Matteo Campagna
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A relaxation session right before shooting does not improve the score

5 studies · 65 archers measured

ForContextAgainst199019952000200520102015202020251999, for, n = 201999, context, n = 202019, for, n = 192019, context, n = 192020, context, n = 171991, context, n = 92005, context
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 are two direct tests and they say the same thing: a relaxation session just before shooting does not shift the score. In the first, from 1999, twenty young Swedish archers spend forty-five minutes in a flotation tank or sitting in an armchair reading the paper, in random order and six weeks apart, and then shoot four series of three arrows at 18 metres: no difference in score. What changes is how the shooting feels, because after the tank perceived exertion drops, above all in the weaker archers, and the elite archers shoot more consistent series than the weakest ones. In the second, from 2019, nineteen experienced archers in Hong Kong do ten minutes of Tai Chi or ten of stretching, again in random order, and the distance of the arrows from the centre is the same in both conditions (p = 0.386), as are heart rate variability and the readings of an EEG headband. The picture has two limits. The samples are small and the second study appeared in a journal with questionable editorial standards, so on its own it would decide nothing. And the forms of relaxation tested are a long way from the shooting line: there is no flotation tank at a tournament. Programmes repeated over several weeks are a different matter, and in one study of novices they go with higher scores: this claim is about the single session.

Also phrased as: "relaxing before shooting"; "relaxation before a competition"; "tai chi before shooting"; "flotation tank and archery"; "letting go of tension before an end"

In practice

Before a competition archers are often advised to set aside a few minutes to relax, loosen the shoulders and clear the mind, on the idea that a relaxed archer shoots better than a tense one.

Evidence

Status history

  1. 1991 Not studied The first finding close to the question comes from the Greek national squad: in a programme combining relaxation with mental rehearsal of the shot, the relaxation sessions lower perceived tension straight after the session, on a one to ten scale, in nine archers. What happens to the score when archers shoot right after a session, though, nobody has measured yet: not studied.
  2. 1999 Reported The first direct test arrives. Twenty young Swedish archers of junior standard try both conditions, forty-five minutes in a flotation tank or in an armchair reading the paper, with the order assigned at random and six weeks between sessions: the score over twelve arrows at 18 metres does not change. Other things do, because perceived exertion drops, above all in the weaker archers, and after the tank the elite archers shoot more consistent series than the weakest ones. One study, and it says the score does not move: reported.
  3. 2005 Reported A review chapter on the psychology of archery takes up the Swedish experiment and adds, at second hand, an Italian study of national squad women archers in which high arousal before shooting lowers the score, while low arousal leaves it unchanged compared with the usual condition. It brings no new data read first hand, so the status stays where it is.
  4. 2019 Reported Nineteen experienced archers in Hong Kong do ten minutes of Tai Chi or ten minutes of stretching, in random order, before shooting in a competition scenario: the distance of the arrow from the centre is the same in both conditions (p = 0.386), and Tai Chi changes neither the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity read through heart rate variability nor attention and relaxation read through an EEG headband. Compared with their own opening shots, the arrows land closer to the centre after Tai Chi, but the starting point was worse. It is a second study pointing the same way, on nineteen people and in a journal with questionable editorial standards, which cannot settle the status: reported.
  5. 2020 Reported The status does not change, but the boundary of the claim becomes clearer. In a study of thirty-four novices in Jakarta, the seventeen who follow a programme of progressive muscle relaxation over several weeks go from 86.8 to 106.2 points over fifteen arrows at 10 metres; the other group does visualisation, and there is no group doing nothing. A programme and a single session are two different things: this claim is about the session before shooting, and on that the picture is still the one drawn by the two crossover studies.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). A relaxation session right before shooting does not improve the score (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/relaxation-before-shooting-score

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_rilassamentopretiro,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {A relaxation session right before shooting does not improve the score},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/relaxation-before-shooting-score},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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