Hey guys. This is NUSensei.
Today we're going to cover another training tool for archery.
The KSL Gold Elite Trainer.
The KSL Gold Elite is a low resistance stretching band.
It's made from theraband.
With a paracord grip.
The low resistance makes it good for form training.
Similar to Win&Win Scapower
and Cartel stretching bands
and in comparison
to the high resistance Saunders Powerpull,
which is more made for putting on muscle tone and muscle mass.
The KSL Gold Trainer
was designed, is used, and is named after Kisik Lee
He was a South Korean coach
He's a former Australian coach
and a current American coach.
And... if you know the name
It's because he basically has codified
his training practices into the KSL method
or the NTAS method
as used in America of course.
You can find out about this in his Total Archery book.
The KSL Gold Trainer is designed with the KSL method in mind.
Now... The Kisik Lee method. The NTAS system.
It isn't a bizarrely different style of shooting.
It isn't like shooting with a completely different technique.
Rather, the training method.
Just roughly speaking.
It pays attention to particular part of shot process
and breaks it down slightly differently.
with a different emphasis on part of the process.
In comparison
people who don't use the method
will still shoot well.
But the training method and their coaches
may overlook certain things and emphasize other things.
And the Gold trainer is designed specifically
to teach new archers the correct steps in the KSL shot method.
There are actually two versions of the Gold Trainer.
There's the regular KSL Gold
and there's the KSL Gold Elite.
Which is the one I have here.
Now... The Gold costs around 20 dollars at Lancaster Archery.
The Elite costs about twice as much
That's a pretty big difference.
But there's a reason for it.
From what I understand,
the regular Gold trainer is a simple low resistance stretching band.
The Elite version has a unique feature,
which makes this stand out from other stretching bands.
The key characteristic of the KSL Gold Elite
is that it has rubber stoppers in the band.
Here and here.
And what this does is that
it stops you from overdrawing.
Normally, if a stretching band
like say, the Cartel latex bands.
You can pull as far as you want.
You can pull back.
You can overdraw.
You can pull as much as you want
and that's okay.
But, the Gold Elite Trainer stops you from doing that.
You pull and you hit the wall back here.
It actually stops you from drawing more than it set to.
Now, this can be changed.
There are two bands here... the threads here, which you can loosen
and then you can change the length to suit your draw length.
But, the idea is that you set this band to your draw length
is that you draw to a particular point
and no more.
Additionally, the KSL Trainer comes with a wrist strap
so you can attach to your wrist
and you can release it in a full shot process.
So you can come back,
pick your anchor point,
and release.
And you retain the trainer on your wrist.
Which is pretty handy.
You can do the same thing with other band like the Cartel.
You can use a finger sling or a wrist sling
with the Cartel trainer.
But, using this to release
freaking hurts.
This is a giant rubber band smack to your arm.
The low resistance
Gold Trainer
is a lot more forgiving.
It doesn't hurt anywhere near as much.
So, you can use it as part of a full shot process.
Release.
And it's completely fine.
Now, just the fact that you have a low resistance stretching band
with a wrist strap
might be a reason enough for you to buy the KSL Gold.
But why the Gold Elite ?
Why is this function of stopping the draw
so important ?
The reason for this
is because the KSL shot cycle
identifies the difference between anchoring and loading.
Now, for most people
and I'm not a trained KSL instructor.
People who were trained in this method
can explain this better than I can.
But, generally speaking
this is the difference.
For people who were self taught
or people who learn from a different style of coaching
the shot process is basically
stance, grip, hook,
raise the bow, draw, anchor,
expand, release.
That's basically the process from start to finish.
Now, the KSL method identifies
that the anchor and the loading steps are separate.
You're not meant to
anchor and then release
in one motion.
There's one more step involved
and that's the loading process.
The loading process is
when you transfer
from the anchor into your back muscles
and hold the weight in your back muscles.
It's an extra subtle step
but that's a part of the KSL method.
And the KSL Gold Elite Trainer
gets you to do that.
To paraphrase Kisik Lee
in his book : Total Archery.
The loading phase
is an imperceptible change.
You can't see this happening.
It's a transition
from external to internal.
Where with a squeeze of the drawing shoulder,
you transfer the load into your lower back muscles.
You don't stop the draw.
Stopping the draw means
that you have to reverse the draw
to get back to position.
That increases the muscle fatigue you go through.
Instead, the draw is slowed down
and held.
And that transfer allows you
to increase consistency
by having the extra step
where you have the muscles in the right alignment
and the squeeze happens.
Now, this is incredibly useful
with this tool
because this tool will train
your muscle memory to do the right thing.
Instead of overdrawing.
This is a beginner mistake in all regards.
Like when you overdraw
and try to find the anchor for holding the bow.
Now, this allows you for setting your draw length.
It stops you from drawing.
And by having this light resistance
to stop there,
it tells you :
"stop anchoring"
"start loading".
And again, a very subtle step.
But, this really small function
in this trainer
makes it a very useful mental training tool.
It builds muscle memory
by letting you to remember that
"Hey, okay, that's my anchor."
"I can't go back any further than this."
"This is now my anchor point here."
"So, even if I try to pull back further
I can't"
So, pull it back
anchor
I hit the resistance.
And load.
And that's it
That's the training tool.
And you can repeat this
as much as you need to.
And because you have the wrist strap,
you can complete the shot process.
So, you go through,
draw,
anchor,
load,
and release.
And it feels nice !
That's actually feels really good to use.
And again, the fact that it's a light band
It doesn't hurt you when released.
It goes through all the process steps :
anchor,
load,
and release.
Actually feels really good.
So, I'm actually impressed.
You know. You don't need to have trained
in the KSL method
to make the most out of this band.
The fact that it teaches you the steps.
And a lot of people disagree with this method.
A lot of people don't use it
as part of standard shot process.
But, just the sheer fact that
it makes you pay attention
to something which a lot of people overlook.
The fact that you have this extra need to load
between your anchor and your release.
It's something which can probably
help in your shot process.
Now, if you trained in the KSL method
or your coach is teaching you the KSL shot cycle.
Then, this is definitely a great tool.
If you are using a different shot cycle
or a different concept
on how to shoot from start to finish.
Then, it's still useful.
And if you're a self-taught archer.
Again, this might teach you something
that you probably didn't know.
It trains you
in the muscle memory.
You can do this with your bow,
but your bow might be 45 lbs.
It's very hard to train fine muscle control and technique
with the bow.
So, while I do have my Samick Sage
for that reason.
It's something which allow...
This allows you
to practice that one particular skill.
And this is what makes it worth it.
I think that if you're not interested
in this particular shot cycle
or this particular concept
Then, the regular KSL Gold
is fairly good though.
Just the fact that it's a light band.
It teaches you good form.
That's good.
But, this particular device
with the rubber stoppers.
The KSL Gold Elite model.
I think it has a good appeal
I don't use it as much as I'd like to
But, it's a nice reminder
because, you can't do that with a bow.
The bow doesn't tell you what to do.
There's this thing.
If your form is breaking down
and you're not following a good shot process
and you are trying to find what's wrong
This helps
with the fact that this tells you : "STOP".
"That's your draw length, anchor, and load."
I think that's what makes this really stands out.
So, I like it !
It's something which
it's part of your training repertoire. I guess...
So, it's something which you can keep around.
It's compact.
You can stow it in a bag.
You can put it in your pocket
You can carry it in your travel case.
Learn about warm up tool.
Learn about cool down tool.
It covers most of what a trainer should do
or what a stretching band should do.
It's light,
so it's nothing to build you up.
But it does teach you form.
The fact that it physically stops you
from shooting with a bad form
is one of the big bonuses.
Anyway, this is NUSensei
I hope you find it interesting.
Thanks for watching.
And I'll see you
next time.