Beyond 100 arrows in a session the shoulder muscles fatigue

The summary today

For thirty years the question had no answer because nobody measured the shoulder at a hundred arrows: what was measured was seventy-two arrows with a break in the middle, fifteen shots, ten shots, grip strength after a hundred and forty-four or two hundred arrows, and the signs of fatigue were nearly always absent or muddled. Since 2024 three articles have followed the same twenty Polish club archers, and the registry counts them as a single sample. At a hundred arrows electromyography finds a shift rather than a collapse: the string-arm infraspinatus falls in amplitude and in median frequency, the lower trapezius produces a lower peak, while the deltoids and upper trapezius raise their activation, which is how the body compensates. Even there, though, three parts of the trapezius and the middle deltoid show no change in frequency and the posterior deltoid raises it, running opposite to fatigue. In 2026 the same sample shows that after a hundred arrows the tone, stiffness and elasticity of six muscles do not move, and that for these archers a hundred arrows are not an unusual load but the ordinary session. The same group of archers therefore gives results pointing two ways, and through all of this the score has never been counted.

Also phrased as: "how many arrows before fatigue"; "shot quality after 100 arrows"; "muscle fatigue and arrow count"; "arrows per session and the shoulder"; "volume threshold per session"

Evidence

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  15 experienced recurve archers, 8 from the US squad with FITA scores above 1,250 and 7 below 1,150, 72 arrows at 30 m in about two hours, grip pressure compared across the blocks of arrows 1-6, 34-39 and 67-72: the estimated moment about the vertical axis increases (F = 5.65, p = 0.03) and the increase appears to concern the stronger archers more (interaction F = 4.53, p = 0.053), while the vertical moments do not change and shot-to-shot variability stays the same on all four descriptors. No measurement of shoulder muscles and a volume below the threshold.

  Archery Bow Grip Force Distribution: Relationships with Performance and Fatigue · Philip E. Martin, Gary D. Heise

• 2006
  Context Archers Published later

  7 elite archers with FITA scores of 1,303 ± 26, 6 beginners with 1,152 ± 9 and 10 non-archers, a series of 15 shots: the median frequency of the forearm muscles goes from 115.6 ± 20.4 to 106.2 ± 21.7 Hz between the first and last shot, a non-significant difference. Fifteen shots are too few for the absence of fatigue to say anything about the threshold.

  Archery performance level and repeatability of event-related EMG · A.R. Soylu, H. Ertan, F. Korkusuz

• 2017
  Context Archers Published later

  16 male archers aged 16 to 19 from a Turkish provincial team, with about two years' practice, measured on a Jamar dynamometer before and straight after three sessions made up of a warm-up, 200 arrows and a cool-down: grip never falls. In the first session it goes from 41.4 to 42.3 kg on the right and from 39.2 to 39.4 on the left, in the second from 43.3 to 45.1 and from 40.3 to 41.4, in the third from 44.5 to 45.2 and from 40.9 to 41.4 kg. The report does not hold up well: every difference, even one of two tenths of a kilo, is declared significant; for the right hand in the third session the comparison table gives a different starting value, 45.5, which would turn the increase into a drop; the standard deviations change from one table to the next; and the body of the English text describes the sample as an arm wrestling team, while the abstracts, in Turkish and in English, speak of archers. It measures the hand rather than the shoulder, in a journal with questionable editorial standards: it remains context.

  Effect of unit exercise on hand grip strength of the archers Questionable venue · Yonca Süreyya Sezer, Baha Engin Çelikel, Ercan Gür, Yüksel Savucu

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  10 recurve archers from the Brazilian national squad, 4 men and 6 women aged 15 to 32, 72 arrows at 70 m in 12 ends of 6 with a twenty-minute break after the sixth, electromyography of 12 muscles in 100 ms windows around the clicker: across ends, the multifidus and the bow-side serratus anterior vary in every phase, while the finger extensor, biceps, pectoralis major and posterior deltoid stay unchanged before the clicker. The halfway break and the volume below a hundred arrows stop this being read as evidence on the threshold.

  Temporal pattern in the muscles of the upper limbs and the trunk in the archery · Nadjila Tejo Machado

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  One elite and one novice archer in a simulated round of 12 ends of 6 arrows at 70 m: the elite's fatigue markers stayed stable; in the novice, from the sixth end, electromyographic activity of the forearm finger flexor rose and grip strength fell. Lactate stayed near resting values in the elite and rose slightly in the novice. The shoulder muscles were not measured, and the electromyography is taken during a grip test between ends rather than during shooting. These are two people, one per level, so the difference observed is between two individuals and not between levels: the elite archer is also eleven centimetres taller, six kilograms heavier and a world medallist at sixteen. In the elite archer, moreover, the signal amplitude at maximum contraction falls by 20.7 per cent, which the article does not comment on.

  Physiological demands of archery: effect of experience level · Thiago Oliveira Borges, Alexandre Moreira, Reury Frank Bacurau, Fernando Henrique Magalhães, Caroline Dario Capitani, Alexandre Nunes Martins, et al.

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  28 Indian male archers at three levels, 10 arrows at 10 m: across the ten shots, core activation does not change from shot to shot, with shot effects of p = 0.809 for transversus abdominis, p = 0.542 for multifidus and p = 0.742 for the co-contraction index. Ten arrows are a tenth of the threshold.

  EMG Activity of Transversus Abdominis, Multifidus and Co-Contraction Index in Different Phases Amongst Varied Level Archers: A Cross-Sectional Study · Sheikh Azhar, Saurabh Sharma, Shalini Sharma, Tarushi Tanwar

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  8 recurve archers from the Brazilian national squad, 4 men and 4 women, a simulated round of 144 arrows compared with a rest day: dominant-hand grip strength does not differ significantly between rest and competition after the various distances. The volume goes past a hundred arrows, but the measurement is the hand rather than the shoulder, and the thesis presents almost all its results in figures with no tables of values.

  Caracterização das demandas fisiológicas e intervenção nutricional no Tiro com Arco · Levy Aragão de Oliveira

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  A single Malaysian university recurve archer, 72 arrows at 30 m in two sets of six ends, electromyography of the bow-arm finger extensor and of the right shoulder's supraspinatus: the authors read signs of fatigue towards the end of each set, but the data point several ways. Mean amplitude rises from the first to the twelfth end in both muscles, only just in the supraspinatus (from 5.93 to 6.15 in unstated units); the supraspinatus median frequency drops at the fifth end and the extensor's at the eighth, but over the whole session the extensor's frequency rises roughly tenfold, the opposite direction to fatigue, and the two muscles do not move together (r = 0.009 for amplitude, 0.107 for frequency). No statistical test on the trend and no link with the score, which is in fact higher in the second set (318 against 307).

  Investigation of muscle fatigue of the archer’s during endurance shooting · Zul Amer Hamdan, Zulkifli Ahmad@Manap, Nasrul Hadi Johari

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  20 elite Paralympic archers, 90-minute sessions: grip strength falls slightly from start to finish in both hands, for instance from 38.7 ± 2.1 to 38.1 ± 1.9 kg on the right and from 37.4 ± 2.5 to 35.6 ± 2.2 on the left in the experimental group, and from 36.1 ± 2.1 to 34.0 ± 2.7 on the left in the control group. The arrow volume is not stated and the shoulder is not measured.

  Characterization of the influence of physical rehabilitation means and special physical exercises of archery on the sports performance of Paralympic athletes · A. Mahlovanyy, I. Grygus, O. Kunynets, S. Duliba, L. Strelbytskyi, O. Ivanochko, V. Homyshyn

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  20 Polish traditional club archers, 14 men and 6 women with 5.5 ± 4.8 years' practice and 1.6 training days a week, measured at rest, after 50 and after 100 arrows: between 50 and 100 arrows the string-arm infraspinatus falls in mean amplitude from 162.0 to 113.2 µV (p = 0.033), in peak from 357.7 to 218.5 µV (p = 0.018) and in median frequency from 60.7 to 49.3 Hz (p = 0.021), and the lower trapezius produces a lower peak, from 408.5 after 50 arrows to 258.3 µV after 100 (p = 0.029). At the same time the middle deltoid, posterior deltoid and upper trapezius raise their activation progressively (the upper trapezius, for instance, from 130.2 to 175.5 µV, p < 0.001). The picture is not uniform: the middle trapezius does not change (p from 0.205 to 0.524), in the three parts of the trapezius and in the middle deltoid the median frequency stays put, and in the posterior deltoid the frequency rises, from 61.9 to 66.5 and 65.6 Hz (p < 0.001), which is the opposite of a sign of fatigue. Archers who habitually shoot more than 100 arrows do not respond differently (no time by group interaction, p from 0.06 to 0.98, with 13 and 7 archers). The sample's typical volume is 111.0 ± 46.4 arrows per session. The article's abstract announces a significant decline after one hundred arrows without distinguishing between muscles, while the declines are in two of the six: it has to be read against the tables. And the electromyography comes with no measure of force, so during the maximal contraction the electrical signal is known and the newtons produced are not: a lower amplitude may come from fatigue or from a smaller effort.

  Analyzing the Impact of Accumulated Training Shots on Electromyography Parameters in Trained Archery Athletes: Exploring Fatigue and Its Association with Training Practices · Weronika Naderza, Bartłomiej Niespodziński, Rafał Studnicki

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  20 trained archers from a Polish regional club, 14 men and 6 women, measured at rest, after 100 arrows and after manual therapy: after a hundred arrows the upper trapezius peak rises from 312.6 to 463.9 µV (p = 0.014) and the middle trapezius peak from 362.8 to 723.4 µV (p = 0.048), the middle deltoid raises its mean amplitude from 196.1 to 248.9 µV (p = 0.002) and the lower trapezius in the men falls from 384.0 to 237.3 µV. The infraspinatus moves in the falling direction, with mean amplitude going from 151.5 to 121.7 µV in the men and from 154.2 to 97.9 in the women (effect of time F = 8.480, p = 0.003), while the posterior deltoid does not change on any parameter. These archers were shooting over a hundred arrows per session, 102.1 ± 40.4 for the men and 131.7 ± 56.7 for the women, training less than twice a week. No control group. Caution with the numbers: some values in the text, such as the starting 312.6 and 362.8 µV, cannot be derived from the table means, and the paragraphs on upper and lower trapezius are identical, so one is copied from the other.

  Effects of shoulder manipulation on electromyography measures in archery athletes during recovery from fatigue: a comparison between sexes · Rafał Studnicki, Weronika Naderza, Bartłomiej Niespodziński, Rita Hansdorfer-Korzon, Adam Kawczyński

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  A single archer from the Egyptian national squad, 36 arrows at 30 m according to the text (the article's own diagram gives 48) on an 80 cm face, 34 °C and 53% humidity: between the fifth and sixth end the frequency of the electromyographic spectrum, which the article labels MF without saying whether it is the mean or the median, falls in six muscles out of eight, on both sides of the body, with the left medial deltoid going from 39 to 16 Hz, the left trapezius from 41 to 31 and the right wrist extensors from 93 to 80, while the right biceps rises from 20 to 37 and the left finger flexor from 35 to 52. The end score goes from 56 to 54. One person only, and the volume stops at 36 arrows.

  Relationship between electromyography (EMG) as an indicator of muscle fatigue and archers’ accuracy · Essam Ibrahim, Mohamed Abdelgawad

• 2026
  Against Archers Published later

  20 experienced Polish amateur archers, 14 men and 6 women with 5.5 years' practice, measured with a myotonometer at rest, after 50 and after 100 arrows: across 30 comparisons on 6 muscles and 5 parameters no effect of time emerges after Holm correction, with the lowest corrected p at 0.540, and posterior deltoid stiffness, for instance, going from 293.5 to 301.3 N/m. The same sample shoots 111 arrows per session at 1.6 sessions a week, so a hundred arrows are the ordinary session rather than an unusual load. It is the same sample as the two 2024 articles, linked in the registry, and counts with them as a single study. Mechanical properties are not the electrical signs of fatigue, so the contrast with the 2024 articles is not direct, but it points the opposite way.

  Changes in the mechanical properties of myotonometric muscles following manual therapy during archery: a single-group, single-session repeated measurement study · Rafał Studnicki, Weronika Naderza, Krzysztof Dudziński, Dariusz Mroczek, Aleksandra Kisilewicz, Małgorzata Smoter

Status history

1. 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had yet measured shoulder muscle fatigue across a shooting session.
2. 1992 Not studied The earliest data on a long session come from fifteen experienced recurve archers shooting seventy-two arrows in about two hours at 30 metres. Between the first block and the last, the sideways torque applied to the grip increases, while the shot-to-shot consistency of the pressure does not change on any of the four descriptors. Something gives way in the movement before repeatability does, but the measurement is the hand rather than the shoulder, and seventy-two arrows are not a hundred: the question has not yet been asked.
3. 2006 Not studied The first electromyography work on archers stops at fifteen shots and is there to check the repeatability of the signal: across that series the forearm muscles show no sign of fatigue. The sessions measured stay far shorter than a hundred arrows, so on the threshold there is no relevant evidence.
4. 2017 Not studied For the first time a measured session goes beyond a hundred arrows: sixteen young Turkish archers shoot two hundred arrows between a warm-up and a cool-down, on three different days, and at the end their grip strength on the dynamometer is never lower than at the start. The study measures the hand rather than the shoulder, though, has figures that do not match from one table to the next and appears in a journal with questionable editorial standards: background information, and on the shoulder muscles the question is still without a measurement.
5. 2018 Not studied The first electromyographic measurement across a long session arrives: seventy-two arrows at 70 metres in ten archers from the Brazilian national squad, and most muscles keep a similar activity from one end to the next, with only the multifidus and the bow-side serratus anterior changing. The session stays under a hundred arrows and there is a twenty-minute break halfway, so the question still has no answer.
6. 2020 Not studied A two-person case in a simulated round of seventy-two arrows shows that fatigue within a session depends on who is shooting: in the novice, from the sixth end on, finger flexor activity rises and grip strength falls, while in the elite archer the markers stay stable. The shoulder muscles were not measured and the volume stays under the threshold.
7. 2021 Not studied Two studies add data in the same direction without answering: over ten arrows core activation does not change from shot to shot, and after a hundred and forty-four arrows the grip strength of eight Brazilian national squad archers does not fall. The first is too short, the second measures the hand rather than the shoulder.
8. 2022 Not studied The first figures on a shoulder muscle across a long session come from a single case: one university recurve archer, seventy-two arrows in two sets, and electromyography of the supraspinatus whose frequency drops halfway through the first set and then recovers. The authors speak of fatigue, but the signal moves in different directions from one muscle to the other, no trend is tested and the score is higher in the second set than in the first. One person and seventy-two arrows: the question about a hundred still has no measurement.
9. 2023 Not studied In twenty Paralympic archers grip strength falls slightly from the start to the end of a ninety-minute session, in both hands. It is a hint of fatigue within the session, but it concerns the grip rather than the shoulder muscles, and the arrow volume is not stated: the question stays open.
10. 2024 Reported The first study that stops at exactly a hundred arrows arrives: in twenty traditional archers the string-arm infraspinatus falls in amplitude and in median frequency, the lower trapezius produces a lower peak, and meanwhile the deltoids and upper trapezius raise their activation, which is how the body compensates. In the same year a second article on the same twenty archers, which the registry counts together with the first as a single sample, finds higher peaks in the upper and middle trapezius after a hundred arrows and the middle deltoid rising while the infraspinatus falls, and a single case shows the frequency dropping in six muscles out of eight on both sides of the body. Within the main study, though, the three parts of the trapezius and the middle deltoid show no change in frequency and the posterior deltoid raises it: supporting evidence on archers, but not clean, so reported.
11. 2026 Contested The first result in the opposite direction arrives, and it comes from the same twenty Polish archers as the 2024 articles: after a hundred arrows the tone, stiffness and elasticity of six shoulder and forearm muscles do not change, across thirty comparisons and with no effect of time after correction, for instance posterior deltoid stiffness going from 293 to 301 newtons per metre. The mechanical properties of a muscle and the electrical signs of fatigue are not the same measure, but they answer the same question, and the same sample now points two ways: at a hundred arrows the electrical signal falls in two muscles while others compensate, yet none of the six becomes measurably different. Contested. The same study also supplies the background figure that was missing, since those archers shoot an average of a hundred and eleven arrows per session once or twice a week, which puts the claim's threshold inside ordinary training.

Related

Related articles

• Fatigue in archery: when tiredness sets in, and whether it shows in the scoreWhat happens to the shoulder, the bow and the score after many arrows: what studies of fatigue in archery have measured, and where the research stops.
• At what age can you start archery? A child is not a small adultWhen children can start archery, which bow young competitors choose, how much draw weight matters and what the data say about pain in young archers.
• How many arrows per week: what the research says about training volumeHow many arrows archers really shoot, from club to elite, and what research says about hours and score, fatigue after 100 arrows, injury and load progression.

Research lines

• 21 studiesFatigue, arrow volume and recovery: the dated trail
• 46 studiesShooting EMG from 1971 to today

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