Archery Warm Up Exercises
Archery is considered by some to be an 'easy' sport, so who needs exercise in preparation for Archery? You would not contemplate trying to play rugby without training for it first. It is also true for Archery!
There may not be the same overall physical exersion, but the back muscles used for drawing the bow will still be stressed to a large degree
Consider a FITA tournament of twelve dozen arrows.
In a day the average man will walk 3.8km (2.4 miles),
that is just walking to the target and back.
Your back muscles will be drawing upwards of 4880 pounds (98 bags of potatoes).
THUS IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONDITION OURSELVES FOR ARCHERY.
REMEMBER
ALWAYS WARM UP BEFORE YOU DO ANY STRETCHING
Each stretch is held for slow count of 5-5.
Perform each stretch three times.
Stretches should never be painful; if they are, you are possibly stretching too far.
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Neck Side Flexion Muscles: Upper Trapezius and Scaleni. Put left ear on left shoulder (still looking forward). Repeat on right side. |
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Neck Rotation Muscles: Sternocleidomast. Turn to look over your left shoulder. Repeat on right side. Never roll the head backwards. |
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Shoulders Muscles: Latissimus Dorsi. Link hands and reach up as far as you can oer your head. |
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Shoulder Depression Muscles: Upper Trapezius. Push your shoulders down towards the ground. |
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Side Flexion Muscles: Lumbar side and Triceps. Reach down your back with the right arm, hold with left hand and lean to your left side. Repeat on the other side. |
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Pectorals Muscles: Pectorals. Link your hands behind you and, keeping your arms straight, push the arms backwards and upwards. |
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Pectorals Muscles: Pectorals. With hands on head, pull the elbows back bringing the shoulder blades together and stretching the front of the chest. |
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Rhomboids Muscles: Rhomboids. Cross your arms across your chest and grab the opposite shoulders. Push the elbows forward to pull the shoulder blades apart. |
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Quadriceps Muscles: Quadriceps. Bring your heel up towards your bottom to stretch the front of the thigh. Repeat on the opposite leg. |
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Hamstrings and calf Muscles: Hamstrings and calf. With the left leg forwards, straighten the knee and point the toes up to the ceiling. Bend the right knee and lean forward over the front knee to stretch the back of the thigh. Repeat on the other leg. |
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Lumbar Rotation Muscles: Erector spinae, quadratus lumborum and abdominal obliques. Bending the knees slightly turn the torso round and reach to the left. Repeat on the other side. |
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Gluteus maximus Muscles: Gluteus maximus. With the left leg back and the right leg forward. Keep the left heel on the ground and the knee straight, lean forward over the right leg to stretch the calf (the toes need to point forwards to get a good stretch). Repeat on the right side. |