Stickbow Target Archery Forums

The last shoot I went to made it clear how much I still have to work on my "conditioned response" shooting.

I've been working on it a lot more the last week. A lot of holding on target before shooting. Holding and letting down. And holding for as long as possible at the end of the day.
I'm not sure of Kissik Lee's students can get away with doing those exercises for an hour a day, 5 days a week. Any weight lifter can tell you that muscles need at least a day or two to recover. Maybe it is different for high-rep/endurance training, but I know I sure haven't recovered yet the day after an intense archery workout.

I don't think I'll be "cured" by the the end of the week when I'm off to Muzzy, but I do notice an improvement.

Today I went back to my 38 yard point-on distance and practiced putting my arrow tip POINT ON and holding it. It was very difficult....like my hand getting too close to a flame, and wanting to let go.

I'll continue to strive toward "touching the flame."

Todd, I have similar questions about Kisik's exercises. In fact, I wonder if their objective might be more to 'burn in' memory of proper form into muscles than to strengthen them. I know I can still feel the motions in my muscles the next day after doing them. If I were to rename his exercises, I would rename 'endurance' to 'hold'; 'power' to 'transfer'; 'flexibility' to 'expand'; and 'structure' to 'pull-down'.

And, given those new names, I wonder if it would benefit you to do the 'flexibility' or 'expand' exercise while you continue to try to touch the flame.

I can, and do try to expand when holding for the sake of holding. But, for some reason, when I know I am going to shoot and want to hit what I am shooting at, the ability to feel a good expansion eludes me.

Well, off to Muzzy. I'll be very interested to see how the short 2 weeks of training affects my shooting. Especially under pressure when my mind/body always has unpleasant surprises for me.

I do feel better and more prepared now than I ever have. Now....if I can just have a few dozen lucky shots, I'll be all set.