Revisiting Draw Weights

If you look like this drawing your bow .. you might be overbowed!

A while back we touched on draw weights - the weight you feel on the string when you draw the bow to anchor. That article was more about the how best to exercise to get your poundages up to levels that would enhance your archery and avoid the all too common archery injuries caused by overbowing. What we never thought to address was .. what sort of poundages should you be looking for on your bow and getting there. We'll keep to recurve/barebow and compound for this article as trad is a little different.

Back during your beginners course we gave (or will give) you 18 or 20lbs training bows. These sort of weights are easily manageable by the average low teens archer. Yet some adults struggle to handle these weights. This is because 21st century men and women don't have the same upper body strengths our forefathers did. We spend so much time at desks exhibiting bad posture with tertiary lifestyles that just don't give us the musculature required. Archery can fix this. It will fix your posture and the very act of shooting a bow will strengthen those back muscles but to do that we need to start increasing those draw weights .. safely. But where to stop?  Having a heavier draw weight can be advantageous but not to the point you fold yourself into a pretzel trying to draw it.

First, whats a good rule of thumb for a draw weight on a recurve (including barebows). Well, they do depend on your gender and body make up but in the main Ladies should be aiming to get to 30lbs, perhaps creeping towards a maximum of around 35lbs, at their draw lengths. It just takes practice to get here but that's part of the archery journey. This will give them enough ooof on their arrows to reach out to the longest range outdoors required of them which is 70m, assuming you get all obsessed! ;o) Obviously as you push higher, take care. Korean Olympic women shoot high 30's to low 40's on their recurves but they are obviously professionals. Blokes can be a little bit harder to pin down. 30lbs is the absolute minimum to get any sort of distance outdoors although TBH this will be borderline and a bit iffy for 70m - a key outdoor distance. 35lbs, eventually peaking at a maximum of no more than 40lbs (unless you are prepared to work at it), being a better weight range to reach out to 70m. Professional male archers will shoot recurve bows with draw weights around the 45-50lbs range.

Its archery you're training for .. not Mr Universe!

Many people have bizarre ideas about draw weights. This can stem from ego or eyes being bigger than their bod can handle or bad advice .. and they get hurt. We've found sites suggesting up to 40lbs for a woman and a recurve man's range should be 40-55lbs. Just .. No! Best in the world Korean ladies, full time professional archers, don't get past 43lbs and even that's considered too much by Korean coaches. Almost NO-ONE shoots that high on their recurve .. at least not without poor form and constant risk of injury. Well, there is Maro Nespoli, the Italian Olympic archer but he is a professional, works out constantly and even he came down in poundage for his long term future. So buyer beware here. This is why we have club bows with draw weights from 18lbs all the way to 28lbs. As you get comfortable with one draw weight, you move up to the next in sequence (2 lbs increments). After you've been shooting 6 months and you are seriously thinking about your own kit, ideally you should now be using the 26-28lbs bows with your first purchased limbs increasing another 2lbs to 28-30lbs. Remember your draw length will affect the actual poundage achieved called "on your fingers" draw weight - so ask if unsure.
Even after you've bought your own kit, you should still look to expand past your own initial kit to heavier limbs over time. (Don't buy expensive limbs from the get go - they come later).

Sensible peak weight for a compound - Bloody ridiculous for a recurve

Compounders are different .. Hmm, aren't they just! Their draw is all about the "heave". This is the big pull compounders have to make to get to the valley where the cams kick in.The peak weight on a compound is in the early part of the draw unlike recurve where weight builds up as you draw. Compounds don't hold this weight at anchor as their cams do 70-80% of the work for them. This peak weight can reach up to a maximum 60lbs under AGB/Word Archery rules. Potential draw weight for a compounder is a simple thing to check for compounders. Go to the gym, find a pulley machine and start working up the weight till you start to find your limits. Then come down a bit as you'll need to shoot many many arrows in a round. This can be your starting peak weight. Many compounds have adjustable draw weights so if buying a bow, buy the range you are either initially at the bottom to low middle of. Simple back strength exercises like lat pull downs will drive your potential draw weight up and you can adjust your bow for a higher draw weight as you get stronger.
For comparison .. One of GA's experienced recurvers can simulate a draw of 77lbs (35kg) on a pulley machine and may be capable of 80lbs - he's yet to get round to trying it. He'd likely be able to shoot a compound at 60lbs peak all day. For comparison, his recurve is around 37lbs which he has no intention of increasing. So, big difference between the recurve draw and compound draw.

To round up .. Draw weight can be something of a peer pressure minefield. You do need to make your way up the poundages but it should be in a controlled manner. Under no circumstances let anyone on the internet or even in a shop talk you into upping poundages dramatically over what you are currently comfortable with. This needs to be thought through and get advice from folks at the club you trust. A reputable coach such as GA's Michael will always advise caution. Make use of our wide range of bow weights at the club to get your poundage up in a steady manner. Once you move to your own kit, keep your early purchases to cheap limbs and as you outgrow them, move up 2lbs at a time. When you start approaching a weight you feel you can handle over an entire sessions but to go heavier would possibly be too much .. THEN you can go to expensive limbs which will feel like heaven!

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Note: All poundages are suggestions .. its about what you feel your bod can handle. Don't overdo it.
Pretzel by unserekleinemaus from Pixabay
Weights by Kenny Holmes from Pixabay