The release should be passive: the fingers relax rather than open

The summary today

Here the eye and the electromyograph say two different things, and the difference is the heart of the matter. On competition video, 28 elite archers out of 30 let the string go with their fingers still flexed rather than opening them, and in high-speed films of 16 world-level archers the fingers do not straighten: the string leaves them in under two milliseconds, too little time for any opening decided on the spot. Under the skin, though, the picture turns over. In 15 archers of the US national team the release falls into two stable patterns, 8 who relax the flexors and 7 who show an active burst of the extensors, and the mean score for the year is the same: 1,209 against 1,213 out of 1,440. In three Turkish samples, elite archers included, the extensors contract while the flexors ease off gradually, and in 10 archers of the Brazilian national team the two muscle groups move in opposite directions around the clicker. So the rule does not describe the ordinary mechanics of the release, and above all it does not separate the better archers: fingers that stay flexed are the result, not the instruction to follow.

Also phrased as: "passive release"; "relax the fingers to release"; "do not open the fingers on release"; "active or passive release"; "do the fingers open or relax"

Evidence

• 1971
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  3 kyudo practitioners (fourth dan, second dan and a beginner), EMG of 14 muscles: at release the beginner activates every upper-trunk muscle, the expert relaxes them together. It concerns the trunk rather than the fingers, and the kyudo thumb-ring release is not the three-finger release of the Olympic bow: it is a historical observation on three people.

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

• 1987
  Against Archers Published later

  Filming at 200 frames per second on one skilled archer, with five EMG traces superimposed: the fingers begin to open 25 ms before the string goes, and the finger extensor fires while the deltoid is silent. One archer, qualitative analysis.

  Analysis of Archery Shooting Techniques by Means of Electromyography · H. Nishizono, H. Shibayama, T. Izuta, K. Saito

• 1990
  Against Archers Published later

  15 highly skilled archers, mostly from the US national team, EMG of the finger flexor and extensor over 6 shots each: 8 show both falling just before the release, 7 a brief extensor burst in the preceding 200 ms, and each archer always repeats his or her own pattern. The two groups' mean yearly FITA scores are 1,209 and 1,213 out of 1,440, compared only as means, with no test. At full draw all 15 keep flexors and extensors active together, well above resting level.

  Electromyographic analysis of bow string release in highly skilled archers · Philip E. Martin, William L. Siler, Dean Hoffman

• 2003
  Against Archers Published later

  10 elite archers of the Turkish national team, 10 club beginners and 10 people who had never shot, 12 arrows each with EMG synchronised to the clicker: in all three groups the finger extensor contracts actively after the clicker falls while the flexor eases off gradually, with a difference between the two in every interval (p < 0.05). In the elite group the flexor relaxes faster, and one archer among the world's top ten shows the drop in extensor activity the rule would prescribe.

  Activation patterns in forearm muscles during archery shooting · H. Ertan, B. Kentel, S.T. Tümer, F. Korkusuz

• 2005
  Against Archers Published later

  7 elite archers, 6 beginners and 10 non-archers from the same laboratory, with indices built on flexor and extensor activity around the clicker: the mean traces of all three groups show the extensors contracting while the flexors ease off, the same pattern as in 2003. The sample partly overlaps with the earlier study and shares its recordings with a third paper on repeatability, so it is not an independent replication.

  Quantification the relationship between FITA scores and EMG skill indexes in archery · H. Ertan, A.R. Soylu, F. Korkusuz

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  One archer from the Austrian B national squad, 56 arrows at 18 m with motion capture at 500 Hz: the release movement happens in the interphalangeal joints, with ranges of 81° for the index, 58° for the middle and 48° for the ring finger, while the joints at the base of the fingers move by 6 to 9°. The middle finger's peak speed does not separate arrows in the X ring from those scoring 8 or less (p = 0.870).

  A Kinematic Analysis of Finger Motion in Archery · B. Horsak, M. Heller, A. Baca

• 2011
  Against Archers Published later

  4 elite archers of the Turkish national team, 108 arrows at 18 m: comparing the second before and the second after the clicker, the finger flexor falls from 83.2 to 33.3% of maximal contraction, while the extensor falls only from 82.5 to 57.7% and so stays largely active as the string leaves. The sample is the same as in a second 2010 paper and counts once.

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

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  The same Austrian archer, three-dimensional analysis of fingers and string: a larger lateral deflection of the string went with higher scores, against the idea, used to justify a passive release, that such deflection spoils the shot. A single case, with little variance explained.

  A Three-Dimensional Analysis of Finger and Bow String Movements During the Release in Archery · Brian Horsak, Mario Heller

• 2012
  Context Archers Published later

  16 world-level recurve archers filmed at high speed: the fingers stay flexed rather than straightening, in 69% of cases the middle finger is the last to leave the string and in 75% the ring finger is the first. The string stays on the fingers for an average of 1.9 ms (range 1.50 to 2.25), and in that time the nocking point moves 4.7 mm sideways. In two milliseconds there is no room for an opening decided on the spot.

  High-speed video analysis of arrow behaviour during the power stroke of a recurve archery bow · James L Park, Oliver Logan

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  10 archers of the Brazilian national team, 72 arrows at 70 m, EMG of 12 muscles in 100 ms windows around the clicker: the finger flexor and extensor of the drawing hand move in opposite directions, while each of them moves almost in step with other arm muscles (the flexor with the triceps and pectoralis major, the extensor with the biceps). A master's dissertation, in Portuguese.

  Temporal pattern in the muscles of the upper limbs and the trunk in the archery · Nadjila Tejo Machado

• 2022
  Against Review Published later

  Systematic review of 41 studies from 1986 to 2021: on the release it concludes that only half the elite archers measured used relaxation, with no scoring advantage, and that other studies find active extensor firing in experts and beginners alike. It brings together the studies already counted here, so it confirms the reading without adding a sample.

  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

  Notational analysis of competition video for 30 elite Olympic recurve archers: 28 of 30 (93.3%) let the string go with relaxed fingers and only 2 open them (p < 0.05). It looks at the visible shape of the hand, not at muscle activity, so it says nothing about which muscle group lets go first, or whether the shape changes the score.

  Technical performance differences in elite Olympic recurve archers · Mohsen Shafizadeh, Keith Davids

Status history

1. 1971 Not studied The first observation in the bibliography points the way the teaching does: in three kyudo practitioners, at the loose all the upper-trunk muscles of the beginner fire while in the expert they relax together. Three people, qualitative traces, and above all a measurement of the trunk rather than the fingers: on the fingers, which are what the claim is about, there is still nothing.
2. 1987 Contradicted High-speed film at two hundred frames per second of one skilled archer shows the opposite: the fingers begin to open twenty-five milliseconds before release and the finger extensor fires just as the deltoid falls silent, with arm and shoulder still throughout the sequence. It is a single archer, but it is a direct measurement and it runs against the 1971 observation: the studies of archers contradict each other.
3. 1990 Refuted The study that weighs most on this point takes the fifteen archers of the United States national team, six arrows each with release and clicker synchronised. The release splits into two stable patterns, eight archers who let the activity of flexors and extensors fall away and seven who open the fingers with a burst of the extensors in the two tenths of a second before release, and each one always repeats their own. The mean FITA score for the year is the same in the two groups, 1,209 against 1,213 out of 1,440. Two ways of releasing that give the same results, in archers of that level, take the ground from under the rule, but with a sample split into groups of seven and eight and annual averages compared without a test the status does not fall yet.
4. 2003 Refuted After a 1990 study in which 7 of the 15 high-level archers measured opened their fingers actively, with mean scores almost identical to those who relaxed them, a second study finds active finger opening in every group measured, elite archers included: the rule of a purely passive release is left without support.
5. 2005 Refuted A second publication from the same laboratory describes the same pattern, extensors contracting and flexors giving way, in the mean traces of archers and non-archers. It is not an independent replication, since the sample partly overlaps the 2003 one, so it confirms the status without adding a new sample.
6. 2011 Refuted Electromyography of four elite archers gives the physiological picture of the relaxed release: the finger flexors collapse from 83.2 to 33.3 per cent of maximal contraction in the second around the clicker, while the extensors stay active at 57.7 and the trapezius does not change. It is a description rather than a comparison of the two ways of releasing, so the status does not change.
7. 2012 Refuted Sixteen world-level archers filmed at high speed show exactly the shape the rule prescribes, fingers that relax and stay flexed, with the middle finger last off the string in eleven cases out of sixteen and the ring finger first in twelve out of sixteen. The description is confirmed, but none of these studies compares the scores of those who release one way and those who release the other, so the status does not change.
8. 2018 Refuted In ten national-team archers, around the release the flexors and extensors of the drawing hand's fingers run in opposite directions and each travels coupled to different arm muscles, the flexor with the triceps and pectoralis major and the extensor with the biceps, with correlations above 0.9. It is a description of the mechanism that confirms how far the release is a commanded movement rather than a simple letting go, so the status does not change.
9. 2022 Refuted A systematic review brings together the three electromyographic studies that have looked at the point and concludes that releasing with fingers that relax gives no better results than releasing with active extension: half the elite archers in one sample released by relaxing the flexors with no performance advantage, and two further studies describe active extension in both experts and beginners. The status was already disproved and the review confirms it without new data.
10. 2024 Refuted Two observational studies of elite archers describe fingers that relax and stay flexed, the very shape the rule prescribes: 28 out of 30 on competition video and all 16 in high-speed film. They stay as context, and the status does not change, because they look at the visible shape of the hand rather than at what the claim prescribes: the extensor can fire without the fingers straightening, and among the elite archers measured the two ways of releasing score the same.

Related

Related articles

• The clicker: the science of a tenth of a secondWhat research measures about the clicker: reaction time, the muscles of the release, its weight on the score and what happens to draw length without it.
• Common beginner mistakes in archery and how to avoid themThe most common beginner mistakes in archery, from posture and release to equipment, and what the measurements made on beginners actually show.
• Is there one correct technique, or only yours?Elite archers do not all shoot the same way: what the studies have measured, what every archer shares and what remains a personal signature.

Research lines

• 24 studiesThe passive release: fifty years to take an idea apart
• 46 studiesShooting EMG from 1971 to today

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 continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• 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

See all claims on technique and biomechanics