Ask the Experts - Strength and Conditioning

Answers from Danny M O'Dell:

Q Hi there,

My son has been training in archery for 2 years. He is 14, 1.7m tall and has a body weight of 60kg. His skill levels are progressing very fast except but his weakness is his strength. My question is; at his age, is it advisable for him to do weights at the gym or just body weights exercises? Please advice what types of exercise and diets he needs to develop his strength? He needs the strength to compete in the world junior shoot in India next year. I would appreciate your advice in this matter. Thank you.

Regards,

Aba Hanan
Singapore

Click here to - View all questions for Danny M O'Dell

Answer:

Hi Aba,

By all means get your son into some form of strength training. At his age he is entering the most critical stage of his life for gaining superior strength and power for his sport.

I am a firm believer in using weights as the primary means of establishing strength in his rapidly developing body. Done correctly, weight training will not hamper his archery skills. However if too much of an emphasis is placed on the ‘mirror muscles’ then he could suffer some intermuscular imbalances and a general deterioration in his coordination abilities.

To begin with I suggest he first work on the strength of his upper body by doing military presses, incline presses, bench presses and decline benches with dumbbells followed by extensive pull downs or chins, kneeling pull downs from the top pulley, dumbbell rows both single and double, standing low rows from the low pulley. The rows should be in a ratio of at least 1:2 of the pushing to the pulling motions, i.e. a military set would be followed by two pull down or chin up sets.

Next will be exercises for the middle torso. Again weights are useful here as well as before. Start with the normal set up movement with a weight held on the head or chest and do the set up exercise. Follow up with laterals where he is lying on his side with you or someone else holding onto his straight legs or he is in a glute-ham raise bench. In either case the movement begins when his upper torso is off the bench and parallel to the floor. Now he moves his upper body up and down as far as his range of motion safely allows. Do an equal number of repetitions on each side for symmetrical development. He will find that one side is stronger than the other. This is natural and nothing to be concerned about. Once both left and right laterals have been performed it is time to work on the lower back. Have him assume a prone position with his upper body off the edge on the glute-ham bench or with you holding onto his fee of a normal flat or slightly inclined bench. The motion is a simple down and then back up to parallel. After he becomes stronger add some weight and continue doing them.

Lunges will be adequate for his legs along with stiff leg dead lifts to keep his lower back strong for the bow pulls.

Specific exercises would imitate the exact nature of the archery sport in that he would be pulling off a cable set up that is matched his bow pull stance. Grip work consisting of finger exercises for his pulling hand can be performed on the same days as his normal workouts. I believe isometrics would be a good addition to his training schedule on a regular irregular basis. Wood chops and any type of cross body resisted exercises will help him control his upper body when shooting.

Sport relevant training can also result from building training gear that will support his activity. One of the handles I have in my gym that was originally developed for the track and field throwers is a dual handled pulley that attaches to either a high or low pulley.

This simple to make and use device allows a pull to be performed with one hand while the other is in a static holding position. It takes coordination, strength, balance and power to move the stack of plates. One hand is pulling while the other is resisting the change in status as it holds tight to the moveable handle.

Another option is to have him pulling on a pulley/cable set at chest height while holding steady with the other hand to the apparatus.

Of course he will also need to control his breathing and that can be helped with cardio workouts on the strength off days.

Let me know how well he is doing.

Danny