Officially an archer again
Today was the monthly coaching session at the archery club that I belong to. I thought that it would be best to go to a coaching session to make sure everything was working correctly before I went to a proper club night and I’m glad that I did - I would have been far too nervous otherwise.
The good news is that I don’t appear to have forgotten how to shoot :-D It came back much better than I thought it would and apparently I still have a good style. Yay! The guy supervising me said that I was also standing very upright and I wasn’t twisting, which means that I shouldn’t have done anything to my back.
The only disappointing thing was how quickly I tired out. I shot three dozen arrows before calling it a night, but the final dozen were very difficult. As I used to shoot six dozen easily, that’s a long of strength and stamina gone. I had help stringing my bow and really struggled to un-string it - something that I will need to work on so that I don’t have to ask for help all the time. It wasn’t actually the arm pulling the string that got tired, it was the arm holding the bow that got fatigued first. By the final few arrows I could tell that my pulling shoulder was also starting to be a problem, but it’s the weight of the bow that I need to adjust to even more. The coach suggested just having the bow lurking around the house and hefting it a few times every now and again through the day to build up the muscles there. I’ll also have to start working with the exercise band more regularly to get my arms and shoulders stronger.
But at least I managed it and I now know that, given time, I’ll be back shooting properly again :-)
The physio didn’t say that I couldn’t try it (unlike yoga, which she has completely banned) and I’m hoping that she’ll support it as a good way to build up upper body strength. In fact, I had forgotten that between the walking, the weight of the bow and the pulling of the bow (it’s a 26 pound draw weight), it’s actually quite good exercise in general. So I’ve found one form of exercise that I do enjoy and can guarantee that I’ll continue :-) Mostly, though, I’m just glad that I was able to shoot at all.
The good news is that I don’t appear to have forgotten how to shoot :-D It came back much better than I thought it would and apparently I still have a good style. Yay! The guy supervising me said that I was also standing very upright and I wasn’t twisting, which means that I shouldn’t have done anything to my back.
The only disappointing thing was how quickly I tired out. I shot three dozen arrows before calling it a night, but the final dozen were very difficult. As I used to shoot six dozen easily, that’s a long of strength and stamina gone. I had help stringing my bow and really struggled to un-string it - something that I will need to work on so that I don’t have to ask for help all the time. It wasn’t actually the arm pulling the string that got tired, it was the arm holding the bow that got fatigued first. By the final few arrows I could tell that my pulling shoulder was also starting to be a problem, but it’s the weight of the bow that I need to adjust to even more. The coach suggested just having the bow lurking around the house and hefting it a few times every now and again through the day to build up the muscles there. I’ll also have to start working with the exercise band more regularly to get my arms and shoulders stronger.
But at least I managed it and I now know that, given time, I’ll be back shooting properly again :-)
The physio didn’t say that I couldn’t try it (unlike yoga, which she has completely banned) and I’m hoping that she’ll support it as a good way to build up upper body strength. In fact, I had forgotten that between the walking, the weight of the bow and the pulling of the bow (it’s a 26 pound draw weight), it’s actually quite good exercise in general. So I’ve found one form of exercise that I do enjoy and can guarantee that I’ll continue :-) Mostly, though, I’m just glad that I was able to shoot at all.