Pre-shot breathing rhythm varies from one archer to another
1 study · 2 archers measured
The summary today
The only data come from a study designed to validate a shirt with fibre-optic sensors, tried on two archers who shot two ends of six arrows at 70 metres. Before the shot one breathes between 20 and 26 breaths a minute in both ends, while the other drops from 15 to 8 breaths between the first and sixth practice arrow and stays between 7 and 9 in the end that counts. Two people say nothing about how wide the variation between archers is, or whether each archer's rhythm stays stable from one day to the next, but they are enough to show that two trained archers can shoot at rhythms where one is three times the other. It is a by-product of a technical study, with no link to the score at all.
Also phrased as: "breathing in archery"; "breathing rhythm while aiming"; "how to breathe before the shot"; "an archer's own breathing pattern"
In practice
The shot routine is usually taught with a set breathing sequence: breathe in during the set-up, then hold or partly breathe out while aiming.
Evidence
-
2019
For Archers Published later
2 archers, a man and a woman, with two and three years of experience, two ends of six arrows in five minutes at 70 metres: pre-shot breathing rate sits around 20 to 26 breaths a minute in the first and 7 to 15 in the second.
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.
-
2019
For Archers Published later
In the second archer the rate falls from 15.2 to 8.4 breaths a minute between the first and sixth arrow of the practice end and stays between 7.1 and 9.0 in the scoring end; the first stays between 20.0 and 26.5 in both. The same exercise changes one archer's breathing and leaves the other's unchanged.
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.
Status history
- 2019 Reported The question arises with a feasibility study of a sensor shirt, which measures the breathing of two archers before every shot. One breathes between 20 and 26 breaths a minute, the other between 7 and 15, and over the session the second slows markedly while the first holds steady. Two people are too few to say how wide the variation is, but enough to say that a single rhythm for everybody is not what shows: with one study on archers, and only two archers, the status is reported.
Related
Related articles
- Thoracic mobility, diaphragmatic breathing and HRVThoracic mobility, diaphragmatic breathing and HRV for archers: the exercises, an eight-week protocol and what the studies on archers show.
- Pre-shot routine in archery: how to build one on evidenceWhat to put in a pre-shot routine, how long it should last and what the data say: consistent timing, breathing, target panic and relaxing before the shot.
- How to breathe before you draw: what the studies have measuredHow much and how fast to breathe before the shot: measurements on the range, where the six-breaths figure comes from, and what changes for anxiety and score.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Pre-shot breathing rhythm varies from one archer to another (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/breathing-rhythm-before-the-shot
@misc{campagna2026_respiropretiroindividuale,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Pre-shot breathing rhythm varies from one archer to another},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/breathing-rhythm-before-the-shot},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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