Archery Warm Up and Exercise : For Better Shooting and Less Possibility to Get Injured

In all kind of sports, warm up exercises are always regarded and proven to be an important step before engage in their respective sports.

Reasons of doing warm up exercises before sports are:

• Decrease risk of injury
• Enable full development of opposing muscle groups
• Increase mobility, which is why sometimes we feel we shoot better when our body starts to heat up after some time as we started.
  
• Improve blood circulation by allowing free flow of blood through relaxed muscles of body
  
• Improve relaxation and decrease stress during the sport

Note: As part of a total body warm-up it is important to ensure that muscles are warm before they are stretched, because a sudden extension of a "cold" muscle sometimes can cause strains and tears.


To warm up your muscles, we can jog slowly or walk briskly on the spot or around the area for a few minutes before doing the following stretching exercises:

	To loosen upper arm and chest muscles. Interlock the fingers with palms out. Extend arms above head, keeping fingers locked. Stretch upwards and hold for 10 seconds.
	To loosen back muscles. Cross arms in front of chest and place hands around shoulders. Slowly stretch hands towards middle of back as far as possible. Hold for 10 seconds.
	To loosen chest, top of shoulder and lower arm muscles. Bend one arm over head and down back, bend other arm around and up back. Grasp finger tips and hold for 10 seconds, then reverse arm positions and hold for 10 seconds. Keep backbone vertical during this exercise.
	To loosen shoulders and back muscles. Lock fingers together, extend arms and twist slowly as far as possible to the right and hold for 10 seconds. Then twist slowly to the left and hold for 10 seconds. CAUTION: Do not twist suddenly as it may damage backbone joints.
	Shrug: To loosen neck and upper shoulder muscles. From a normal standing position with arms at sides, raise up both shoulders towards neck as high as possible, then move shoulders forward, then move shoulders back. Do this for about 10 seconds.
	To loosen back and shoulder muscles. Use a length of spear gun rubber or rubber tubing, grasp each end, raise arms to shoulder height and extend arms, keeping elbows straight, outwards and backwards by squeezing shoulder blades together. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat about 6 times.
	To loosen shoulder muscles. Use a length of spear gun rubber or rubber tubing, grasp each end, raise one arm above head and the other arm level with shoulder. Pull down with arm and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat about 6 times. Swap arm positions and repeat exercise.
	To loosen chest and shoulder muscles. Use a length of spear gun rubber or rubber tubing, grasp each end behind back, hold arms at shoulder level, then swing arms forwards to stretch rubber. hold for 10 seconds. Repeat about 6 times.
	To loosen shooting muscles. Use a length of spear gun rubber or rubber tubing tied in a loop, imitate the shooting draw. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat about 6 times. Repeat exercise with opposite hands to balance muscle development.

Note:
When performing these exercises, do not hold your breath at any stage, as it may cause dizziness.
As you do each exercise the muscles will require more oxygen, so your breathing and heart rate will increase and be careful, do not overstretch.


Source : http://www.centenaryarchers.gil.com.au