I am new to the Forum and this is my first post. I am just getting in to bow hunting and bought my first bow - a Mathews Z7Xtreme 70 pound. I am getting started a little late since I am 64 years old. I guess you can imagine how surprised I was when I was bow shopping to find out I couldn’t pull back a 70 pound bow (they had to turn down my new bow to 60). Never in my life have I ever considered myself as weak and have been physically active most of my life, running and lifting weights. This stopped in my mid-fifties and by this time I had for many years been working at a desk. My life style at this time made it possible for me to lose a lot of strength without realizing it. I am now back to lifting weights, because I know how important it is to be physically fit it you are going to be good with a bow. Now, for my question, I have read in several places that you should use a bow weight you are comfortable with. But there is the question of being able to draw comfortably versus how many times you can draw before becoming fatigued. In other words, you may be able to draw comfortably but only do a few repetitions. So my question is how many times you experienced bow hunters can pull before becoming tired? Say you are shooting a 60 or 70 pound bow, how many reps. Is it maybe 8 or 10 or can you do it for an hour or more? I am talking about taking shots one after the other without any rest period. Also, I have seen the phrase “the bow is forgiving “but I am not sure exactly what that means. I hope this post is not too long, and I am sure I am going to learn a lot from this Forum.
I'd drop the bow weight. With the efficiency of today's bows, you can consistently kill deer with 50lbs easily. See if the shop you bought it from can help you to get into a lower weight limb on the bow, and then setup your arrows with a cut on contact style fixed blade head.
Yes with todays bows shoot what is comfortable to you.. My bow is set at #70 and I shoot about 30 arrows a day at one time and on wed. nights our get togather night I shoot close to 100 arrows with no problems..Also remember it might not be a weak thing drawing a bow is alot of shoulder muscle and sometimes when you are out of the sport for awhile you just need to build the right muscles back up.. I have seen some pretty big guys not be able to pull #70 at first until they got the right muscles built up..
I shoot 57lbs... Imagine sitting in your stand for 2+ hours in the cold...and not being able to draw... new bows sling an arrow like nobodies biddness.....let the bow do the work... SB
Hello and welcome to the forum! There are a lot of great people on here that are always willing to answer questions and most people on here are a real pleasure to talk with. When it comes to any modern bow, you could turn down most of them to 50 pounds and have no problem taking a deer. In fact, here in Minnesota, people can legally take deer with bows turned all the way down to 30 pounds. As some of the articles you have read have stated, you should pick a draw weight that you are comfortable with. By that I mean pick a weight that you can draw smoothly and hold on target for several seconds without issue. While you may not be physically weak, drawing a bow strains muscles differently and with more force than you'd probably hit while exercising. To give you an example, I was 6'6" and weighed 330 pounds when I started shooting. I can bench over 300 pounds, squat over 600 and can lift a lot of weight in other forms (I used to use 70 pound dumbbells for curls and could do pull-ups with my bodyweight). Even with all that, I grew extremely fatigued after only shooting the 70 pound bow a handful of times. Much like being the new guy in the gym, don't grow discouraged or push yourself because you feel weak. You should let yourself grow into your new sport and enjoy it. After all, hitting the 'X' continuously at 50 pounds is a lot more fun than struggling to shoot a few times at 70.
Sounds like you should have got the 50-60 pound Bow, Its still blazin fast and plenty of Kinetic Energy! What you should consider is when its cold in hunting situations, you will have a harder time pulling back plus wearing more cloths. OH, and welcome to the forums!
Do yourself a favor and get that bow in the 50-60 pound range. On a cold day, sitting in stand for a couple of hours, you could actually hurt yourself trying to pull too much weight. The above guys are right, you don't need anything higher than 50 -60 pounds.
The ideal hunting weight is the one you can pull back in any position as many times as you want. 60lbs is a good all 'round hunting weight. Keep in mind that since your just getting into Archery your muscles might not be conditioned to the stress they are put to when you are drawing your bow..... Give it a few months and you might be surprised in what you can do.
If you're just starting, as you said, it has nothing to do with being "weak". You're using muscles that don't normally get used much. I had the same problem when I first started. Now, four years later, 70 pounds doesn't seem like much at all. You'd be surprised how many "big ol' boys" struggle with a 70# bow if they don't shoot a bow at all. Still, 60 pounds is more than enough to get the job done. Whatever you do, don't over-do it. When I was bow shopping in early 2007 I tore the cartilage in my right shoulder while drawing a 70# bow thanks to some bone-head "expert" at BPS who told me "No, you have to draw it like this." I ended up having surgery to have that repaired.
Start low and work your way up if you want to, my wife and i do it all the time. Like the extremly strong gentleman said pulling a bow is not exactly like lifting wieghts you will use muscles that you dont normally use and shooting over and over again you will find you get sore again thats just your muscles getting used to doing something they never do. I work my way up to 70# before season but I make sure that I'm really able to pull it from any position. You dont want to see that big buck come along and realise because you've been sitting for hours motionless your muscles wont pull the wieght they normally can. This can happen at any tempurature. 70#'s is not needed anyway. I shoot pretty consitently about 10-15 times before my muscle start going fatige and I start wobbling on my shots. Of course it depends on the day. It also depends on how much I've been practicing. If I havnt been to the range in awhile I might get as few as 5 "good shots in" From the way I understand the expression "forgiving bows" it is refering to the brace hieght and alot of other things. Mostly just means your high end bow will alow the shooter to make small errors and not effect the shot group too horribly. I believe your bow would be considered forgiving
Welcome, Try getting into a push-up program and you will get your strength up quick. You need a weight your comfortable enough to pull back very smoothly without much movement. You should be able to sit on a chair with your feet 3''-4'' off the ground and pull your bow back easily. It's something you'll work up to, you just don't want to pull your shoulder or back out. Good luck and have fun.
"weak" sometimes doesn't have anything to do with it... it's just not using the muscles that you do when drawing a bow for so long... Example: I was shooting in the back yard one day when a friend stopped by to see me. This guy was a Division I linebacker, and two years ago won the "Show-Me Naturals" as a light heavyweight (Think Mr. Olympia minus the steroids)... He's frickin' huge. He watched me shoot few times and wanted to give it a shot... he couldn't pull my bow back on two attempts... this guy's got bowling balls for shoulders, huge delts, wide lats, and an amazing back... he could squat my car, probably.... But he just wasn't used to drawing a bow back. In no way would I ever call him "weak" though...
I agree with a lot of the posts above. The main thing is if this is your first bow you are going to be using muscles you really have never used before. You will be suprised after a couple of months practicing you will gain that strength in those muscles to last a lot longer. My 2 cents.
As an occupational therapist (think physicial therapist for the upper body!!) I have had 3-4 patients in 12 years who have had shoulder surgery and their main goal was to get back to bow-hunting. With that population you have to take it slow as they are post-surgical, but you are not! I'd like to start out by saying that I agree with the other posts above that you need to look at getting into a 50# bow this season, but yet you can still improve your "draw" strength with a few simple exercises. Number 1 and 2 will work those hard to get to muscles between your scapula/shoulder blades that weakens easily 'cause we do not use them for much!!! 1. Theraband is a large rubber-band that comes in many different colors. I start people in yellow (low resistance) and work up to green, blue or black (high resistance). Wrap it around a post in the basement or tie a large knot into the end of it and shut a door so the knot is now on the opposite side of the door. Then, pull it back in the same fashion as you would be drawing your bow. The further you pull back the more resistance so you might have to adjust your length or double/triple the band. The good thing is that most (compound) bows today have a really smooth draw cycle that you typically do not have to pull much harder as you pull farther. 2. Cables at the gym. If you have access to the cables at a gym or even at home you set the pulley at your shoulder height. While using the straps you pull back weight from your extended position to your shoulder. Build up your repetitions to 20-25 before you increase your weight. That will increase your endurance which is great for 3D shoots or long practice sessions. 3. Dumbells/freeweights. One elbow is extended during the draw while your other elbow will be flexed during the draw. Bicep curls will work those biceps to make that draw arm even stronger. Tricep extensions will work those triceps to ensure that the extended arm stays extended during your draw. I highly suggest doing each of these exercises with BOTH arms to develop your strength evenly! Of course, I would not overlook other exercises too like cardio (heart), push-ups/bench presses (chest and elbow extenders), planks (abdominals) and crunches (abdominals). It is much easier being with the person to develop a plan versus typing it into a forum so good luck!! Actually practicing with your bow will pin-point those weakened muscles even better than the exercises mentioned above, but if your bow is too difficult to draw you will probably give up as you will be sore for a couple days after each time you practice. That is a depression cycle for those of us who do not work-out religiously. Yep...I don't always practive what I preach!!!
You shouldn't feel like you HAVE to shoot a 70 lb bow. I think a lot of guys shoot 70 lbs just so they can say they've got their bow's cracked all the way up. Its a macho thing. I used to shoot 70 lbs but as I've gotten a few years older, and equipment has improved, I don't feel it necessary to shoot that high...especially for our little SC deer. I'm 31 years old and I'm 6'5" 215 lbs and I shoot 65 lbs of draw. To me it feels perfect. I can shoot a lot of arrows and not get tired as quick but more importantly I don't struggle with pulling the bow back when in the stand. IMO you need to back the bow down and shoot for a while, get used to the bow, and get comfortable. Then as your muscles build you will find that "sweet spot" for your ideal draw weight. Welcome aboard and good luck!
Did you buy this bow brand new?? the fellow at the pro shop should have noticed and suggested a lighter pull. I would go to a 60 lb for sure. I'm 51 and shoot 68 lbs. but my next one will be a 60 or 65.
I'm 6'2", 205# and 30 years old. My bow is set at 60#s. Much of the year it's closer to 53#s. Do yourself a favor, get a 50-60#. It's still more than enough.
If I was only deer hunting I'd be shooting 60 lbs. or less. It doesn't do you any good to be sitting in your stand all day in the freezing cold if you can't get the bow back at the moment of truth. You should be able to shoot your hunting bow all day long without feeling sore, tired or shaky. Imagine drawing back on your first deer and having him turn to look at you... you're going to be holding that full draw for a while waiting for him to turn away and present that shot. Are you going to collapse from fatigue and scare him because you're trying to blow that arrow 10 yards out the other side of him at 70 lbs draw or are you going to hold 50 lbs. for two or more minutes until he turns and punch a hole out the other side of his rib cage?
Do not feel bad at all... I am 21 years old.... I am in top physical shape... I was drafted by the Sandiego Padres and my draw arm is stronger than most.... and my bow is set at 60# Happy Hunting!
