7 Archery Strength Training Exercise Tips & Ideas

Incorporating archery weight training and endurance exercise into your physical fitness routine can dramatically improve your shooting precision and confidence. Like any sport, developing relevant muscles naturally empowers you to perform to your full potential.

To the casual spectator, archery may not look like a strenuous activity. However, drawing, holding, and aiming a bow requires a great deal of strength and control. Furthermore, you need to maintain a calm, laser-focused mind throughout the physical exertion. It’s not as easy as it looks!

Mastering archery is a lifelong endeavor that requires dedication to the craft. Shooting is just one part of the lifestyle. Add these archery strength training exercises to your regimen to take your skills to the next level.

1. Take a Dip

Swimming is an incredibly effective yet low-impact exercise that conditions your entire body, with a strong focus on the back, shoulders, and arms. Because swimming improves muscle symmetry, it can work wonders in improving your overall balance—stable footing is crucial in archery. It also works your joints, which boosts flexibility.

2. Perform Planks

Planking is excellent for your core, targeting many muscle groups simultaneously. It strengthens your abs (helps with stability), your obliques (improves waist mobility), and glutes (supports good posture). This is one of the most convenient archery strength training exercises because you don’t need any special equipment—you can do it virtually anywhere.

• Put your forearms on the ground or mat. Keep them aligned with your shoulders, back, hips, and knees.
• Raise your body so your forearms and toes are the only points of contact.
• Squeeze your abdomen and glutes tightly.
• Hold the position for as long as possible.

3. Practice With a Heavier Bow

Archery weight training doesn’t always require dumbbells! In baseball, it’s common for players to swing with weighted bats to build strength and make unweighted bats feel lighter. The same principle applies to archery strength training.

While you shouldn’t develop your form on a bow that’s too heavy, practicing on a bow with a slightly higher poundage and thicker bow strings is a simple yet incredibly effective way to target the specific muscles used in archery.

• Draw the bow all the way back.
• Hold the position for 30 seconds.
• Carefully return to a neutral position.

After you get comfortable with holding the draw for 30 seconds, you can also perform this exercise with quicker motions, just like lifting weights.

4. Do Single-Arm Dumbbell Rows

The motion of single-arm dumbbell rows is very similar to drawing a bow, and it targets the same back muscle (the latissimus dorsi). It’s also an ideal archery strength training

exercise because it strengthens your lower body and core, making you more stable on your feet.

• Use your left shin, knee, and hand to stabilize yourself on a bench. 
• With your right hand, lift a dumbbell away from your ribs and bring it back.
• Repeat the movement 10 times.
• Switch to the left arm.

5. Do Dumbbell Side Raises

Dumbbell side raises are among the best archery weight training exercises because they target the deltoid muscles in your shoulders, which are used to draw the bow. This archery strength training technique can help you to develop a smoother, more controlled draw.

• Stand upright with a dumbbell in both hands.
• Keep your back straight and your knees and elbows slightly bent.
• Raise the dumbbells sideways until your arms are straight out and parallel to the floor.
• Keeping your arms straight, slowly ease your arms back to your sides.

6. Use the Rowing Machine

Rowing targets the same muscles used in archery, including the triceps, latissimus dorsi, and deltoids. It simultaneously strengthens your core and back, which improves your balance, stability, and posture. This archery strength training will require a visit to the gym unless you have a rowing machine or a rowboat.

• Sit on the machine with your back straight.
• Grasp the handles.
• Use your legs, knees, and lower body to push yourself backward.
• As you travel, use your upper back to draw the handles toward your chest.
• Reverse the motion. 
• The entire motion should look like this: legs - arms - arms - legs.

7. Don’t Forget Cardio

While archery weight training and strength building are important, don’t skip cardio. Your goal should be to achieve an overall athletic body—not just strong arms and shoulders. Archery strength training alone will only take you so far. 

Cardio improves your endurance so you can stay focused and avoid fatigue during long competitions or shooting sessions. It also has many mental benefits, including improving your memory, attention, and overall mood. 

Simply put, when you’re in good shape, you perform better—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Boost Your Performance With Custom Bow Strings

Exercise won’t help if you’re not shooting with top-notch gear. Upgrading your compound bow strings can improve your bow’s performance drastically so you can approach every target with pure confidence. With the right gear and these archery strength training exercises, you can achieve your full potential. It takes work, but you’ll get there.

Whether you need a thicker bow string material for building strength or you’re just looking to give your bow a performance boost, we can help. Our pre-stretched bow strings are individually made by Brad Patsy, a multi-world and national archery champion. Not only are they the best in the business, but they come in awesome custom bow string colors, too.

Order your bow string and cable set now, and experience what’s possible when you combine archery weight training with top-of-the-line equipment.