Going by the name, it is evident that bowfishing blends hunting, fishing, and archery. Though it is relevant to all these sports, bowfishing in itself is unique in a lot of ways. To excel in bowfishing, you perhaps need to get a hold over various exercises. We explain you a few of the bowfishing and archery workouts.
- Strengthen your body to stand for hours
You need to build the strength of your upper body first so that you can easily draw the bow, and later build the lower body to stand hours together. Bow hunting workouts are like football exercises as they strengthen the shoulders and the back while also maintaining the fitness of the whole body. You can do cardio to enhance your level of fitness but isn't as important to the sport like strength training is.
- Stretch to boost your body's stamina
While bowfishing, you could tire your neck as well as elbows as you would have to look down simultaneously holding the bow for a long time. Hence, it is always good to stretch your shoulders and neck by bringing your chin slowly to the chest and later put your left ear to the left shoulder and vice versa.
- Upper body workouts for enhancing the endurance
It is suggested that you lift free weights. Besides, even resistance bands are recommended to increase strength. Since bowfishing is hard on the upper body, men and women can try pulldowns, one arm rows, seated rows, back extensions, and shoulder presses. These extensions can aid you in stabilizing your lower back.
What Makes Bowfishing Unique?
- Shooting
While you are bow hunting, you only get to take a single shot. But while you are bowfishing, you can shoot around two hundred times every outing.
- Standing
When you are bow hunting, you may have to sit in the ground or tree stand for a long duration. Bowfishing would need you to stand on a boat and taking a look at the water beneath.
- Seeing
In bow hunting and target archery using modern recurves and compound bows, a lot of archers make use of sights to aid in determining distances and take the shot accurately. A lot of bowfishers also feel eye fatigue due to fishing at late nights and spending hours together looking down at the water.
While bowfishing, sights aren't really helpful in measuring distances and taking shots. Archers should aim lower than what is seen due to refractions that happen in water. During the daytime, archers wear sunglasses that are polarized to decrease glare and thereby the strain to the eyes.