Arriving at the shooting line out of breath spoils the first arrow
1 study · 15 archers measured
The summary today
There is a single study, a conference abstract, and it does not really answer the question. Fifteen experienced archers, using two compound bows supplied for the test, shot at 20 yards at rest and straight after five minutes of uphill walking on a treadmill and a 300-yard run: aiming time does not change, the first arrow after the effort lands about six centimetres from the centre of the group shot at rest with both bows tested, and its offset does not follow heart rate (r = -0.02 and 0.24). The authors conclude that a raised heart rate does not spoil the first arrow, but the abstract compares the two bows with each other, not the first arrow after the effort with a first arrow shot at rest, which is exactly the comparison that would be needed. The reading is fragile for two further reasons: the spread between archers is enormous, with standard deviations of five centimetres on means of six, and the authors describe as significant a tighter group after the effort with the dual-cam bow, 56 against 80 millimetres, with a p of 0.16 that does not support that reading. On recurve, and with breathlessness of the kind that actually happens in competition, there is nothing: that is why the status is "Not studied".
Also phrased as: "don't shoot when you're out of breath"; "wait for your breathing to settle before shooting"; "high heart rate and the first arrow"; "after running the first arrow goes astray"
In practice
Archers are advised not to shoot as soon as they reach the line after walking to the target or climbing on a course, and to wait for their breathing to settle before the first arrow.
Evidence
-
2016
Context Archers Published later
15 experienced archers at 20 yards, with a single-cam and a dual-cam compound bow supplied by the study, in random order (the abstract does not say which bow they normally shot); the effort was a 5-minute walk at a 10% gradient and a 300-yard run. Aiming time does not change (3.49 against 3.72 seconds with the dual cam, p = 0.15; 3.62 against 3.59 with the single cam, p = 0.67) and the correlation between heart rate and the offset of the first arrow is weak, r = -0.024 and r = 0.24. The authors conclude that a raised heart rate does not spoil the first arrow, but the abstract does not compare the first arrow after the effort with a first arrow shot at rest: the conclusion rests on aiming time and on correlations across archers.
The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson
-
2016
Context Archers Published later
The offset of the first arrow after the effort from the centre of the best three arrows shot at rest is 59.07 ± 49.83 millimetres with the dual cam and 59.27 ± 52.69 with the single cam (p = 0.96 between the two bows). The standard deviation is almost as large as the mean, and the comparison reported is between the two bows, not with a first arrow at rest.
The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson
-
2016
Context Archers Published later
With the dual cam the group of the best three arrows measures 80.36 ± 32.38 millimetres at rest and 56.43 ± 31.09 after the effort: the authors call it a significant difference, but they report p = 0.16, which does not support it. With the single cam there is no similar difference.
The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson
Status history
- 2016 Not studied A single study arrives, a conference abstract: fifteen experienced archers shoot with two compound bows at rest and after an uphill walk and a run that raise their heart rate, and the first arrow after the effort lands about six centimetres from the centre of the resting group, at twenty yards, with both bows, with no link to heart rate. The authors conclude that a raised heart rate does not spoil it, but the comparison reported is between the two bows, not with a first arrow shot at rest, and the individual spread is as large as the mean. It does not answer the question: not studied.
Related
Related articles
- 3D archery vs target archery: technical and tactical differences3D and target archery compared: unmarked distances and judging them, walking between stations, equipment, the mental side and fitness, with registry data.
- Field archery: what it is and how to get startedField archery under FITARCO and World Archery, FIARC and IFAA: courses, targets and scoring, unmarked distances, sightless divisions and how to get started.
- How to breathe before you draw: what the studies have measuredHow much and how fast to breathe before the shot: measurements on the range, where the six-breaths figure comes from, and what changes for anxiety and score.
Research lines
Where there are no studies on archers, every decision starts from a written hypothesis and is checked against the data over time.
See the programmeCite
Campagna, M. (2026). Arriving at the shooting line out of breath spoils the first arrow (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/out-of-breath-and-the-first-arrow
@misc{campagna2026_fiatocortoprimafreccia,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Arriving at the shooting line out of breath spoils the first arrow},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/out-of-breath-and-the-first-arrow},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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