Archery strength exercise

ARCHERY STRENGTH EXERCISE: DRAWING SEVERAL BOWS

Historic anecdote:

''Famous Ottoman Archer: Cullu Feruh 

He was a strong and big archer and one of Veziriazam Albanian Ahmed Pasha's servants (Ahmed Pasha, who was executed by Sultan Suleyman the magnificient (Reign: 1520-1566)). When drawing the bow, he was superior to his peers/fellow archers. 

One day on the meydan (archery field), there was a discussion going on wether or not one could draw a few bows (gez yayi? Target bow?). Some were saying it was possible, some saying impossible. Cullu Feruh took his bow in his hand and the ones of kemankesh Ali Bali captain and Vezir Ali Pasha and famous pehlivan (strong athlete) Sigir Pervane’s bow (One of Vezir Ali Pasa’s servants). And said: ‘if I pull these 3 bows together, will you give me your bows as a prize?’. The owners of the bows said yes. 

Cullu Feruh pulled all 3 bows together. Then he said ‘I forgive and give you these bows back’ and gave the bows back. The others around said ‘wow pehlivan, strength to your arms’.''

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Some thoughts:

• Maybe these were lighter 'target' bows, yet even if the bows were e.g. 50lbs Cullu Feruh would have pulled 150lbs. 
• I tried the same, see pics below from 2008. I 'only' ended up with 105 lbs. 60lbs + 45lbs.

Ottoman Turkish War arrow replicas

I built Ottoman Turkish arrows in the past and with each time I learned new things. This is my passion for the last years.
Archery is the art of repetition. You are constantly trying to keep every factor the same with each shot - bow arm angle, pulling arm angle, draw length, anchor point, aiming point, release etc in order to increase accuracy. If everything is the same, then theoretically you will hit your target each time. In reality it is not so easy e.g. you can't guarantee aiming at the same spot, especially if you are shooting instinctive (without any aiming device, scope). One of these factors is the arrow. Your arrows need to be as uniform/standard as possible. If one weighs 3 gram more, is slightly shorter, is differently tapered, you will not hit the target with your next shot even if you aimed at the same spot or managed to keep all the other factors the same.

(Some past work:)
Ottoman war arrows with broad heads with sinew wrapping

Ottoman target arrows

Ottoman war arrows with armour piercing heads, sinew wrapped

Now I tried a new set of 20 Ottoman war arrows, again it is maybe better than my last sets but it is only an iteration to build the arrow masterpieces in the museums. I feel it is impossible to get close to the craftsmanship of the old arrow masters.

The first challenge I faced was the arrow length, which is correlated to the weight, which is the second challenge. Our ancestors in the 16th-17th cc were smaller than us, thus their arrows were shorter (typically 68-72cm total length). If you replicate a museum arrow 1:1, you will not be able to shoot it. Yet how will you make it bigger? and how heavy should it be?

First of all, the typical anchor point for Ottoman war archery is just below the chin, similar to today's olympic archery. With this anchor point, my draw length is 27.5 inch.

I found different arrow information in catalogues, books, online and collected the weight and length information in an excel table. Then I created a graph in which you can see the ratio length to weight. I included Ottoman and also Tatar war arrows. Slowly you could see clusters of typical arrow length and weight. I also included an average line each. (if you find any more arrow specs, let me know I will include it).

As my draw length is 27.5'', I reckoned with a total arrow length of 74cm (including arrow point and nock). For that length, I assumed the arrow weight will be around 27 gram according to the above graph.
The above is good reference. I see a lot of Turkish colleagues drawing until the ear (and breaking those Grozer Turkish bows). Drawing to the ear is rather Tatar archery and you need a Tatar bow which has a longer draw.

Second challenge is the tapering (called endam in Turkish). Turkish arrows are always tapered which makes the arrow more aerodynamic, thus increases speed. It is thinner at both ends and thicker in the middle. But how thin?

Below are measurements for a Turkish war arrow from a museum (blue). Thickness is measured in mm starting from the base of the shaft right after the arrow head. This way you can 'visualize' the taper. This original arrow was shorter than the arrow I wanted to make. So I tried to estimate values for a slightly longer arrow. The result is the red graph. You will see how far more superior the old masters are! If you pay close attention you will see that the blue graph resembles a cross section of an airplane wing. 

Anyway, my arrows are not as perfect as the old Turks' arrow but still they fly very well.
Some extra information:

• The arrow points are handforged steel with hardened tips, 3.6 gram.
• Added bone washers so the arrows survive the impact on armour
• Total arrow length: 74cm
• Total arrow weight: 26.5 gram

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Feathers in preparation (without quill)

Shafts after painting

Arrow heads: hand forged armour piercing heads with bone washers

Saladin's army

If the crusades are mentioned people think immediately of the eternal fight of the Arabs and Christians and of course Saladin. Presumably the present map of the Middle East with all the Arab states and of course Hollywood create this thinking.
What fosters this as well is that in all films about Saladin or the Crusades, Saladin and his army are portrayed like Arabs, with turbans, Arabic culture etc.

So was this really an eternal battle between Arabs and the West? Who did the crusaders have to fight? Who were the men in Saladin Ayyubi's armies?
Let's have a look at literature instead of movies.
Anne-Marie Edde has researched the biographies of 122 of the emirs of the time and has written an academic article: ''Kurds and Turks in the army of North Syria''. The first page is below:

I translate freely:
"The ethnic composition of the Ayyubid soldiers is much debated topic. For a long time people have thought the Ayyubid armies had a large number of Kurdes because of the origin of the dynasty. David Ayalon has shown especially starting from the Egyptian examples that the army of Saladin and the successor armies were in fact Turkish. Even more, he confirms that the Kurds made up only a limited power in the army and some were even discriminated under Saladin. So for D Ayalon there is a number of similarities and a continuity between the Ayyubid and Mamluk armies. I found it interesting to analyse the situation of the Ayyoubid army of North Syria which has always recognised the suzerainity of Cairo.[...]"
(David Ayalon was a renowned historian specializing in Middle Eastern dynasties especially the Mamluks)
Another source mentions that the majority of Saladin's army consisted of Turks (Carl F. Petry "The Cambridge History of Egypt" p. 226)

So not only is there no mention of Arabs, but the research shows that Saladin's army was a mixed Turkish / Kurdish army with the majority being of Turkish origin. So why is this important?
By knowing the ethnic composition of the army we will be able to have a better idea of their military equipment, weapons, their fighting style, what language they spoke and even how they looked like (which may surprise many).

The below picture gives us an idea of how the Turks looked like at that time. Some would say "Chinese" or Asian, which will be a big surprise to many to imagine Asian people fight against the crusaders. The Turks of the time spoke a Kipchak dialect of Turkish, the same language as the famous Golden Horde would have spoken. And it is written that Saladin spoke Turkish with his commanders (John France: "The Crusades and their Sources" p.84).

Varqa and Gulshah, 13. century Seljuk / Turkish

The Turks had a totally different fighting style than the Arabs. The latter relied traditionally on lances, straight swords and fought on camels. The Arabs preferred shock tactics with frontal lance attacks. The Turks were horse archers instead. Their main weapon was the Central Asian composite bow which they mastered formidably. They had light and fast sabres instead of a straight swords. They rode strong, tall, fast and enduring horses brought from Central Asia. The Asian Bactrian Camel was merely used to carry supplies. The special horses enabled them to use Central Asian style strategies like e.g. hit and run tactics, feigned retreat. The Turk's armour consisted of light but reliable lamellar armour. Instead of Arabian style clothing, the Turks preferred Asian, Kimono-style outfits. Instead of Arab/Bedouin style turbans, the Turks preferred Central Asian style hats e.g. felt hats called "Börk" or other hats called "Serpus" / "Tarbush".

The main force the Crusaders had to face were the Turkish horse archers. Based on historical accounts, they poured down arrows on the Crusaders for hours and days inflicting heavy casualties. When the Crusaders decided to confront the attackers with a cavalry attack, the Turks retreated with their faster horses, The Crusaders never caught them with their slower horses (only at the end of the 17th century will the West capture some Turkish war horses, breed them and "create" the fast English Thoroughbred horse and use the blood in the breeding of countless other breeds.) The pursuit lasted hours, sometimes days and at the end the retreating exhausted Crusader army was defeated easily. Alternatively the retreating Turkish army lured the pursuers into a trap with a larger Turkish army waiting e.g. behind a hill.

Seljuk bowl, 12.-13. century

Ottoman Training arrows

I made a new set of Ottoman Turkish training arrows based on museum pieces and miniature paintings. 

• The tips are tips for carbon arrows. I grinded down the base so the tip is needled
• The shafts are pine wood
• The feathers are Ottoman style
• The arrows are barrelled (thin at the tip and end, thicker in the middle)
• The weight of the arrows is about 22 gram

Ottoman Hornbow

Finally I got my hornbow from Lukas Novotny (Saluki bows : www.salukibow.com)

• It is a 16th-17th century Ottoman / Turkish Warbow. 
• Length 44", 
• draw weight 82lbs at 28".

I have a recommendation for anyone who considers buying a hornbow: it should be at least 75lbs. For draw weight below 70, non-horn bows may perform the same as hornbows. Besides historic draw weights were 80lbs and higher. Anything lower was considered for children or the elderly. Furthermore, these draw weights were required to have any effect on armour.
For the decoration I chose a bow in the Turkish Chamber museum in Dresden.

Comparison to bow in Dresden museum:

The "Bash" section

The "Kabza" (Grip)

Polished water buffalo horn

Back of the Kabza with the "Celik" (bone insert) in the middle

Back of "Kasan" part with string bridge and master signature

Arrow pass (Tir gecimi)

Kabza

The Thumb draw / Thumb lock in Archery

I see that in most discussions about 3 finger vs thumb draw, thumb draw is regarded inferior e.g. you can't draw as high draw weights as with 3 finger and 3 finger seems faster.
This is not really the case, the problem is that the majority doesnt use the correct technique.

Everything will have existed once in history but the Turco-Mongolian style thumbdraw described below was widely adapted and formed the last step in the evolution due to its advantages.

• The majority of the cultures who relied on horsearchery as a main combat form adapted this thumb lock version e.g. Safavid Persians, Ottoman Turks, Mongols, Mughals
• It is the form you see in miniatures of the mentioned cultures
• The thumb lock described below is described in different historical archery books
• It is described as the correct form in the traditional Asian archery forum Atarn
• It is the best to use for heavy bows (unless you use e.g. a Manchu thumbring, which requires a totally different technique)
• Lukas Novotny teaches it the same way. Please have a look at his thumb draw FAQ pictures: 
• Lukas Novotny thumb lock gallery

Thumb lock description 

• You press your pinky, ring and middle finger hard like making a fist. This is important, it will give the whole forearm more stability as it activates all muscles in the forearm. 
• You put the tip of the thumb onto the side of the first knuckle of the middle finger and press firmly against it. It should not slip over it
• You close your index finger over the thumb. This creates the lock (mandal in Turkish). The first knuckle of the index finger should come over the tip of the thumb. The nail of the thumb should still be seen partially.
• The whole hand should be like a tight fist when looked from the side, there should be no fingers sticking out.
• Grasping the string, all fingers should be on the right side of the string, only the thumb should be on the left side.
• You release by loosening the index finger and throwing your draw arm backwards quickly to reduce friction
• With the release no part of your hand should touch the string.

Common mistakes

• Index finger or other fingers go on the left side of string, which means they touch the string with the release. The thumb draw is superiour because it touches only one point on the thumbring and with the release it touches nothing else. This way it becomes like a compound bow release.
• Index and middle finger go apart
• Thumb can be seen between index and middle finger
• Tip of index finger is put on thumb. (The lock will not be strong enough for war bows)
• In competitions I see people pulling with the thumb and 3 finger
• Thumbring doesnt fit and hurts
• Somehow a lot of horsearchers adapted a thumb lock form where pinky, ring and middle fingers are either loose or go over the string, the tip of the index finger goes over the thumb. This is nice for 30-40lbs bows but very difficult to pull historical draw weights of war bows. 

Ottoman Turkish archery bow drawing technique

What is the technique to draw an Ottoman Turkish bow?
In fact, the principles are general archery principles, valid for all types of archery, not just Turkish archery.

Ottoman Sultan practicing mounted archery on a hunt

The (common) wrong technique (A)
I will start with a common mistake which one sees a lot among beginners and today's horsearchers.
While pulling the bow, the ellbow is often kept low or horizontal.
This has many implications:

1. You cannot use your back muscles properly 
2. You have to use mostly the wrong muscle - the biceps
3. No anchor point possible. In order to anchor near the face e.g. chin, ear etc you would have to use your biceps, but this will be extremely difficult. 
4. The arrow is less aligned with your bow arm and eyes

Imagine a vector/line of power like in the drawing below. The two end points are your bow hand and the tip of your elbow. Your draw hand has to be on this vector as only in this position you do not need to use your biceps. This is the reason why a lot of people cannot come to their anchor point as they struggle to position their draw hand near the face, as this is a deviation from the vector.
This is also the main reason why full grown men struggle with 50lbs and higher while in Ottoman times 70+ lbs was the norm (only children, beginners and elderly would use below 70lbs bows). Why use your biceps and struggle with 50lbs if you could use the correct technique and back muscles and go easily beyond 70lbs?

The correct archery technique (B)

1. Start drawing your bow 
2. Keep your elbow high at the earliest stage
3. ''Roll your shoulder'' as the English longbow archers would say
4. Come to an anchor point, press your draw hand against the tip/edge of your chin for an Ottoman anchor point. The elbow should point upwards
5. Release- with the released energy, the elbow goes back vertically in a quick move but stops abruptly above shoulder height. Do not activate muscles to throw your arm back but use muscles to stop the backwards move.
6. Upper and lower arm end in a vertical position in an approximate 90 degree angle. If the draw was correct, the position of the shoulder blades will be correct and with the release the backwards moving arm will be vertical too.

The anchor point depends on the archery culture and occasion e.g. it is mostly the chin for Ottoman battle archery whereas it is the earlobe for Ottoman flight archery. Seljuks, Persian Safevids, Mughals, Mongols and Tatars had a longer draw and their anchor point ranged from under the ear to above the shoulder of the draw arm.

Comparison to modern archery
In modern archery it is exactly the same principle, if you want to learn more about Asian style historic archery, I recommend looking at the technique of top class recurve or compound archers:

 Modern Compound bow technique

Last example: 
Below you see a group of Mongols shooting arrows in battle, two are in full draw and two in the release position.

Historic Mongol archery

Ottoman Turkish hornbow drawing technique 

upon request I am adding a video with a sideview of the drawing technique. Note that the elbow never drops  and the bow is drawn purely with the back muscles. Excuse the outfit, this was on a horsearchery competition in Jordan where I tested a hornbow of a famous bowmaker :)

What is Turkish archery?

What is Turkish/Ottoman archery?
Let's think a bit...
Is it using a thumbring? Is it shooting with modern material bows which resemble the Ottoman bow form? Is it shooting off a horse? Is it shooting with shouting 'Ya Hakk'? And the arrows? Is it shooting carbon arrows or European modern style wooden arrows with a thumbring? Or does it count to be Turkish archery if just a Turk does archery?

Turkish/Ottoman archery drew the attention of many European researchers and travellers e.g. Busbeq or Payne Gallwey. It was perceived as superior to the archery of other cultures. The Mughals, Mamluks, Chinese/Manchu etc all can be classified in the Asian archery school, but the Ottomans developed this the furthest. So what is so superior to archery of other cultures? What did the Ottomans succeed with?

Below on the left I listed characteristics of Turkish/Ottoman archery. It is possible to summarize them to 4 factors: thumbdraw, arrow, bow and the archer.

Factors:

1. Thumbdraw
Thumbdraw, Thumbring use

2. Arrow
Tapered shafts, Light arrows, Flat feathers, High spine arrows

3. Bow
Short bow, Composite bow, Light bow arms, 100 lbs+ drawweights

4. Archer
Shooting technique

All these factors have a common characteristic, they increase the arrow speed. The standard measurement for archery is feet per second (FPS). The biggest distinguishment of Turkish archery is that the arrow is propelled with far greater speed.

a) Low trajectory
(=lower=straighter flight path of the arrow). With a lower arrow trajectory you dont need to aim so high for targets that are further away. This also has many advantages. It will be easier to aim at targets at different distances, the elevation of the bow arm to hit a target at 20m and at 50 m will be minimised. This is a big advantage on the battlefield which will increase the hit rate dramatically. The theoretical exaggerated example would be an arrow flying as straight as a laser, then you could hit a target at 20m and at 200 with the same elevation in the bow arm. Also hitting targets from the horse will be easier. Imagine that your opponents might be (most likely) cavalry as well. On the horse when you shoot to the left, usually you would (instinctively) aim a bit to the left of the target considering the speed of the horse. With a high arrow speed and low arrow trajectory, this parallel aiming would be also reduced to a minimum.

b) Greater maximum range
This is especially important for flight shooting. According to Adam Karpowicz's research, the record shot of Tozkoparan Iskender (845 meters) was done with a 140-150 lbs bow and an arrow speed way over 350 fps. On the other hand, the max range in battle should not be disregarded completely. Armour was expensive, not every soldier could afford it and even less people could afford armour for their horse. Increasing the maximum range of war arrows on the battlefield against unarmoured opponents is an important advantage.

c) Greater armour piercing range
This is also an important point, of course it depends on the quality of the armour, but let's assume the max range for piercing a certain quality of armour was 30m, maybe with Ottoman style archery this effective armour piercing range was increased to 50m..

d) Higher armour piercing capability
Higher armour piercing ability means you can pierce thicker and better quality armour. A good example of a miniature showing pierced armour of a European knight:

Lets have a look at Newton's second law:
F=m*a          (F=Force, m=mass, a=acceleration)
That means: force = arrow weight * arrow speed


This model is a very very basic approach disregarding many other factors but still it helps to understand.
To increase the arrows (armour piercing) force you can either increase the mass of the arrow, or the speed of the arrow. The Manchu and English went a different path with their long bows, long drawlength and heavy arrows. Increasing the weight of the arrow is easier. In this way the arrows will have greater armour piercing abilities too. The Ottomans however went a step further, the highest point in the evolution of archery - speed. (For example arrow speeds of Ottoman war, target and flight bows see Adam Karpowicz's tests.)


The Ottomans have increased the arrow speed by optimising and improving the bow and the equipment. Even if we assume as a theoretical example that the armour piercing ability of Manchu/English and Ottoman war archery styles was the same, the Ottomans would have gained important advantages on the battlefield (lower trajectory and greater max range as explained above).


Gokmen Altinkulp

Archery for all - Keeping you on target

In Feb 2011 Jehad Shamis invited me kindly to take part in his archery classes, meet his students and share some knowledge. Here is a short video:

Arrow and Bow: The Revival of Turkish Archery from Mansoor Suleman on Vimeo.

With powerpoint presentations I first gave a bit of theoretical and historical insight. The topics were mainly the different disciplines and equipment of the Turkish/Ottoman archery style. And of course afterwards we practiced all together.

Jehad is teaching and promoting archery and thumbring archery in the London area and beyond. He is not tied to one training location but rather flexible and teaching also in schools for example. But I am absolutely thrilled by the number of students he is teaching and their skills. I visited 4 groups on 2 days and was astonished how many students he has. He has more students than any of the thumbring archery groups in Turkey! Besides he dedicates all his time to this, he is a full time archery instructor. And he does all this silently, patiently and stays down to earth.

If anybody in England wants to join his groups or just wants to have a chat about archery and thumbring archery in particular, here are the contact details:
Jehad Shamis
''Archery for all - Keeping you on target''
Phone number: 07915934732

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How to string a Turkish bow

How to string a Turkish bow?

The old Turks write that there is 120 ways to string a bow. Ottoman bows are strung the safest with a device called ''kemend''. This is especially important for high poundage, extremely reflex and delicate bows.
Otherwise if these bows are strung normally e.g. with the step through method, the bow arms might turn and twist and might destroy the bow or hurt you. Because with this system the leg muscles are used, every bow can be strung. In this video I string and unstring my 110 lbs Kassai Hungarian bow:

  

Making a kemend

The material for a kemend must be very strong, otherwise it can tear and your bow might be damaged or might get hurt. The kemend in the Topkapi collection is made of 'ibrishim' meaning raw silk thread. According to Taybogha a kemend should be 3 fingers wide. Mustafa Kani writes in his book, less than 3 fingers wide and the length according to the person using it. According to Unsal Yucel there is a kemend in the Topkapi palace museum. It is 4cm wide and 255cm long (see pic. below). The loop on one side is small, the other loop is wider, you can even adjust it with a knot. The second loop is bigger as the string has to go through it while stringing.

I used a band which the bed/couch makers use. For my second kemend (the orange one) I used an industry band to pull heavy loads. The latter is 5cm wide and 240cm long. The reason for the width is firstly durability but secondly so it will not hurt your back.

Another way, if you dont have a sewing machine (nor the patience) you can make a kemend in a very easy way. Just make a know at each end of the band. This method has another advantage, you may not find your optimal length immediately, if there is a knot you can open it and adjust it easily.

Stringing the bow with your kemend
You put the kemend around your back as if a belt and cross the two ends in front of you. You prepare the bow in front of you. You place the string loop in one of the bow nocks. Then you place the small loop of the kemend into the same nock and place the big kemend loop in the other nock. In a sitting position you place both feet on each side next to the bow grip. Now you hold the 'bash' section of the bow with your hands and start pushing gently with your legs. During this movement it is very important to control the bow with your hands/feet so it doesnt turn and twist. After a certain point when you think you pulled enough to string the bow you let your hands go. You guide the string through the big kemend loop and place the string on the nock. The length of the kemend has to fit you exactly. When you stretch your legs you just have to have enough room to string the bow. When you want to unstring the bow you do all the steps again but backwards, so first push the bow with your legs and hold with the kemend so that you can unstring it. Then hold again with your hands and gently go back with your legs.

The loops of my orange kemend are big, of course they dont fit the nocks but it is very handy also with this type. Instead of the nocks, you place the kemend loops between the kasan and the bash sections and string the bow the same way.

A small but important tip: while you are sitting, wrap the kemend low rather than placing it at belt height. This way you can use the forces better and the kemend will not hurt your back.

Gokmen

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Favourite Turkish archery quotes

As archery had a big place in Turkish society, many proverbs and expressions are archery related. These are my top favourites:

1. Archery is a trouble, only the one who endures it knows.

(Okçuluk bir beladır, onu çeken bilir)

2. It is not the wind, the bow nor the archer, it is only God, who brings your arrow to its target/distance.

(Ne hava ne keman, ve ne kemankeş, ancak erdiren menziline tiri nida-yı Ya Hak)

3. If you leave archery one day, it will leave you 10 days

(Sen okçuluğu bir gün bırakırsan o seni 10 gün bırakır)

4. A hungry wrestler is more desirable/successful, but an archer with a full stomach is more desirable/successful

(Pehlivanın açı, kemankeşin toku makbuldur)

5. Who shoot arrows shoots gold

(Ok atan altın atar)

6. A flight record is not shot by force, it is shot by art/skill/ability

(Menzil zor ile atılmaz, sanat ile atılır)

7. The worst thing is to try to shoot as well as your previous shot

Some Islamic ones:

1. Due to an arrow 3 people will go to heaven. The one who makes the arrow, the one who shoots it, and the one who gives the arrow to the shooter

(Bir ok sebebiyle üç kişi cennete girer: Biri ok yapan, biri ok atan, biri de oku atanın eline veren)

2. All games are unreasoned, only shooting arrows with a bow, training the horse and spend good time with your wife are not.

(Tüm oyunlar batıldır, ancak yay ile ok atmak, atı terbiye etmek ve hanımıyla oynaşmak günah değildir)

Some more proverbs which are used today, either about archery or about horses:
1.  A good horse is called bay/chestnut, a good man is called courageous
(Atın iyisine doru, yiğidin iyisine deli derler)


2. A bird without wings, a Turk without a horse
(Kuş kanatsız, Türk atsız)


3. The horse for the one who can ride, the sword for the one, who can use it
(At binenin, kılıç kuşananın)


4. When the horse dies the arena stays, when the courageous person dies the fame/glory stays
(At ölür meydan kalır, yiğit ölür şan kalır)


5. The horse needs a saddle, the saddle needs a hero/brave man
(Ata eyer gerek, eyere yiğit gerek)

Gokmen Altinkulp

Archery Exercises

Why archery exercises?
Different archery cultures like the Ottoman, Iranian or Chinese
describe archery exercises. Main reasons are:
-To prevent injuries,
-To pull your bow easier,
-Being able to use heavier bows,
-Being able to hold your bow steadier when aiming
-To create muscle memory to pull the bow always in the same manner to
the same anchor point with the same technique automatically
And besides it is great satisfaction after a successful training when
you sit down and drink your ‘keyif’ (relaxation) Turkish coffee.



Warming up
Warming up is very very important because what good is it if you
injure your muscle and stop all training for 6 months? Main pressure
points=injury points are the sinew at the ellbow and shoulders.
First warm up your whole body by e.g. jogging, skipping ropes, (or
shadderboxing) or gymnastics. Then you have to warm up and pump up
your relevant archery muscles. Like a butterfly that just left the
cocoon that is pumping air in its wings to make them stable you have
to allow your blood to flow in the relevant muscles. This will take a
while but it will make your whole body more stable and stronger.
You can start pulling a low poundage bow, do a few repetitions pause
for 2 mins then do a lot of repetitions. You see I do not give
numbers, everybody has to assess for him/herself what is low, medium,
a lot and maximum repetitions. The same with the term heavy bow and
low poundage bow.
Do a few sets of these until your muscles are burning. At this stage I
pull the string with my whole hand. You can use a piece of leather or
a sock to protect your hand. 

Then continue with the heavy bow. Pull the bow 1/3rd a few times,
pause for a minute, pull it half way a few times and pause again
(leave the blood enough time to travel up to your shoulders), then
pull successively until full drawlength. The technique has to be
right, you pull with your back muscles supported by the triceps of the
bow arm and by both shoulders. You do NOT use the biceps of your
pulling arm. I still see ‘experienced’ archers doing this mistake
pulling with the biceps. A friend can test this by touching your
biceps with a finger while you pull; it should be soft.
I advise to stand in front of a mirror so you can see and correct your 
technique and positions. Keep your ellbows high. Now you should be warm.

The best is to have several bows in dfferent poundages, you can
meet up as well with fellow archers as described in an Ottoman
training article. If you don't have other bows available you can bind 
elastic band around the bow as seen in the picture below. The draw 
weight is controlled by how many times you wrap the elastic around the bow.








1. Exercises with the bow
Basic pulling directions:

1. basic pulling to the left side horizontally
2. Pulling to the back horizontally (as far as possible)
3. Pulling to the right side horizontally (as far as possible)
4. Pulling to the front
5. bend upper body forward parallel to floor twist upper body up and
pull upwards (training for kabak shooting)
6. bend upper body forward parallel to floor and pull to the side
7. put the left fist on your left foot, keep your legs straight and
pull the bow downwards
8. Turn back and pull the bow down
9. Pull with other hand
10. Jarmaki pull

1. basic pulling to the side horizontally

2. Pulling to the back horizontally (as far as possible)

3. Pulling to the right side horizontally (as far as possible)

4. Pulling to the front

5. bend upper body forward parallel to floor twist upper body up and
pull upwards (training for kabak shooting)

6. bend upper body forward parallel to floor and pull to the side. 

7. put the left fist on your left foot, keep your legs straight and
pull the bow downwards

8. Turn back and pull the bow down

9. Pull with other hand

10. Jarmaki pull

Variations:
a) Pull the bow very slowly (variaton: pull it in 7 times and back in 7 times)
b) Pull the bow as quickly as possible one after the other
c) Pull the bow with the other hand (horsearchers used to be able to
shoot with right and left arm)
d) In order to simulate horseback riding, jump from one foot to the
other quickly doing the exercises or run while pulling if you have
space
e) while pulling go from one position/direction to the other e.g.
start pulling backwards then slowly turn after each pull and continue
pulling to the front then right

Horsearchers need to shoot in every direction, thus the different
directions above. Flightarchers just need a certain angle and dont
really need to shoot e.g.backwards or downwards.
Remember the bend should come from the hip, the ‘T’-position (=angle
between spine and shoulders) should be maintained at all times.

After a few sets doing 50% of your maximum repetitions start pulling
until exhaustion, have a longer pause e.g. 5 mins and continue
pulling until exhaustion. Do as many sets as you can/wish, the heavy
poundage-exhaustion sets should be at least 4. Be careful though as
your muscles get more tired the risk of injury increases.

At the shooting yard, you can do similar exercises (I would recommend
to do them at the end of the training):
-While the arrow is nocked, draw the bow 10 times before you shoot and
aim each time at the target
-The arrow nocked, pull the bow 15cm pause pull another 15 cm etc
until full drawlength then shoot.
-Pull the bow directly to full drawlenght and hold e.g. 10, 20 seconds
before you release the arrow (dont break the bow)

Training your thumb
You should train your thumb too as you will see that after a certain
poundage it will get more difficult to keep the thumb lock. You can do
the pulling exercises described above with a thumbring. Pulling the
string with a thumbring without a nocked arrow is not advised as the
dryfire risk is too high and the lock might slip on the string. The
old Turks used to have a special arrow with a hole near the nock. They
would put the string through the hole and then string the bow, so that
the arrow is locked with the string. In case the thumb lock releases
accidentally there wont be dryfire.
Instead of this method you can stand in front of a target with a
normal arrow nocked doing the same exercises.


2. Exercises without the bow
You can do additional weight training to train these muscles:
Deltoid (rear shoulder)
Trapezius (upper back)
Infraspinatus
Latissimus
Triceps
Neck

Do a second sport next to archery, many archery athletes in the
Ottoman Empire were wrestlers at the same time or e.g. went swimming
often.
Don't neglect your leg muscles, they are important to have a stable
position while aiming and of course for horseriding. Do sports that
will let you sweat so you won't get too stiff with all the muscle
training e.g. jogging, boxing, swimming, wrestling.


Diet
Of course you need proteins to build muscles, so low fat meat like
chicken, turkey, fish is fine. Dont forget the carbonhydrates though
and a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits and drink a lot.
Mixing honey and olive oil as a food supplement is advised in the old texts.

I tried it as well but my personal favourite is the Turkish ''Helva'', it is made 
of sesame and is very rich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halva).
The exercises described above are not comparable to standard bodybuilding
in the gym; while doing few pulls with very high poundages, you also
pull medium to lower poundages until exhaustion. A historic
(horse)archer would need to use his muscles maybe for hours in the
battlefield. A Turkish flight archer would not shoot many arrows but still

they describe exercises with a lot of repetitions.

A typical training week
You should not use heavy bows and train until exhaustion every day but
only every second or even third day as it is hard training and your
body needs to recover. Monday Wednesday Friday can be the hard days
and the other days can be days where you do normal (horse)archery or
do other sports or train with low poundage bows with a lot of
repetitions. Even resting and doing nothing for a day is good
sometimes. But beware, you need to train regularly and disciplined; it
is written that the old Turkish archers said: if you leave archery one
day, archery will leave you 10 days. With proper training good results
can be achieved in a short time, but if the break is too long the drop
in performance will be huge and the risk of injury will increase.



Last tips at the end
Keep your muscles warm at all times, day and
night. Be careful when you are sleeping, don't sleep on your shoulder

or arm. A famous Turkish flight archer champion had guards standing

at his bed at night time just to prevent him from sleeping on his arm.

Gokmen
gokmenaltinkulp@gmail.com