Weakness in shoulder a few days after archery. Why did I get weaker why?

Question

I am a 14 year old girl, and not in very good shape. 5 days ago I went to archery practice, with my 40lb bow.

The first 40 arrows weren't a problem for me, but when I got to 50 I began to shake. I stretched out and went home. The days after my muscles were very sore.

5 days later the soreness was gone. I tried to pull back the bow and I felt so much weaker than last time I used the bow. Did I do something wrong or do I just need more rest? Or is it something else?

I just don't know why I got weaker.

Answer 1

The archery practice tears your muscle fibers. There are two things you need to get that back.

1. Enough proper food

2. Enough rest

If one/both of these are not met, your muscles will not be rebuilt properly, and you'll get progressively weaker.

It's odd that you experienced this after only 5 days, but it does strongly implies that at least one of the two points have not been met.

Answer 2

Exercise breaks down your body a little bit. Done well, it breaks it down the perfect amount that allows your body to repair the damage before the next time you exercise. You can read this answer on how exercise adaptation occurs.

Sticking with your archery:

1. If you pick your bow up and put it down, you're not stressing your body.
2. If you fired off a few arrows, you probably stress it enough that it can repair the damage within a few days.
3. If you over-do it too much, you cause too much damage and your body wasn't able to repair it by the time you tried to use it again.

The soreness you feel is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). It's normal, and a typical cause is movements and load that your body isn't used to. The shaking you felt is typical of muscles at their maximum load, struggling to maintain tension. Here's an existing answer about shaking muscles under load.

You should consider doing some regular exercises to get more accustomed to your bow. Looking around at professional archery resources, it seems that a typical way is simply using your bow. Draw the bow, relax, draw the bow, relax, etc.