| Components
of fitness |
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Fitness isn't a single thing; there are different aspects of
fitness. Different sports need a different balance of these components
of fitness. This page just lists some of them, and picks out the
ones most important for archery. For quick reference, they are:
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The importance marking is relative, from no blots to three blots.
Just because something has top priority, though, doesn't mean it
has to be at the limit of human capacity - just that it should get
some attention in archery training.
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| Component |
Description |
Importance
for Archery |
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 Strength |
Strength is
just about how big a force your muscles can produce.
Strong muscles lift heavy loads, and draw a heavy bow
with more room to spare for fine control. |
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| Endurance |
Being strong
enough to draw your bow isn't enough - you have to draw
it with good control 150 times to shoot a FITA. It's
not as demanding as running a Marathon, but it's a significant
consideration. |
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| Flexibility |
Flexibility
relates to how far your joints move. Archery doesn't
place great demands on joint mobility, but the currently
accepted 'best' technique does stretch neck and shoulders
to get the best 'line', and you need to be flexible
enough to get there without discomfort. Field archers
may need additional leg and torso flexibility for some
of the more awkward shots. You will probably find, too,
that general training adds all-round flexibility demands
that definitely exceed the average TV remote user requirement. |
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| Speed |
The last of
the big four, Speed is a real priority for many sports.
But archery is not a response sport, nor a speed sport,
and doesn't rely on explosive power or rapid motion.
There's a bit of evidence that better archers respond
to a clicker faster, but that's about it. Very few archers
would train for speed at all just to shoot. |
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| Visual
acuity |
Visual
acuity is the ability to resolve
images; that is, to see small
things clearly. It's hard
to shoot something you can't
see, and hard to aim with
a blurred sight and target.
There's even some evidence
that peak performance archery
can be compromised by even
modest reductions in vision,
though with normal vision,
you should be able to hit
the ten at 90m every time...
Normal vision, of course,
isn't all that common, especially
in a sport that includes 40-yr
old wrinklies and people who
gave up football because they
couldn't see the ball without
glasses. And even normal vision
is compromisd by bright light,
dim light, lack of fluids
and other factors. So we can
expect to pay some attention
to the vision thing.
Incidentally, there are a
couple of other visual capabilities
that matter; for example,
peripheral vision can be important
in picking up wind cues. |
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| Agility |
Ability to move
from one position to another rapidly. Largely, of course,
to do with a combination of strength, speed and flexibility.
Not a big issue for archery. |
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| Balance |
The thing that
stops you falling over. Archery isn't quite tightrope-walking,
but most target archers shoot standing up, and body
sway is not desirable. Stance and posture matter a lot,
but a good sense of balance can be a help here - again,
more for field archers who find themselves standing
on top of a lumpy tree stump and aiming for a bunny
shot. |
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Clinical/medical condition |
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This may sound
obvious, but being ill does bad things for fitness of
all kinds. Even a cold can be debilitating, and there
are worse things out there. Not many of them preclude
archery, but few make it easier. (Me, I get hay fever.
Go on - try and find a more stupid thing to do with
hay fever than stand in the middle of a grassy field
on a sunny day with a gentle breeze blowing*).
Whatever, medical condition is an important part of
fitness, even in archery; it's common sense you should
take it into account in training, preparation and shooting.
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| *OK,
so wearing a space helmet full of grass pollen would
be more stupid. |
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