Archers often have poor general physical condition

The summary today

In club, school and youth groups measured against reference tables, physical condition often comes out below average, strength above all: in the samples that show it most clearly, from twenty children taking up the sport to sixty youngsters aged 12 to 13 and twelve district-level archers, between 58 and 88 per cent fall in the lowest bands and hardly anyone reaches the good one, and in the district group all are below the norm for leg strength and aerobic capacity. The picture has three limits, though. The first is which quality: in fifteen university archers 73 per cent start in the lowest strength category but none in the lowest muscular endurance category, and in the district group back strength is the item where 42 per cent reach the good band. The second is level: six world-class recurve archers have average aerobic capacity, 45 ml/kg/min, not poor, and 160 children being started in archery in Manokwari, Indonesia, have a VO2max above the Jakarta references quoted by the authors. The third is the yardstick: almost all comparisons are with general-population norms, often Indonesian ones, in small groups and in regional or questionable journals, and no study compares archers and non-archers of the same age measured in the same way.

Also phrased as: "archers are unfit"; "archery is not a physical sport"; "archers' fitness levels"; "athletic conditioning of archers"; "sedentary archers"

Evidence

• 2015
  Against Archers Published later

  160 children aged 10 to 12 being started in archery at primary schools in Manokwari: VO2max from the multistage test 33.73 ± 3.69 ml/kg/min in the boys and 30.57 ± 3.60 in the girls, above the references quoted by the authors for 11 to 14-year-olds in Jakarta, 26.0 and 24.5. The comparison is with values from another city and another age band.

  IDENTIFIKASI BAKAT OLAHRAGA PANAHAN PADA SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR DI KABUPATEN MANOKWARI · Nikanor Asaribab, Siswantoyo

• 2015
  Context Archers Published later

  5 male Xibo archers aged 15 to 17 against 18 footballers and 7 judoka: estimated VO2max 2,984 against 3,196 and 3,226 ml/min (p < 0.01), 100 metres in 14.62 seconds against 13.65 and 13.53; over 1,500 metres, though, no significant difference, and body fat and standing long jump are similar. VO2max is derived by regression from the Harvard index, so it is not a second piece of evidence; the t values for vital capacity per kilo (1.34 and 0.99) are not compatible with the significance claimed. Five subjects, in a venue with doubtful standards: it stays as context.

  Physique Characteristics of Ethnic Archers Based on R-cluster Matrix Questionable venue · Yunfeng Wang, Yinan Ma

• 2015
  Context Archers Published later

  30 male Indian archers aged 17 to 24: 10.27 ± 1.62 and 12.00 ± 2.14 pull-ups in the two groups, and about 111 on the back dynamometer, with no unit stated. Reference values with no norms beside them.

  Effectiveness of six weeks training on static strength of archery players Questionable venue · H. Surendra Sharma, N. Sunderlal Singh, Th. Bimol Singh

• 2017
  Context Archers Published later

  15 male archers aged 18 to 20 in the experimental group, baseline values: a median of 4 pull-ups in 30 seconds (from 1 to 6), 33.2 sit-ups and 29.4 push-ups in 30 seconds. Modest pull-up figures but with no norms for comparison, in a venue with doubtful standards.

  The Impact of Hand Grip Strength Exercises on the Target Shooting Accuracy Score for Archers Questionable venue · Süreyya Yonca Sezer

• 2018
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  15 high-school kyudo archers with six months to three years of experience: some first-year beginners cannot shoot more than two arrows in a row, so the authors limit the recorded shots to two each. An observation, not a measure of physical condition.

  Study on motion analysis of archery · Haruhi Koyama, Yuji Kawamori, Masanobu Asai, Nobuyuki Kida

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  30 archers from the Sriwijaya Archery Club in Palembang (20 men, 10 women): in the 12-minute run the experimental group averages 1.88 km and the controls 1.89, with individual values from 1.44 to 2.48 km, a spread of about a kilometre in both groups. A very uneven aerobic endurance, but the study does not compare it with any norm, so it stays as context like the other profiles with no reference.

  Pengaruh Latihan Square terhadap Daya Tahan Aerobic Atlet Sriwijaya Archery Club · Arisman

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  50 young Malaysian archers aged 17 (37 boys, 13 girls): vertical jump 38.71 ± 8.64 cm, sit-ups in one minute 29.62 ± 5.43. A profile with no norms beside it.

  A machine learning approach of predicting high potential archers by means of physical fitness indicators · Rabiu Muazu Musa, Anwar P. P. Abdul Majeed, Zahari Taha, Siow Wee Chang, Ahmad Fakhri Ab. Nasir, Mohamad Razali Abdullah

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  10 female beginners at the Kobar Archery club in Jambi: before training none is in the good band of the arm strength norms, 4 in 10 are average and 6 in 10 poor. After 18 sessions of renegade rows over six weeks, with no control, one is good, seven average and two poor.

  Pengaruh Latihan Renegade Row Terhadap Kekuatan Otot Lengan Pada Atlet Panahan Klub Archery Kobar Kota Jambi Questionable venue · Rosa Windasari

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  20 children aged 10 to 12 taking up archery at a primary school in Yogyakarta: before the circuit, on the Indonesian fitness test, none is in the very good or good bands, 8 are fair (40 per cent), 9 poor (45 per cent) and 3 very poor (15 per cent).

  The effect of circuit training on physical fitness and archery accuracy in novice athletes · Susanto, Siswantoyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Himawan Putranta

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  15 Indonesian university archers aged 17 to 22, active for at least two months: in strength 11 start in the lowest category (73.3 per cent), 3 in the mediocre one and 1 in good. In muscular endurance, by contrast, none starts in the lowest, 8 are mediocre (53.3 per cent), 4 average and 3 good: in the same archers strength lags well behind endurance.

  The effect of weight training with compound set method on strength and endurance among archery athletes · Ahmad Nasrulloh, Yudik Prasetyo, Sigit Nugroho, Rina Yuniana, Kukuh Wahyudin Pratama

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  In the monitoring of 20 archers in the Banyumas province quoted in the introduction, the hang test gives an average of 8.3, with 10 per cent in the good band, 35 average, 45 poor and 10 very poor. The same figures reappear in two later papers by the same group: in 2023 as a digital bow-holding test at a club in Yogyakarta, in 2024 as a hang test. A figure quoted without a method, and attributed to different tests and places, cannot count as a supporting study: it stays as context.

  Circuit bodyweight training: does it affect increasing arm muscle endurance and archery accuracy in pandemic conditions? · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafied Billy Yachsie, Suharjana, Ridho Gata Wijaya, Ahmad Nasrulloh

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  15 sedentary adults aged 18 to 23 taking up traditional archery, with no previous experience: before any training the side bridge lasts 24.0 and 26.5 seconds (medians, right and left), the front plank 32.2 and one-leg balance with eyes closed about 9 seconds. It describes people arriving at archery, not people who have shot for years.

  Geleneksel Okçuluk Eğitimi Alan Bireylerde Stabilizasyon Egzersizlerinin Core Kas Fonksiyonu ve Denge Üzerine Etkisinin Karşılaştırılması: Pilot Çalışma · Bahar Kulunkoglu, Sevilay Seda Baş, Büşra Kalkan Balak, Melahat Sayan

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  31 archers aged 13 to 18 from Negeri Sembilan, of different levels: draw force 13.76 ± 3.52 kg (from 7.80 to 19.14), push-ups 34.39 ± 8.83 (from 13 to 48), one-leg balance 33.19 ± 10.52 seconds. Widely spread values, with no norms beside them.

  The relationship between arm muscle strength, muscle endurance, balance and draw force length on archery performance · Maisarah Mohd Saleh, Adam Linoby, Fatin Aqilah Abdul Razak, Nurul Ain Abu Kasim, Nur Atikah Mohamed Kassim

• 2023
  For Archers Published later

  60 young archers aged 12 to 13 in the Sleman district (34 boys, 26 girls): grip strength in the insufficient category for 30 boys out of 34 (88 per cent) and 16 girls out of 26 (61 per cent); in the good category no boys and two girls. The insufficiency threshold for boys is 19.4 kg. The journal has questionable editorial standards.

  The relationship balance of hand grip strength and body balance to archry ability Questionable venue · Heru Prasetyo, Siswantoyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Susanto

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  11 archers aged 10 to 13, active for at least three months and with their own equipment, baseline values: aerobic capacity 26.71 ± 2.84 ml/kg/min (from 23.2 to 31.4) and side plank 42.45 ± 12.61 seconds.

  The Effect of Aerobic Circuit Training on Muscle Resistance, Cardiorespiratory Endurance, and Accuracy Among Archery Athletes Questionable venue · Muh Batistuta Fitoni N, Yudik Prasetyo, Heru Prasetyo

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  6 world-class recurve archers from the Turkish national team, aged 20 ± 2: 67.5 kg at 180.3 cm, body fat of 8.5 ± 3 per cent and a VO2max of 45.0 ± 3.3 ml/kg/min. Average aerobic capacity and a lean build: at the top the condition does not come out as poor.

  Energy intake, hydration status, and sleep of world-class male archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Ian Walshe, Stuart Goodall

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  18 sub-elite Indonesian recurve archers aged 13 to 14: a 105-second hover, about 84 seconds of standing balance on each side, arm pulling strength 15.47 ± 3.25 kg and estimated VO2max 27.4 ± 2.1 ml/kg/min. A profile with no norms beside it, with low aerobic capacity.

  Physical capacity and performance correlation in sub-elite Indonesian archery athletes · Afif Rusdiawan, Donny Ardy Kusuma, Muhammad Labib Siena Ar Rasyid, José Vicente García Jiménez, Mochammad Purnomo, Himawan Wismanadi, et al.

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  16 archers from the Jakarta regional squad: before training the wall squat ranges from 35 to 144 (mean 88.19) and the core and plank test from 1 to 7 (mean 3.94). In archers already selected for their shooting, physical condition varies fourfold from one to the next.

  Kondisi Fisik: Wall Squat Dan Core and Plank Pada Atlet Pelatda PON Panahan DKI Jakarta 2024 · Ferry Yohanes Wattimena, Octavian Serka Yudha Pratama, Aridhotul Haqiyah

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  20 under-13 standard-bow archers: on a scale built from the group's own mean and standard deviation, 10 per cent have very good condition, 15 good, 45 fair and 30 poor. The categories are relative to the group and say nothing about how they stand against an external standard.

  Physical fitness and shooting accuracy: an evaluative study on early adolescent archery athletes · Rahmaniar Wahyuningtias, Indra Himawan Susanto, Ananda Perwira Bakti, Soni Sulistyarto

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  12 male district-level archers in Bengkalis, six tests compared with Indonesian norms: overall condition poor for 7 out of 12 (58.3 per cent) and fair for 5, none in the good band. Hand pull 26.6 kg (50 per cent poor), push 20.3 kg (83.3 per cent poor), pull-ups 7.1 (91.7 per cent poor), leg strength 81 kg and VO2max from the Balke test 39.6 ml/kg/min (both poor for all of them). The one exception is back strength, 88.5 kg, with 41.7 per cent in the good band.

  Physical Condition Profile of Male Archery Athletes in Bengkalis Regency · Fahrul Rizal

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  21 students aged 15 to 17 in a Balinese school squad, VO2max estimated with the multistage fitness test 27.84 ± 4.45 ml/kg/min, from 22.93 to 38.84: against the age norms 11 are adequate (52.4 per cent), 6 poor (28.6), 3 good (14.3) and 1 excellent (4.8). In its running text the paper gives figures that differ from its own table (2 excellent, 5 poor); the table is used here.

  The Utilization of VO₂Max Data as Archery Athlete Selection and Monitoring Instrument · I Gede Ari Septena Putra, Kadek Yogi Parta Lesmana, I Made Satyawan

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  38 Indonesian competitive archers, 21 years old on average, 4 sessions a week and 3 years of competition: at pre-test grip is 35.2 and 34.9 kg in the two groups, the bench press and row maximum 55.3 and 54.8 kg, the plank 78.5 and 79.2 seconds, push-ups 22.4 and 22.1. Values of a trained person, not poor, but far from a strength athlete.

  From play to performance: effects of fun-based circuit training on muscular strength, endurance, and competitive performance in Indonesian archery athletes · Rifky Riyandi Prastyawan, Yudik Prasetyo, Fathurahman Arjuna, Sabda Hussain As Shafi

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  45 national-division junior archers from the Boyolali district: 27.89 ± 4.94 push-ups in sixty seconds, from 19 to 38. A profile with no norms beside it, with large differences from one archer to the next.

  Concentration Level and Arm Muscle Endurance Relationship to Archery Accuracy · Muhammad Fadhil Nurida, Mugiyo Hartono

Status history

1. 2015 Contradicted The first usable result points the other way: one hundred and sixty children aged 10 to 12 being started in archery in the schools of Manokwari have a VO2max of 33.7 ml/kg/min in the boys and 30.6 in the girls, above the references for Jakarta children quoted by the authors, 26.0 and 24.5. In the same year five Xibo teenagers come out slower than footballers and judoka in estimated aerobic capacity and over 100 metres, but there are five of them, the venue has doubtful standards and VO2max is derived from the Harvard index, so it stays as context. A single study against, in children who had only just started: contradicted.
2. 2019 Contradicted The first profiles of club and youth archers arrive, but with no norms beside them: thirty archers from a club in Palembang run an average of 1.88 kilometres in twelve minutes, with values from 1.44 to 2.48, and fifty young Malaysian archers jump about 39 centimetres vertically and do thirty sit-ups a minute. Neither study compares its values with a reference, so both stay as context, and the only comparison with a norm is still the one on the Manokwari children, which points against: contradicted.
3. 2021 Contested The first comparisons with norms that point in favour arrive. Of twenty children aged 10 to 12 starting out in Yogyakarta none reaches the good level of the Indonesian fitness test and 60 per cent are below average; of ten female beginners at a club in Jambi none falls in the good band of the arm strength norms and six in ten are in the poor band, but that journal has doubtful standards and cannot decide the status. One study in favour and one against, both in children who had only just started and both compared with general-population norms: contested.
4. 2022 Reported University archers arrive, and with them a first distinction. Of fifteen university archers 73 per cent start in the lowest strength category. Another paper from the same year quotes, in its introduction, a monitoring of twenty archers with 45 per cent poor and 10 per cent very poor, but the same figures reappear in later papers by the same group attributed to a different test and a different club, so they stay as context. With two studies in favour against one, and the only one against comparing schoolchildren with references from another city and another age band, the status rises to reported. In the same university archers, however, muscular endurance starts much better, with none in the lowest category: poor applies to strength more than to condition in general.
5. 2023 Reported The largest sample in favour: of sixty archers aged 12 to 13 in the Sleman district, 88 per cent of the boys and 61 per cent of the girls have a grip strength below the threshold used in the study, in a journal with questionable standards. In the same year eleven youngsters aged 10 to 13 who train regularly sit around 27 ml/kg/min of aerobic capacity and hold the side plank for less than a minute. The thresholds change from study to study and the venue cannot decide the status, which remains reported.
6. 2024 Reported The first data on the top level scale the claim down: six world-class recurve archers from the Turkish national team are lean, at 8.5 per cent body fat, and have a VO2max of 45.0 ml/kg/min, an average aerobic capacity, not a poor one. In Indonesian sub-elite youngsters, by contrast, VO2max stays at 27.4, and in a regional squad strength tests vary fourfold from one archer to the next. The "often" holds for youth and club groups, not for the elite: reported.
7. 2026 Reported Two new samples point the same way. Twelve district-level archers measured against national norms are below the norm on almost everything: more than half in poor condition and none in the good band, 92 per cent below the norm on pull-ups, all of them on leg strength and aerobic capacity; only in back strength do 42 per cent reach the good band. In a Balinese school squad more than a quarter of the youngsters fall in the lowest aerobic category for their age. These are still descriptive measurements on small groups, with no higher-level archers alongside: reported.

Related

Related articles

• Are archers athletes? What the measurements say about the physical condition of people who shootWhat shooting costs the body, whether the bow makes you stronger and how fit measured archers are: what the studies say about the condition of people who shoot.
• Running and aerobic fitness: what the studies on archers sayShould archers run to shoot better? How much fitness shooting asks for, whether fitter archers score more and what circuits change, from studies on archers.

Research lines

• 63 studiesThe archer's physical profile: strength, endurance and size
• 39 studiesPhysical training interventions: what has been tested

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA battery of physical tests identifies the most promising young archers7 studies · 373 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA few weeks of archery improves children's balance1 study · 32 archers measuredStatus since 2009
• ReportedA mobility and stretching programme improves an archer's flexibility1 study · 30 archers measuredStatus since 2025
• ReportedA spell of reduced training makes the score drop1 study · 9 archers measuredStatus since 2021
• ReportedA strength programme away from the range increases an archer's measured strength15 studies · 316 archers measuredStatus since 2018

See all claims on physical training