A continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots

The summary today

Two studies of archers, both small, find a steadier final pull on the better shots. In 8 archers shooting at 90 m, each one's draw hand moved back more evenly on high-scoring arrows than on low-scoring ones, and the elite archers were steadier than the university-level ones; in 7 international junior archers, the two with the lowest averages showed pauses and creeping in draw length on precisely their worst arrows, although that part of the work is descriptive, and the same authors note that among archers this strong the differences in steadiness are small. These are associations, and the only attempt in the bibliography to make the pull steadier with an audio signal succeeded in 5 archers out of 6 without a significant rise in their scores. A systematic review in 2022 reads the two studies together and arrives at the same reading, without adding any sample; in 2025 electromyography shows which muscle holds the pull as the clicker goes past, although that is the mechanism rather than the outcome. The earliest observation close to the question, in kyudo, said only that in trained archers the hold does not give way, and a 2007 measurement on nineteen kyudo archers with an instrumented grip confirms it without adding anything more.

Also phrased as: "in the final pull you must keep drawing until the clicker goes off"; "expansion through the clicker"; "don't stop under the clicker"; "final pull and score"; "creeping before the clicker"

Evidence

• 1971
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  3 kyudo archers (4th dan, 2nd dan and a beginner), surface electromyography on 14 muscles and the force on the bow from a strain gauge: in the 2nd dan archer the bow tension stays entirely constant between entering the hold and the release, for about 5 s, and the release comes about 3.5 s after entering the hold in the 4th dan against about 5 s in the 2nd dan. Kyudo has no clicker and no scores were measured, so it says the hold holds, not that a continuous pull brings better arrows.

  An Electromyographic Analysis of Japanese Archery · Sadatsugu Kamei, Hideji Matsui, Mitsumasa Miyashita

• 1993
  For Archers Published later

  5 elite and 3 university-level archers, 36 arrows at 90 m, draw-hand movement estimated with a displacement sensor on the lower limb over the 1.5 s before the clicker: in all 8, the arrows scoring more than one standard deviation above the archer's own average had a steadier pull than those more than one standard deviation below, and the elite archers were steadier than the university-level ones. In the second experiment of the same work, an audio signal keyed to lapses in the pull made it steadier in 5 archers out of 6 (in one it got worse) with no significant rise in the score over 36 arrows: steadiness can be trained, the points do not follow.

  Biomechanical Study of the Final Push-Pull in Archery · P. Leroyer, J. Van Hoecke, J.N. Helal

• 2005
  Context Review Published later

  A review chapter on the psychological side of archery: it reports, from the 1993 study of the final pull rather than from data of its own, that audio biofeedback keyed to muscle tension makes motor control through to the release steadier in 5 archers out of 6, without assessing the effect on scores.

  Psychological Aspects of Archery · Kathleen M. Haywood

• 2006
  For Archers Published later

  7 junior archers who had competed at the Junior World Championships, 66 arrows at 30 m indoors, draw length measured with a strain gauge on the clicker: the archer with the highest average (9.31 per arrow) pulled the arrow through the clicker evenly, about 5 mm over the last 3 s, while the two with the lowest averages showed creeping or pauses in draw length on their worst arrows; the part on the pull is descriptive, with no statistical test. On the three arrows where S6 crept, the bow also moves more while aiming: taking them out, his sway measure falls from 0.59 to about 0.45, while in S7 the same relation is absent. Over the last second the horizontal sway exceeds the vertical one in all 7 archers (Wilcoxon, p<5%), and the moment the final pull starts shifts by almost a second from arrow to arrow within the same archer.

  On‐target trajectories and the final pull in archery · Jürgen Edelmann‐Nusser, Mario Heller, Martin Hofmann, Nico Ganter

• 2006
  For Archers Published later

  The same 7 archers and the same 66 arrows as the journal article, presented mainly as a method for measuring draw length: it reports the same patterns and the same conclusion, and counts only once. It also gives the scale of the movement: in one archer about 2.5 mm of draw over the last second was enough to carry the clicker past the point, and the draw of the final pull reads on scales of 5 to 15 mm. The same chapter reports an archer with the second highest average (9.26) who pulled in two stages, fast then slow, on all 66 arrows: continuity is not the only road to high scores. The authors add that among archers of this level the differences in steadiness are small: three of the seven have curves similar to the best archer's, and even the irregularities of the two with the lowest averages are described as unremarkable, far from the 1993 gap between elite and university archers.

  Measurement of Draw-Length Alterations in the Final Pull in Archery · Juergen Edelmann-Nusser, Mario Heller, Martin Hofmann, Nico Ganter

• 2007
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  19 university kyudo archers, 8 shots at 28 m with a bow fitted with strain gauges on the grip: in the seconds before the release the force on the bow, the thrust and the torque applied to the grip stay practically unchanged, so much so that the graphs only start about half a second before the release. It measures the bow hand rather than draw length, and kyudo has no clicker, so it says once again that the hold does not give way, not that a continuous pull brings better shots.

  B39 Quantification of TENOUCHI for Playing Kyudo · Sekiya Koike, Takuro Sugiura, Sakura Murata, Toshio Mori

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  4 elite archers from the Turkish national squad, 108 arrows at 18 m indoors: on the 10s the total draw time was shorter (4.8 against 5.6 s on the 8s) and the finger flexors worked slightly less in the last second before the clicker (80.0 against 85.6% of maximal contraction). It does not measure draw length; the same data also appear in a 2010 paper.

  Shooting dynamics in archery: A multidimensional analysis from drawing to releasing in male archers · Cevdet Tinazci

• 2022
  For Review Published later

  A systematic review of 41 studies on performance assessment: it reads the two studies on the final pull together and concludes that an irregular movement of the string hand during the final push-pull is negatively related to technical skill, adding that a prolonged push-pull effort matches tremor on electromyography. No new data, and the duration of the shot phases does not correlate with scores in the studies that measure it.

  Performance assessment in archery: a systematic review · Eleonora Vendrame, Valeria Belluscio, Luigi Truppa, Lorenzo Rum, Aldo Lazich, Elena Bergamini, Andrea Mannini

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  10 experienced traditional Turkish archers, shots from about 1.5 m with no scoring, accelerometers on both hands and the bow: starting the final pull from 98 or 96% of full draw length gave less jerk in the bow hand than holding at full draw, while longer final pulls, up to about 6 cm, gave more jerk in both hands. It does not show where the arrows land.

  Factors Affecting Shooting Skill in Turkish Archery The Relation between Final Pull Distance and Logarithmic Dimensionless Jerk · Uğur Ödek

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  5 recurve archers at Master of Sport level, 180 arrows at 18 m, electromyography of 18 bilateral muscles over 48 channels synchronised with a sensor on the clicker: the middle trapezius shows an overall asymmetry of 0.27 towards the drawing side and holds it through the clicker and the release, with the posterior deltoid at 0.33. It says which muscle holds the pull as the clicker goes past, not whether continuity brings points; a regional journal.

  Manifestation of asymmetry in muscle activity during the execution of shots from a recurve bow · A.M. Pukhov

Status history

1. 1971 Not studied The observation closest to the question comes from kyudo: on the strain gauge trace the force on the bow stays constant between entering the hold and the release, for about five seconds in the 2nd dan archer. It says the hold does not give way, not whether a continuous pull gives better arrows, and no study has yet measured how draw length changes during the final pull or related it to the score of the arrows.
2. 1993 Reported The first study in the bibliography to measure the final pull, on 8 archers at 90 m, finds in each of them a steadier movement of the draw hand on the better arrows than on the worse ones, and a steadier pull in the elite archers than in the university ones. In the same paper an audio signal keyed to collapses in the pull makes it steadier in 5 archers out of 6, but scores do not rise significantly over 36 arrows. It is a single small study, with an association and an intervention on six archers that brings no points: the evidence in favour is there and it is limited.
3. 2005 Reported A review chapter takes up the 1993 experiment with the audio signal, which makes control through to the release steadier in five archers out of six, but does not report its effect on scores, which in the original study had not risen significantly. No new data, and the status does not move.
4. 2006 Reported A second, independent group, 7 international junior archers measured with a strain gauge on the clicker, points the same way: pauses and creeping in draw length appear on the worst arrows of the two archers with the lowest averages. The analysis is descriptive, though, and based on a few selected shots, so with two small studies the evidence remains limited. The same authors also note that among archers this strong the differences in steadiness are small, much less marked than those seen in 1993 between elite and university archers.
5. 2007 Reported Kyudo provides a second measurement of the hold, on nineteen university archers with a bow instrumented at the grip: in the seconds before the release the force, thrust and torque of the bow hand stay practically still. It confirms the 1971 observation on a larger sample, but it does not measure draw length or link it to score, so the direct evidence is still the two studies of 1993 and 2006 and the status does not change.
6. 2022 Reported A systematic review reads the two historical studies together and adds the mechanism: an irregular movement of the string hand during the final push-pull goes with lower technical skill, and a prolonged push-pull effort matches tremor that electromyography can measure. No new sample, so the evidence is still the evidence of 2006 and the status stays with it.
7. 2025 Reported Electromyography of 18 bilateral muscles, synchronised with a sensor on the clicker, shows what holds the pull as the clicker goes past: through the clicker and the release the middle trapezius of the drawing side takes over, the one that brings the shoulder blade towards the spine. This is the mechanism rather than the outcome, in five elite archers, with no measure of score and in a regional journal, so the status remains reported.

Related

Related articles

• The final pull: what happens in the last millimetres before the clickerHow many millimetres and seconds the final pull takes, how it differs between better and worse arrows, and what the aim and the muscles do as the clicker drops.

Research lines

• 48 studiesBow stability and aiming time: research since 1971
• 15 studiesFinal draw, clicker and reaction time since 1993

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA two-finger string grip is about as accurate as a three-finger one1 study · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics