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 :)

Drawing ''in the bow''

Drawing ''in the bow''

I admire the English Longbow archers in many ways. They are one of the few groups within the archery world who do archery as historically accurate as possible. This includes arrows, hand forged historic arrow heads, shafts, fletchings, nocks, the bows, bow design, bow length and also historic draw weights and the technique to pull and release.

These are some websites I really like and recommend:
English Warbow Society: http://www.englishwarbowsociety.com/
Dutch Warbow Society: http://www.oorlogsboog.nl/

The draw weights they use are typically from 100lbs to 160lbs with some individuals shooting even more powerful bows.
One thing they always say is the "Drawing in the bow".

What does "Drawing in the bow" that mean?
Imagine a heavy metal door with 2 sides sliding sideways to open. You can stand at arms length and try to pull them apart, but you will not be successful. Go half a step forward, arms are bent now, you will have more power to slide the doors apart. If you continue this example you will see that you can transfer energy most if you are really close to the door, basically ıf your chest touches it.
Same way with a bow, the closer you come between bow and string, the easier it will get, the better you are going to be able to use your back muscles.

Why is it important? 
Because this is the only way to pull a bow with historically authentic drawweight. This is archery.
There is no other way.

Why are the English longbow archers the only ones telling this? 
Because they are the only ones using historic draw weights. For bows lower than 50 lbs you can use any technique. And that's what you see mostly e.g. in traditional shoots or horsearchery tournaments, people pull their 30 lbs bow not with their proper back muscles but often just with their wrist, or pull it in front of their faces calling it "floating anchor". This is not historic and you can only do it with low poundage bows.

What is the sequence of the pull?
When you start pulling you put your string arm elbow high and while pulling you bring your chest (or rather the line between your 2 shoulders) as close as possible to the bow. Almost as if you are "stepping into the bow". It is important to do this as early as possible in the draw. This way you will "roll your shoulder" as the English longbow archers say.

Why am I telling you all this?
It is exactly the same in Ottoman/Turkish flight archery. High drawweights in order to shoot farther, the only way to pull these bows is to use a proper technique where you use the correct muscles. The English call it "Shooting or Drawing in the bow", others might call it differently but for certain this is the way to do it.

Longbow pull

Ottoman Turkish Hornbow pull

Gokmen