John Dudley Performs This Exercise 3X a Week to Strengthen His Shoulders and Shoot Tighter Groups
OutdoorHub Reporters 01.15.20
If you’re looking for ways to improve your accuracy with a bow, start by strengthening those little muscles in your shoulders and back with this quick “six minute solid” drill you can do virtually anywhere.
All you need to perform the exercise is a partially inflated soccer or volley ball, and a wall.
Start by placing the palm of your hand flat on the ball and pressing it HARD up against the wall. Perform each movement (up-down, side-to-side, clockwise, counter clockwise) in 15 second intervals for a total of six minutes. After the time is up, switch arms and repeat.
Try to do this at least 3x a week and you’ll be shooting tighter groups in short order!
Like John says, those inner muscles inside your shoulder joint are tough to hit (sorry, but jacking super heavy weights in the gym won’t cut it) so it helps to spend a little time focusing on movements like this that help strengthen your rotator cuff and really stabilize the shoulder.
I stumbled upon this video while scrolling through Instagram last night, and decided to give it a shot right away. Luckily, I had a volleyball sitting in my freezing garage that was deflated just right! After just one session, here are my thoughts:
Be prepared to feel the burn. Seriously, if you have never done this before your shoulders will likely be screaming by the end. It’s a good kind of burn, though, and my shoulders felt great immediately after. So much so, in fact, that I ran and grabbed my bow just to see what it felt like at full draw.. and that sealed the deal. I will now be including this in with my shoulder workouts, and I cannot wait to see the results come this fall!
