Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

Research line

The physical profile of the archer: strength, endurance and body measurements since 1967

Arm strength, grip, aerobic fitness, height, arm span: over almost sixty years studies have measured the archer's body with ever-changing instruments. This page follows how the measurement has changed, what the data describe well, and why the link with score remains largely contested.

Studies in the registry
63
On archers
55
Years
1967-2026

The question

Two ideas about the archer's body circulate side by side, and they do not agree. One holds that physique matters little, because the archer stands still; the other that you need strong, long arms, a firm grip and enough aerobic fitness to last a day of competition. The studies that have tried to measure this span almost sixty years and seventeen claims in the registry. This page follows them in date order; the exercises are in the article on specific strength, and the tests used to select young archers in the one on talent identification.

The thread running through the story is the instrument: first tests borrowed from athletics, then the hand dynamometer, and finally devices that try to reproduce the draw of a bow. Each change has shifted the answer.

1967-1999: the first figures

The oldest data come from a university course. In 1967 49 beginner students gained five or six pounds of maximal drawing strength over 24 lessons, with no comparison group. In 1981 six Japanese university archers provided the first reference values: a 49 kg grip and 141 kg of back strength.

The study that carries most weight came in 1986. Between 1982 and 1984, 188 American recurve archers of every level were tested. Grip strength had no link with score (r = -0.03 and -0.01), while quadriceps strength relative to body weight correlated at 0.48: this is where the claim about leg strength comes from, and the finding has never been repeated. The same study measured body fat in two ways and got two answers, -0.31 with somatotyping and -0.06 with skinfolds, so the claim about body fat was contested from the start.

In 1999 twenty young Swedish archers, placed in three skill levels by their coaches, did not differ in finger strength, height or weight. Until 2014 hand and finger strength was linked neither to score nor to level; the only supporting signal was the leg strength of 1986.

2014-2026: the dynamometer and the draw

The picture changed in 2014. In 62 Indonesian national-level recurve archers arm strength had a direct effect on score worth about 13% of the variance. From then on arm strength became a contested claim, with the studies split almost down the middle.

The split follows the instrument. Grip measured with a dynamometer links weakly or not at all to score: in fifty young Malaysians in 2019 and, above all, in thirty professional compound archers followed for twelve weeks, whose changes in grip had nothing to do with their changes in score. Draw strength measured with a bow scale does go with score in the samples that have recorded it, up to 0.945 in 31 Malaysian archers aged 13 to 18. In 2022 the Holding Bow Digitec Test appeared as well, a riser mounted on a spring with a load sensor, checked on 33 adult archers without a single arrow being shot.

The highest correlations, 0.945 in thirty-one people or 0.927 in twenty, are too large for a phenomenon of this kind and come from small, mixed groups, by level or by bow type, where any physical measure separates those who shoot better from those who shoot worse. Nor does more strength mean more steadiness: in 27 compound archers draw strength bore no relation to the stability of the bow arm. The same limitation applies to grip at higher levels and to muscle mass, because where the better archers grip harder, as in the twelve young Malaysians of 2020, they are also more than twelve centimetres taller.

Height, arms, body fat

The height of the better archers is contested. In a hundred Indian archers those at the higher level were 11 cm taller and 8 kg heavier, but also older and more experienced, while fifteen Polish national team archers had the same build as people holding a bow for the first time. Age is the sticking point, since in elite Japanese archers height and weight only settle at around sixteen.

The largest sample on body proportions, 33 Indian archers of national and international level, confirms the profile: arm span exceeds height in every one of them (index 104.8) and the chest is narrow in all. Yet none of the eleven proportions is linked to score, which follows draw weight alone (r = 0.61). The archer's proportions and long arms therefore remain contested: the link appears in some youth and club groups, where arm length moves together with height, and is absent among high-level Indian archers, Turkish traditional archers and a small group of young beginners.

Aerobic fitness and the legs

On aerobic capacity four studies split evenly. In favour are the twelve Malaysians of 2020 and twenty-three university club archers, in whom aerobic fitness accounts for 27% of the differences in score at 18 m. Against are two groups of younger archers, among them eighteen Indonesian recurve archers aged 13 to 14, who sit at 27.4 ml/kg/min. In all four VO2max is estimated from a field test, not measured in a laboratory. The vertical jump rests on the fifty Malaysians of 2019 alone, and in that sample the standing long jump, a very similar quality, does not reach significance.

Archers and people who do not shoot

Archers have a stronger grip than sedentary people, 44.0 against 38.8 kg in thirty-eight Chinese university archers, but not than basketball players; in the same study they beat the sedentary group on every test of manual dexterity. In 65 Turkish traditional archers a held force fluctuates less than in 65 students with the same maximal strength. None of these measurements says whether shooting builds these qualities or whether the better endowed are the ones who stay.

The only design suited to that question is a randomised trial from 2020: in 34 sedentary young men twelve weeks of shooting raised the strength of the muscles tested, above all those of the arms, by between 17% and 46%. The claim that shooting builds strength therefore holds for people starting from nothing, while in archers who have been shooting for months eight weeks of shooting alone leave grip unchanged. As for general physical condition, often below the reference tables in youth and club groups, the first data from the top point the other way: six world-class Turkish recurve archers have 8.5% body fat and average aerobic capacity.

Men and women

The differences between the sexes come almost entirely from forty-five Turkish traditional archers: the gap is twofold for back strength, 150 against 73 kg, smaller for grip, 39 against 31, and the women are quicker on the nine-hole peg test and more flexible. On drawing strength the figure for adults is still the one from 1967: among beginner students the men's maximal strength was almost twice the women's, 69.5 against 40.1 pounds, yet in proportion the women were drawing heavier, about 53% of their own maximal strength against 44% for the men; the subject comes up again in the article on women and archery.

What remains open

Today the archer can be described better than their score can be explained. Almost every study measures one quality at a time, once, in small and mixed groups, and hardly any keeps age, sex, height and years of practice apart. What is missing is homogeneous groups followed over time, to see how strength and score change together, and a measure of strength taken with a bow in hand and tied to the draw weight each archer chooses. On compound, barebow and older archers the data are scarce.

How we came to know it

  1. 1967OriginEckert et al. 1967 Relationship between Perception of Pull and Draw in ArcheryIn 49 beginner university students maximal drawing strength rises by five or six pounds over 24 lessons, from 69.5 to 74.6 in the men and from 40.1 to 45.8 in the women, with no control group.
  2. 1981MethodTsuji et al. 1981 Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1)Six Japanese university archers give the first grip and back strength values measured in trained archers: a 49 kg right-hand grip, 141 kg of back strength and a narrower chest than the Olympic candidates.
  3. 1984ExtensionTsuji et al. 1984 Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (Part 2)First comparison with a reference: five female university archers have a stronger grip than active students of the same age, while the five male archers show no advantage.
  4. 1986OriginLanders et al. 1986 A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance188 American recurve archers of every level: grip is not linked to score (r = -0.03 and -0.01), relative quadriceps strength is (0.48); body fat gives -0.31 by somatotype and -0.06 by skinfolds.
  5. 1987ExtensionNishizono et al. 1987 Analysis of Archery Shooting Techniques by Means of ElectromyographyAmong five archers of similar height, between 167 and 176 cm, the two world-class champions have a 180 cm arm span against 172-177 and a maximal draw force of 36.2 and 40.2 kg against 29.7-34.1.
  6. 1999ContradictionNorlander et al. 1999 Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation RESTIn 20 young Swedish archers placed in three levels by their coaches, finger extensor strength, height and weight do not separate the levels.
  7. 2014ContradictionHumaid 2014 Influence of Arm Muscle Strength, Draw Length and Archery Technique on Archery AchievementIn 62 Indonesian national-level recurve archers arm strength has a direct effect on score worth about 13% of the variance: the first supporting result.
  8. 2017ExtensionShitara et al. 2017 Age- and athletic event-related differences in trunk muscularity in junior athletes: A comparison with the results for the senior athletesIn elite Japanese archers the height and weight of the boys change little after 16, while before that they are shorter and lighter: a key to reading comparisons between groups of different ages.
  9. 2019ContradictionMusa et al. 2019 A machine learning approach of predicting high potential archers by means of physical fitness indicatorsIn 50 young Malaysian archers grip and push-ups are not associated with the score of six arrows at 50 m, while the vertical jump is (beta 0.39) and the standing long jump is not.
  10. 2020ReplicationLau et al. 2020 Anthropometric And Physical Fitness Components Comparison between High- And Low-Performance ArchersTwelve young Malaysian recurve archers split by score: the better ones have a stronger grip and higher aerobic capacity (45.9 against 42.9 ml/kg/min), but are also more than 12 cm taller, and arm span correlates at 0.82.
  11. 2020ExtensionZolkafi et al. 2020 Influence of Isometric Contraction during Archery Training and Detraining on the Muscles and Hand Grip Strength in Sedentary Youth: A Randomized Controlled TrialRandomised trial in 34 sedentary young men: twelve weeks of shooting raise the strength of the muscles tested by 17% to 46%, against a change of -4% to +6% in those who do not shoot.
  12. 2021ReplicationGanjave et al. 2021 Questionable venue Comparative Analysis of Upper Extremity Performance Variables in Elite and Novice Recurve Archers: A Cross-Sectional Observational StudyIn 100 Indian recurve archers the 50 at the higher level are 11 cm taller, 8 kg heavier and have a few more kilos of grip, but also more years of practice; height and weight were not tested statistically.
  13. 2022MethodSaleh et al. 2022 The relationship between arm muscle strength, muscle endurance, balance and draw force length on archery performanceIn 31 Malaysian archers aged 13 to 18, draw force measured with a bow scale correlates with score at 0.945, in a group of mixed levels.
  14. 2022MethodPrasetyo et al. 2022 Development of measuring tools for muscle strength and endurance arm for archery sport holding bow digitec testA riser on a spring with a load sensor measures strength and holding time in a shooting-like action: in 33 adult archers it agrees with the manual version (0.939), with no arrows shot.
  15. 2023ContradictionMazumder 2023 Anthropometric Measures of Elite Indian Archer: Identification of Features for Talent DevelopmentIn 33 Indian archers of national and international level arm span exceeds height in all (index 104.8), but none of eleven proportions is linked to score, which follows draw weight (0.61).
  16. 2023ExtensionRabbani et al. 2023 THE INFLUENCE OF ARM LENGTH, VO2 MAX AND CORE STABILITY ON ARROW SKILLSIn 23 university club archers estimated aerobic capacity accounts for 27% of the differences in score at 18 m, arm length for 6.4%.
  17. 2024ContradictionRusdiawan et al. 2024 Physical capacity and performance correlation in sub-elite Indonesian archery athletesIn 18 Indonesian recurve archers aged 13 to 14, estimated VO2max, 27.4 ml/kg/min, is not linked to the score over 72 arrows at 70 m (rho = 0.281).
  18. 2024ExtensionEsen et al. 2024 Energy intake, hydration status, and sleep of world-class male archers during competitionSix world-class recurve archers from the Turkish national team have 8.5% body fat and a VO2max of 45.0 ml/kg/min: at the top, condition does not come out poor.
  19. 2025ExtensionÇilli et al. 2025 Geleneksel okçular ve okçu olmayan bireylerin kuvvette kararlılık özelliklerinin karşılaştırılması65 Turkish traditional archers and 65 students with the same maximal strength: holding half of maximum, the archers fluctuate less (6.17% against 7.20%), clearly so in the men.
  20. 2025ExtensionEyibil et al. 2025 The Effects of Physical Fitness and Physiological Variables on Archery Performance in Traditional Turkish ArchersIn 45 Turkish traditional archers grip and arm length are not linked to score; back strength is twice as high in the men, while the women are quicker on dexterity and more flexible.
  21. 2026ContradictionAcaröz et al. 2026 Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archersIn 30 professional compound archers followed for twelve weeks, changes in grip bear no relation to changes in score: a comparison of changes within the same archers, not between different people.
  22. 2026ExtensionGao et al. 2026 Do archery athletes’ hand dexterity, strength, and cognition exceed those of age-matched athletes and non-athletes? A cross-sectional study38 Chinese university archers beat sedentary peers on grip (44.0 against 38.8 kg) and on every fine dexterity test, but beat basketball players on only some of the tests.

Studies in this line

Related claims

Claims in the registry with at least one of these studies among their evidence.

154 claims · 95% with evidence on archers

Articles

Methods used

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). The archer's physical profile: strength, endurance and size. In Research. matteocampagna.com. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/research/physical-profile

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_enresearchphysicalprofile,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {The archer's physical profile: strength, endurance and size},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Research, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/research/physical-profile},
  note = {accessed 2026-10-16}
}