What people say, and what the studies say

Several studies on archers, with adequate designs, show the opposite or no effect.

• Elite archers share one single correct shooting technique

  In courses the position of top archers is shown as the model to reach, and a technique that departs from it is corrected before anyone asks whether it works.

  On this claim the literature is plentiful and unusually consistent, and it points the opposite way from what is said on the range.

• The release should be passive: the fingers relax rather than open

  In courses and on the range archers are often told not to open the fingers but to let the string go by relaxing them, since an active opening is said to spoil the release.

  Here the eye and the electromyograph say two different things, and the difference is the heart of the matter.

The studies that exist go against it, but they are few or indirect: the question is still open.

• A bow that is too heavy for the archer encourages the yips

  Moving up in draw weight too soon is said to be the shortest road to target panic: a bow you cannot hold forces you to let go the moment you reach anchor, and the cure is to go back to a lighter one.

  The only study to have looked at the draw weight of people with the yips comes from kyudo: fifty-eight Japanese university students, forty-one of whom have had them.

• An arrow that oscillates less in flight groups more tightly

  Tuning chases an arrow that flies clean, without fishtailing, on the idea that the cleaner the flight the tighter the group.

  The only direct test says no, at least with a compound at thirty-five metres.

• Archery makes young people's bones stronger

  Among parents and in youth courses you hear that archery, like any sport, is good for growing bones, and that drawing the bow strengthens the arms and shoulders right down to the skeleton.

  There is a single study, and it runs against the claim.

• Beta-blockers improve accuracy in archery

  It is often said that beta-blockers are banned in archery because they slow the heart and stop tremor, and so improve aiming.

  The idea comes from pistol shooting, where two studies had found a benefit; in archery the ban dates from 1985.

• Computer training that draws attention away from threats reduces an anxious archer's attention to threats

  Anxious athletes are sometimes offered computer or phone exercises that "train attention" not to get caught by negative thoughts before competition.

  The only study is a Taiwanese pilot from 2015, and on behaviour it runs against the claim.

• During the release the arrow buckles under the load on its point

  Archers hear that on release the string pushes the arrow end-on and bends it like a loaded column, and that an arrow too weak for the bow goes unstable for this reason.

  The models have agreed since 1997 that the string's thrust compresses the arrow and makes it flex more; none of the available calculations has it pushing the arrow past the instability threshold.

• EEG neurofeedback improves an archer's score

  Neurofeedback is offered as a short cut into the right mental state before the release: archers learn to recognise and reproduce the brain waves of their best shots, and the score is supposed to follow.

  The only controlled trial on archers whose original data can be read goes against the claim.

• Fine hand dexterity is linked to the score

  People say the shot is decided in the fingers, in the feel with which the string is held and the hand opens at the release, which is why some coaches add hand dexterity exercises to young archers' programmes.

  Three studies, but only one bears on the question, and it goes against the claim.

• For archers, isometric endurance matters more than maximal strength

  In archery conditioning it is often repeated that holding the draw for a long time matters more than lifting heavy loads, and programmes favour isometric holds and moderate loads.

  Nobody has yet measured an isometric hold at full draw and a maximal lift in the same archers, and the two pieces of work that come closest both go against the claim, without being enough to settle it.

• Heart rate variability biofeedback reduces the anxiety of people who have to perform

  Archers are advised to practise slow breathing for a few weeks with a heart rate strap and a biofeedback app, on the grounds that this teaches them to keep competition-day nerves in check.

  There are no studies on archers, and almost everything there is comes from a 2018 systematic review of slow breathing which, among its fifteen papers, counts five on biofeedback, read here only for the healthy participants.

• Holding the string with three fingers gives a steadier hold than with two

  Archers are taught that the three-finger Mediterranean grip spreads the load of the string and keeps the hand steadier at aim, and the two-finger grip is seen as a shortcut paid for in stability.

  The only study that actually measures how steady the hold is was not done on archers and used no bow: eight right-handed men, whom the study does not describe as archers, held a simulated string on a force sensor with two, three or four fingers.

• Hundreds of thousands of vibration cycles do not appreciably change an arrow's characteristics

  It is said that arrows do not tire: as long as the shaft is intact it stays as it was on the first day, and it is replaced only when it breaks or cracks.

  The only test dates from 2019, a preprint by a group of engineers who measured arrows by vibrating them with an actuator and deriving stiffness, damping and natural frequency.

• In traditional archery the bow grip should be chosen according to the archer's height

  In traditional archery there is a rule that the way the bow is held, with the handle further towards the fingers or deeper in the palm, should be chosen according to the archer's height.

  The only test goes against the rule, but it is small.

• Indoors at 18 metres an elite recurve archer averages over nine and a half points per arrow

  Indoors, archers hear that a top recurve archer should be averaging over nine and a half per arrow, and that anyone below that is not yet at a high level.

  Among the few comparable figures, the only one that concerns recurve alone goes against the threshold.

• Instructional self-talk improves the score

  On the range archers are taught to give themselves a cue word for each phase of the shot, 'push', 'back', 'expand', so that the mind stays on the movement and off the score.

  There is only one figure on this question from a venue without reservations, and it goes against the claim.

• Mental training increases an archer's use of cognitive imagery, but not of motivational imagery

  Archers are advised to rehearse the shot with their eyes closed, phase by phase, as extra training: the idea is that imagining it sharpens the movement, while motivation follows other routes.

  Two controlled studies, published in the same year, use a questionnaire to measure how much archers use imagery before and after a programme, and they do not agree.

• Nocking point height needs to be set to the millimetre

  At clubs the nocking point is set with a bracing square and adjusted half a millimetre at a time, on the idea that even one millimetre too many sends arrows high or low.

  The only work that calculates how much nocking point height matters runs against the claim, but it models a single bow.

• One trial is not enough: strength and muscle activity measurements on archers need repeating

  In fitness testing the advice is to repeat each trial two or three times and keep the best or the average, because a single measurement can mislead.

  It depends on what is being measured, and the only evidence that decides the status goes against the claim.

• Ramadan fasting lowers an archer's score

  It is often taken for granted that the fasting month is a lost month for performance: little energy, no water during the day, broken sleep, and therefore lower scores to be expected.

  The only study to have measured scores runs against the claim.

• Shooting at a blank bale cures target panic

  Archers with target panic are told to take the face off and shoot at a blank bale from close range for weeks, until the shot starts going off on its own again, and then to bring the face back one step at a time.

  There is a single study on this question, and it goes against the claim.

• Stronger archers shoot heavier draw weights

  It is said that draw weight should be chosen on the archer's strength, and that stronger archers can and should go up in weight.

  It sounds obvious, and the studies do not bear it out.

• Within the shot, the time splits almost evenly between the draw and the aim

  It is often said that the shot has a fixed rhythm and that the draw and the aim should take roughly the same time, without one phase eating into the other.

  The only study that separates the draw and the aim with boundaries close to those of the claim, in a venue without reservations, goes against an even split: in 16 young Malaysian archers at 70 metres, an average of 1.48 seconds passes from the pre-draw to the anchor and 3.32 from the anchor to the release, so the aim takes more than two thirds of the time spent in the two phases.

• Without the clicker you lose draw length

  Archers are told that the clicker is what guarantees draw length and that without it they tend to shorten the draw and release before reaching full draw.

  Only one study has measured the draw length of the same archers with and without a clicker, and it goes against the claim.

Studies on archers point in opposite directions.

• A bite plate that raises the occlusion reduces body sway while aiming

  Between mouthguards, bite plates and clenched teeth while aiming, archers hear that holding the jaw in a fixed position helps them stay still on the aim.

  Everything there is comes from a single archer, a 22-year-old who shot regularly for his team, measured in 1992 by a group of dentists on a stabilometric platform in the aiming position.

• A few weeks of archery change heart rate variability in sedentary people

  Archery is offered as a gentle activity for people who do no sport, a way of moving without getting out of breath that relaxes you and is good for the heart.

  There is a single study, from Malaysia, in 2019: thirty-four sedentary young men randomly assigned either to eight weeks of traditional archery, three sessions a week of 42 arrows with a 40-pound bow at 10 metres, or to no change in their habits.

• A few weeks of core exercises change an archer's measured strength and stability

  In archers' preparation it is taken for granted that a few weeks of planks, bridges and Pilates are enough to make the trunk stronger and more stable, and so the shooting position more solid.

  Four studies have trained archers' core muscles for six to eight weeks and measured what changes in the body, and they do not point the same way.

• A finer sense of shoulder position goes with better scores

  It is said that a good archer feels the position without needing to look, and that training shoulder proprioception, with eyes closed or on unstable surfaces, makes the shot more repeatable.

  Two studies of archers have set shoulder position sense against score, and almost all they find is an absence of any link.

• A flotation-tank session before shooting lowers forearm tension during the shot

  Archers are told to arrive on the line loose, and that a deep relaxation session before shooting takes the tension out of the arms and makes the release cleaner.

  There is a single Swedish study, and its results point two ways.

• A lower heart rate at the moment of the shot improves the score

  Common teaching tells archers to calm their heartbeat before shooting, on the idea that a pounding heart moves the aim.

  Thirty-five years of measurement and the picture has not closed: the observations say yes, the experiments say no.

• A macular carotenoid supplement with omega-3 raises scores in precision sports

  In aiming sports there is growing talk of supplements for the eyes, on the idea that lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3 help you see the target better in strong sun or poor light, and that this turns into points.

  There is one study, and it is well built: randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, nine months of supplementation in competitive archers and target shooters in Singapore.

• A mindfulness programme improves an archer's attentional control

  Mindfulness is said to train archers to keep their attention on the shot and bring it back when it drifts, and many mental preparation programmes for archers present it precisely as attention training.

  Six studies on archers in four years, and two answers that cannot be reconciled.

• A quicker release and follow-through go with higher scores

  Archers are taught that the release must be crisp and that after it the body must stay where it is, with the follow-through accompanying the arrow without haste and without collapsing.

  The three studies linking the phase after release to the score do not agree, partly because they measure different things.

• A recurve competition arrow weighs about fifteen grams, is some sixty centimetres long and leaves the bow at around sixty metres per second

  On courses and in conversation at the range the recurve arrow's figures are quoted from memory, about fifteen grams, some sixty centimetres, some sixty metres per second, as if they applied to any shaft.

  Two figures out of three hold up; the weight depends on the shaft.

• A relaxation programme lowers an archer's resting arousal

  Archers are advised to fit progressive relaxation into their training week, on the idea that a body used to letting go of tension arrives at competitions less aroused.

  There is a single study, of thirteen good-level Korean university women archers who practised progressive muscle relaxation for twelve weeks, three sessions a week of fifteen to twenty minutes, with no comparison group.

• A shooting machine reproduces the arrow's behaviour with a human archer

  It is taken for granted that a shooting machine removes the archer and leaves everything else intact, so that what a machine shows, in tuning or in choosing arrows, also holds when a person is shooting.

  Partly, and how far depends on how it is built.

• A sleep education programme helps young archers sleep better

  In centres where teenagers train and go to school, the usual line is that explaining how to sleep, taking their phones away in the evening and sending them to bed early is enough for them to rest better.

  There is one study on the question: an Indian pilot on fifteen adolescent archers who lived and trained at an army sports institute, followed through a year of sleep education with no control group.

• A sound cue that flags collapses in the draw makes the draw steadier

  Archers are advised to learn to feel the draw dying before the release, and to do so they use clickers, bands and nowadays sensors that vibrate or beep when the tension drops.

  There is a single experiment, from 1993, and it answers yes for five archers out of six and no for the sixth.

• A straighter shaft gives tighter impacts

  Straightness is the first figure anyone looks at on the box, and a tighter tolerance is taken for granted to be worth its price in grouping.

  It depends on how different the shafts being compared really are, and the three direct tests, all by machine, say so clearly.

• About fifteen thousandths of a second pass between the start of the release and the arrow leaving the string

  It is said that the release is too fast to be corrected while it happens, that only a few hundredths of a second pass between the release and the arrow leaving, and that what matters is decided before it, in the hold and the draw.

  The most precise measurement is a single one, and it is clear.

• Acute archery injuries mostly affect the fingers and hand

  It is said that sudden archery injuries mostly happen to the fingers, from arrow points or the string, while the rest of the body is only at risk of overuse.

  It depends where you count them.

• After a good end it is easier to shoot another good one

  The saying goes that points bring points: after a good end the archer is loose and confident and the next one almost shoots itself, while a bad end tends to drag another behind it.

  The two measurements available look at the same idea from different distances and do not agree.

• After a hundred arrows the shoulder muscles of men and women respond in the same way

  It is taken for granted that the fatigue of a long session is the same for everyone, and that after the same number of arrows a woman and a man reach the end with their shoulders in the same state.

  The answer comes from a single study, and that study says two different things.

• After the release elite archers move more than intermediate archers do

  It is often said that the best archers let the body go with the reaction of the bow after the release, while less experienced archers stay locked in the aiming position.

  Between elite and intermediate archers the movement of the body after the release has been compared three times, and the results do not agree.

• Aiming with one eye closed gives tighter groups than with both eyes open

  In courses archers hear that closing the non-dominant eye removes the second image and helps centre the sight, and also the opposite, that keeping both eyes open shows the target better and tires them less.

  Only two studies have compared the two conditions, and they say the opposite of each other.

• Aligning the drawing elbow with the line of force improves the score

  Archers are taught to bring the string elbow behind the arrow, in line with the bow shoulder, because it is that geometry that puts the load on the back and keeps the shot the same every time.

  The alignment of the elbow with the line of force has been measured several times, but rarely beside the score, and when it has been, the results have split.

• Among children starting archery, boys and girls score alike

  In children's courses the usual line is that boys and girls keep pace at the start and that differences arrive with puberty, when strength and draw weight change.

  The oldest study, and the only one to put the difference to a statistical test, goes against the claim: in 1989, in 96 Kansas pupils aged 12 to 14, most with little experience and shooting school bows, boys score 40.6 points out of 100 and girls 23.8 (F = 27.17, p < 0.01).

• An archer's arteries do not widen the way an endurance athlete's do

  It is often said that archery does nothing for the heart and circulation: you stand on the line, shoot and walk to the target, and aerobic work has to come from another sport.

  There is a single study, from 2002, that used Doppler ultrasound to measure the arteries of 51 Japanese university athletes from six sports, seven of them archers.

• An archer's blood glucose stays stable during a competition

  It is said that archery burns so little energy that blood glucose is never an issue, and that breakfast is enough to get through a competition day.

  The studies do not point the same way, and all of them are tiny.

• An archer's heart slows down in the seconds before the release

  Archers are told that in the seconds of aiming an experienced archer's heart slows down, and that feeling the heartbeat settle is the sign of a shot ready to go.

  The heart slowing before the release is one of the oldest observations on the physiology of shooting, but studies do not agree on when it happens or in whom.

• An archer's score is predicted better by experience and past results than by moment-to-moment data

  It is said that tomorrow's result can be read in yesterday's numbers, and that data collected on the day, from heart rate to shooting time, help explain an arrow rather than predict a competition.

  The two studies that set the predictors against each other do not give a clear answer, and they are few and indirect.

• An arrow's flexing in flight increases its drag

  It is said that an arrow with an unsuitable spine flexes too much, loses speed along the way and lands low on the target.

  All the evidence comes from a single Japanese laboratory, which between 2011 and 2017 measured arrow drag in a magnetic suspension wind tunnel and in free flight filmed at high speed.

• Archers get enough sleep

  It is taken for granted that archers sleep well, since shooting does not wear the body out like other sports, and sleep only comes up the night before a competition.

  The four studies that measure it disagree, and the difference seems to follow the setting and the instrument more than archery itself.

• Archers more concerned with how others see them choke more often in competition

  It is often said that the archer who thinks during a competition about what others will say, teammates, the coach, the spectators behind the line, is the one who then loses the shot.

  The two studies that measured this with the same scale do not say the same thing.

• Archers who choke, and those who get the yips, come out less conscientious

  Target panic is said to strike the overly precise perfectionist who wants every arrow in the middle, and the archer who falls apart in competition is said to be simply too anxious.

  There is a single British study of 155 competitive athletes: 69 archers and 86 golfers.

• Archers who dwell on past mistakes shoot lower scores

  Common practice says to let go of the arrow as soon as it has gone and not carry the mistake along, because a mind still on the previous arrow spoils the next one.

  There are two studies and they do not point the same way.

• Archers who hold concentration better shoot higher scores

  It is often said that, technique being equal, the archer who stays focused longest wins, and that concentration can be measured and trained away from the range too, with number grids and tables filled in against the clock.

  Studies on archers are divided, and the disagreement follows the instrument used to measure concentration.

• Archers who start lower gain more points from training

  The saying is that you improve quickly at first and that the higher you climb the more each point costs, so a new programme helps those who are behind catch up and after a few months of shared work the group evens out.

  No study on archers was designed to answer this, and the answers we have are read off the tables of small programmes without a control group, nearly always through the spread of scores before and after.

• Archers with longer arms are more accurate

  Long arms are said to be a natural advantage in archery: more draw length, more of the draw weight put to use and a faster arrow, and in youth selection arm span is looked at as a sign of talent.

  The studies on archers are split, and split in a way that makes sense.

• Archery coaches use the internet to look up what they already know, not to learn

  It is taken for granted that coaches now keep up to date online, through videos, webinars and governing body courses, and that the pandemic moved most of their education there.

  The question has been asked only once, in a British research thesis from 2023: 63 qualified coaches from the national governing body answered a questionnaire and six were then interviewed.

• Archery is a sport with a low risk of injury

  Archery is presented as a safe sport for all ages, in which getting hurt is the exception.

  The answer depends on how risk is measured, and it always has.

• Arm strength is linked to shooting accuracy

  In common practice it is taken for granted that stronger arms hold the bow better and so shoot more accurately, and strength is often tested when young archers are assessed.

  For almost thirty years the only measurements on archers found no link at all; then from 2014 the supporting results began to arrive, and since then the studies have contradicted one another.

• As the shot is learnt, it comes under less cortical control

  It is said that at first archers think about every step of the shot and that over the years the movement runs on its own, and that the work of training is precisely to take the head out of the shot.

  Three Korean MRI studies, between 2008 and 2014, compare archers and beginners as they simulate or imagine aiming, and all three find a more active brain in the beginners, mainly in the frontal areas: in the eight experts of 2008 the visual areas work and in the eight beginners the frontal ones, in the eighteen elite archers of 2010 almost only the supplementary motor area stays active while in those who have never competed a wide network lights up.

• At full draw more weight sits on the front leg

  Two pieces of advice circulate: some coaches ask for the weight to be split evenly between the feet, others for it to sit slightly more on the front leg, towards the target, to feel steadier under the load of the bow.

  The studies do not point the same way, and the most recent suggests a reason: the answer depends on how the feet are placed.

• At the top of compound, scores sit so close to the maximum that differences between archers nearly vanish

  Compound archers often say that at a high level everybody shoots tens now, and that a competition is decided by the two or three arrows that drop out.

  The clearest data come from an analysis of scores at two major international events in 2013.

• Balance training improves shooting accuracy

  Bosu work, unstable cushions and core exercises are offered to archers as a way to make the base steadier and so the arrow more accurate.

  That a steadier stance goes with better arrows is documented in archers; whether balance training raises accuracy is disputed.

• Better aerobic capacity goes with higher scores

  In archers' preparation you hear that aerobic work lowers the heart rate while aiming, helps you last through long competition days and so brings points, even though shooting never leaves you out of breath.

  Four studies on archers have set aerobic capacity beside the score, and they split down the middle.

• Better archers have slightly shorter and, above all, more consistent reaction times

  It is said that an experienced archer reacts to the clicker the same way every time, and that a consistent reaction matters more than a fast one.

  The two halves of the claim fare differently, and both have contrary results.

• Beyond 100 arrows in a session the shoulder muscles fatigue

  100 arrows per session is often given as the threshold beyond which shot quality drops and recovery needs more attention.

  For thirty years the question had no answer because nobody measured the shoulder at a hundred arrows: what was measured was seventy-two arrows with a break in the middle, fifteen shots, ten shots, grip strength after a hundred and forty-four or two hundred arrows, and the signs of fatigue were nearly always absent or muddled.

• Caffeine improves accuracy in archery

  Archers hear both that a coffee before shooting helps hold the middle and keep concentration, and that it should be avoided because it brings on tremor.

  There are two studies in archers and they do not agree.

• Concentration is the mental skill archers are weakest at

  It is often said that archers do not lack technique, they lack the mental side: they get distracted, lose the thread halfway through a competition, and concentration is the first thing to work on.

  Two small studies from 2020, in two different countries and with two different questionnaires, do not say the same thing.

• Core exercises improve an archer's balance

  In archers' physical preparation, planks, Pilates and trunk exercises are offered as balance work, on the idea that a more solid centre keeps the archer stiller on the shooting line.

  Three studies have trained archers' trunks and then measured their balance, and two point the way the claim does.

• Cross-dominance between eye and hand worsens accuracy

  Archers are often told that if their dominant eye is on the opposite side to their dominant hand they should switch to a bow for the other hand, or close one eye, because otherwise their aiming will never be accurate.

  The direct measurements are few, and their sign depends on who is shooting.

• Elastic band exercises improve the score

  The band is the piece of kit in every field quiver: archers use it to warm the shoulder up, to repeat the drawing movement without arrows and to add work when the bow cannot be shot, on the idea that the work comes back as points.

  The first study, in 2008, was already randomised: forty-five Indian archers of national level split at random into three groups, and after four weeks those who had added thera-band exercises and respiratory muscle work shot better than the other two groups over twelve arrows at ten and twenty yards, although the paper does not report the means and does not separate the bands from the breathing work.

• Even top archers put the occasional arrow away from the centre

  It is often said that past a certain level stray arrows stop happening, and that an arrow well away from the centre is a sign that something in the technique has broken down.

  Nearly every study that reports the individual arrows of high-level archers finds the occasional arrow away from the centre.

• Experienced archers judge space more accurately than people who do not shoot

  People say that archery trains the eye to judge distances and symmetry, and that someone who has shot for years has a sharper eye away from the range too.

  There are two studies, they look at two different senses and they reach opposite conclusions.

• Eye-hand coordination is linked to score

  When children start archery they are often given eye-hand coordination drills, throwing, catching and ball games, on the idea that a better-coordinated child becomes a more accurate archer.

  There are two studies on the question, both in children, and they say opposite things.

• Few archers warm up or do supplementary exercises

  It is often said that archers arrive at the range, string the bow and start shooting, and that work away from the shot, from shoulder strength to cooling down, is the part nearly everyone skips.

  The claim holds two things together, and the studies pull them apart.

• Finger hold time at full draw is linked to the score

  You hear that an archer must be able to hold the bow at full draw for a long time without giving way, and that whoever holds longer shoots better, so long timed holds with the bow or a band are part of training.

  Three studies have timed how long archers can hold the string at full draw and set it beside their scores, and they do not point the same way.

• For bow-specific strength, push-ups do more than pull-ups

  In strength and conditioning there is an ongoing debate over whether archers need pushing exercises more, for the bow arm, or pulling ones such as pull-ups, for the drawing arm.

  The comparison has been made only once, on twenty Indonesian archers aged 16 to 18 split into four groups of five by exercise and by starting arm endurance, over 18 sessions, with strength measured in kilograms by a bow-holding test on a digital instrument.

• Heart rate variability shows how tense an archer is in competition

  People say that HRV taken with a chest strap or a watch before a competition shows how tense the archer is, and that a low reading signals a day when the tension will take over.

  That heart rate variability can read an archer's tension in competition is suggested by a single case, and an old one: a Japanese Olympic archer recorded in 1987 between the ends of selection events and the US Open.

• Helical fletching makes the arrow lose more speed in flight than straight fletching

  Archers hear that helical fletching steadies the arrow better but slows it down, and that anyone after speed should fit the vanes straight or nearly so.

  There is a single measurement, a long way from modern target archery, and its cases point in two directions.

• High-level archers have long arms relative to their height and a narrow chest

  In talent selection the usual line is that the ideal archer has long arms, big hands and a narrow chest that lets the string pass without touching it.

  The profile of long arms and a narrow chest does turn up in high-level archers, but it does not separate those who shoot better.

• High-level archers mention breathing and imagery among the last of their shooting strategies

  In courses and magazines, controlled breathing and imagery are presented as the basic mental tools of every top archer.

  Two studies have asked top archers how they approach the shot, and they agree on breathing but less so on imagery.

• Higher-level archers are taller and heavier than beginners

  It is said that archery rewards tall, long-limbed builds, and when youngsters are being selected height is often seen as a head start.

  Studies comparing archers of different levels split down the middle, and those that find a difference often have another explanation close at hand.

• Higher-level archers complete the draw more quickly

  It is said that a decisive draw without hesitation is the mark of an advanced archer, and that those who take too long to reach anchor tire themselves out and lose the sequence of the shot.

  It depends on who is being compared.

• Higher-level archers distribute their attention better

  It is said that the experienced archer knows where to put attention at each phase of the shot, wide while reading the wind and narrow on the centre while aiming, whereas the beginner scatters it or narrows it too soon.

  The support comes mostly from comparisons made with an instrument.

• Higher-level archers shoot a few pounds more than the others

  It is taken for granted that moving up a level means moving up in pounds, and that an elite archer shoots a few pounds more than a club archer.

  Four samples, and they do not point the same way.

• Holding aim for too long makes the shot worse

  Archers are taught that if the aim has not settled within a few seconds they should let down and start again, because holding on tires the arm and the shot deteriorates.

  This is the question the data argue about most, and it is easy to see why.

• Imagery practice improves the score

  Archers are taught to run the shot through their mind before making it, and to spend the evening before a competition picturing arrows going into the middle.

  Here the association and the controlled test say different things, and they have been doing so for forty years.

• In an archer's urine, lactate mostly follows the physical load and far less the tension of competition

  It is often said that archery tires the head more than the body, and that to understand how much a competition weighs you have to look at tension, not muscles: biochemical checks, where they are done, are read as a measure of physical fatigue.

  There is a single research group on this question, in Lviv, and in practice a single sample: sixteen Ukrainian archers aged nineteen to twenty-two, masters and candidate masters of sport, with lactate and urea measured in the urine before and after shooting, in training and in competition.

• In archers, age is not associated with more overuse injuries

  It is often said that archery can be practised at any age without the joints paying the price, and that aches depend on draw weight and technique more than on years.

  The two studies that look at it disagree, and neither is built to answer it.

• In competition elite archers prefer a coach who steps in little and when asked

  On the range it is said that in competition the coach should stay a step back: no technical corrections, few words, and only when the archer asks for them.

  Two qualitative studies of top-level squads agree that corrections in mid-competition do harm, but not on the rest.

• In head-to-head matches, upsets happen when the two archers are of similar level

  At competitions people say the bracket is only a lottery between equals: against a much stronger archer you need them to have a bad day, against one of your own level a single poor end is enough to send you out.

  That upsets cluster between archers of similar level is more an expected consequence of the format than a measured result.

• In kyudo, archers who have had the yips report more injuries than others

  Archers often say that the yips tend to follow an injury, once the body has learnt to protect itself and the release never quite comes back, or that a disrupted release ends up loading the shoulder and elbow badly.

  There is a single study, of Japanese medical students who practise kyudo at the universities of Gifu and Kumamoto.

• In the shot the drawing side works harder than the bow side

  It is often said that the shot is an asymmetric movement in which almost all the work is done by the string side, while the bow arm only has to stay still and hold, and this is where the advice comes from to balance out the drawing side in the gym.

  The studies that have measured both sides of the body do not agree, and the answer depends on which muscles and which phase you look at.

• Keeping the shoulder muscles active through the follow-through is linked to better arrows

  Archers are taught that the shot does not end with the release: the back has to keep working while the hand travels back on its own, and an arm that switches off the moment the arrow goes is the sign of a pull that was already dead before.

  That the shoulder and back muscles of the better archers stay switched on after the release has been visible since 1976, with electromyographic traces that carry on in the experts and break off in the beginners, and in 1987 somebody put a duration on it, a second and a half in the two world-level archers measured.

• Kinesiology tape improves an archer's sense of shoulder position

  Kinesiology tape on the shoulder is used in competition and training on the idea that, besides supporting the joint, it helps the archer feel where the arm is and repeat the same alignment arrow after arrow.

  Two studies on archers find that with tape the shoulder finds a position again more accurately, but neither has a group without tape or with sham tape.

• Male and female archers have different mental profiles

  It is often said that female archers are more anxious and more perfectionist and male archers more impulsive, and that they should therefore be prepared differently on the mental side.

  Around ten studies on archers have compared men and women with questionnaires and tests, and the result changes from one study to the next.

• Many archers arrive at training already dehydrated and drink less than they need

  The usual line is that archers, who do not run and sweat less than in other sports, forget to drink, and that thirst only arrives once concentration has already started to slip.

  The measurements on ordinary archers rather than national squads arrive in 2026 from Indonesia, and only one of them measures hydration status.

• Many competitive archers weigh more than is normal for their height

  It is said that physique matters little in archery, so much so that archers of every build can be seen on the shooting line, and some claim that a few extra kilos give stability when aiming.

  It depends on who is measured, which is why the status is contested.

• Men and women shoot with different angles

  In coaching, posture and alignment corrections are usually given the same way to everyone; one difference that does get mentioned is the bow-arm elbow, which in many women tends to hyperextend and is rotated to keep it clear of the string.

  The measurements exist, but they are few, small and do not say the same thing.

• Mental skills training improves the score

  The idea circulates that the gap between training and competition scores narrows when the mind is trained, through breathing, imagery, routines and mindfulness.

  Studies of archers with a comparison group are few, and they split two and two.

• Mental training lowers an archer's pre-competition anxiety

  It is taken for granted that a bit of mental work, breathing, imagery, a phrase to repeat, serves above all to keep tension down in the minutes before the first end.

  Studies of archers do not agree, and what divides them is the design more than the technique.

• Moderate cold does not lower competition scores

  Archers say that in the cold the fingers lose feeling and the release suffers, and at winter competitions they keep their hands warm between ends.

  The only data come from the heat study that followed 3,196 Chinese professional archers through 35,954 qualification performances between 2010 and 2016, comparing each archer with themselves, and that study points two ways.

• More anxious archers shoot lower scores in competition

  It is taken for granted that the archer who gets nervous loses points, and almost all the mental work offered on the range is built on that.

  The studies of archers split, and for years they split tidily: where anxiety is measured shortly before a competition with a competitive anxiety scale the link appears, and where trait anxiety, mood on training days or cortical activity before the release is measured instead, nothing appears at all.

• More body fat goes with lower scores

  Archers are told that a lean body holds the shot better and that extra kilos are paid for on the target, especially over a long competition.

  It depends on how body fat is measured, which already says how weak the link is.

• More training days a week go with more overuse injuries

  Archers are told that shooting every day wears out the shoulder, and that rest days are the first defence against tendinopathy and other overuse problems.

  The only evidence in favour is a 2016 conference abstract: among 239 archers in Florida, those who train more days a week and more months a year report an injury slightly more often, but the correlation is weak (r between 0.15 and 0.17) and bow type matters just as much.

• On better arrows the bow hand is more relaxed

  Archers are taught that the bow hand must not grip the handle: the fingers stay soft, the bow pushes into the fleshy part at the base of the thumb and after the release it falls forward, held only by the finger sling.

  Only one measurement looks at the bow hand arrow by arrow, and the answer is split.

• On better arrows the finger flexors work less before the clicker goes off

  Archers are taught that the string fingers should stay as passive as possible, like hooks, with the pull carried by the back: the harder the fingers grip before the clicker, the more the release disturbs the arrow.

  The question has two answers, and they come from two laboratories that measured similar things under very different conditions.

• On competition day an archer arrives more anxious than in training

  Archers are told to prepare for a competition like any other training day, because on competition day they arrive more wound up than usual and the way to keep them calm is to change nothing, from breakfast to warm-up.

  The two studies that measured the same archers in training and in competition point in opposite directions.

• On the best arrows, parasympathetic activity during the aim is higher

  It is said that a good arrow comes from a calm body, with the heart slowing and the nervous system in rest mode, and that archers who can get there during the aim shoot better.

  The idea has a single piece of direct support, a 2008 conference abstract: in sixteen pre-elite Taiwanese archers, comparing each archer's three best arrows with the three worst from a 24-arrow simulated competition, the high frequency band of heart rate variability was higher on the best ones, the low band lower and the ratio between them shifted towards the parasympathetic side.

• One study found that, in beginners, learning a growth mindset does not go hand in hand with better scores

  It is often said that those who believe they can improve through work, rather than thinking they either have talent or not, learn faster, and in youth courses the idea is often taught alongside technique.

  There is a single study on the question, a 2018 doctoral thesis on fifty beginner sixth-grade pupils who, after ten days of archery lessons at school, follow a fifteen-lesson growth mindset programme, partly online.

• Practising archery improves attention and concentration

  Archery is offered in schools and to youngsters as the sport that teaches you to stay still and concentrate, and it is taken for granted that the attention trained on the range carries over outside it.

  This is the question where the result follows the study design, and it is visible to the naked eye.

• Practising on the non-dominant side as well makes the dominant side improve more

  You hear that a few arrows shot from the other side, with a bow for the other hand, help you understand the movement and loosen old habits, and that the benefit carries back to the side you normally shoot from.

  The only experiment is on complete beginners.

• Rain, humidity and temperature make no measurable difference to the score

  It is said that in rain, damp air or cold the arrows fly differently and scores drop, and archers who shoot outdoors expect to lose a few points on bad days.

  The answer splits in two, and almost all of it comes from one large study: 35,954 performances by 3,196 Chinese professional archers in outdoor qualification rounds between 2010 and 2016, each archer compared with themselves, with the day's weather matched to the competition site.

• Recurve archers are on average taller and heavier than compound or Indian traditional archers

  You hear that the recurve rewards people who are tall with long arms, while the compound would suit any build.

  There are two pieces of data, both small, and they do not reach the same conclusion.

• Recurve archers get injured more often than compound archers

  It is often said that the compound is kinder to the body, because the cams let you hold a fraction of the draw weight at aim, while with the recurve the full weight stays on the fingers and shoulder throughout the aim.

  There is only one direct comparison: among 239 archers in Florida, surveyed at competitions and in clubs, 53.9% of recurve users reported a shooting-related injury against 35.3% of compound users, and the highest share was among women shooting recurve, 70.7% against 30.4-45.5% for men and women shooting compound.

• Scapular stabilisation exercises improve score

  In off-the-bow work, exercises for the lower trapezius and for scapular stability are taken to help the score and not only the shoulder, and they appear in nearly every conditioning programme.

  Four studies have tried to change the score by working on the muscles that hold the shoulder blade, and they do not agree.

• Scores can be assigned automatically from images of the target face

  It is taken for granted that apps and cameras on the boss can replace the scorer, and that the only obstacle is price, not reliability.

  In the laboratory, yes; in the field, not yet.

• Shooting a full competition puts little physical strain on a trained archer

  On the range people say that archery does not tire the body, and that at the end of a competition you are tired in the head, not in the arms.

  Measurements taken during simulated competitions say that for a trained archer the physical cost is low, but not zero.

• Shooting from the raised finals platform increases body sway

  It is said that the finals platform takes away stability underfoot, and that it should therefore be tried in training before an archer meets it in competition.

  Only one piece of work has measured it, a poster produced with elite Australian archers in the run-up to Rio 2016: twelve arrows at 70 metres from the ground and twelve from a platform built to replicate the one used in Olympic finals, with a pressure mat under the feet.

• Short sport psychology questionnaires do not tell archers apart

  Clubs and squads hand out questionnaires on motivation, confidence or mental toughness, and the profile that comes out is often taken as a snapshot of the archer's mind, to be compared with teammates and tracked over time.

  The problem shows clearly in two Indonesian studies.

• Single-leg static balance is linked to score

  The single-leg balance test is one of the measures taken at squad gatherings to see who has the means to shoot well, on the grounds that the shooting stance is held with the legs and an archer who sways less ought to hold the aim stiller.

  Nine samples of archers have put a single-leg balance test next to the score, and seven found nothing.

• Strengthening the lower trapezius brings the draw closer to the line of force

  In archers' physical preparation, strengthening the lower trapezius is recommended because it keeps the drawing shoulder down and helps bring the elbow round behind the arrow, onto the line of force.

  Two lower trapezius programmes have been tested on archers, and they do not point the same way.

• The asymmetric shooting action creates muscle asymmetries

  You hear that always shooting with the same hand builds one side of the body more than the other, with one shoulder stronger, a crooked back and a risk of pain, so archers are advised to compensate with exercises for the opposite side or by sometimes shooting with the other hand.

  Electromyography shows that the load of the shot is asymmetric: during the draw the string arm uses more latissimus dorsi and biceps, the bow arm more lateral deltoid and triceps.

• The body moves the same way in recurve and in compound

  In many clubs recurve and compound archers train together, with the same conditioning and the same posture drills, on the assumption that from the pelvis up the body does the same job and only the bow changes.

  There is only one direct comparison, from 2025: 19 recurve and 18 compound pre-elite archers, measured in Taiwan on a regulation field at 70 and 50 metres, and it says two things at once.

• The brain's electrical activity during the aim differs before the best arrows

  It is said that the head goes quiet before a good shot, and that when the arrow finds the centre the archer's brain was working more calmly during the aim.

  The question has to be asked arrow by arrow: within the same archer, does the brain work differently before a ten and before a seven?

• The brain's response to the clicker is larger on the arrows that land near the centre

  Archers are taught that the clicker should come as a surprise, that the click should arrive while attention is fully on aiming and drawing, and that a prompt, clean reaction to the clicker is the sign of a well-built shot.

  There is a single study, and it says yes and no at once.

• The draw weight marked on the bow differs from what the archer actually pulls at their own draw length

  Archers repeat that the pounds printed on the limbs hold at 28 inches, and that everyone pulls more or less than that figure at their own draw length.

  The two studies that measured it seem to contradict each other, and in fact they describe the same rule: the marked figure holds at the reference draw length, and drifts away from it the more the archer's draw length differs.

• The less the bow moves while aiming, the better the shot

  On the range archers are taught to look for the stillest sight picture they can get, and a dancing sight is read as the sign that the shot should not be let go.

  The studies divide, and not by chance: each measures something different and calls it bow stability.

• The less the string-hand forearm muscles work, the better the shot

  Archers are taught that the string hand should stay a hook: the fingers hold the string without gripping, wrist and forearm stay soft, and the back does the work.

  Between archers of different levels the link is there and runs the way the claim says: in twenty young Swedish archers, the tenser the finger extensor in the instant before the release, the lower the score (r = -0.48), and in twenty-three people measured in Turkey forearm activity around the clicker is linked to the FITA score with correlations of up to -0.74.

• The mathematical model of the bow predicts draw weight well and efficiency less well

  Among bowyers and people who study equipment it is taken for granted that bow simulation programs are reliable, and their figures for energy and efficiency circulate as if they were measurements.

  Comparisons between model and real bow are few, almost all reported in words or in a graph, and on draw weight they point in different directions.

• The more important the competition, the worse the decisive arrow is shot

  It is often said that at the competitions that matter the decisive arrow weighs more and is shot worse, and that this is why big events reward those who handle pressure.

  Two studies of official competition data give opposite answers, and they measure different things.

• The phases of the shot last only a few seconds: about one second to draw, one or two to aim

  Archers are taught that the draw is a single movement of about a second and that, once at anchor, one or two seconds of aiming are enough before the arrow goes.

  Every measurement agrees that a shot takes only a few seconds; the split in the claim, one second to draw and one or two to aim, is confirmed by a single archer.

• The score is the most repeatable measure we have of an archer

  It is said that in the end only the score counts, and that sensors, video and strength tests help explain why but cannot tell you whether an archer is improving.

  Only one study sets the stability of the score beside that of laboratory measures in the same archers, and it does so in passing: fourteen university recurve archers, measured before and after twelve weeks of training.

• The shooting stance is far less stable than ordinary standing

  It is said that the shooting stance, side-on to the target with the bow held out, is unstable in itself, and that balance therefore needs training on its own.

  It depends on who is shooting and on which arrow you look at.

• The string's material and number of strands change the arrow's speed

  It is said that a string with fewer strands, or made of a lighter and more modern material, makes the arrow faster, and some archers take out a couple of strands to gain a few feet per second.

  The mechanism has been known since 1937: to calculate the speed, about a third of the string's mass is added to the arrow's, so a lighter string leaves a larger share of the bow's energy to the shaft; a 1969 model arrives at the same rule and notes that, with a string much lighter than the arrow, the term counts for little.

• The time spent on the phases of the shot does not predict an arrow's score

  It is said that every archer has their own shot rhythm and that, if an arrow takes much longer or shorter than that rhythm, it is better to let down and start again, because time out of rhythm costs points.

  The largest sample says that, arrow by arrow, time explains almost nothing: in 16 young recurve archers and 576 arrows at 70 m the total time of the shot correlates with the score at -0.006, and the same holds for raising the bow, the draw and aiming.

• The triceps of the drawing arm is the most loaded muscle in the shot

  Rankings of the muscles of the shot circulate in technical material, and the triceps of the drawing arm often comes out on top, as the muscle that holds the elbow in line behind the arrow while the back closes.

  On archers, the studies that have measured the triceps of the drawing arm give answers that cannot be reconciled.

• Those who have had the yips report more social anxiety and a stronger need to hide their flaws

  Target panic is said to strike those who fear other people's judgement, the archer who feels every eye on them in competition and cannot bear to be seen making a mistake.

  There is a single British study of 155 competitive athletes, 69 archers and 86 golfers, with target panic in the archers and the yips in the golfers put into the same question.

• Top archers shoot moderate draw weights, between thirty and forty pounds

  Two figures go round: some say champions do not shoot heavy bows and that thirty or forty well-controlled pounds are enough, often to hold back those who want to go up in weight too soon, while others say that top recurve archers shoot between forty and fifty, a figure that often becomes a target.

  It depends on when and whom you look at, and the figures split.

• Training at competition distances gives a specific advantage at those distances

  It is said that you should train mostly at the distances you shoot in competition, because the sight, the movement and the reading of the group get tuned to those distances and not to others.

  The most direct study, from 2016, had ten Polish international archers shoot thirty arrows from each of twenty distances and eight national team women from each of eighteen, including distances they never train at.

• Training at the longer distances improves concentration more than ordinary training

  It is said that shooting the long distances teaches concentration: at 70 m mistakes cost more, aiming demands more patience, and those who train there bring a steadier mind to competition.

  There is a single study, and its tables do not say what its conclusions say.

• Training at the longer distances improves resistance to fatigue

  The saying goes that staying power is built at the long distances: shooting at 70 m is more tiring, gets the body used to holding the bow for longer and prepares for competition fatigue better than short-range ends.

  There is a single study, and what it shows concerns the way of shooting more than the distance.

• Training at varied distances raises the score more than always shooting at the same one

  On the range some advise against always shooting at the same distance, because changing it forces the archer to find the aim again each time and prepares for rounds where distances alternate, while others prefer to consolidate the shot by shooting at one distance for long stretches.

  Two Indonesian studies with the same design, twenty archers matched on starting score and split into two groups, and a final test of 36 arrows at 30 metres, reach opposite results.

• When imagining the shot, an elite archer's brain recruits fewer areas than a non-archer's

  It is said that for a champion the shot is so automatic that it takes very little brain, and that even imagining it costs them less effort than it costs a beginner.

  Two Korean studies from the same research group have put elite archers and people who have never shot in an MRI scanner to imagine the shot, and they reach different pictures.

• While aiming, elite archers activate their muscles less than intermediate archers

  It is often said that experienced archers shoot with the least effort they can, relaxing everything that is not needed to hold the bow, while beginners grip and tense everything.

  When elite archers are compared with weaker ones while aiming, the muscles of the fingers, arms and trunk almost always work less in the elite archers, while part of the trapezius that holds the shoulder blade works harder.

• While aiming, the body sways more sideways across the target than back and forth towards it

  It is said that an archer's body sways mostly sideways, because the base is narrow in that direction, and that this is why the feet go shoulder-width apart with the weight kept on the balls of the feet.

  The studies on archers point in opposite directions, and the first thing to know is that they use the same words for different axes: for an archer standing side-on to the target, "lateral" relative to the target means from toes to heels, while "lateral" relative to the body means along the line of the feet, towards the target.

• While aiming, the drawing arm's muscles work at over 80 per cent of their maximum, and at the release almost all of them switch off except the trapezius

  Archers are taught that at full draw the drawing arm should be no more than a hook and that the back does the work; at the release the hand opens by itself and the back keeps pulling.

  The figures come from a single experiment, on four Turkish elite archers and 108 arrows at 18 metres, published twice.

• While aiming, women archers have a higher heart rate than men

  With heart rate monitors now common, more and more attention goes to heart rate while aiming, and the values of men and women are sometimes compared as if they sat on the same scale.

  Two small studies, published in the same year, give opposite answers, and neither was designed for this question.

• While shooting, an archer's heart rate sits at around a hundred beats per minute

  It is often said that while shooting the heart runs at about a hundred beats a minute, a little above rest, and that it climbs in competition.

  Measurements taken while shooting do not agree, and the situation and the archer's level make the difference.

• With a compound bow the muscles work less than with a recurve during the draw

  The compound is said to be lighter to draw than the recurve: thanks to the cams and the let-off the effort of the draw is felt less, especially towards the end.

  The comparison exists, but it is small and comes from a single laboratory: two master's theses from the University of North Dakota, in 2000 and 2001, recording the electromyography of seven and then six archers experienced with both bows, shooting a compound set to 55 lb with 75 per cent let-off and a 55 lb recurve.

• With a heavier draw weight the trunk, shoulder and elbow angles change during the shot

  The usual advice is that moving up in draw weight too quickly ruins technique: with a bow that is too heavy the archer leans back, lifts the bow shoulder and loses alignment, so the pounds should be added a little at a time.

  Everything we know comes from a single group of thirteen university students, seven men and six women, including four experts, four intermediates and five beginners, measured with inertial sensors while shooting five arrows per combination with 20, 25 and 32-pound bows, and reported in three papers.

• Within an end the first arrow scores more than the ones after it

  It is said that the first arrow of an end is the cleanest, because it is shot calmly and without the weight of the arrows already in the target, and that the last ones suffer from hurry.

  Only one measurement points this way, and it is small: ten experienced adolescent archers, followed during an indoor competition at 18 metres with ends of three arrows in two minutes, score less on the second arrow (p < 0.05) and less again on the third (p < 0.001) than on the first.

• Years of practice alone do not tell an archer's level

  People say that archery takes ten years to reach the top, and at the same time that some archers overtake people who have been shooting for twenty years within three, because what counts is how you train, not for how long.

  When studies compare archers of different levels, the stronger ones nearly always have a few more years of practice, but the difference is sometimes clear and sometimes disappears into the variability.

• Years of practice tell how good an archer is

  It is taken for granted that whoever has been shooting longer shoots better, and years of practice are often used as a measure of an archer's level.

  The studies that set years of practice beside level point in opposite directions, and none was designed to answer the question.