In the shot the drawing side works harder than the bow side

The summary today

The studies that have measured both sides of the body do not agree, and the answer depends on which muscles and which phase you look at. The most complete work, on five Russian recurve masters of sport with 18 bilateral muscles and 180 shots, finds the drawing side dominant in most muscles: above all the forearm, with an asymmetry coefficient of 0.86 on the superficial finger flexor, then the biceps (0.58), the erector spinae (0.38) and even the tensor fasciae latae at the hip (0.35), peaking as the arrow is drawn through the clicker and at the release. The same study, though, finds the bow side more active in the serratus anterior (-0.46), the pectoralis major and the latissimus dorsi, and several muscles symmetrical. A study of nine recreational archers, by contrast, finds similar levels of activation on the two sides, with different muscles at work in each arm, but with a bow of 0.45 kg draw weight, a world away from a competition bow. One thing holds in all of them: the bow arm is not passive, and as early as 1993 the bow-side deltoid was the most active of the six muscles measured during aiming.

Also phrased as: "archery is an asymmetric sport"; "the string side does all the work"; "the bow arm just holds"; "muscle asymmetry in archers"; "balancing out the drawing side"

Evidence

• 1993
  Context Archers Published later

  10 Japanese club archers, 3 arrows at 8 m on a 15 cm target, integrated electromyography over one second of aiming and one of follow-through for the deltoid and the ascending and descending trapezius, right and left: during aiming the highest of the six sites is the bow-side deltoid, with an integrated value of 987.0. The same study links the best score in a round to sustained drawing-side activity in the follow-through (r = 0.791, p < 0.05).

  Relationship between the muscle activity during aiming,follow-through, and the performance in archery · Hitoshi Watanabe, Koji Tsuji, Fujiko Yoneyama

• 2022
  Against Archers Published later

  9 recreational male archers, 10 shots at 6.1 m with the same recurve of 0.45 kg draw weight, electromyography of 8 muscles per arm: similar relative activation on the two sides, with different muscles at work. The drawing arm uses more latissimus dorsi and biceps (p = 0.004), the bow arm more lateral deltoid (p = 0.004) and triceps (long head p = 0.019, lateral head p = 0.023), while the posterior (p = 0.164) and anterior deltoid (p = 0.301) do not differ. The authors themselves point out that an Olympic archer draws 48.5 lb on average.

  Archery's signature: an electromyographic analysis of the upper limb · Tabitha Dorshorst, Gillian Weir, Joseph Hamill, Brigitte Holt

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  5 Russian recurve masters of sport holding the bow in the left hand, 6 ends of 6 arrows at 18 m, 180 shots, electromyography of 18 bilateral muscles on 48 leads synchronised with 3D analysis and a clicker sensor: over the whole shot the drawing side dominates in the forearm (superficial finger flexor 0.86, brachioradialis and flexor carpi radialis 0.64, extensor digitorum 0.43), the biceps (0.58), the erector spinae (0.38), the tensor fasciae latae (0.35), the posterior deltoid (0.33) and the middle trapezius (0.27). The bow side, on the other hand, dominates in the serratus anterior (-0.46), the pectoralis major (-0.38 and -0.36), the latissimus dorsi (-0.27), the upper trapezius (-0.22) and the triceps (0.19 towards the left), and the other muscles stay within ±0.10, the threshold for symmetry. Asymmetry peaks as the arrow is drawn through the clicker and at the release; a regional journal.

  Manifestation of asymmetry in muscle activity during the execution of shots from a recurve bow · A.M. Pukhov

Status history

1. 1993 Not studied The first data on both sides come from ten Japanese club archers, with electromyography of the deltoid and of the ascending and descending trapezius, right and left: during aiming the most active of the six is the bow-side deltoid. It measures one second of aiming and one of follow-through on three shoulder muscles per side, and does not compare the work of the two sides over the whole shot, so the question has not yet been asked.
2. 2022 Contradicted The first direct comparison between the two arms, in nine recreational archers with eight muscles per side, finds similar overall levels of activation: the drawing arm uses more latissimus dorsi and biceps, the bow arm more lateral deltoid and triceps, and the anterior and posterior deltoids do not differ. The evidence runs against the claim, but it is a single small study, with a bow of 0.45 kg draw weight shot at 6.1 m: contradicted.
3. 2025 Contested A study of five Russian recurve masters of sport, 18 bilateral muscles and 180 shots at 18 m, looks at the whole body and finds the drawing side dominant in most muscles, from the forearm (0.86 on the superficial finger flexor) to the biceps (0.58), the erector spinae (0.38) and the hip (0.35), peaking at the clicker and the release. The bow side, though, dominates in the serratus anterior, the pectoralis major and the latissimus dorsi, and the latissimus is the very muscle the 2022 study had found more active in the string arm. There is now one study for and one against, both small: contested.

Related

Related articles

• The bow shoulder: how it rotates, why it rises and how hard it worksHow to hold the bow shoulder at full draw, why it tends to rise, and what X-rays, electromyography and position-sense tests have measured in archers.
• Which muscles work in an archery shot, and at what share of their maximumWhich muscles switch on in an archery shot, in which phase and at what share of their maximum, and why studies give different figures for the same muscle.
• The archer's back: how much draw weight loads it and what the asymmetry of shooting leaves behindHow much a 20 to 32 pound bow loads the lower back, why trunk and body mass matter, and what the studies say about asymmetry in archers' bodies.

Research lines

• 46 studiesShooting EMG from 1971 to today
• 25 studiesShooting and asymmetry: fifty years of measurements

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