Tag Archives: the push traditional archery

A few from the bookshelf
Mar 27 2020

Help is out there – Literature and online resources

A few days ago I posted some resources to help you get through the UK lockdown titled Home isolation opportunities here are the followup details I promised.
You might be wondering where I am getting all these ideas on combating target panic or am I making it up as I go, based on a vivid imagination. Well no. I’m not that imaginative, just ask Sharon. She will tell you how I always struggle with Christmas and birthday present ideas.
The truth is there is a wealth of literature, along with hours of footage out there on archery of all forms and many of it addresses methods to control target panic.
Most of the techniques I mention initially come from a variety of sources, but have been tweaked or modified by myself. I do a lot of reading and reviewing of online material, along with active coaching of archers of all levels. I endeavour to learn from those experiences, trying different things, tweaking ideas for the individuals. Sometimes it works, other times it takes a while, but we get there eventually. For this reason, I would like to offer a list of resources that I have found useful over the years.

Literature

One very useful guide I’ve found which I’ve mentioned previously came recommended to me by another coach was “Instinctive archery insights” by Jay Kidwell. In the book, Jay who has a PhD in Psychology and is an archer the selves is offering a breakdown of how the human brain works with some very useful insights into practice techniques.
I’ve used versions of these techniques with several people, struggling with different manifestations of target panic or anxiety of shooting and found they work well. 
The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters may sound a strange choice as it has nothing to do with archery, but I have found the writings on the subject of mind management helpful. To put it simply it goes into detail of how we have two elements of our brain, the chimp brain and the computer brain. The key part is your chimp brain reacts faster, being more instinctive than the computer brain. The thing to remember is with work, you can program your computer brain which provides you with greater control. This is a really simplified definition of the book which doesn’t do it justice so please have a read as it can provide help when combating target panic.
Songi Woo an international archery coach mentioned using this book in a recent article in Bow International issue 138.
Bow international magazine tends to focus on more target elements of our hobby but it does produce some interesting articles on coaching advice and guidance.

Other sources are out there too

The Push ( https://www.thepusharchery.com/) podcasts have a wealth of knowledge and have run a series of podcasts on coaching advice and tips that provides a huge resource and can provide some great insights. You might recall I wrote a review of them a while back and I often go back to their coaching moments recordings.
Nusensei YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UC4IL0laJkpzH9JHmxNqjjMg) has some great material, though focused more on target archery it does offer some great advice and guidance applicable to all.
Joel Turner ( https://www.shotiq.com/) has done some fantastic work and offers loads of advice for archers. He has also produced a concept that offers great opportunities for archers in what he describes as open and closed-loop shooting. I’ll try and describe it in brief here.
Open-loop is when you have automatic movements or subconscious and does not have any time for feedback to stop or change the process
Closed-loop is when you make decision i.e choosing to move from one stage to another in your shot sequence, proving feedback so you can stop or adjust.
Archery 101 ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-LVJYEHvPXzVyrduIMtIg) is also worth checking out for ideas on improvements.
Over here in the UK, we have a few YouTubers who have been producing materials for years.
The cuddly bear fronting Archery Adventures known to many as “Grizzly Jim” ( https://www.grizzlyjim.co.uk/) has produced some really good videos over the years along with the odd articles in Bow international.
Though he’s been a bit quiet on the archery front over the last few years Wolfie Hughes has produced some great videos in the past. ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkId_L6JEv0r_x1MzMvxfg)
Richard Head Longbows has been producing videos for years on different topics so check out their channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr0ec0H7tNwfEEgoQ8qWoPQ)
I hope you find these of use, if you have any other resources you feel should be included then leave me a comment here or drop me a line.
Thanks for reading.
Jul 1 2019

Chat with Cody Greenwood at the TradLab

The TradLab

For those of you who don’t know Cody Greenwood he is the founder of Tradlab (https://www.thetradlab.com/) over in the USA. He has a background the field of analytics and is now focusing this expertise on traditional archery.
He has been working with the guys at The Push on a series of podcasts looking at arrow flight and the elements that effect it such as number, size of fetching, etc.. These are well worth listening to, offering some great advice and suggestions.
For those interested here is a link back to the Push article I wrote a while back.
anyway lets get started.
Rob – For the readers who might not have heard of you Cody, how about introducing yourself and explaining how you first got into archery?
Cody – I have a background in Continuous Improvement.
Rob – that phrase brings back memories of my university studies of engineering. Sorry please carry on.
Cody – I have been shooting archery since I was old enough to draw a bow. I hunted as I grew up and my passion for Archery has consistently increased with every year. I have just begun to get into the competition side of Archery.
I am developing as I now start to tackle the mental side of Trad.
Rob – the mental side is a whole new ball game that is often overlooked with some trad archers.
Listening again to the podcasts which you did with the guys at The Push, you said how you wanted to put something back into the hobby. So why set up the Tradlab, isn’t there enough information out there for people?
Traditional Archery changed for me last year at IBO Worlds. Dewayne Martin turned to me and said 95% of what you learned about Traditional Archery from the internet is false. I spent the afternoon shooting with those guys and during that time I realized he was correct.
A close friend who also competes spent countless hours Coaching me as I had to unlearn so many things.
I was shocked at how much time I had wasted trying to learn from the “Internet Archers”.
Rob – wow that is quite a revelation. Maybe a flip side of this is some of those internet archers believe they are being beneficial. YouTube has been a massive success over the years for people who want to share advice and ideas.
I have to say I do agree in some ways, as with my coaching hat on I’ve spent a few sessions with archers, helping them unlearn bad habits. Some of which they have picked up from YouTube.
Do you think its partly down to not being able to identify easily what is appropriate or right?

What a great quote – from the TradLab pages

I set out to expose this and TradLab was a result. I am using my skillset from my profession to test equipment and theories.
Rob – kind of a like a mythbusters approach in some ways?
My ultimate goal is to get people to go to the large shoots.
Rob – i think you are selling yourself short there Cody. I think you are trying to provide evidence based results to help the community as a whole.
A lot of what you covered in the podcasts are of benefit to hunters, field archers and social shooters.
Rob – Do you find the analytics of archery as interesting as actually shooting?
No absolutely not, I would much rather shoot versus study and test.
As a matter of fact I fear that I may be encouraging some to tinker in excess. We need to develop ourselves as Archers not constantly tinker with equipment.
Rob – My old coach always said, “Learn to shoot before you tinker with anything.”
As a coach myself I have often seen people tinker with there set up believing it would help, when in reality they would be better focusing on their own form or shot sequence.
My goal is to leverage my analytical base to save others from having to test with one factor at a time trial and error. This should enable them to focus on their shot versus testing.
Rob – I have to say the inner nerd in me loves to track and record stuff for improvements in future so hearing that someone else is also doing this makes me happy.
Where do you see yourself going with your archery and the TradLab over the next few years?
The future of TradLab is not clear to me at this time. I know I want to add more value than I take from this community.
My primary goal is to give back. If it turns into a sustainable business that adds value I will apply effort and time. If I find that TradLab becomes anything less than value add for the Community I will stop. I do not have any revenue coming in from TradLab at this point.
I do know there is a lot of bad information and products in our community. I will articulate this through my testing.
On my site I have limbs that sell for $800 that perform worse than $400 limbs. I want people to see this and make good product choices.
Rob – I can appreciate that sentiment. I’ve always tried to be unbiased in my reviews so people can have the facts and make their own minds up.
Rob – How can people get involved if they want to?
People can contact me through my website www.TheTradLab.com, instagram or my facebook page. They can also reach out the folks at Push archery.
I am always interested in theories or new product testing.
Thanks for taking the time to go through this. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck with the TradLab. Looking forward to more reviews and research over the next few months.
For those interested here is a link to The Push (https://thepusharchery.com/)
Thanks for reading
May 31 2019

The Tradlab and the Push podcasts

The Tradlab

Some of you will remember me writing an article on The Push podcasts and how useful I have found some of their coaching material. I’ve continued to listen to them and wanted to share a development on a series of podcasts focusing on arrows and the work the Cody Greenwood has been doing at the TradLab (https://www.thetradlab.com/)
Specific details can be found here (https://www.thetradlab.com/copy-of-fletching-test-1-episode-10) under the Tradlab Studies section of website.
Whilst the data can come across as pretty technical the podcasts are well worth a listen. The main take home being give some more thought to your fletching sizes and configurations. I have found the aspect of fletching size very interesting as I have been playing around with the different options and combinations myself, though not tried 4 fletch.
Have a listen and let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading.