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After physical effort, single-cam and twin-cam bows lose the same amount of accuracy

1 study · 15 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2016201820202022202420262016, for, n = 152016, context, n = 15
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is a single study, presented as an abstract at a sports medicine congress in 2016. Fifteen experienced compound archers shot at 20 yards with a single-cam and a twin-cam bow, in random order, first at rest and then after five minutes of uphill treadmill walking and a 300-yard run. The key measure is the distance between the first arrow after the effort and the centre of the group shot at rest: 59.07 millimetres with the twin cam and 59.27 with the single cam, with p equal to 0.96. Aiming time does not change with the effort either, for either bow. The result is null and should be read as such: the standard deviations, around 50 millimetres, are almost as large as the means, and with fifteen archers a small difference between the two cam systems would have gone unnoticed. The abstract also contains a figure that does not add up, a difference between groups reported as significant with p equal to 0.16.

Also phrased as: "single cam or twin cam"; "solo cam versus dual cam"; "which cam is more forgiving"; "compound bow and fatigue"; "accuracy after exertion"

In practice

In shops and on the range there is debate over whether a single-cam bow is more forgiving than a twin-cam when the archer is tired, for instance late in a competition or after a climb on a field course.

Evidence

  • 2016
    For Archers Published later

    15 experienced compound archers at 20 yards, with a single-cam and a twin-cam bow in random order, at rest and after five minutes of walking on a 10 per cent incline and a 300-yard run: the distance of the first arrow after the effort from the centre of the best three of four arrows shot at rest is 59.07 ± 49.83 mm with the twin cam and 59.27 ± 52.69 mm with the single cam (p = 0.96).

    The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson

  • 2016
    Context Archers Published later

    In the same study aiming time does not change with the effort (twin cam 3.49 against 3.72 seconds, p = 0.15; single cam 3.62 against 3.59, p = 0.67), and heart rate is only weakly related to how far the first arrow strays (r = -0.024 with the single cam, 0.24 with the twin cam).

    The Effect Of Fatigue And Elevated Heart Rate On Archery Shot Performance · David E. Lankford, Brian Higginson

Status history

  1. 2016 Reported Fifteen experienced compound archers shoot at 20 yards with a single-cam and a twin-cam bow, in random order, at rest and after treadmill effort and a run: the first arrow after the effort strays from the centre of the group shot at rest by 59.07 millimetres with the twin cam and 59.27 with the single cam, with p equal to 0.96, and aiming time does not change. It is a null result, from a single study on archers published as an abstract: the claim is written in the direction of the result and stays reported.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). After physical effort, single-cam and twin-cam bows lose the same amount of accuracy (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/single-twin-cam-fatigue-accuracy

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_cammesingoladoppiafatica,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {After physical effort, single-cam and twin-cam bows lose the same amount of accuracy},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/single-twin-cam-fatigue-accuracy},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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