An instrumented riser measures an archer's draw strength and holding time in agreement with the manual test

3 studies · 73 archers measured

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 only one device, the Holding Bow Digitec Test: a wooden riser connected to an 80 kg spring read by a load sensor, developed in Indonesia and validated in 2022 on 33 adult club and university archers, 18 men and 15 women aged 20 to 23. The same sample was published twice, in a regional journal and in conference proceedings, and counts as one study. Against the manual test the measurement agrees for strength (r = 0.939) and more closely still for holding time (r = 0.974), and in the table of measurements the means almost coincide: 18.18 against 18.54 kg and 20.34 against 20.48 seconds. The report is not clean, though. The later tables give a mean digital strength of 17.94 kg over two trials, different from the 18.18 in the earlier table, and do not make clear whether the two columns are a repeat of the test or the comparison with the manual test; and for validity the two papers give two different pairs of figures for the same comparison, 0.939 and 0.974 in one, 0.961 and 0.895 in the other, without explaining why. A correlation, moreover, shows that two measurements rise and fall together, not how far off a single test may be, and nobody has calculated the typical error. The studies that used the device afterwards, in 2023 and 2024, come from the same university and quote the 2022 coefficients without a fresh validation.

Also phrased as: "holding bow digitec test"; "bow holding test"; "measuring holding time at full draw"; "dynamometer for archers"

In practice

To measure specific strength, archers are commonly asked to hold the bow at full draw for as long as possible against a stopwatch, or a bow scale is used, and every club does it with different bows and draw weights.

Evidence

2022
For Archers Published later

33 adult Indonesian archers, 18 men and 15 women aged 20 to 23: the conference proceedings give the device a validity of 0.961 for strength and 0.895 for holding and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.978 and 0.944; the journal article on the same sample gives r = 0.939 and r = 0.974 (p < 0.001) for the comparison with the manual test. These are two different pairs of figures for the same comparison, and neither text explains the difference.

Validity and Reliability of Holding Bow Digitec Test · Heru Prasetyo, Siswantoyo, Yudik Prasetyo
2022
For Archers Published later

Same sample published in a regional journal. The methods declare a repeated test, and two tables give 17.94 kg in both columns for digital strength and 19.94 against 19.91 seconds for holding; but the mean digital strength differs from the 18.18 kg of the earlier table, and the text calls the second holding column «manual», so it cannot be read with certainty whether it is a repeat of the test or the comparison with the manual test.

Development of measuring tools for muscle strength and endurance arm for archery sport holding bow digitec test · Heru Prasetyo, Siswantoyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Carles Nyoman Wali
2022
Context Archers Published later

The typical values the device returns in adult club archers: mean strength 18.18 kg (range 14 to 25) and mean holding time 20.34 seconds (range 15 to 24); with the manual test 18.54 kg and 20.48 seconds. Values are not split by sex.

Development of measuring tools for muscle strength and endurance arm for archery sport holding bow digitec test · Heru Prasetyo, Siswantoyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Carles Nyoman Wali
2023
Context Archers Published later

A training study of 20 young archers uses the device to measure arm endurance and quotes validity of 0.895 and reliability of 0.944, the same figures as the 2022 validation, without measuring them again.

Free weight vs gym machine: which is better for muscle endurance athletes of archery? · Okka Bagus Subekti, Endang Rini Sukamti, Amri Hartanto
2024
Context Archers Published later

Another training study, of 20 elite Indonesian archers aged 16-18 and with one of the validation's authors among its own, uses the device and quotes the 2022 coefficients: validity 0.961 for strength and 0.895 for endurance, Cronbach's alpha 0.978 and 0.944.

Application of push-ups and pull-ups to develop strength endurance of arm muscles in archery athletes · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafied Billy Yachsie, Ahmad Nasrulloh, Yudik Prasetyo, Siis Suhasto, Alexander Skaliy

Status history

2022 Reported The validation arrives, on 33 adult Indonesian archers: the digital device mounted on the riser agrees with the manual test for strength (r = 0.939) and more closely still for holding time (r = 0.974). The sample was published twice and counts as one study, the tables in the two papers do not fully match each other, and nobody has calculated the error of a single measurement: evidence in favour, but limited.
2024 Reported Between 2023 and 2024 the device is used in two training studies, one on free weights against machines and one on push-ups and pull-ups, both from Yogyakarta State University, the same institution as the group that developed it. Both quote the 2022 validity and reliability figures without measuring them again: the device is spreading, but there is still only one validation and the status does not change.

Research lines

Cite

APA

Campagna, M. (2026). An instrumented riser measures an archer's draw strength and holding time in agreement with the manual test (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/instrumented-riser-draw-strength

BibTeX

@misc{campagna2026_strumentodigitaletenutaarco,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {An instrumented riser measures an archer's draw strength and holding time in agreement with the manual test},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/instrumented-riser-draw-strength},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Follow this claim

RSS feed for this claim

RSS is an address you paste into a feed reader: each time this claim changes status, adds a year to its history or is revised, a new item appears there.

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on physical training