The shooting stance is far less stable than ordinary standing
2 studies · 4 archers measured
The summary today
It depends on who is shooting and on which arrow you look at. In children starting an eight-week basic course, the answer is clear: before the course the centre-of-pressure sway area is 1.56 square centimetres standing and 12.26 in the shooting stance, about eight times as much, and after the course it is still about seven times. In elite archers the only comparison, four Australian archers measured in 1990 over 240 arrows, gives a far less tidy picture: on poor arrows and in some sessions the sway when shooting reaches three to fourteen times the standing value, up to 3,326 mm² against 242, but in other sessions all the arrows sit at or below the standing value, and in the compound archer the good arrows come in at 75 mm² against 100. That comparison is not like for like, because standing sway was recorded without the bow, arms by the sides, over 30-second periods, and shooting sway from the final aim to the release, 15 seconds on average, and four archers cannot carry a rule; but it is enough to say that in experienced archers the shooting stance is not always less stable, and that it becomes so mainly when the shot goes badly.
Also phrased as: "balance in the shooting stance"; "postural sway aiming versus standing"; "the shooting stance is unstable"; "stance stability"; "centre-of-pressure sway when shooting"
In practice
It is said that the shooting stance, side-on to the target with the bow held out, is unstable in itself, and that balance therefore needs training on its own.
Evidence
-
1990
For Archers Published later
4 elite Australian archers (one compound, three recurve, one of the women also shooting barebow), force plate, 240 arrows at 30 metres over two sessions up to 100 days apart, compared with sway recorded while standing relaxed, feet in the shooting position and arms by the sides: on poor arrows the centre-of-pressure area often exceeds the standing value, up to 3,326 ± 662 mm² against 241.6 ± 23.2 mm² for the same archer, and in two archers, in the first session, every arrow sits from about three to almost fourteen times above the standing value (for example 347 to 942 against 93 mm²). The authors conclude that on poor arrows sway exceeds normal standing sway.
Fine Body Movements and the Cardiac Cycle in Archery · David Keast, Bruce Elliott
-
1990
Against Archers Published later
In the same table, though, shooting sway often comes down to the standing level or below it: one archer in the first session shoots with areas between 244 and 379 mm² against 958 standing, in the second session two archers shoot every arrow below their own standing value (78 to 97 against 154 mm², 136 to 253 against 291), and in the compound archer the good arrows come in at 75 mm² against 100. The comparison is not like for like: standing sway was recorded in 30-second periods, shooting sway from the final aim to the release, between 4 and 25 seconds and 15 on average, and over a longer window the area tends to grow. The authors do not test the two conditions against each other.
Fine Body Movements and the Cardiac Cycle in Archery · David Keast, Bruce Elliott
-
2009
For General population Published later
16 children measured on a force plate before starting an 8-week basic archery course (40 minutes, three times a week), out of 32 recruited: the centre-of-pressure sway radius goes from 0.40 centimetres in upright standing to 1.86 in the shooting stance, and the area from 1.56 to 12.26 square centimetres, about eight times as much. After the course the shooting-stance area falls to 7.19 and the standing area to 1.05, so the ratio stays at around seven. It is a one-page conference abstract, with no direct test between the two positions.
The effect of 8 weeks archery training on postural stability in children · Alex J.Y. Lee, Yu-Chi Chiu, Ying-Fang Liu, Wei-Hsiu Lin
Status history
- 1990 Contested The first comparison comes from four elite Australian archers on a force plate, 240 arrows over two sessions, with relaxed standing sway, feet in the shooting position and arms by the sides, as the reference, and it points two ways. On poor arrows the centre-of-pressure area often exceeds the standing value, up to 3,326 mm² against 242, and in two archers, in one session, every arrow sits three to fourteen times above it; in other sessions, by contrast, the arrows sit at or below the standing value, and in the compound archer the good arrows come in at 75 mm² against 100. A single study, on four archers, with cases going both ways: contested.
- 2009 Contested A conference abstract brings the clearest data, but on children starting a course: in 16 children, before an eight-week basic course, the centre-of-pressure sway radius goes from 0.40 centimetres standing to 1.86 in the shooting stance, and the area from 1.56 to 12.26 square centimetres, about eight times as much. After the course the shooting-stance area falls to 7.19, still about seven times the standing value. For beginners the data point the claim's way; for experienced archers the only data are still the split findings of 1990, so the status does not change.
Related
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Research lines
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See the full assessmentCite
Campagna, M. (2026). The shooting stance is far less stable than ordinary standing (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/shooting-stance-less-stable-than-standing
@misc{campagna2026_posizionetiroinstabile,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {The shooting stance is far less stable than ordinary standing},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/shooting-stance-less-stable-than-standing},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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