Matteo Campagna
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Combining gym strength with bow-specific strength improves scores more than either on its own

4 studies · 102 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2022202420262023, for, n = 602022, context, n = 152026, for, n = 152024, context, n = 12
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

Only one study has compared the three routes, and its result points the way the claim does: sixty Indian national-level archers split into four groups for twelve weeks, where those alternating gym work with bow strength work reached an adjusted mean of 590.7 points over seventy-two arrows, against 569.1 for gym work alone, 557.4 for bow work alone and 532.6 for the group that simply trained as usual. The gap over gym work alone is 21.6 points, and the control group did not move in twelve weeks: that is the figure that makes the rest usable, because it says that without extra work the score of national-level archers stays where it is. Two things stop this going further. The first is the design, since the groups were not drawn at random, the study comes from a single research team and the bibliography holds no replication. The second is the dose, since the combined group trained six times a week, more than any other, so the effect of combining cannot be separated from the effect of the heavier load. A 2026 systematic review concludes in the same direction, but it reads that same study and reports no effect sizes, and it also reports a programme that moved eighty per cent of the work onto coordination and technique, cutting maximal strength work, produced large gains in movement quality in seventy archers. The balance between general and specific work matters, and adding more is not always better.

Also phrased as: "gym work and holding drills together"; "general and specific strength for archers"; "gym work or just a heavier bow"; "combined strength programme for archery"

In practice

In the programmes that circulate among archers, gym work and bow work are put in the same week, on the idea that one builds the strength and the other teaches the shot how to use it.

Evidence

  • 2022
    Context Archers Published later

    A single group of university archers in Yogyakarta, eight weeks of weight training with the compound set method, at 60 to 80 per cent of one-rep maximum with 3 to 4 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions: grip strength rises (t = 14.532, p < 0.001) and so does muscular endurance (t = 13.396). No control group, no measure of score and no comparison between general and specific work: it says that gym work raises archers' strength, not that combining it with bow work pays off more.

    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

  • 2023
    For Archers Published later

    60 Indian recurve and compound archers at national level, with at least three years of practice, in four groups of fifteen over twelve weeks. Over 72 arrows the combined group went from 536.1 ± 8.7 to 591.6 ± 10.5 points, gym work alone from 533.4 ± 7.0 to 568.4 ± 8.6, bow-specific work alone from 535.3 ± 13.0 to 557.9 ± 10.1, and the control group from 531.2 ± 15.0 to 537.3 ± 9.9, which is not a significant change. The adjusted means are 590.7, 569.1, 557.4 and 532.6, with ANCOVA F=111.5 and p<0.001, and the combined group's advantage over gym work alone is 21.6 points (p=0.00012). The load was not equal, though: the combined group trained six times a week, between gym work at 50 to 70 per cent of one-rep maximum and holds at draw of up to a minute, more than any other group. The groups were not assigned at random.

    Isolated and Combined Effect of Strength Training and Specific Strength Training on Performance Levels Among Archers · Arun Kumar Chatla, K Venkata Narasimha Rao, Deepak Pandey, Laishram Shila Devi, Vaddepalley Satyanarayana

  • 2024
    Context Archers Published later

    12 archers from the West Sumbawa district, six per group, eighteen sessions: the group adding bow-specific strength work goes over 36 arrows at 30 m from 288.00 ± 23.74 to 296.66 ± 23.83 (paired t, p = 0.01), the group carrying on with the usual programme from 278.50 to 278.66 (p = 0.96). There is no gym group and no direct comparison between the two groups, so the study does not touch the combination the claim is about. The arithmetic has inconsistencies: the abstract gives a 25-point difference where the group totals, from 1,728 to 1,780, give 52, and it calls a t of 1.0886 "greater" than the critical value of 2.015. The journal has questionable editorial standards.

    The effect of specific physical training on shooting in west Sumbawa district archery athletes Questionable venue · Muhammad Fauzan

  • 2026
    For Review Published later

    Systematic review of 15 intervention studies on archers between 2015 and 2025, with no meta-analysis. All five strength studies report significant results, and the authors conclude that programmes combining general and specific work do more than isolated routines, but they write it as a synthesis with no effect sizes, resting the integrated-work part on the 2023 study already in the archive. The same review reports a programme on 70 archers, twenty-five at national level and forty-five in basic training, with eighty per cent of the work on coordination and technical skill: coordination tasks improved by between 50.6 and 72.2 per cent, and elbow angle, hand position and shoulder movement speed by between 5.1 and 39.9 per cent, with maximal strength work deliberately cut back.

    Systematic Review of Exercise Interventions in Archery: Injury Management and Performance Outcomes · Ambusam Subramaniam, Fairus Fariza Zainudin, Mon Redee Sut Txi

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had compared a gym programme, a bow-specific strength programme and the two together within the same group of archers: the question had not been asked.
  2. 2022 Not studied A before-and-after study on archers shows that compound-set work raises grip strength, but the score is not measured and the two kinds of work are not compared with each other. The question stays open.
  3. 2023 Reported The first and so far only direct comparison arrives: sixty Indian national-level archers in four groups over twelve weeks, with the combined group at an adjusted mean of 590.7 points over seventy-two arrows against 569.1 for gym work alone, and the control group unmoved. The result points the way the claim does, but the groups were not randomised, there is a single research team and a single study: reported.
  4. 2024 Reported A small Indonesian study tests only half of the question: six district archers who add bow-specific strength work gain almost nine points over thirty-six arrows, from 288.0 to 296.7, while six who carry on with their usual programme stay where they were. There is no gym group and no combined group, the two groups are not compared with each other and the journal is questionable: at most it says that specific work shifts something, not that combining it with gym work pays off more. The status stays reported.
  5. 2026 Reported A systematic review concludes in the same direction across five strength studies, but states it as the authors' synthesis, with no effect sizes, and for the integrated-work part it rests on the 2023 study already in the archive: the same evidence read twice counts once, so the status does not rise. The same review reports a programme on seventy archers that moves eighty per cent of the work onto coordination and technique, cutting maximal strength work, and improves movement quality and the tests under difficult conditions, a sign that the balance between general and specific work is what matters.

Related

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Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

See the programme
Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Combining gym strength with bow-specific strength improves scores more than either on its own (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/gym-and-bow-specific-strength

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_forzapalestraespecifica,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Combining gym strength with bow-specific strength improves scores more than either on its own},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/gym-and-bow-specific-strength},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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