Bowhunters Workout Recently there has been some interest in increasing strength to benefit bowhunting, whether it is to use a stronger bow or just be a better predator. This will cover some basic ideas I think can specifically help a bowhunter. The idea to start with a lighter draw weight bow and increase the draw weight slowly until the desired weight it met is a good idea. It should get you some good results but I think they may be limited. The problem I have with this is that you are only strengthening the muscles used in a controlled shooting situation. Add early morning stiff muscles, cold weather, or buck fever and the bow seems much harder to draw back and hold for any length of time. I like the idea of training for hunting to strengthen both the specific muscles used for draw back and accessory muscles used to stabilize. The muscles used in drawing back the bow are mostly: Lats, Rhomboids, Posterior Deltoids, upper/mid/lower traps, and a host of smaller accessory muscles. To strengthen these muscles I would tell a beginner to start on a two cycle 8 week routine, with each cycle lasting 4 weeks and having different goals. The first cycle is used to gain mass and strengthen to be able to pull more weight and hold at full draw. These exercises will be done in 3 sets of 12, 10 or 8 reps. The lower number of reps the heavier the weight. It is a good idea to do one rep of each within the same set increasing the weight as you lower the reps. Here is a list of exercises that work the muscles mentioned before. Lat pull downs- Seated maintain a straight back and pull a bar or individual grips on cables down in front of your face. Use grips with your palms away from your body and facing each other. Make sure your elbows stay at your side and don’t pull in front of your chest. Shoulder extensions- Standing, take a bar or rope on a cable and with your elbows straight pull the bar from in front of your face to hip level. Back flies- Either chest down on a bench or standing using cables, have your elbows straight and hands at chest level come from in front of your chest to extended at shoulder level ( as if making a large T with your arms and body.)Be sure to squeeze your shoulder blades at the end. Bent over rows- Either leaning over a bench with one hand and one knee on it or on a machine where you place your chest on a pad and bring your arms to your side. These are the money maker, try different grips and arm placement. First try palm in, bringing the weight to your side, second palm down toward your feet with your elbow out at shoulder level. Pull ups- very much the same as lat pull downs, but more accessible and using your own weight. I like to have a goal number of 20 or 30 and do them after the other exercises. Whether I get them done in two sets or 15 doesn’t matter. All of these are done slowly and with between 30 to 60 seconds break between reps and sets. When you are successful with a particular weight go up by 2.5 to 5 lbs the next workout. Try this workout 3 days a week to allow muscles to heal and regain strength for next workout. Drawing back the bow is only half of the shot. A hunter must hold a bow up and stable for a perfect shot for an unknown amount of time. This action is done by accessory muscles in the shoulders and arms. Some are anterior and middle deltoid, biceps, upper trap. Here are some exercises and ideas for the hold and stabilizing before the release. Bicep curls- Perform both palms up and thumb up. Use both barbells and dumbbells Shrugs- with your hands by your side with a dumbbell or barbell, lift your shoulders toward your ears. This muscle is very strong and can usually take a lot of weight. Upright rows-While standing lift a barbell from your hips to above your nipple line, keep your elbows to the side and lift them higher than you hands. Shoulder flexion-Standing, can be done either palm down or thumb up, I prefer thumb up cause that is the way I hold a bow, and it decreases shoulder impingement. Bring your hands from your side with dumbbells up to shoulder level no higher in front of your body. Shoulder Abduction- Standing, can be done either palm down or thumb up, I prefer thumb up cause that is the way I hold a bow, and it decreases shoulder impingement. Bring your hands from your side with dumbbells up to shoulder level no higher to the side of your body, as if making a T. My favorite way to do the shoulder flexion and Abduction is to lift one arm into the shoulder level position and hold it while I do 10 to 12 lift with the other arm, after the first arm does the 10 to 12 I hold it up and lift the other arm a number of times. I feel this is great for shooting cause the arm has to hold position for a long time before and after I wear it out with lifts. The second cycle consists of the same exercises but the reps increase to 15-20 and the rest breaks decrease to below 30 seconds. This will increase muscle endurance and also increase cardiac output. With the increase in reps the weight will drop, but if you put in the time and did the first cycle right, you should be doing more weight on the first day of the second cycle than the first day of the first cycle even though you are doubling your reps. Keeping up on cardio training is important for good muscle growth and your heart will be pounding with you pin on a buck, and you body should be able to handle this increase in cardiac output. Being in a good full body workout routine will benefit far beyond hunting. But hitting the gym should give you the increases in draw weight or holding strength you are looking for. Between days of lifting continue to shoot your bow, cause no matter how fast the arrow if you don’t hit your mark it will be a long blood trail, and longer ride home. Bow Hunt or Die Greg Gilliland gilligw Huntsville, AL
Very good work out! I like to get a little more involved in the shoulder area. I concentrate a little deeper on all three heads of the deltoids!
I have added tricep extension exercises to essentially the same protocol using multiple elbow extension techniques to further strengthen my bow grip arm. This aided me in the past with being able to hold at full draw with my older bow with a low let-off. With my current set-up I am fairly confident that I could hold full draw for 5-10 minutes. Good post, you must be an athletic trainer or therapist?
Damn I sure was hoping for either a pic of Coors light or a Rum with Diet pepsi. I must admit I shrug a lot at my older age now. T Good thread!
Do cardio after your lifting. It is ok to do a light 5 minute warmup. If you do cardio before, you essentially use all the anaerobic fuel in your muscles and will have more trouble gaining muscle mass. Also you are looking to loose weight not increase your conditioning the goal is to maintain a Heart rate above 75% of your max heart rate. Max heart rate can be found by subtracting your age from 220. 75% of that is your goal HR during exercise. During the second cycle of this workout, you should reach that HR during lifting because of the increased reps and decreased rest.
Maybe it's just me, but "buck fever" a.k.a. Massive amounts of adrenaline being released into my blood stream, doesn't bother my draw cycle at all. If anything, I'm more focused on the upcoming shot and drawing my 70 lb bow feels like I'm drawing air.
I haven't either, but my uncle has. I shoot only 65 lbs. which is easy for me. That's what I like though, and the difference between 65 and 70 based on fps is minimal.
