Hi There,

I am currently preparing for a Cape Buffalo hunt (South Africa) in December and was wondering how one would become conditioned the quickest.

I normally shoot a 70lb bow and recently acquired a 75- 85lb PSE X-Force. I currently have it set on 80lb. I practice only approximately 8- 12 shots when it becomes too difficult to draw.

What would the experts recommend more gym (what excercises), more shooting, technique change?

Please share any experience in this regard. By the way, my bow is currently producing 101ft.lb with the set- up I am going to use.

Thanks

Greenmachine,
I am curious, what is your arrow weight, your draw length and arrow speed?

I found that when I was getting ready for my buff hunt. It was helpful to add two to three shots each session.
I also used the bowfit safari and held it at full draw as long as possible. I did this for three reps once a day.

Shooting it is important but to get the conditioning for the heavier poundage I find this is the fastest way.

Draw the bow as slowly and let it back down as slowly as you can a few times a day. Emphasis on doing this as slowly and as controlled as absolutely possible.

First time you do this about five times in a row you'll feel like you shot the bow 20 times. So only do it a couple times at first this really works your muscles hard. When you get to where you can do that 10 times in a row with total control drawing and shooting will be a piece of cake.

You should probably ask a traditional archer. 80 lbs is a lot but at 65% lo you're only holding 52. Those stick shooters shooting 65lb longbows, that's impressive when you look at their control and how long they hold on target before releasing.

The best thing to do is shoot just to the point where it gets hard to draw and wait at least 2 days for your muscles to heal. If you shoot every day you will defeat what you want. If you shoot until you just can't get it back, it will take longer to heal. You can pull something if you try to force it back.
Since you have been shooting 70#, it will be a quick process.
I shoot 82# and I will be 72 next month.
When I was young I could draw two 55# recurve bows together to full 30". But a 60# osage orange Indian bow still makes my eyes bulge and I can't hold it back.
Howard Hill shot some God awful weights with his bows. I tried a few of his once and almost got a rupture! Talk about stack!

Thanks for all the replies. My current set- up is 705gr total weight @ 255 ft/second. This is made up of Big Five 2 blade B/ head: 180gr and 29.5 inch Carbon Express Rebel Hunter arrows (with inserts).

Greenmachine, have you discussed your set up with your PH?
Everyone that I spoke to before doing my buff hunt wanted a minimum arrow weight of 800 grains. Most were saying between 800 and 1000 grains.

While I agree that it is important to practice with the new bow, that is not the quickest way to build the strength that you need to be able to hike, stalk, and then comfortably draw and shoot the bow in hunting conditions. You will get the best results by working out with weights or on weight machines. You will achieve the best results by following a general strength training regiment and diet (increase protein intake) for a few weeks. By building strength in all the muscle groups, you will greatly reduce the risk of injury of a pulled or cramped muscle during your hunt.

Sorry if anyone else has posted something similar, but I did not take the time to read all the other replies.

I wish to offer you a word of caution. I also use to shoot a bow set at 80lbs draw weight. This was over 20yrs ago and I use to shoot 1-3, 3-D events a weekend end or about 8 a month. I never took time to warm up prior to shooting and I wound up tearing up my right shoulder badly enough that I now must get surgery to fix it. This potential problem becomes even more of a risk with a bow with agressive cams.

I now shoot a PSE XLR 900 with Syenergy III cams at 63lbs and even though they are a smooth drawing cam, I can only shoot about 30 or so shots before my right shoulder starts to ache.

So just keep what happened to me in mind if you move up to a 80lb pull bow.

Working out with traditional, or even the latest weights and or weight training machines AIN'T it. Bow strength is not addressed by traditional muscles groups, or even the smaller groups these macines will address.

We had NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS players and other 'ripped up fella's' come into the shop all the time that had a hard time drawing 60 lbs.

The absolute biggest man I ever laid eyes on, a granite smith/mason who was just ridiculously strong and over 400 lbs (just a little fat) could barely draw 70 lbs when he started. He shot at our indoor range 3 to 4 times a week, and as another poster mentioned, gave his muscles time to recover, and in about 6 months was shooting 95 lbs comfortably. Higher poundage bows are not really that available. With the efficiencies of modern bows, and the speed the generate, trying to shoot extremely high draw weights is not really that necessary/advisable, and if PH's are looking for that from their clients, they are just under-informed.

Point being is that the way to go is to shoot til you're tired, not exhausted/beat down, but keep a regular every 4 or so day schedule and shoot a little bit of increased poundage every other week or so as you can handle it. Letting a bow down under control is
VERY hard on your bow arm shoulder (i.e. left shoulder for a righty) and is known to cause rotator cuff damage. SHOOT the bow if possible, I disagree with those that want to repetively 'let the bow down' as a way to train. I've seen a lot of shoulders go doing that, and if you lose control of a string/arrow while doing it--well, that's just another reason not to do it.

Good Luck--remember archery is a game where shot placement is of the ultimate importance, so be able to shoot your bow accurately after you have jogged around to get your shot, and maybe even from an awkward angle or stance!

My method is to shoot the heavier weight multiple times per day until I become proficient.

One of my old bows in the rack sets up to 82lb at my draw length and only has 60% letoff. My go to bow is a 70pounder with 80% letoff. It takes me about two weeks of shooting the heavy bow every day to actually be up to speed with it ... and even then, I'm a better shot with the lighter bow.