Introduction: The parallel stances and the open stances are the most popular archery stances. When the bow is full to release the arrow, the difference in muscle activation of the upper limbs may reduce the score and overall balance due to the increase in the number of archers at each stage in an Olympic archery ranking tournament in recurve bow. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the differences in the performance of each stage, upper limb muscle activation and balance between the top players in their habitual standing posture (parallel or open) in the recurve bow Olympic archery ranking game. By analyzing the data, the players can more objectively choose the appropriate standing posture to improve their archery performance. Methods: A total of 14 male contestants in the open group were recruited from various high schools and colleges with intentional sampling, and they were divided into parallel and open groups in their usual standing posture. They shot 36 arrows in the simulated recurve bow and recorded their scores. Wireless surface electromyography and plantar pressure plate simultaneously collected the trapezius muscle, biceps brachii, triceps, wrist extensor and wrist flexor activation, overall balance, and body swaying speed. Mixed design twofactor analysis of variance was used to test the differences in four-stage performance, each group of the upper limb muscle activation, balance, and body swaying speed (α = .05). Results: Neither standing posture resulted in a difference in the performance of each stage, but both standing postures increased trapezius muscle activation with increasing stages. The activation of the open carpi flexors was significantly higher than that of the parallel pose at all stages. There was no difference in overall balance and body swaying speed between the two standing postures. Conclusion: The scores of top players are not caused by different standing postures. Both standing poses increase trapezius activation as the number of stages increases, but neither result in any difference in balance and body swaying speed. The key difference is that the parallel pose has lower activation of the wrist flexors than the open pose. It is recommended that coaches and beginners can choose an appropriate standing position when holding the bow based on the strength of the oblique and wrist flexor muscles. Both stances require a particular strength in the trapezius muscle. If the practitioners' wrist flexors are weak, they may be advised to choose a parallel stance. If players use the stance in the open position, they will need to focus on distal wrist flexor strength in addition to archery specific techniques and training of the trapezius muscles to maintain archery performance. Future research needs to examine further the differences in muscle activation between core and lower limb muscle groups and clarify overall movement control strategies to provide a more objective and complete reference for training.