The less the string-hand forearm muscles work, the better the shot

The summary today

Between archers of different levels the link is there and runs the way the claim says: in twenty young Swedish archers, the tenser the finger extensor in the instant before the release, the lower the score (r = -0.48), and in twenty-three people measured in Turkey forearm activity around the clicker is linked to the FITA score with correlations of up to -0.74. These are one-day comparisons, though, and in the second one ten participants had never shot and were given an assigned score, which inflates the correlation. A third comparison between levels, on thirty-two young Malaysian archers, finds no difference in the finger flexor of the right hand, the string hand in a right-handed archer, but with a measurement too coarse to carry much weight. When the question moves from the person to the arrow, that is within the same archer, the picture changes: in four elite Turkish women archers the finger flexor is slightly less active on the 10s but the extensors do not tell the arrows apart, and in eight elite French archers, over 549 arrows at 70 metres, the finger extensor of the string hand is more active on the better arrows, not less. What can be said today is that better archers tend to have a quieter forearm than weaker ones; within the same archer the two studies do not agree, and nothing shows that switching the forearm off improves the individual arrow.

Also phrased as: "relaxed string hand"; "relaxed drawing forearm"; "fingers not gripping the string"; "relaxed hook"; "forearm tension in archery"

Evidence

• 1999
  For Archers Published later

  20 young Swedish archers of three levels, electromyography of the common finger extensor of the drawing arm: in the control condition, the higher the tension in the instant before the release, the lower the score (r = -0.48, p below 0.05) and the harder the archer feels the shot (r = 0.48). After a session in a flotation tank the correlation with score falls to -0.01: the link shows up in only one of the two conditions.

  Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST · Torsten Norlander, Henrik Bergman, Trevor Archer

• 1999
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study, how hard that muscle works: across the four series the extensor sits between 13.1 and 17.5 per cent of maximum voluntary contraction, depending on group and condition, and rises to between 17.4 and 25.3 per cent in the instant before the release. It is light but continuous work, and it gives the scale on which to read the other figures.

  Primary process in competitive archery performance: Effects of flotation REST · Torsten Norlander, Henrik Bergman, Trevor Archer

• 2001
  Context Archers Published later

  6 experienced club archers, right-handed men aged 37 to 51, a 55 lb recurve shot at a metre and a half with a one-second hold, surface electromyography not normalised: in the string hand the finger flexors and flexor carpi radialis rise gradually up to 97 per cent of the time and then fall away, while the finger extensor, steady after the early part of the draw, rises sharply from 96 per cent. It describes how the forearm works at the release, with no statistics and no scores; it is a master's thesis that was not peer reviewed.

  Analysis of Wrist and Elbow Muscle Activity in Compound versus Traditional Bows with Experienced Archers · Jesse Fuhrer

• 2003
  For Archers Published later

  10 elite archers, 10 beginners and 10 people who had never shot, electromyography of the superficial finger flexor and finger extensor synchronised with the clicker, 12 arrows each: 200 milliseconds after the clicker drops the flexor of the elite has relaxed more than that of the beginners (p = 0.017), and the beginners' more than that of the non-archers (p = 0.025); at 300 milliseconds the extensor separates the elite from the non-archers (p = 0.010). It is a comparison between levels, without the score of the arrow.

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

• 2003
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study, before the clicker drops the extensor of the non-archers is more active than that of the archers, but the difference between groups is not significant. Elite and beginners hold an almost constant activity, with flexors and extensors in balance, while the non-archers prepare the release by switching the extensors on (more active than the flexor in every interval, p below 0.05). The differences between levels appear only in specific windows after the clicker.

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

• 2005
  For Archers Published later

  7 Turkish national team archers (FITA 1,303), 6 club beginners (1,152) and 10 people who had never shot: the rank of the FITA score is linked to the logarithm of finger flexor and extensor activity with r = -0.66 before the clicker, -0.70 after it and -0.74 on the overall index (p below 0.0001), and -0.63 for the flexor alone after the clicker. The extensor peak, about 260 milliseconds after the clicker, gets lower going from non-archers to beginners to elite.

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

• 2005
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study, two things that weigh on the -0.74. The time windows of the index were chosen by maximising that very correlation, with no validation on other data; and the ten who had never shot have no measured score but the same 250 assigned to all of them, so the correlation largely measures the distance between people who shoot and people who never have. The comparison between the national team and the beginners, the one a coach would care about, is not reported on its own.

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

• 2010
  For Archers Published later

  In the same study, at group level, the superficial finger flexor in the second before the clicker is less active on the 10s than on the 9s and 8s (F = 5.4; p below 0.05) and is linked to the score of the arrow with r = -0.29. It is the only forearm muscle that tells the arrows apart at group level, and it runs the way the claim says.

  Shooting Dynamics in Archery · M. Emre Erkek, Cevdet Tinazci

• 2010
  Against Archers Published later

  4 elite Turkish recurve women archers, 108 usable arrows at 18 metres indoors, with electromyography synchronised with the clicker: at group level finger extensor activity does not tell 8s, 9s and 10s apart, either before the clicker (F = 0.86) or after it (F = 2.1). Within the individual archers it goes in opposite directions: in the second the extensors drop from the 8s to the 10s (86.9, 77.7 and 76.1; p below 0.05), in the third they are more active on the better arrows (70.3, 82.8 and 77.8; p below 0.05).

  Shooting Dynamics in Archery · M. Emre Erkek, Cevdet Tinazci

• 2014
  Context Archers Published later

  27 recurve archers of three levels, window from 400 milliseconds before to 800 after the clicker: in the elite, forearm flexors and extensors decline gradually after the clicker drops, in the intermediates both tend to rise as soon as it drops, in the beginners the flexors decline while the extensors rise. It describes the shape of the activity by level, without linking it to score.

  Kinetic and Kinematic Analysis of Recurve Archery Shooting Technique · Deniz Simsek, Ali Onur Cerrah, Hayri Ertan, A. Ruhi Soylu

• 2017
  Against Archers Published later

  32 young Malaysian archers aged 13 to 20, six arrows at 50 metres, split by a cluster analysis into 20 higher performers and 12 lower performers: the activity of the superficial finger flexor of the right hand, which in a right-handed archer is the string hand, does not tell the two groups apart (t = 2.02, p = 0.057). The paper does not state the archers' handedness, samples the electromyography at 51.2 Hz, far below what is needed to read a muscle signal, and forms the groups from variables that include that same flexor and the score; the difference in Table 3 (0.088) does not square with the values in Table 1, which range from 0.001 to 0.006. The muscle that does separate the groups, more active in the higher scorers, is the extensor of the bow arm.

  Analysis of biological and mechanical related performance parameters of Malaysian senior youth archers · Zahari Taha, Mainul Haque, Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Siti Musliha Mat-Rashid, Norlaila Azura Kosni, Aleesha Adnan

• 2018
  Context Archers Published later

  4 Malaysian archers compared in pairs, a medallist against a non-medallist and an elite archer against a novice, six arrows at 50 metres, electromyography at 51.2 Hz with the finger extensor on the left arm and the superficial finger flexor on the right: according to the authors the flexor of the right hand, the string hand in a right-handed archer, is slightly less active in the medallist and the elite archer. These are two one-against-one comparisons, read off charts with no figures and no tests, handedness is not stated and the journal is flagged as a questionable venue: context. It is the study the 2023 review cites on the extensors of medallists, and there the extensor measured is on the bow arm.

  A multidimensional analysis of physiological and mechanical variables among archers of different levels of expertise Questionable venue · Rabiu Muazu Musa, Mohamad Razali Abdullah, Hafizan Juahir, Ahmad Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Siti Musliha Mat-Rasid, Norlaila Azura Kosni, Aleesha Adnan, Nadiawati Alias, Vijayamurugan Eswaramoorthi

• 2022
  Context Review Published later

  Systematic review of 41 studies on performance assessment: it reports the negative correlation between FITA score and forearm activity, with the reading that less experienced archers hold the string with the forearm while more experienced ones spread the load across arm, shoulder girdle and back. The figure comes from a single study, the Turkish one from 2005.

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

• 2023
  Context Review Published later

  Review of 126 articles on balance in sport, 10 of them on archery: among the studies cited, one reports that medal-winning archers combine better control of bow and posture with higher activation of the finger extensor. The review gives no figures and does not say which arm. The study it cites is the 2018 Malaysian paper on four archers, which places the extensor electrode on the left arm, the bow arm in a right-handed archer: it has nothing to say about the string hand.

  Sport-specific training induced adaptations in postural control and their relationship with athletic performance · Erika Zemková, Zuzana Kováčiková

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  8 elite French recurve archers, 4 women and 4 men, 549 arrows at 70 metres split by score (8 or lower, 9, 10): while aiming, the finger extensor of the string hand is less active on the low arrows than on the 10s, and less on the 9s than on the 10s. According to the results text the same holds for the superficial finger flexor on that side. It is the comparison between arrows of the same archer, and it runs opposite to the claim.

  A multi-parameter investigation of elite archery: distinguishing individual and shared performance strategies during the aiming and follow-through phases · Raphaël Jacquot, Khaireddine Ben Mansour, Kévin Bouillet, Jean-Philippe Jehl, Gérôme Gauchard

Status history

1. 1999 Reported The first piece of data comes from twenty young Swedish archers of different levels, with electromyography on the finger extensor of the drawing arm: the tenser that muscle in the instant before the release, the lower the score, with a correlation of -0.48, and the harder the archer feels the shot to be. The link appears only in the control condition, though, and disappears after a session in a flotation tank. A moderate association in a single study: reported.
2. 2001 Reported A thesis on six experienced club archers describes how the forearm of the string hand works with a recurve: the finger flexors rise gradually until just before the release and then fall away, while the finger extensor, steady during the hold, rises sharply at that very moment. It is an averaged trace with no statistics and no scores, so it shows how the hand opens, not whether a quieter forearm brings better arrows. The only link with scores is still the 1999 one, and the status stays reported.
3. 2003 Reported A comparison between ten elite archers, ten beginners and ten people who had never shot adds timing: after the clicker drops the finger flexors of the elite relax sooner, with significant differences at 200 milliseconds, and at 300 the extensor separates the elite from the non-archers. Before the clicker, by contrast, the groups cannot be told apart. It points the same way, but it compares levels rather than arrows, and the status remains reported.
4. 2005 Reported The same Turkish laboratory sets forearm activity around the clicker beside the FITA score of twenty-three people and finds the strongest correlations of the series, up to -0.74, with the extensor peak after the clicker getting lower as the level rises. The status does not go up: the time windows were chosen to maximise that very correlation, ten participants had never shot and were given an assigned score, and the two Turkish studies come from the same group.
5. 2010 Reported For the first time the question moves inside the same archer: four elite Turkish women archers, 108 arrows at 18 metres. At group level the finger flexor, in the second before the clicker, is less active on the 10s than on the 8s and 9s (F = 5.4; r = -0.29), while the extensors do not tell the arrows apart; within the individual archers the extensors go in opposite directions, less active on the better arrows in one and more active in another. The study counts once in favour and once against, beside the three in favour already there: the status remains reported, and from here on the comparison between people has to be kept apart from the comparison between arrows.
6. 2017 Reported The first comparison between levels that does not find the link arrives. Thirty-two young Malaysian archers, split into a higher-scoring and a lower-scoring group: the finger flexor of the right hand, the string hand in a right-handed archer, does not separate the two groups (p = 0.057). It is a weak study, with electromyography sampled at 51.2 Hz and figures that do not agree from one table to the next, and beside the four studies in favour it does not move the status: reported.
7. 2018 Reported The same Malaysian group as in 2017 compares four archers in pairs, a medallist against a non-medallist and an elite archer against a novice: according to the authors the finger flexor of the string hand is slightly less active in the two stronger archers. It points the way the claim says, but it is one archer per level, read off charts with no figures or tests, in a journal with questionable editorial standards, so it does not count. With four studies in favour and two against, the status stays reported.
8. 2025 Contested Eight elite French archers, 549 arrows at 70 metres split by score: while aiming, the finger extensor of the string hand is more active on the 10s than on the 9s or lower, which is the opposite of the claim, and at the level of the individual arrow. Between people of different levels the link remains the one seen since 1999, against a single weak comparison that does not find it; within the same archer the 2010 study finds it only for the flexor, and this one finds it reversed: contested.

Related

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• Which muscles work in an archery shot, and at what share of their maximumWhich muscles switch on in an archery shot, in which phase and at what share of their maximum, and why studies give different figures for the same muscle.

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