Archery practice is a light-intensity physical activity

The summary today

Nearly every measurement available on archers puts shooting just above rest, and none of the metabolic ones brings it near hard exercise. The earliest ones, on six Japanese university archers, put an end of three arrows at 30 metres at 11.07 kcal over a little more than three minutes, with the heart rate rising from 71 to 99 and back to resting within two minutes. Forty years on the picture is the same from another direction: in a simulated competition blood lactate stays between 1.6 and 2.9 mmol/L, in eight archers of the Brazilian national squad over a hundred and forty-four arrows it never passes about 3 mmol/L, and in sixteen Ukrainian archers no excess lactate appears in the urine after an ordinary training session. Two warnings change how this claim should be used, though. The first is that the most quoted figure, a relative metabolic rate of 2.2, included running out and back to collect the arrows, which on its own was worth 5.0 in the tables those authors used: shooting twenty-four arrows in a row without moving sits between 1.6 and 2.2. Light intensity describes the shot, while the session depends on how much walking it involves. The second is that the heart and the muscles tell different stories: in nine young archers measured in training the pulse sat between 140 and 160 beats a minute, which is not light intensity, while lactate under the same conditions stays low. The samples run from two to sixteen people, the laboratories are few, and on the same Ukrainian group the same laboratory first found no rise in urinary lactate and then a rise of fourteen per cent: the direction holds, the precision does not.

Also phrased as: "archery is a light sport"; "how many calories archery burns"; "archery is not a strenuous sport"; "energy cost of an archery session"

Evidence

• 1981
  Context Archers Published later

  6 Japanese university archers aged 20 to 21, average bow 36.5 lb, ends of three arrows at 30 m with a run to collect them: each end cost 11.07 kcal on average (from 9.53 to 12.63) over 186 s of movement, that is 3.58 kcal a minute, with a relative metabolic rate of 2.2 (from 1.9 to 2.7), which the authors classed as somewhat heavy work. During the end, oxygen uptake was about twice the resting value, the heart rate went from 71 to 99 beats a minute and recovered within two minutes. The respiratory quotient rose from 0.77 at rest to 0.84 during the end and 0.88 just after, and was still 0.88 from the third minute on, when oxygen uptake had already returned to its resting 261 ml a minute. That 2.2 includes the 30 m out and back at about 100 m a minute plus the five seconds to pull the arrows, forty seconds in all, and in the tables the authors used, running at that pace is worth 5.0 on its own. Shooting and running cannot be separated, and the authors themselves class the end as somewhat heavy work: for that reason it stays context.

  Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1) · Koji Tsuji, Hide Takeyama, Hideo Koishi, Yoshiho Katayama

• 1984
  Context Archers Published later

  10 university archers, same research group: twenty-four arrows shot in a row without moving sit between 1.6 and 2.2 on the metabolic index in the men, while six arrows with a 30 m run to collect them reach between 2.3 and 2.9. This is the comparison that separates the two things: the cost of the shot and the cost of walking or running to the target.

  Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (Part 2) · Koji Tsuji, Takatsune Tsumiyama, Yoshiho Katayama

• 2002
  Context Archers Published later

  Echocardiographic comparison between young Japanese university athletes from six sports: left ventricular mass relative to body surface area was significantly higher in long-distance running, middle-distance running and swimming than in sprinting, weightlifting and archery. The archers were seven men averaging 19.6 years, and the table values cannot be extracted from the text available. It measures an adaptation built over years, not the load of one session.

  Doppler echocardiographic analysis of exercise-induced adaptation of left ventricular muscle mass and arterial vessels in young competitive athletes of various sports · Hefeng Dai, Tatehiro Toyoshima, Hiroshi Kiyota, Makoto Yamato, Shoichi Nakano

• 2016
  Context Archers Published later

  10 male archers and 10 male middle-distance runners, Indian university students aged 17 to 25, with seven-day diaries: daily energy expenditure comes out at 3390.6 ± 119.0 kcal in the archers against 5462.6 ± 97.0 in the runners, over 70 person-days per group. The journal has questionable editorial standards, so the result should be read with caution and under the registry's rules it does not settle the status.

  Analytical study of energy intake and expenditure of archery players and long distance runners Questionable venue · Kulbeer Singh

• 2019
  For Archers Published later

  Control group of a study on 30 club archers in Palembang, fifteen per group: six weeks of ordinary shooting practice alone leave aerobic endurance where it was, from 1.89 to 1.90 km on average in the twelve-minute run test, with the best unchanged at 2.48 km and the worst at 1.46 km. It is an indirect measure of the load: shooting does not train the aerobic engine.

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

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  One elite archer from the Brazilian junior national squad and one club novice, simulated round of 72 arrows: lactate sat between 1.6 and 2.0 mmol/L in the elite archer and reached 2.9 in the novice, with session perceived exertion of 3.0 out of 10 and 4.5 out of 10. Two people only, and the novice pays more than the expert for the same number of arrows.

  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
  For Archers Published later

  8 recurve archers of the Brazilian national squad, four men and four women, simulated round of 144 arrows over the four distances: blood lactate rises significantly after each distance compared with the rest day, but the absolute values always stay around or below 3 mmol/L. The individual values are given in a figure only. It is a master's dissertation, so it has not been peer reviewed.

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

• 2021
  Against Archers Published later

  9 sub-elite young archers from a training centre in East Java, pulse counted over one minute during a session of thirty-six arrows: 141.5 ± 20.0 beats a minute before the pandemic and 157.8 ± 21.9 during it (p=0.024). A pulse between 140 and 160 does not fall within light intensity. The figure is weak, though, coming from nine people, a one-minute count and a secondary variable of a comparison that was about the pandemic.

  The Training Performance Of Sub Elit Adolescent Archery Athletes Before And During Covid-19 Pandemic · Fani Ravena, Ajeng Tirtasari, Irmantara Subagio, Azizati Rochmania, Kunjung Ashadi

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  16 Ukrainian archers aged 19 to 22, five masters of sport and eleven candidates, averaging 614 ± 3 points over 2×70 m: after an ordinary training session urinary lactate stays around 1 mmol/L, with no significant rise in either group, and urea shows only a non-significant upward trend after physical and psychological load. The load never reaches the point where hard exercise would show.

  Comparative analysis of the lactate and urea changes in the athletes-archers urine under different physical and psychological loads · M. Sybil, Ya. Svyshch, A. Vynogradskyi, M. Bura, R. Pervachuk

• 2024
  Context Review Published later

  Scoping review of the literature on adaptive shooting with bibliometric analysis: peak VO2 reported in adaptive shooting sits between 15 and 22 mL/kg per minute across three studies, against 35 to 52 mL/kg per minute in seated cross-country skiing. It is the lowest aerobic capacity among the seated Paralympic sports. It concerns para-athletes rather than Olympic recurve archers, so it belongs as background.

  Adaptive Shooting Disciplines: A Scoping Review of the Literature with Bibliometric Analysis · Luca Puce, Carlo Biz, Halil Ibrahim Ceylan, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi, Matteo Formica, Khaled Trabelsi, et al.

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  Sixteen qualified Ukrainian archers, the same laboratory and a sample of the same size as the year before: urinary lactate starts at 1.0 to 1.2 mmol/L and after training comes out 14.4 ± 0.9 per cent higher in both groups. The contrast with the 2024 result, where there was no rise, has to be stated, even though a rise of this size does not move the activity out of the light band.

  Biochemical Marker of the Monitoring of the Archer's Psychological Auto-Training · Mariya Sybil, Bohdan Vynogradskyi, Fedir Zahura, Marta Bura, Tetiana Matviichuk, Liliia Hula, Olha Pazychuk

Status history

1. 1981 Not studied The first metabolic measurements on archers arrive: in six Japanese university archers an end of three arrows at 30 metres with a run to collect them costs 11.07 kcal over a little more than three minutes, with a relative metabolic rate of 2.2 and a heart rate rising from 71 to 99. But the measure lumps the shooting together with the run to fetch the arrows, and the authors class it as somewhat heavy work: it does not yet say how light the shooting is.
2. 1984 Not studied A second sample of ten archers separates the two: twenty-four arrows shot in a row without moving sit between 1.6 and 2.2 on the metabolic index, while six arrows with a run to collect them reach between 2.3 and 2.9. Collecting the arrows weighs more than shooting them. It is the right detail, but it stays descriptive and no study has yet put the claim to the test: the status stays not studied.
3. 2002 Not studied An echocardiographic comparison between young athletes from six sports finds a less developed left ventricle in archers than in endurance athletes. It is an indirect hint, on seven archers, that the cardiovascular load of shooting is low, and it measures an adaptation built over years rather than the claim itself: the status stays not studied.
4. 2016 Not studied With seven-day diaries the daily energy expenditure of ten archers comes out at 3390.6 kcal against 5462.6 for middle-distance runners. The direction is the same, but the journal has questionable editorial standards and a venue of that kind never settles a status: it stays not studied.
5. 2019 Reported An indirect figure arrives: in the control group of an Indonesian study, six weeks of shooting practice alone leave aerobic endurance where it was, from 1.89 to 1.90 km in the twelve-minute run test. If shooting trained the engine, it would show here. It is the first study that counts, in a venue that allows it, and the status moves from not studied to reported, at the minimum, because the figure is indirect.
6. 2020 Reported The first direct measurement of competition load: in a simulated round of seventy-two arrows lactate sits between 1.6 and 2.9 mmol/L, and session perceived exertion is 3 out of 10 for the elite archer and 4.5 for the novice. Two archers only, so reported.
7. 2021 Reported Eight archers of the Brazilian national squad over a hundred and forty-four arrows: lactate rises above the rest-day value after each of the four distances, but stays below 3 mmol/L. In the same year nine young archers measured in training show a pulse between 140 and 160 beats a minute, which is not light intensity. That figure is weak, taken over one minute as a secondary variable of a comparison about something else, and it is not enough to split the picture: reported.
8. 2024 Reported In sixteen Ukrainian archers at national level an ordinary training session does not raise urinary lactate and does not move urea, meaning the load never reaches the point where hard exercise would show. A review of adaptive shooting places that discipline at the lowest aerobic capacity among the seated Paralympic sports. Still few participants and few laboratories: it stays reported.
9. 2025 Reported On the same group of sixteen Ukrainian archers urinary lactate instead comes out fourteen per cent higher after training. This is a contradiction within the same laboratory and has to be stated, even though a rise that small does not move the activity out of the light band. The status holds, the confidence drops.

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• 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.

Research lines

• 22 studiesThe archer's body: metabolism, energy cost and body weight since 1981
• 14 studiesWater, food and sleep on competition days

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