[shhh-thunk]
Hey guys, this is NUSensei. I've had a few questions asked about training and
conditioning exercises, and just to be honest I'm probably not a good person to ask.
The reason being is: I don't do a lot of training in general for archery. So I'm
kind of underdeveloped. I'm not a particularly well conditioned person.
In fact conditioning is one of my weaker areas. I'm probably not in a position to give good
advice in that regard. There are some things to talk about at a different time, but for the
most part I'm not an expert on exercises for archery. But, as with a lot of
wishful thinkers, I like to buy a lot of training aids. So today I'm going to
go through the Saunders Power Pull. One thing to point out right away is that
the Saunders Power Pull is quite expensive.
It's around AU$50 and about £25 from Merlin Archery in the UK, and you can buy this from many shops.
AU$50 is definitely on the high end of training tools. I mean compared to
things like the Cartel training bands. These come in two different varieties for
very cheap. They're just latex bands you pull back. This is an easy tool to work with.
SF sells latex strips or the cloth, and you can get this from anywhere like TheraBand or
any latex bands and just pull it back. It's an excellent warm-up tool. Their great
form tools to help you train with. So why justify spending 50 bucks on a
resistance trainer? What makes the Saunders Power Pull stand out is that it has a
lot of functionality as a stand-alone trainer. It's something which you don't
really need to use in conjunction with your bow. It's something which as a tool
itself you can do a lot of training with. A lot of good gains can be made from
using this tool. It's something which can be used for archers and non-archers alike
for building up strength and for rehabilitation. So, it's actually one of
my favorite tools. The Saunders Power Pull comes with a nice ergonomic grip it's
shaped well enough to be
used with both hands. For a right hand draw or for a left hand draw. It also
comes with not one but two bands. This is what makes the Saunders Power Pull stand out from
the other devices. Each band, they're colored bright green and bright purple like a
1980s workout leotard. The purpose of these bands is they actually have
different weights. The purple band is around 28 pounds at 28 inches, I think,
and it gets heavier as you pull further back so if you have a longer draw length
then this will be around 30 ish pounds. The green band is around 38 to 44 ish
pounds depending draw length. So you can actually use this firstly if you are a weak guy, uh...
an average guy like me, not weak, but average then you might find that starting
at the purple band might be easier. You might be using this for high
repetition to build muscle tone, and this is a nice conditioning tool. It's not
that hard to use, but it will definitely push you to do it regularly. It's actually
quite achievable. So the purple band is a nice regular exercise tool. The green
band, being much heavier, is something which you can use to build muscle mass, and if
you aren't used to pulling heavy draw weight, this will push you. This is
definitely a heavier band. You see the advantage of having two bands is, one, you
have different entry points, two, you have different focuses. You might have a high
repetition exercise with your light band repetetively, or you have
a lower repetition, higher weight to build up your muscle mass. Now the third
thing is that you can use both bands together. Both bands together is around
60 to 70 pounds depending on draw length. I think it's 70 pounds at 31 inches. I've got around 26
inches. That's about 60-ish pounds.
I'll be honest I can't do this. Sixty pounds is way too hard for me. I'm not going to really
try. I'll probably injure myself. That's about as far as I can go.
If you're trying to get muscle gain, this might be a tool where you can work yourself up to 60
pounds, within reason, I don't say do it right away and try to pull it back,
but you can hurt yourself which it's worth noting for people who want to
start on high draw weights: take it easy guys!
The average person can't pull 50 or 60 pounds right away. You need to work up to
it, and a tool like this makes sense. I do like the fact that there are two bands
which gives you some versatility in how you train. You might vary between the
high repetition lower weight and something a bit higher weight. So go for the
heavy band or going for both bands if you're up to that conditioning.
While I have read at least one review where the reported a split in the band, I
haven't noticed a problem with my one. It looks pretty well made. They're quite
firmly attached, and the bands will probably last for a long time. You can
buy replacement bands, and I believe you can buy
weights which you can put onto the grip to make the grip heavier. So this is a fairly
versatile training tool. What I like about the Saunders Power Pull is that for most of
your archery needs this fills all the gaps.
Personally I have several bows because I collect bows over the years. I've got a 25
pound bow for lightweight practice. I've got my competition bow, a 45 pound
Samick Sage, and I use these bows in conjunction with the extra stretching
bands to condition when I can.
This is like the lazy man's option. I like it for that reason. It's there for people who
are like me living a modest suburban lifestyle, juggling a job and not really
managing time real well, having this lying around is very tempting to use
because it feels fun to hold. It's one important thing we have a
stretching band thing.
This is useful, but it doesn't look very fun.
It's blue and stretchy, but for someone who isn't yet committed to training
this is kind of like ...ehh... you know not very exciting.
When you grab something like this,
it has that nice pistol grip, it has the nice colors. I'm not sure why they chose
these colors but psychologically there's something appealing about pulling a
bright green pool noodle. It's actually quite fun to use.
I can imagine that even training both hands would work.
I don't shoot left-handed, but I can imagine if were to condition to shoot left-handed, I could.
[That's terrible form for by the way] This is actually a pretty fun tool!
I like using it. The fact that it's compact means that you can leave it on your desk,
you can put it in your travel case, or your backpack,
you can leave at work and every now and then pull it out, do some pulls, and it's something
which you can regularly use, and the fact that you have two bands, light and heavy, gives that
extra versatility. I should point out that this is not a shot trainer. You're
not meant to release the band. I've seen some videos on YouTube where people
are pulling it back and letting go.
It's not that sort of trainer. Overall, I do like the Saunders Power Pull. It is a
convenient tool. It's quite fun to use because of the pistol grip, you
have the stretching bands, and it's quite accessible to people of all levels.
If you're just starting out and you're trying to build up strength to use your first bow
then, yes, this works really nicely. If you're a well-seasoned archer who wants to
stay in condition, then you can still use this. So the fact that this is an
all-in-one tool which trains basically all of your archery muscles in a
convenient package, it's something which I really admire, I really do like about
this. So. if there was only one stretching tool, one training aid which
you should get it's probably going to be this. I like the other tools I have.
They have their own purposes, but for someone who's just getting into archery and wants
to have one tool they can use througout their journey, I say this is it. It's good for
training between sessions.
It's good to pull out during downtime and give it a few pulls, and it's not
bad as a warm-up band either. Yeah, I quite like it.
I think you'll like it as well, so do consider
something like this to help you in your archery journey.
Anyway, this is NUSensei. Hope you found this interesting. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.