Coiling and Lift involve lifting the bow and arrow, pointing the arrow a little behind you and putting the bow arm and shoulders in alignment so you are ready to draw the bow. Coiling and Lift into Set-up is the third most important step in the National Training System archery form.

Set-up means we have lifted the bow arm, draw arm, bow and arrow to point the arrow at the target, point the bow arm across the target face and the draw wrist is outside the arrow line. Set-up is the position where we are ready to draw the bow. During the Lift into Set-up we have “opened” the bow by pushing the bow away from the draw hand. (During the Lift, the draw hand does not move towards the target, but only lifts up.)

Since we are moving from the Set Position to the Set-up Position, we need to do several things at the same time:

  1. Coil the shoulders by pivoting on the spine. Bring the bow shoulder further in front of your body as the draw shoulder goes behind your body. The Coil comes from the abdomen and provides great strength to bow arm to “open” the bow.
  2. Lift the Bow Arm into the “barrel of the gun”. You lift the bow at the same time as you coil. The Coiling provides the strength that “opens” the bow while you lift your Bow Arm
  3. Lift the Draw Arm so the draw wrist is outside the arrow line. The Draw Arm does not more towards the target and only moves away from the target by the Draw Shoulder’s movement.
  4. Point the arrow behind you by keeping the draw wrist is outside the arrow line.
  5. Keep your face turned toward the target.

Coiling is very important. You must pivot your shoulders on your spine so you can point the arrow at the target and build the barrel of the gun. If you do not coil enough; or you coil too much; then you cannot make the barrel of the gun. Without the barrel of the gun your Draw will be weak and your Holding will wilt under the pressure of the bow’s draw weight.

The “barrel of the gun” means there is a straight line from the draw shoulder through the bow shoulder to the center of the bow grip. The barrel of the gun makes us strong by using bone alignment to hold the draw weight of the bow. Since bones do not get tired, while muscles get tired quickly, this makes us stronger and better able to hold the bow at full draw. Achieving the barrel of the gun is the whole point of Coiling and Lift.

The arrow line is the imaginary line that starts with the arrow and ends with the yellow of the target. This is the line the arrow will travel towards the target.