Matteo Campagna
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Core exercises improve an archer's balance

4 studies · 47 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2016201820202022202420262022, context, n = 212016, for, n = 202016, context, n = 202016, against, n = 202022, against, n = 152017, for, n = 12
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.

Three studies have trained archers' trunks and then measured their balance, and two point the way the claim does. In twenty Korean high-school archers, twelve weeks of Pilates take the dynamic balance score from 38.6 to 47.5, while those who carry on with shooting alone go from 38.3 to 39.2; in twelve young Malaysian archers, eight weeks of core stability work reduce body sway on the force plate compared with the control group. Both, though, have figures that do not add up: in the first, some test statistics exceed the maximum the test used can produce, and in the second, sway falls by almost 90 per cent in four weeks and the unit of measurement is never given. Nor is the gain uniform: in the Korean study static balance, measured as the split of weight between the feet, does not move, and two of the eight directions stay where they were. The third study runs against the claim: in fifteen sedentary adults on their first traditional archery course, adding seven weeks of stabilisation work does not improve single-leg balance more than the course alone, and the only significant progress appears in those who were only shooting. The groups hold six to ten people, none has a control group doing different work of the same commitment, and none reports what happens to the score: the studies on archers point in different directions, and none carries enough weight to settle the matter.

Also phrased as: "core stability and balance"; "pilates for archers"; "planks to stand stiller"; "trunk training for balance"; "stability exercises for archery"

In practice

In archers' physical preparation, planks, Pilates and trunk exercises are offered as balance work, on the idea that a more solid centre keeps the archer stiller on the shooting line.

Evidence

  • 2016
    For Archers Published later

    20 high-school archers from Daejeon with at least 5 years' practice, 10 doing twelve weeks of mat Pilates on top of normal training, three 60-minute sessions a week, and 10 carrying on with shooting alone: the overall dynamic balance score, which measures how far and how fast the archer moves the centre of pressure towards a light target in eight directions, goes from 38.60 ± 7.40 to 47.50 ± 9.29 in the Pilates group and from 38.30 ± 7.09 to 39.20 ± 4.54 in the control group, with a difference between groups at the end of the programme (Z = 2.539, p < 0.05). Three cautions: four Z values in the table (3.637, 4.052, 5.655 and 5.859) exceed the maximum the signed-rank test can produce on ten pairs; the two groups started out different in height and weight, with the allocation never stated; and the control group did no extra work, so the comparison is also between training more and training as before.

    Effects of Pilates core stability exercises on the balance abilities of archers · Jeong-Min Park, Gwang-Suk Hyun, Yong-Seok Jee

  • 2016
    Context Archers Published later

    The same study, direction by direction: in the Pilates group six of the eight directions improve, while up-right (from 42.60 to 46.50, Z = -1.591) and left (from 41.50 to 49.60, Z = -2.081) show no significant difference according to the authors. The two backward diagonals were the weakest from the start, 31.90 and 29.60 against 38.50 to 43.30 in the other directions, and the same pattern appears in the control group (26.20 and 28.70). A detail on the arithmetic: a Z of -2.081 declared not significant, and one of -2.819 in the control group also declared not significant, do not match the threshold used in the rest of the article.

    Effects of Pilates core stability exercises on the balance abilities of archers · Jeong-Min Park, Gwang-Suk Hyun, Yong-Seok Jee

  • 2016
    Against Archers Published later

    The same study, static balance: here it is the split of weight between the two feet, and it does not change in either group. The only difference is between groups at the end, left against right: 50.2 and 49.8 per cent in the Pilates group against 51.7 and 48.3 in the control group (Z = 2.923, p < 0.01), a point and a half of weight between one foot and the other. It is a null result on static balance and counts against the claim, even though those youngsters already started close to an even split, about 51 against 49 per cent, and had little room to improve.

    Effects of Pilates core stability exercises on the balance abilities of archers · Jeong-Min Park, Gwang-Suk Hyun, Yong-Seok Jee

  • 2017
    For Archers Published later

    12 Malaysian archers aged between 13 and 19, randomised to eight weeks of core stability on top of their training or to training alone, 6 per group, with sway measured on a force plate while shooting at 50 m: the range of centre-of-pressure movement across the shooting line is smaller in the trained group at four weeks (F(1,10) = 7.952, p = 0.018, d = 1.30) and at eight (F = 10.899, p = 0.008), and the same holds along the shooting line (F = 7.887, p = 0.019, and F = 11.105, p = 0.008). The cautions are serious: in the trained group the range falls from 193.52 to 24.21 in four weeks, a drop of 87 per cent, and to 20.62 at eight weeks, 89 per cent, against 16 in the control group (from 172.27 to 144.31), with no unit of measurement ever stated; the abstract repeats 7.952 for eight weeks where the table gives 10.899; and between weeks four and eight the trained group improves no further, which the authors put down to absences during exams.

    The Effectiveness of a Core Muscles Stability Program in Reducing the Postural Sway of Adolescent Archers: A Panacea for a better Archery Performance · Pathmanathan K. Suppiah, Tomny Wong Kee Kiet, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Jeffrey Low Fook Lee, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki

  • 2022
    Against Archers Published later

    15 sedentary adults aged 18 to 23 on their first traditional archery course, randomised to the course alone, once a week, or the course plus two weekly sessions of core stabilisation, for seven weeks (9 and 6 people): at the end, single-leg balance, measured in seconds, does not separate the two groups, and according to the authors the only significant improvement in balance within a group is on the left leg of those taking the course alone. The table with the seconds cannot be read in the text that can be extracted from the PDF, so no values are given here. These are complete beginners in a small pilot published in a regional journal, so the contrary result is weak.

    Geleneksel Okçuluk Eğitimi Alan Bireylerde Stabilizasyon Egzersizlerinin Core Kas Fonksiyonu ve Denge Üzerine Etkisinin Karşılaştırılması: Pilot Çalışma · Bahar Kulunkoglu, Sevilay Seda Baş, Büşra Kalkan Balak, Melahat Sayan

  • 2022
    Context Review Published later

    A review of 21 studies on postural and core stability in athletes, mostly young and from other sports: core and balance programmes of 4 to 8 weeks, with sessions of 25 to 75 minutes, improve balance, trunk strength and trunk endurance, while the carry-over to performance remains uncertain. The authors name small samples, few high-level athletes and few women as the main limitation of the literature, and none of the included studies is an archery intervention.

    The Role of Neuromuscular Control of Postural and Core Stability in Functional Movement and Athlete Performance · Erika Zemková, Ludmila Zapletalová

Status history

  1. 2010 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography had yet trained the core of a group of archers and measured their balance before and after, against a comparison group.
  2. 2016 Contested The first study arrives: twenty Korean high-school archers with at least five years' practice, ten doing twelve weeks of mat Pilates on top of their shooting and ten carrying on with shooting alone. Dynamic balance on the force plate rises from 38.6 to 47.5 in the Pilates group and goes from 38.3 to 39.2 in the other, with a difference between groups at the end of the programme. Static balance, which here is the split of weight between the feet, does not change, and two of the eight directions stay put. One study, ten people per group, some impossible test statistics, and one result in favour and one null result within the same paper: contested.
  3. 2017 Contested A second study, randomised this time, points the way the claim does with a different measure: in twelve young Malaysian archers, eight weeks of core stability work reduce centre-of-pressure sway while shooting compared with the control group, on both axes and already after four weeks. The sample, though, is six people per group, sway falls by almost 90 per cent in a month, a size of effect that is hard to take at face value, and the unit of measurement is not stated. The null result on static balance from 2016 still stands: contested.
  4. 2022 Contested The first wholly contrary study arrives: in fifteen sedentary adults on their first traditional archery course, seven weeks of core stabilisation added to the course do not improve single-leg balance more than the course alone, and the only significant progress in balance, on the left leg, is in the group that was only shooting. In the same year a review of twenty-one studies from other sports concludes that core and balance programmes improve balance, on samples that are nearly always small. The contrary result is weak, nine and six complete beginners in a pilot, but so are the studies in favour: the studies on archers point in different directions, contested.

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Core exercises improve an archer's balance (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/core-exercises-and-balance

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_coreequilibrioarcieri,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Core exercises improve an archer's balance},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/core-exercises-and-balance},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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