Stronger archers shoot heavier draw weights

The summary today

It sounds obvious, and the studies do not bear it out. The only hint in favour comes from six Japanese university archers, in whom shoulder-arm strength went together with the bow's actual draw weight (r +0.73 pushing, +0.50 pulling), but with six people correlations like these cannot be told apart from chance, so the registry does not count it as a supporting study. Two studies point the other way, both of them small. In 49 university beginners maximal pulling strength was unrelated to the bow's draw weight, whether marked or measured, with correlations between 0.05 and 0.30, all below the significance threshold; there, though, the bows were assigned by the instructors. In eight experienced archers with FITA competition experience the pulling force of the arm ranged from 255 to 795 newtons while their bows sat between 178 and 215, with no relation at all, and the authors read this as an arbitrary choice of bow even at a high level. A fourth finding helps explain why the link is hard to see: in fifteen elite and sub-elite recurve archers maximal strength varied a great deal, 532 ± 117 N, and draw force very little, 196 ± 16 N. The study on beginners also flags a trap: pooling men and women raises the correlation between maximal strength and the pull judged comfortable from 0.09 to 0.50 up to 0.74 to 0.78, because the difference between the sexes masks what happens within each group.

Also phrased as: "choose draw weight by strength"; "stronger archers pull more pounds"; "strength and draw weight"; "how much draw weight can I handle"

Evidence

• 1967
  Against Archers Published later

  49 beginner university students, 28 women and 21 men, with maximal pulling strength measured on a modified bow at the start and end of the semester: the correlations between maximal strength and the bow's draw weight, marked or measured at the draw length, range from 0.05 to 0.30 across both tests and both sexes, all below the significance threshold (0.31 at 5 per cent). The bows were assigned by the instructors on the basis of the pull judged comfortable, so the finding says the link does not show in this group, not that it is absent in archers who choose their own bow.

  Relationship between Perception of Pull and Draw in Archery · Helen M. Eckert, Dorothy M. Wendt

• 1967
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same paper the pull judged comfortable is about two thirds of the maximum, 56 to 68 per cent as calculated from the means, and it repeats poorly 24 lessons apart, with correlations of around 0.4. After four lessons all 49 said the bow they had been assigned was comfortable and kept it for the rest of the semester.

  Relationship between Perception of Pull and Draw in Archery · Helen M. Eckert, Dorothy M. Wendt

• 1967
  Context Archers Published later

  Analysing men and women together, the correlation between maximal strength and comfortable pull rises to 0.74 and 0.78, against values between 0.09 and 0.50 with the sexes separated, and the one between marked draw weight and comfortable pull reaches 0.62 and 0.54: the difference between the sexes inflates the correlations and masks what happens within each group.

  Relationship between Perception of Pull and Draw in Archery · Helen M. Eckert, Dorothy M. Wendt

• 1981
  Context Archers Published later

  Six male Japanese university archers scoring at least 320 out of 360 at 30 m: shoulder-arm strength measured with a dynamometer goes with the bow's actual draw weight, r +0.73 pushing and +0.50 pulling. The authors draw from it the idea of measuring beginners' strength to help them choose a bow; with six subjects, however, a correlation of 0.73 stays below the 5 per cent significance threshold, which the paper does not discuss: the direction is favourable, but it cannot be told apart from chance.

  Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1) · Koji Tsuji, Hide Takeyama, Hideo Koishi, Yoshiho Katayama

• 1990
  Against Archers Published later

  Eight experienced archers with FITA competition experience: the pulling force of the arm, measured with a dynamometer in the position of the drawing arm, ranged from 255 to 795 newtons, while their bows sat between 178 and 215 newtons, with no relation between the two measures; the authors read this as an arbitrary choice of bow even at a high level. Archer by archer, however, the strongest did best with the heaviest bows, and the weakest had the lowest precision both with his own bow and with the imposed 24 kg bow.

  Muscular Activity of Different Shooting Distances, Different Release Techniques, and Different Performance Levels, with and without Stabilizers, in Target Archery · J.P. Clarys, J. Cabri, E. Bollens, R. Sleeckx, J. Taeymans, M. Vermeiren, et al.

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  15 male elite and sub-elite recurve archers: maximal voluntary force in the aiming position 532 ± 117 N, bow force 196 ± 16 N. Strength varies between archers far more than draw force, and when the bow exceeded 40 per cent of maximal force the score tended to fall (r² 0.43, p = 0.054). The abstract reports no correlation between strength and draw weight.

  Biomechanical Predictors of Recurve Archery Performance · Martin H. Rose, Niels Dall, Kaare Seidelin, Bente R. Jensen

Status history

1. 1967 Contradicted The first study to ask the question points against it: in 49 university beginners maximal pulling strength is unrelated to the bow's draw weight, with correlations between 0.05 and 0.30, all below the threshold. It is a single study, on beginners who were assigned their bows, and the same paper shows how easy it is to misread such data: with the sexes pooled, the correlations between strength and comfortable pull rise to 0.74 to 0.78. The evidence there is goes against the claim, but it is thin: contradicted.
2. 1981 Contradicted The first hint in favour arrives: in six Japanese university archers shoulder-arm strength goes with the bow's actual draw weight, r +0.73 pushing and +0.50 pulling. With six people, however, a correlation of 0.73 cannot be told apart from chance, and the paper does not say whether it is significant: it is not enough to count as a supporting study. The only study on record is still the one from 1967, which points against: contradicted.
3. 1990 Contradicted The side against stops being only about beginners: in eight experienced archers arm force ranges from 255 to 795 newtons and their bows from 178 to 215, with no relation, and the authors speak of an arbitrary choice of bow even at a high level. There are now two studies against and none in favour, but they are small, one on beginners who were assigned their bows and the other on eight archers: not enough for refuted, and the status is contradicted.
4. 2011 Contradicted A group of fifteen elite and sub-elite recurve archers shows why the link is hard to see: maximal strength varies by more than a hundred newtons from one archer to the next, draw force by sixteen. It does not measure the correlation and does not change the count of studies: the status stays contradicted.

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• What draw weight to choose: how to find it and when to change itWhat draw weight to choose and when to change it: marked versus actual poundage, how much strength to use, three criteria, young archers and each division.

Research lines

• 27 studiesHow many pounds archers draw: measurements since 1967
• 102 studiesFrom the total on the scorecard to the arrow's coordinates

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedAlong its flight the arrow loses an appreciable part of its launch speed12 studiesStatus since 2011
• CorroboratedAs it leaves the bow, the arrow flexes and snakes around the riser instead of leaving straight19 studies · 47 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA camera-based scoring system misreads some arrows: the ones barely sticking out and the ones that shift the target face7 studies · 2 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA chest band with fibre optic sensors measures breathing and mean heart rate with small errors, and an archer can wear it while shooting2 studiesStatus since 2019
• ReportedA compound bow stores between 70 and 100 joules and sheds about two thirds of the force at full draw4 studiesStatus since 2015

See all claims on equipment and tuning