Subconscious or Conscious - In Search of the Perfect Archery Shot

[@PLFREF]

I've tried to explain TP to some very well meaning friends who told me that I'm "overthinking" it and need just to focus on a spot on the target, use good form, and follow through the shot. Well that is how I learned to shoot, and I firmly believe this to be the primary reason why I developed a bad case of TP.

[@jimmyblackmon]

This is coming from people who have never had and don't understand it.

[@bwfreel]

I’ve thought and read about this phenomena for a few years now. It’s not only an archery problem. Briefly, the thousands of reps it takes to become a high level archer produces neural pathways in the brain that allow one to execute without thought. The process no longer is run through the cortex but is like a reflex action. The brain is “plastic” changes depending on stimuli. So when that pathway gets messed up for some reason; all kinds of trouble results, I think baseball pitchers call it “the Yips” There is no easy solution, we need to find a stimulus that causes new neural pathways to develop. It’s not a character flaw it’s a neurological, physical bug that an happen to just about any pathway in the brain

[@bwfreel]

I listened to a Olympic archer trying to explain a form mistake by demonstrating it, he was struggling to do it the wrong way! That correct pathway was so ingrained that he was unable to do it “the wrong” way

[@93med1]

Interesting Jimmy. Im finding if I shoot instinctive I"m more consistent and if Shoot gap i"m more accurate but I get target panic. So, it's rinse and repeat.

[@garlanhornsby-zf9eq]

Jimmy think about it this way we are going to think of something when we are drawing a bow, right? Thought precedes action. If you turn over the shot process to subconscious then what are you thinking about, your form? The aim?. Listen we are ALL wired up to have so called target panic. That is just the way it is, period. It is fight or flight whether slight or strong depending on the current situation. As Joel prescribes the trick is to mitigate that with conscious thought of the process but also more importantly separate the “set up” from the aim. You have to turn the aim over to subconscious allowing the sight pic to keep itself while you think about the movement you do towards release.

[@jimmyblackmon]

I think you may have missed my point, or I explained it poorly. The question is, if you do what Joel and you are suggesting are you actually using a suboptimal system to negotiate the inevitable TP?

[@garlanhornsby-zf9eq]

I don’t get why you think it’s suboptimal. It’s just a management tool for your process. How to think, not thoughts. That means staying present with a conscious mind. The subconscious with screw you. I do not believe we can disconnect ourselves from thought, that we somehow just because we have shot a bow thousands of times it just works for us and we don’t have to work for it. That works only on an inconsistent basis, in the short run. Staying present with consolidating thinking flies in the face of anything close to muscle memory. Muscles really don’t have memory so if you don’t connect those movements with present thinking it will eventually fail. My biggest problem at aiming not allowing my target to trigger the release. I just about have to have a psych trigger to get a surprise release. Sorry for the ramble. Enjoy your content good luck.

[@jimmyblackmon]

@@garlanhornsby-zf9eq I appreciate your thoughts on the subject. That was the intent of the post.

[@knolltop314]

"IF" is the if. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Good luck with your current journey!

[@ae5498]

Is Bodie Turner shooting closed loop, I thinks so. Clearly it can works . I learned shootin a riflle this way. control breath , aim then focus on slowly pulling the trigger and surprise the shot goes of. In fact the same closed loop system Joell teaches. My 2 satoshis.

[@jimmyblackmon]

Shooting a release is quite different than shooting fingers.

[@ae5498]

It is , my trigger is feather to nose .@@jimmyblackmon

[@stevescott260]

Mr. Blackmon...thanks again for all the great content! I roughly follow the NTS shot cycle and your mention the other day of a "psycho trigger" wrt to aiming was really interesting. I've been playing around with a quick tap of my bow arm ring finger on the grip. My question is where in the shot cycle do you consciously place that trigger? For me, right now, I've been placing it between the front end of the shot (i,e, AFTER, Set, Setup, Draw, Anchor, Transfer) and before the back end (i.e. right before I begin to aim). Appreciate again all the wonderful content.

[@jimmyblackmon]

I have been drawing to anchor, sustaining pull at anchor, put my tip on the spot, then tell myself that the safety is off, then begin expansion to conclusion. I'm not an NTS guy. I did the training, but it caused me a lot of pain. I do not like the transfer at all, but that's just me.