Lars Andersen is an amazing archer. He is the opposite of modern competitive archers who are stationary and shoot at distant targets. His runs and jumps on walls while he shoots, maintaining deadly accuracy. He can fire three arrows in 0.6 seconds. He can leap in the air to catch and arrow, load it, and hit a target before his feet hit the ground.
He’s almost as good as the slingshot guy!
Lars explains:
Quiver:
An archers with a quiver on his back is a movie icon which is widespread throughout the world.
But putting arrows in a quiver on your back is not a good solution.It is bad in motion and the archer cannot see his own arrows, as he has an enemy in front of him. He must focus on his quiver, which makes him vulnerable.
Past archers often had different types of arrows simultaneously in his quiver but since the quiver is on his back, he cannot see which arrow he takes.
Placing the quiver in the belt solved most problems, and if the archer is horseback, the quiver could be placed on the horse in front of the rider. These methods were the most common ways to use a quiver.
The round divided target:
The two dimensional target is not known from the past. Historical targets were not flat, but three dimensional.
Quiver, arrows in the bow hand, arrows in the draw hand:
I think there has always been an evolution in archery. Archers from even the earliest times have gone from using quivers, to arrows in the bow hand, and ultimately, to hold arrows in the draw hand.
Going from the quiver to holding the arrows in the bow hand is not difficult, it can be learnt. You get the arrow in front of you, so you do not have to focus away from an enemy.
It is far better in motion, so there are many advantages over a quiver. There are today archers which are really good with this method.
Keeping the arrow in the draw hand provides a wide range of benefits, but it assumes that one can draw and shoot in a single movement automatically.
If you must use multiple movements or have to use your fingers on the bow hand to get the arrow in place, then it is far better to go back and keep the arrow in the bow hand.
Double draw
I have for many years experimented with drawing with both hands simultaneously so while your hand with the arrow pulling the string behind, while bow hand is pushed forward, this providing more power on the arrow.
when I 2 years ago made the video “Reinventing the fastest forgotten archery” I had seen many historic pictures of a low half drag, and then I thought it would be interpreted as past archers only drew the bow short, but today I think it is more likely that the images show a double draw.To hit an arrow in the air:
I have currently tried 14 times (everything is filmed)
For me this is the ultimate archery, which I until recently had thought was impossible.
it can be done, but requires the handling of the bow and arrow to become completely bodily.
you may not have time to aim or think, and you must first be completely convinced you hit, you see, “feel” the incoming arrow and shoot in an instant.
do not attempt this.
I / we have been in doubt about whether this should be shown,
because we were afraid that someone gets hurt if they try to emulate it,I trained for many years and spent a really long time before I tried it the first time.
For several years, I along with my friends Peter and Ask also trained with harmless buffer arrows where I often have shot their arrows down and before we switched to proper arrows I had very safely hit 5 harmless arrows in a row.
It will not be shot with a very strong bow (but it’s still dangerous)
The arrow that fired at me is a light bamboo arrow with metal tip, I’ll shoot back with a heavy aluminum arrow so I’m sure that the incoming arrow flexes when they hit together.The archer shoots at me normally sits behind one large safety sheet, but in the video is filmed with the sheets pulled away, so you can see what is going on.
I hope to try again during the summer outside, with an HD camera in slow motion.
Do I hit everything?
I use a lot of time practicing, and it can take a very long time before I learn a new skill. For instance, when I got the idea of jumping to grab and enemy’s arrow before I land, it took me months to learn, where for a long time, the arrows would fly everywhere, until I learned to handle it.
[Thanks, Joe Sabia!]