Fitness benefits of archery

Most of us are familiar with the image of Robin Hood executing the ‘impossible’ by firing an arrow to split the shaft of one already in the target, and archer’s still term the act a 'Robin Hood' today.

The popularity of the sport seems to coincide with the release of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or TV series featuring the expert archer at his craft. The 1994 film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves created a big surge of interest as have The Lord of the Rings movies which have inspired thousands of people to take up archery.

Archery equipment has improved in its technology, but the sport remains essentially unchanged. Modern bows are made of a combination of wood, coated with carbon fibre, fibreglass or ceramic. The arrows consists of a carbon or aluminium shaft with a steel head, and can at speeds of around 240km/h (149mph).

Today, archery is classified into two areas: target and field. Target archery requires archers to shoot specific number of arrows at set targets that have established values, for example a bullseye being ten points.

Field archery includes an open-field target range where archers shoot different arrows at different targets or different distances around a course. This simulates the type of shooting experienced while hunting.

Target archery was a feature of the Olympic Games several times from 1900 to 1920, but did not reappeared until Munich in 1972 and has remained a fixture ever since. Individual archers, or archers in teams, compete in head-to-head matches in single elimination. The semi-finals winners decide the gold and silver medals in the final, and the semi-finals losers shoot for the bronze.

The archers shoot at targets 70m away. The target is 1.22m in diameter and marked with ten concentric rings. The centre ring, or bullseye, measures 12.2cm in diameter. The outer ring counts as one, and the rings in between increase by one point in value as they near the ten-point centre or bullseye.

Health and fitness benefits of archery
Archery offers a number of health and fitness benefits, including:

• Develops arm muscles and upper body strength.

• Boosts hand-eye coordination skills.

• Improves mental strength and concentration.

• Hones the flexibility of the hands and fingers.

• Frees the mind from everyday distractions, by focusing it.