Experienced archers prepare their balance before the release, beginners correct it afterwards

The summary today

The comparison the claim describes has been made only once, in 2024, and it points the claim's way. Nine Korean archers with an average of sixteen and a half years of practice and nine novice university students simulated the shot on a force plate, without arrows, aiming a laser pointer at a target 10 metres away: in the experts the load on the feet shifts before the release, in the opposite direction to the push coming from the bow (d = 1.01); in five leg muscles out of eight the peak falls in the window before the release, while in the novices the work comes afterwards; and after the release the experts regain their balance sooner (d = 1.26), with a similar maximum excursion. The limits carry weight. It is a single cross-sectional study of eighteen men, with two trials each and no arrows or scores, and the left tibialis anterior separates the two groups in all three phases, not only in the one before the release. The only other study on the subject, of nine elite women archers, confirms that experts do anticipate, in the last fifty milliseconds before the release, but finds that a larger adjustment does not go with better aiming: sideways there is no link, and front to back, without the clicker, it goes with less precise aiming.

Also phrased as: "experts anticipate, beginners correct"; "anticipatory postural adjustments in archery"; "balance at the release"; "the release should not move the body"; "recovering balance after the release"

Evidence

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  9 elite Korean women recurve archers, more than ten years of practice and international wins, 20 shots at 8 m with the clicker and 20 without, on a force plate with motion capture and electromyography. The speed of the centre of pressure rises sharply only in the last 50 ms or so before the release, more in the sideways direction, the direction of the recoil (F(1,8) = 9.31, p = 0.016), and front to back more with the clicker than without (t(8) = 3.17, p = 0.013, d = 1.06); tibialis anterior and soleus do not change between the two conditions. Sideways, the size of the adjustment is not linked to aiming precision (r = -0.24 and -0.16); front to back and without the clicker, a larger adjustment goes with less precise aiming (r = 0.75, p = 0.019). Precision is estimated from the orientation of the bow at the release, not from the arrow; there are no beginners, so the study does not make the comparison in the claim. Regional journal.

  Effect of Anticipatory Shooting Strategy on Performance Consistency in Skilled Elite Archer · Kitae Kim, Youngsook Kim, Donggyu Baek, Jaebum Park, Junkyung Song

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  9 elite Korean archers (16.6 years of practice on average) and 9 novice university students, all men, on a force plate with electromyography of 8 leg muscles; a simulated shot without arrows, aiming a laser pointer at a target 10 m away, two trials each. At the release the sideways shift of the centre of pressure is smaller in the experts and in the opposite direction (t(16) = -2.15, p < 0.05, d = 1.01); group matters in all 8 muscles (eta squared 0.44 to 0.86), and in the experts 5 muscles out of 8 peak in the anticipatory phase (-100 to +50 ms), in the novices in the compensatory phases. In the left tibialis anterior, though, the two groups differ in all three phases, with higher normalised values in the novices, and the left gastrocnemius and right biceps femoris have higher values in the experts between 200 and 350 ms after the release; on the study's scale -1 means activation and 1 inhibition, so the direction of these differences cannot be read with confidence. After the release the experts reach the peak of the centre of pressure sooner (t(16) = -2.67, p < 0.05, d = 1.26), with a peak of similar size.

  Anticipatory postural adjustments during an archery performance · Jae-Young Na, Donghyun Ryu, Ji-Hyun Ko

Status history

1. 2023 Not studied The first fine-grained measurement of postural adjustment in the shot arrives, on nine elite women archers: the centre of pressure speeds up sharply only in the last fifty milliseconds before the release, mostly sideways, in the direction of the recoil, and front to back it speeds up more when the archer releases in response to the clicker than when she decides for herself, while the leg muscles do not change. It shows that experts do anticipate and that this depends on how they release, but there are no beginners in the study: the comparison the claim describes has not yet been made.
2. 2024 Reported The comparison arrives. Nine expert Korean archers and nine novices, in a simulated shot without arrows: the experts shift the load on their feet before the release and in the opposite direction to the push of the bow, activate their leg muscles mainly in the window before the release while in the novices the activity comes afterwards, and recover their balance faster despite a similar maximum excursion. Not everything follows the same pattern, since the left tibialis anterior separates the two groups in all three phases, not only before the release. It is a single cross-sectional study of eighteen men, with no arrows or scores: there is evidence in favour and it is limited, so the status is reported.

Related

Related articles

• Muscle synergies in archery: the motor patterns of elite archersMuscle synergies in archery: what changes between elite and novice archers, and what happens on the best arrows, at the clicker and at the release.
• Experts and beginners: what really changes in the shotWhat an expert archer does that a beginner does not: consistency, muscles, balance, timing and years of practice, and how far the studies support each.
• Posture and stability in archery: what biomechanists revealCentre of pressure, bow movement while aiming, balance before and after the release, the trunk and balance tests: what the biomechanics of stability measures and how much it weighs on the score.

Research lines

• 30 studiesArchers' postural stability since 1990
• 63 studiesThe archer's physical profile: strength, endurance and size

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics