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

The summary today

Thirty-five years of measurement and the picture has not closed: the observations say yes, the experiments say no. On one side, from four elite archers in 1990 to fifty arrows filmed in competition in 2025, archers shooting with a lower heart rate, or whose heart slows over the last cycles, score higher, and in 2025 two independent groups find it again with strong correlations. On the other, when an intervention has moved heart rate the score has not followed: raised by running it costs no points, lowered by a beta-blocker under double-blind conditions it adds none, and raised by nicotine it even comes with a higher score. In between sit studies that find nothing and one detail worth pausing on: where the relationship was examined score by score, arrows worth ten came with a higher heart rate than arrows worth nine, slightly in one study and by eight beats in the other. The most prudent reading of all this is that the slowing accompanies a good shot without causing it.

Also phrased as: "lower your heart rate before the shot"; "calm heart, better shot"; "a high heart rate spoils the aim"; "heart rate and archery accuracy"

Evidence

• 1990
  For Archers Published later

  4 elite Australian archers, 240 arrows at 30 m graded by quality: on good arrows the last cardiac cycles before the loose lengthened, on average and poor ones they did not; average heart rate during the aim did not change with quality.

  Fine Body Movements and the Cardiac Cycle in Archery · David Keast, Bruce Elliott

• 1994
  Against Kyudo archers Published later

  5 Japanese university kyudo archers followed with repeated measures between free practice and competition: the mean peak heart rate per shot rises in competition in all five (93 to 138, 111 to 149, 126 to 146, 103 to 147, 140 to 162 beats a minute, every individual analysis at p < 0.001, around 150 in the first ends). Even so, neither heart rate nor somatic anxiety is significantly associated with the proportion of hits; the inverted-U pattern the author describes is read off by eye, with no test.

  Changes of Heart Rate, Somatic Anxiety, and Performance of Japanese Archers during Practices and Matches · Masakazu Miyamoto

• 2005
  Context Review Published later

  A review chapter on the psychology of archery with no data of its own: it reports from secondary sources that in experienced archers shooting well the heart slows in the seconds before release, including in simulated and blind shooting. It gives no figures and is not an independent measurement.

  Psychological Aspects of Archery · Kathleen M. Haywood

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  36 Japanese archers aged 16 to 24 in a within-subject crossover with balanced order, in which one condition let them hear their own heartbeat through headphones: during shooting the interval between beats is shorter than at rest standing, with or without headphones (session effect F(2,70) = 6.16, p < 0.005). It shows that shooting raises heart rate, not that a lower heart rate produces score; the journal is a regional venue.

  Physiological and Psychological Changes Caused by Archery Athletes Monitoring Their Own Heartbeat in Shooting Situation, and the Effects on Performance · Hideaki Takai, Osamitu Saijyo, Yasuhisa Kusumoto

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  17 adolescent archers (7 novices, 10 experienced) in competition: in the experienced group parasympathetic activity rose compared with pre-competition, and arrow score was linked mainly to the time taken for the shot. It does not test heart rate as a cause of score.

  Autonomic nervous system modulation during an archery competition in novice and experienced adolescent archers · Andres E. Carrillo, Vasilios X. Christodoulou, Yiannis Koutedakis, Andreas D. Flouris

• 2015
  Against Archers Published later

  8 experienced Croatian archers, 4 compound and 4 recurve, 15 indoor arrows at 18 m with a heart rate monitor, heart rate read two seconds and one second before the release, at the release and one second after, arrows grouped by value. In compound the tens start with the higher heart rate: at the release 118.50 against 110.12 on the nines and 101.25 on the eights, with significant differences between tens and eights and between tens and nines at all four moments (p from 0.030 to 0.048). In recurve the trend is the same, 107.00 on the tens against 104.92 and 97.86, but it is significant only two seconds before the release between tens and eights (p = 0.048). The arrows of the four archers in each group are analysed together, so the comparison mixes arrows with archers; a regional journal. The authors themselves write that the result runs opposite to what they expected.

  Heart rate values and levels of attention and relaxation in expert archers during shooting · Andrea Vrbik, Raphael Bene, Ivan Vrbik

• 2016
  Against Archers Published later

  15 experienced compound archers at 20 yards, measured at rest and straight after exercise that raises the heart rate, with two bow types: heart rate at the moment of the shot is not linked to the accuracy of the first arrow (r = -0.024 with the single-cam bow and r = 0.24 with the twin-cam one, relationships the authors themselves call weak) and aiming time does not change (3.49 against 3.72 s, p = 0.15; 3.62 against 3.59 s, p = 0.67). It is a conference abstract, so without full review, and the heart rate rises through effort.

  The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson

• 2017
  Context Archers Published later

  Six Korean middle school archers, all boys, repeated measures after a night of normal sleep, after a sleepless night with a placebo and after a sleepless night with caffeine: at thirty metres heart rate over the six ends is lower in the caffeine condition (F = 5.996, p = 0.019), while the score stays the same, 336.8, 334.8 and 339.2 out of 360 (p = 0.407). Heart rate moves together with sleep and caffeine, not on its own, so it counts as a hint: here a lower heart rate brings no points.

  Effect of Blood Glucose and Growth Hormone on Performance of Middle School Archery Players with Sleep Loss and Caffeine Intake · Jeong Uk Park, Tae Dong Kwon

• 2017
  Context Archers Published later

  Thirty-two young Malaysian archers, split by cluster analysis into a higher-scoring group (20) and a lower-scoring group (12) over six arrows at fifty metres: resting heart rate, taken before any warm-up, does not separate the two groups (mean difference 6.4 ± 10.67 beats per minute, t = 1.64, p = 0.111). This is resting heart rate, not the rate at the moment of the shot, so it does not test the claim: it only says that a slower heart at rest does not mark out those who shoot better.

  Analysis of biological and mechanical related performance parameters of Malaysian senior youth archers · Zahari Taha, Mainul Haque, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Siti Musliha Mat-Rashid, Norlaila Azura Kosni, Aleesha Adnan

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  4 Malaysian archers compared in pairs, a medallist against a non-medallist and an elite archer against a novice, six arrows each with a sensor at the wrist: according to the authors the medallist and the elite archer keep a lower heart rate and score higher and more consistently. These are two one-against-one comparisons, read off graphs with no numerical values or tests, in a journal marked as a questionable venue: context.

  A multidimensional analysis of physiological and mechanical variables among archers of different levels of expertise Questionable venue · Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Hafizan Juahir, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Siti Musliha Mat-Rasid, Norlaila Azura Kosni, Aleesha Adnan, Nadiawati Alias, Vijayamurugan Eswaramoorthi

• 2019
  Against Archers Published later

  13 elite international-level archers, indoor shots at 18 m: with heart rate raised to about 166-168 bpm by running, scores did not change compared with shots at rest (about 112-119 bpm). Heart rate rose through effort, not anxiety.

  Effect of heart rate on shooting performance in elite archers · Caner Açıkada, Tahir Hazır, Alper Asçı, Sinem Hazır Aytar, Cevdet Tınazcı

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  7 elite Indian archers, 210 indoor arrows at 18 m, heart rate read at eleven instants between five seconds before and five after release: arrows worth eight start with a heart rate 8.3 to 8.5 beats a minute higher than arrows worth nine (p from 0.021 to 0.026) and 7.4 to 7.8 higher than arrows worth ten, and the gap stays constant across all five seconds of aiming. The same study, though, shows that between nine and ten the heart rate distinguishes nothing, and runs the other way by less than one beat (p from 0.576 to 0.815): the relationship is not monotonic. Arrows worth eight were only seven out of 210, heart rate while aiming sits between 83 and 98 a minute, and the journal is a regional venue.

  Heart Rate Values During Shooting is a Field-Side Performance Analysis Tool in Archery-A study of Elite Indian Archers · Chandra Sekara Guru, Anup Krishnan, Uma Mahajan, Deep Sharma

• 2021
  Against Archers Published later

  15 national team archers, randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossover: beta-blockers (bisoprolol and propranolol, single dose) lowered heart rate during shooting by 12.8% and 8.6% without improving score, aim point fluctuation or body sway.

  Effects of beta-blockers on archery performance, body sway and aiming behaviour · Emin Ergen, Tahir Hazir, Mesut Celebi, Ayşe Kin-Isler, Serdar Aritan, Volkan Daghan Yaylıoglu, et al.

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  11 recurve archers in a randomised placebo-controlled crossover with 2 mg nicotine gum: during the simulated competition heart rate is higher with nicotine (101.70 against 95.41 a minute, p < 0.01) and the score is higher, not lower. It is not a direct test of heart rate, since nicotine moves many things at once, but it runs the opposite way to what the claim predicts.

  Nicotine supplementation enhances simulated game performance of archery athletes · Bao-Lien Hung, Li-Jung Chen, Yi-Ying Chen, Jhih-Bang Ou, Shih-Hua Fang

• 2022
  Against Review Published later

  A systematic review of 41 studies on performance assessment in archery: among elite archers it counts four studies, and in none of them is heart rate linked to score. It is an overview rather than a new measurement, and it includes work that appears here as individual evidence.

  Performance assessment in archery: a systematic review · Eleonora Vendrame, Valeria Belluscio, Luigi Truppa, Lorenzo Rum, Aldo Lazich, Elena Bergamini, Andrea Mannini

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  10 Indonesian university recurve archers in a simulated competition with alternating shots, 15 arrows: the group with the lower heart rate while aiming scores 7.97 points per arrow against 6.47 (t = 2.412, p = 0.042) with 128.1 against 142.4 beats a minute (t = -2.719, p = 0.026). The lower heart rate group, though, is made up only of men and has 6.2 years of practice against 3.5, so sex, experience and heart rate move together, and with ten people they cannot be separated; the journal is a regional venue.

  Analysis of heart rate and scores in student archery athletes · Nadya Dwi Oktafiranda, Sri Indah Ihsani, Kuswahyudi Kuswahyudi

• 2023
  Against Archers Published later

  20 compound archers from a Malaysian state squad, 36 arrows at 50 m, two groups of ten defined by score: average heart rate during the session does not separate the better archers (98.5 against 96.5 a minute, not significant) and is not associated with score (r = 0.11, p = 0.64). Neither oxygen saturation (r = -0.39, p = 0.08) nor anxiety is associated either; the only significant measure is self-confidence (r = 0.56, p = 0.01).

  Comparative Characteristics of Psychophysiological and Shooting Performance Between Intermediate and Elite Compound Archers · Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Mon Redee Sut Txi, Wan Nurlisa Wan Ahmad

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  Thirty-two Malaysian junior recurve archers during the COVID-19 isolation, heart rate measured at home with a pulse oximeter before and after the shooting session: the higher-level archers have a higher heart rate than the lower-level ones, 91.5 against 75.1 before and 104.6 against 95.2 after, but with no test and with wide standard deviations, up to 22.8. It points the opposite way from the claim, measured away from the moment of the shot and in a journal with questionable editorial standards.

  Anxiety status of junior archers in COVID-19 during training isolation period towards the shooting performance Questionable venue · Wan Nurlisa Wan Ahmad, Mohd Azrul Hisham Mohd Adib, Irdayanti Mat Nashir, Mon Redee Sut Txi, Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Jing Rui Tang

• 2024
  Context Review Published later

  A narrative review on neurofeedback in precision sports, with no data of its own: it reports a 1994 study in which, after fourteen weeks, beginners' better arrows come with a slowing of the heart and with differences in EEG asymmetry, and alongside it a study of elite archers in which no cardiac deceleration appears at all while aiming. It holds both faces together and suggests the difference may lie between those learning and those who have been shooting for years, without testing it.

  Improving Mental Skills in Precision Sports by Using Neurofeedback Training: A Narrative Review · Stefano Corrado, Beatrice Tosti, Stefania Mancone, Tommaso Di Libero, Angelo Rodio, Alexandro Andrade, Pierluigi Diotaiuti

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  45 traditional Turkish club archers aged 20 to 35, 25 men and 20 women, one end of 5 arrows at 18 m with a chest strap: those with the lower average heart rate while shooting score higher, with a very strong correlation in the women (r = -0.877, p < 0.001) and a moderate one in the men (r = -0.552, p = 0.004). The average level of heart rate is the same in both groups (108.1 against 101.6 a minute, p = 0.076), so the difference lies in the link rather than in the value. A cross-sectional association over five arrows, in a regional venue.

  The Effects of Physical Fitness and Physiological Variables on Archery Performance in Traditional Turkish Archers · Muhammed Raşit Eyibil, Oğuz Gürkan

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  32 male Indian archers of about 22, 15 elite and 17 non-elite, two sessions of 30 arrows at 18 m with a machine learning model trained on the first and tested on the second: heart rate while aiming, at release and in the follow-through is negatively correlated with score, and in the model lower values of resting systolic pressure, resting heart rate and heart rate two seconds before release push towards a higher predicted score. In the same test, though, the second session has a lower average heart rate and an identical score (279.4 against 279.5 out of 300): the comparison within the same archers does not confirm the association found between archers.

  Can we predict archery performance using shooting heart rate and other biophysical parameters? A machine learning approach · Chandra Sekara Guru, Uma Mahajan, Anup Krishnan, Karuna Datta, Deep Sharma

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  50 video clips from international competitions, with heart rate estimated from facial colour and arm micro-movement measured from the footage: heart rate is associated with score (rho = -0.618, p < 0.001; -0.1166 per beat in the ordinal regression), with arrows worth ten at around 70 to 80 a minute and the rest between 90 and 110. Taken together, heart rate and right-arm movement both remain linked to score, and the two measures are almost independent of each other (r between 0.11 and 0.21): they looked like the same thing and are not. The limits weigh: fifty arrows in all, the number of athletes not reported, and a heart rate estimated rather than measured. Three cautions to add. The heart rate estimated from facial colour is compared with no instrument, not even on one subject, and heart rate variability appears in the keywords while no variability index is computed. The unit of analysis is the segment and not the athlete, so the link may be a comparison between people of different levels. And the article's translation of the coefficients into points does not hold: in an ordinal logistic regression the coefficient is a logarithm of relative odds, and the «more than six points» attributed to the right arm do not fit on a scale running from eight to ten.

  Contactless Estimation of Heart Rate and Arm Tremor from Real Competition Footage of Elite Archers · Byeong Seon An, Song Hee Park, Ji Yeon Moon, Eui Chul Lee

Status history

1. 1984 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had yet linked heart rate to score in archers.
2. 1990 Reported In four elite archers the last heartbeats before the loose slow down on the best arrows: an association in a very small sample.
3. 1994 Contested The first contrary result in archers: five kyudo archers followed between practice and competition show a far higher heart rate in competition, up to about 150 a minute, yet neither heart rate nor somatic anxiety is significantly linked to the proportion of hits. Studies of people who shoot a bow now point in opposite directions, so the status drops to contested.
4. 2015 Contested A second study of archers looks at heart rate arrow by arrow and finds the reverse of the claim. In eight experienced Croatian archers, in compound the tens start with the higher heart rate, 118.5 a minute at the release against 110.1 on the nines and 101.3 on the eights, and the difference is significant at every moment measured; in recurve the trend is the same, but it holds only two seconds before the shot. The arrows of the four archers in each group are pooled and the journal is regional, but it compares arrows with each other as the 1990 study did, and reaches the opposite result: with the kyudo archers of 1994, the contrary studies become two, and the status stays contested.
5. 2016 Contested A conference abstract joins the contrary side, on fifteen experienced compound archers measured at rest and after a run: how high the heart rate is at the moment of the shot says almost nothing about the accuracy of the first arrow, with correlations of minus 0.024 and 0.24 that the authors themselves call weak, and aiming time does not change. The status stays contested.
6. 2017 Contested A small Korean study moves heart rate without meaning to: in six middle school archers, after a sleepless night with caffeine the heart rate while shooting at thirty metres is lower than after a normal night or a sleepless night with a placebo, and the score stays the same, between 335 and 339 out of 360. Heart rate changes here together with sleep and caffeine, so it is not a clean test, but it points the same way as the 2016 null: a lower heart rate does not turn into points. The same year, in thirty-two young Malaysian archers, resting heart rate does not separate those who score more from those who score less: it is the heart rate before shooting starts, not at the shot, and it stays as context. The status stays contested.
7. 2019 Contested Raising heart rate by running does not change the indoor scores of thirteen elite archers, taken to around 166 to 168 beats a minute. It is the first intervention proper, and it points the same way as the 1994 result: the status stays contested. The year before, a Malaysian paper had compared a medallist with a non-medallist and an elite archer with a novice, finding the lower heart rate in the two better archers; these are two one-against-one comparisons, with no numbers or tests and in a questionable venue, and they remain context.
8. 2020 Contested Seven elite archers and two hundred and ten indoor arrows keep both sides standing inside a single study. On one hand, arrows worth eight start with a heart rate about eight beats a minute higher, and the gap stays constant across all five seconds of aiming instead of opening at the last instant. On the other, the relationship is not monotonic, since arrows worth ten come with a slightly higher heart rate than arrows worth nine: if the simple rule held, it should show there, and the same reversal had already appeared in the compound archers of 2015. The status stays contested.
9. 2021 Contested The strongest experimental test arrives, and it runs against. In fifteen archers from the Turkish national squads, two beta-blockers lower heart rate at the moment of the shot in a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled study, and the score does not improve: if a lower heart rate were enough, that was the design to show it. A second result from the same year reads the same way: with nicotine gum the heart rate during shooting is higher, and the score goes up. The status stays contested, but the disagreement is no longer between two observations, it is between an observation and an experiment.
10. 2022 Contested A systematic review on performance assessment in archery counts four studies of elite archers, and in none of them is heart rate linked to score. The weight shifts to the contrary side, but the supporting studies remain standing: contested.
11. 2023 Contested Two small studies pull in opposite directions in the same year. In ten Indonesian university archers the group with the lower heart rate while aiming, all men and with almost twice the years of practice, scores 7.97 points per arrow against 6.47: sex and experience travel with heart rate, and with ten people they cannot be separated. In twenty compound archers from a state squad, average heart rate over thirty-six arrows at fifty metres is not associated with score, and the only measure that counts is self-confidence. A third figure, in a journal with questionable editorial standards, even runs the other way: in thirty-two Malaysian juniors training at home during the COVID-19 isolation the better archers have the higher heart rate before and after the session, with no test. The status does not change.
12. 2024 Contested A narrative review puts both faces of the question back in the same text. On one side it cites a study in which, after fourteen weeks, beginners' better arrows come with a slowing of the heart; on the other it reports a study of elite archers in which there is no cardiac deceleration at all while aiming. The review suggests a possible dividing line, with the slowing showing up in beginners who are improving more than in people who have been shooting for years, but it does not test it, and in 1990 the slower last beats had been seen in four elite archers. The status stays contested.
13. 2025 Contested The split widens with better data on both sides. In favour: forty-five traditional Turkish archers, where those with the lower average heart rate while shooting score higher, with a strong correlation in the women and a moderate one in the men; thirty-two Indian archers, where heart rate while aiming, at release and in the follow-through is negatively correlated with score; and fifty video clips from international competitions, where heart rate estimated from the face remains the heaviest variable alongside arm movement. Against: in the Indian study a second session with a lower heart rate gives exactly the same score. These are cross-sectional associations on one side and a within-archer comparison on the other, and the contrary result in elite archers has not been withdrawn: contested.

Related

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• 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.

Related studies

• Theoretical workIl pavimento (The floor): how much of archery is real

Research lines

• 48 studiesThe heartbeat and the shot: heart rate and HRV since 1981
• 27 studiesHow much the body switches on in competition

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
• ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023

See all claims on mind and attention