https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/compound-recurve-energy-holding-force Changes to this claim in Matteo Campagna's evidence registry: its status, its year-by-year history, revisions of the page. en-gb https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/compound-recurve-energy-holding-forceThere is no mechanical comparison between a real compound and a real recurve. The only figure comes from a 2012 model that sets a compound, calculated with the parameters of an experimental bow and checked against photographs to within about 7 per cent, beside two recurves that exist only in the calculation: at the same peak force the compound stores 75 per cent more energy, and at the same energy it is held at full draw with 2.3 times less force. The paper does not explain how the curves of the virtual recurves are built, and the two figures depend precisely on them. Real bows with the same peak, 55 lb, have been compared only from the archer's side, in two master's theses from 2000 and 2001 on seven and six archers: with the recurve the shoulder, arm and forearm work harder, and with the compound activity falls after the let-off, which is what a lower holding force would lead one to expect, but neither force nor energy is measured. The mechanical measurements on real bows concern the compound alone: in 2015 a production compound with a peak of about 200 newtons shed about 65 per cent of the force at full draw, so the archer holds about a third of it while aiming. A 2017 model adds a theoretical constraint: the curve of an eccentric-wheel compound cannot exceed, especially in the first part of the draw, that of the same limbs strung as a traditional bow. That the compound goes in this direction fits everything known about its curve, but the size of the advantage rests on a simulated recurve.claim:compound-energia-tenuta:revision:2026-09-11:2Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/compound-recurve-energy-holding-force#storiaThe same laboratory repeats the comparison on the wrist and forearm of six of the same archers, with the same 55 lb and the same let-off: with the recurve average activity is higher in both hands, about 70 per cent higher in the drawing hand. It confirms the direction in the muscles, but measures neither the holding force nor the stored energy, and the status stays not studied.claim:compound-energia-tenuta:history_entry:2026-09-03:2001Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/compound-recurve-energy-holding-force#storiaThe first comparison between two real bows with the same peak, a compound set to 55 lb with 75 per cent let-off and a 55 lb recurve, looks at the muscles of seven archers experienced with both: with the recurve all twelve shoulder and arm muscles work harder, and with the compound activity falls after the let-off instead of rising during the hold. That is what a lower holding force would lead one to expect, but force and energy are not measured, the analysis is descriptive only and the work is a master's thesis: the claim about the bow has not yet been tested, and the status is not studied.claim:compound-energia-tenuta:history_entry:2026-09-03:2000Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/compound-recurve-energy-holding-forceclaim:compound-energia-tenuta:new_claim:2026-07-23:trasferitoThu, 23 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT