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

The summary today

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. In the first, looking only at the draw up to full draw, seven of twelve shoulder and arm muscles work harder with the recurve, almost all of them on the drawing arm, with the largest difference in the middle trapezius (16.5 per cent); the other five, almost all on the bow side, work slightly harder with the compound, with small differences going down to 1.4 per cent. The second looks at the wrist and forearm and finds the same pattern over time: with the compound activity is higher in the first part, up to about 30 per cent of the time, then falls steadily where the authors place the let-off, between 20 and 46 per cent, and stays below that of the recurve. So the answer depends on the point in the draw: the compound asks for more up to the let-off, while the force is at its peak, and less after it. Both pieces of work share the same limits: no statistical test, no peer review, and the six archers of 2001 were already in the 2000 sample. On top of that, the second thesis gives averages up to the release that include the hold, because its archers reached full draw only at the very end, and the hold lasted three seconds with the compound and one with the recurve.

Also phrased as: "a compound is less tiring to draw than a recurve"; "compound versus recurve muscle activity"; "compound and recurve electromyography"; "the let-off makes the draw easier"; "effort in drawing a compound"

Evidence

• 2000
  For Archers Published later

  7 club archers experienced with both compound and recurve, men aged 36 to 51, about six draws each with a compound set to 55 lb with 75 per cent let-off and with a 55 lb recurve at 28 inches, electromyography of 12 shoulder and arm muscles. From the start of the draw to full draw, seven of the twelve muscles work harder with the recurve: six of the seven on the drawing arm and the triceps of the bow arm. The largest difference between the two bows is in the middle trapezius of the drawing arm, 16.5 per cent, which the authors link to the compound's lower force at the end of the draw. The analysis is descriptive only, with no statistical test, in a master's thesis without peer review.

  An Electromyographic and Video Motion Analysis Study of the Drawback and Hold Phases of a Compound Bow versus a Traditional Bow in Experienced Archers · Andrea L. Vagle

• 2000
  Against Archers Published later

  Over the same stretch the other five muscles work slightly harder with the compound: the triceps of the drawing arm and, on the bow side, the brachioradialis, middle trapezius, posterior deltoid and middle deltoid. The authors had not expected it and put it down to the compound's force peak, which falls between about 30 per cent of the draw and the let-off; the differences are small, with the smallest in the middle trapezius of the bow arm, 1.4 per cent. With the compound activity is highest in the first part of the draw, with the recurve during the hold.

  An Electromyographic and Video Motion Analysis Study of the Drawback and Hold Phases of a Compound Bow versus a Traditional Bow in Experienced Archers · Andrea L. Vagle

• 2001
  For Archers Published later

  6 experienced club archers, men aged 37 to 51 who had taken part in the previous year's study, a compound set to 55 lb with 75 per cent let-off against a 55 lb recurve, electromyography of the wrist and forearm in both hands. With the compound activity is higher in the first part, between 0 and 30 per cent of the time, then falls steadily between 20 and 46 per cent, where the authors place the let-off, and stays below that of the recurve; on average up to the release the recurve asks for more in both hands, 0.231 against 0.134 in the drawing hand and 0.133 against 0.091 in the bow hand. The archers reached full draw at 98 per cent of the time with the compound and at 96 with the recurve, so the averages include the hold, which lasted three seconds with the compound and one with the recurve. No statistical tests, in a master's thesis without peer review.

  Analysis of Wrist and Elbow Muscle Activity in Compound versus Traditional Bows with Experienced Archers · Jesse Fuhrer

Status history

1. 2000 Contested The first comparison comes from a University of North Dakota thesis: seven experienced archers shoot a compound set to 55 lb with 75 per cent let-off and a 55 lb recurve, with electromyography on twelve shoulder and arm muscles. Looking only at the draw up to full draw, seven muscles work harder with the recurve, almost all of them on the drawing arm, with the largest difference in the middle trapezius (16.5 per cent); the other five, almost all on the bow side, work slightly harder with the compound, which reaches its force peak halfway through the draw, with differences going down to 1.4 per cent. The same study points both ways, on seven people and without a statistical test: contested.
2. 2001 Contested A second thesis from the same laboratory measures the wrist and forearm in six of the same archers, with another compound at the same setting. The compound asks for more work only in the first part, up to about 30 per cent of the time; then activity falls steadily between 20 and 46 per cent, where the authors place the let-off, and stays below that of the recurve, with an average up to the release of 0.134 against 0.231 in the drawing hand. Together the two pieces of work say that the compound asks for more up to the let-off, while the force is at its peak, and less after it, but they remain two small descriptive studies on the same archers, and the second one's average includes the hold: the status stays contested.

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