Different Archery Stances

There are four different stances for the archer to use. Each has its good qualities and its shortcomings. Knowing the different stances allows you to choose which are best for you or under what circumstances to go into this or that stance.

To begin with there is the even stance. The even stance is a very natural and intuitive positioning. It is very easy to reproduce time and time again for the sake of your consistency and hence accuracy. However, there are a few drawbacks to using the even stance. You only have a small base of support in the plane of front to back. This makes it so that your body isn't really all that sturdily set; so if you're out shooting on a windier day you can actually be blown off balance. It is also easier to accidentally fall while in the even stance. And going into this stance lowers the area for string clearance, especially for archers with broad chests. The open stance gives the archer a very stable base of support. The open stance also cuts down on an the body's tendency to lean away from the target. However, this stance also tends to cause the upper body to twist towards the target. Not only that, but it tends to cause you to use your arms muscles instead of your back muscles to draw. You want to mainly use your back muscles for drawing and releasing.

You also get a stable support base with the closed stance. The closed stance gives excellent alignment of shoulder and the arm with the target. However, there are some drawbacks to the closed stance. This stance reduces the string clearance and makes it so that the string might actually strike against your body. This stance also tends to cause the archer to lean away from the target, thereby having to compensate by overdrawing the bow.

The stance that gives the greatest about of string clearance for when the arrow is released is the oblique stance. With this stance, your body is in complete equilibrium and the target can be seen very clearly. However, this stance is difficult to maintain. Usually, only expert archers use the oblique stance.

When you're practicing your stances, you want to start by marking the exact placement of your feet on the shooting line. There are some experienced archers who insist that stance deviations of even only a couple of inches can wreck your aiming and sighting, and this needless to say can begin to plague you with accuracy problems.

Really, the open stance and the oblique stance are the two best stances. Most experienced archers only use one or both of these. However, remember that individual satisfaction is the name of the game in archery. So, you can try out the different stances and see which one best suits your style. If you like the closed or even stance, then use them.

Once you have your stance down, you want to practice the four major shooting steps, which are nocking, drawing, getting your anchor point, and releasing and following through.