shot" or call muscle building activity, be sure that you get these muscles relaxed. Or at least get to understand - how you feel when they get relaxed. If not, you probably would loose an  entire year before shooting consistently. No joking. I did it. And I lost the year.

More to drill into this in "style"

Break

Do take the break. after 45 min of training, your muscles will fatigue. It will be minor and you wont consider much. Alas, it is the minor muscles and feelings we are after. Lactic acid not onliy inhibits the control but also dazzles/blocks your sensation of your feel. Do give the break. Maybe you wont be tired enough at min. 45. But what about an hour. Than you may not able to cope up with the rest of the schedule  to practice "correctly"
Do take the break

How many shots per set ?

The de-facto is "be en par with the rest of the shooters. That is if everybody shoots 6 in a set, then lock yourself into so no one waits for you and vice versa. But if you are alone, do not shoot more than 7 arrows in 240 secs. Excessive shooting has the same side effect.

Archery for a late commer adult

Why I started this blog ?

It was some kind of an interesting journey when I started recurve archery 4 years ago. Now when I look at the new starters at my age, which turned out to be 45 this year, I can see not only how much I evolved but rather  think on how may I help others , rather elders in recurve archery

Not that I am very knowledgable on archery but having spent countless hours and years with so many failures seeming achieving my way , but leading to dead ends, I decided to blog my experience whether i may help to anyone

Thus please read these lines not to seek for expert advice but an amateurs' blueprints  spending almost his entire leisure time.

Who am I ?

The above picture is my daughter's. I am the man below.  I am 45, always had a keen interest on any shooting sports, especially archery,  till I started practicing in 2012. I had no experience in archery, nor  did any sport systematically till then. Thus : YOU MAY START ANY TIME

I am a sales director at an educational solutions company  ( Pearson PLC) with 23 people reporting layered to me. Having an engineering background, has not helped me a bit, on the contrary, it degraded the pace I was able to comprehend sometimes, since I sought an answer to any minor detail.

Why I have underlined these details ?

As with every sales director, things get clumsy at quarter and years end. That erodes your chances of a routine training. Added a daughter with all home activities you have to do ( replenishing weekly and daily stocks for home, attending social events and keeping your marriage in form is not easy.

To Shoot  Your Best in Recurve Archery

These are some very basic bullet points which I will dwell an entire blog for each.

Amount of training 

Any sport, with archery no exception, if you want to master, no less than 3 but better 4 times a week with 120 arrows minimum, 150 preferable, more the better over a 2 - 2.5 hours training time. More to detail with reasoning below :

Equipment 

Don't bother that much. A brand new beginner generally has reach to a club's starter  equipment, costing roughly 400 USD, arrows inclusive. Your next gear would be around 1200 USD since an average coach would ask you to start with a mediocre set, should you decide to leave or switch to compound archery, which is most often the case. There is practically no limi to highend gear, starting from 2500 USD upto 10000 USD.
As an elder, you probably have the financials to afford a better set.
Don't ! - No need to at least 2 years. An entire blog will come to that

Coach

You may think the most important item in the list is the coach. Not so. It is the second most. The most important element is you. The coach will hardly ever have an ambition in training you. No matter how hard you try, possibility of you winning a medal arising his club to some above average score, would be very limited. You will hardly ever have the time to defeat the youngsters and other pros, so you have no future for him. Lets be blunt - you are a cash cow with plenty of money, which  has a tendency to let this sport dwon when things get lousy such as home, work or other personal issues.
I will come to that

Attire

Interestingly few adults pay enough attention to it. Coming late from work we don't care what we wear, alas, as for any sport, you have to pay attention that garments should never stand on your way

Patiance

Allow yourself time.. Don't set much expectations on yourself. While you may be very experienced  and successful on your daily occupation, archery asks your concentration , action against your intuition and common sense at times.

Resources

Don't read too much. Not even this guide. Try till you are convinced that even you do not shoot the gold, you feel exactly what you are doing, at the time of the shot. Than correct yourself with one issue at a time. When you read, which I will discuss some resource, there is a tendency that you try what you read as a remedy , to your possibly endless faults without correcting any one of them. This leads you to anger and insubordination to the training schedule, impacting your performance and rapport.
As a resource, bear with a notepad taking notes on how you shoot, reading more on yourself than any other. You frequently forget your past in physical activity, distracted by too many daily issues.

Style

You will have your own. As every human is different so is your body. But while you develop it, best fitting to your anatomy, there are crucial not-to-do postures. These may severely hurt , with some temporary or permanent disabilities. More on to that.