Archers are more aroused in competition than in training
5 studies · 50 archers measured
The summary today
That competition raises arousal is shown by three independent samples of archers, with three different instruments, and no study points the other way. The simplest measurement is also the most convincing: in eighteen elite Turkish archers, half an hour before a national indoor competition the heart rate taken while sitting for five minutes is about eight beats per minute higher than before a training session, with the interval between beats more than a hundred milliseconds shorter. The arousal is therefore already there before the archer has shot the first arrow, and it is not an effect of effort. Earlier had come the anxiety of nineteen Korean university archers around a national competition, rising from 5.89 out of ten at ten minutes before the start to 8.15 in the last minute, and the heart rate of only two archers moving from the practice arrows to the ones that count. The limits are of size and of venue: the samples are small, two of the three studies sit in journals with regional circulation, and nobody has yet put arousal next to the score of the same competition.
Also phrased as: "heart rate is higher in competition"; "arousal in competition and in training"; "anxiety before a competition"; "competition fires the body up"; "heart rate in competition"
In practice
In competition it is taken for granted that the body runs hotter than in training, and the warm-up, the breathing and the shot routine are built on that.
Evidence
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2016
For Archers Published later
19 Korean university archers with more than ten years of experience, followed around a national competition: anxiety on a one to ten scale goes from 5.89 (standard deviation 1.8) at ten minutes before the start to 8.15 (1.4) in the last minute, and ten minutes after the competition it is 6.76 (1.8); F = 7.05, p < 0.05. Journal with regional circulation.
Correlation Between Salivary Alpha-amylase, Anxiety, and Game Records in the Archery Competition · In Soo Lim
-
2017
Context Review Published later
A methodological review of heart rate variability: it reports that cardiac vagal tone tends to fall before competition, with examples from swimming and BMX. No data on archery, so it serves only to say that the phenomenon is not a peculiarity of this sport.
Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research – recommendations for experiment planning, data analysis, and data reporting · Sylvain Laborde, Emma Mosley, Julian F. Thayer
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2019
For Archers Published later
2 archers, one man and one woman, shooting six arrows in five minutes at seventy metres per session, measured with an instrumented shirt: in the first, the heart rate while aiming goes from 94.9 to 101.8 beats per minute on the practice arrows to 104.7 to 120.5 on the ones that count; in the second it stays the same, from 87.6 to 97.3 to 82.1 to 97.2. A study designed to try out the device, with only two participants.
Cardio-Respiratory Monitoring in Archery Using a Smart Textile Based on Flexible Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors · Daniela Lo Presti, Chiara Romano, Carlo Massaroni, Jessica D'Abbraccio, Luca Massari, Michele Arturo Caponero, et al.
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2021
Context Archers Published later
11 national-level university recurve archers in a randomised crossover study on nicotine: in the placebo arm the heart rate while shooting is 95.41 beats per minute, and immediately after the trial all the measures return to resting values. It gives the order of magnitude of arousal in a simulated competition, but does not compare it with training.
Nicotine supplementation enhances simulated game performance of archery athletes · Bao-Lien Hung, Li-Jung Chen, Yi-Ying Chen, Jhih-Bang Ou, Shih-Hua Fang
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2025
For Archers Published later
18 elite Turkish archers (mean age 18.4) measured sitting for five minutes half an hour before a training session and half an hour before the national indoor championships: heart rate 75.77 against 67.72 beats per minute (p = 0.008), minimum 67.77 against 58.11 (p = 0.001), interval between beats 775 against 902 milliseconds (p = 0.011). The measurement is at rest, before the first arrow.
Elit Okçularda Antrenman ve yarışma Öncesinde Kalp Atım Hızı Değişkenliği ile Kaygı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi · Melis Aksüy, Melek Makaracı
Status history
- 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography has yet compared an archer's arousal in competition and in training: the difference is taken as obvious and is not measured.
- 2016 Reported The first measurement on archers follows anxiety around a national competition: in nineteen Korean university archers it rises from 5.89 out of ten at ten minutes before the start to 8.15 in the last minute, and ten minutes after the competition it is still at 6.76. A single study, in a journal with regional circulation, so reported.
- 2019 Reported A second, very small datum shows the same thing on heart rate: moving from the six practice arrows to the six that count, one archer goes from 94.9 to 101.8 beats per minute while aiming to 104.7 to 120.5, while in the second archer nothing changes. Two archers in a study designed to try out a measuring device: the status holds at reported.
- 2021 Reported Physiological measurements in a simulated competition arrive, from the control arm of a randomised crossover study: on placebo the archers shoot at 95.4 beats per minute and return to resting values within a few minutes of the last arrow. The comparison with training is missing, though, so it counts as context and the status does not move.
- 2025 Corroborated The direct comparison that was missing arrives: in eighteen elite Turkish archers, half an hour before a national indoor competition the resting heart rate is eight beats higher than before a training session, with the interval between beats more than a hundred milliseconds shorter. A second independent sample with a design fit for the question and no contrary study: corroborated.
Related
Related articles
- Head-to-head matches and qualification: how much more pressure, and what it costs the arrowsBefore head-to-head matches, national squad archers are more anxious than before qualification. What it costs the arrows, and why matches produce upsets.
- Do archers shoot worse in competition than in training? The body and the target, measuredIn competition the heart beats faster, yet measured accuracy does not drop: what studies comparing competition and training show, and where they stop.
- Mental skills training in archery: what the measurements on archers showWhat has been measured on archers' mental training: score, confidence, anxiety, programme length, mock competitions and each of the tools in turn.
Research lines
Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.
See the programmeCite
Campagna, M. (2026). Archers are more aroused in competition than in training (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/competition-raises-arousal
@misc{campagna2026_garaalzaattivazione,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Archers are more aroused in competition than in training},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/competition-raises-arousal},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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