Here's the trap waiting for every new archer: the target face. It goes up, it has rings, the rings have numbers, and within two sessions you're practicing scoring instead of practicing shooting. The habits you build in your first month are the ones you'll spend years living with — so this plan spends the month building the shot, and lets the score arrive as a consequence.
Two ground rules first. Arrows only fly at a proper range with a safe backstop — every live arrow in this plan happens there, behind the shooting line. And choose a draw weight you completely own: if you lean back away from the bow to hold it, or the last inch of the draw is a fight, go lighter. A month of tall, settled shots at low poundage builds more archer than a month of wrestling.
Week 1 — the base
Everything sits on the floor, so start there. Put two short tape lines on the shooting line where your feet belong — about shoulder width — and build every shot from that identical base. Before each arrow: one big breath in, exhale half, ribs down, tall over your hips. At the range, shoot close and shoot relaxed: two ends of six arrows at a bare target butt from three to five meters — no target face, nothing to score — feeling the whole shot cycle for the first time. At home, start the daily ten minutes: stretch-band draws to anchor, settle three seconds, let down slow. Three sets of ten.
Week 2 — the line and the anchor
Keep everything from week one. Now give each blank-bale end a single theme. One end where your only job is the draw elbow finishing behind the arrow — drawn around and behind you by the shoulder blade, not pulled by the hand. One end where your only job is a still head: set it tall before the raise, and let the string come to your face — your face never goes hunting for the string. At home, add ten mirror draws a day, eyes on your head only.
Week 3 — the settle and the finish
The two things beginners rush most. This week, count one full end per session, silently: raise-two-three, draw-two-three, anchor, settle-two-three, then let it go. The settle is where the anchor confirms itself and the back takes the load — give it its slot on every arrow. And from this week on, one permanent rule: freeze your finish for three full seconds after every release. Bow arm up toward the target, draw hand back by your neck. If you can freeze it, you finished the shot; if you can't, you've found the week's homework.
Week 4 — put it together, at distance
Move back to a comfortable beginner distance and put a target face up — but keep the opening ritual forever: two blank-bale ends first, feet on the tape, breath before every arrow, freeze after every release. Notice what the score does when you stop chasing it.
The thread through all four weeks
Film one arrow each week: phone on a tripod behind the shooting line, whole body in frame head to feet, one arrow per clip, recording from before the raise through the follow-through. You cannot see your own blind spots — that's what makes them blind — and a weekly clip is how a self-taught archer gets a set of eyes. CoachVision reads each clip like a coach standing behind you: a measured read of your stance, alignment, elbow line, head stillness, and finish, week over week. Four clips into your first month, you won't just have a score — you'll have a shot, and the video to prove it grew.