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Showing posts with label Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Notes. Show all posts

Five Rules for having a Merry Christmas from Cardio Trek

Below is Cardio Trek's Five Rules for having a Merry Christmas...

Rule #1. Eat lots of carrots. And veggies in general.


Rule #2. Enjoy the little things, no matter how small.


Rule #3. Reward yourself for all your hard work during the holiday season.


Rule #4. Pay attention to things that don't make sense. eg. Why does the reindeer in the image below look evil? You should avoid evil things during the holidays. Krampus for example.


Rule #5. Have a sense of humour. Because laughter is the best medicine.



:)

Archery Seniors Discount x2 = 10%

I have decided to permanently increase my Seniors Discount from 5% to 10%, doubling the discount.

My Normal Weekday Rates

1 Student
$60 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $170; 5 Lessons - $270; 10 Lessons - $520.

My Weekday Rates with Seniors Discount

1 Student
$54 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $153; 5 Lessons - $243; 10 Lessons - $468.  


Also please note that I am also offering Archery Gift Vouchers, so for anyone not sure what to get Grandpa or Grandma or your favourite Aunt / Uncle this Xmas, but you know they have an active lifestyle, maybe archers lessons is the way to go.


For those people wishing to purchase Archery Gift Vouchers for friends, family, co-worker, etc simply contact cardiotrek@gmail.com to begin the process. When you are done, give the Gift Voucher to the lucky person and they can redeem it at their leisure.

Archery Gift Vouchers come with a Voucher Number that is redeemable for archery lessons. You don't need the card to redeem it, just the voucher number. Vouchers have an expiry of 18 months after the date of purchase. No refunds. Vouchers have no cash value, but are transferable.



Notice to Spammers - Bugger off!

CardioTrek.ca cannot go a week without someone leaving a Spammy comment in the comments section, usually generic bla bla bla with a link at the end of the comment.

Unfortunately for the spammers, all of the comments are moderated. By me personally.

Which means I delete all the spam. None of it ever gets so much as a brief appearance on the final product that the public sees.

Sometimes, very rarely, a spammer actually tries to leave a comment that is meaningful and includes a link at the end of their comment. That is deleted too.

Basically, if it contains a link that is clearly meant as spam advertising, it gets deleted.

Now I do allow advertising on CardioTrek.ca, but I charge DOUBLE of what normal market rates for such advertising is - and I refuse to advertise anything like casinos, diet pills, bogus nonsense. So they have to first jump through the hoops of both credibility and morality, and once they have done so they have to pay double of normal market rates.

And furthermore, I charge a fee for guest posts - because that is still technically advertising. And if you don't like it and/or think you are providing me with a service, then clearly you should read Wil Wheaton's post about "free exposure". "Free content" from people who just want advertising, I don't care about. Complete waste of my time to even post their junk writing - which guests posts need to be the following:

  • High Quality Writing
  • Moral and Ethical (eg. not advertising casinos or cigarettes)
  • Credible + Not Obviously Bogus (eg. diet pills, health gadgets that don't work, etc)

Don't like my rules? Take your diet pills / shoddy writing and peddle it somewhere else. The back of a tabloids newspaper seems like a good place.

And because no notice posts should be left hanging without something funny, I give you the following photo on the topic of Roller Derby. :)


Note to Self - Personal Trainers and Sell Outs

Note to Self

If I ever become a sell out personal trainer who becomes so focused on selling books and DVDs that I am no longer providing free advice on my website, will someone please leave a comment on this post and remind me to stop doing that nonsense.

I am speaking of course of the "personal trainers" who apparently spend more time writing books and making DVDs (that very few people actually read or watch and often collects dust) than they do actually training people.

Also I should note, yes, I am currently writing a how-to book for archery, however I should note one of the reasons I am writing that book is because I am so busy I cannot teach everyone who is asking for archery lessons, so my plan is for whenever people have schedules that don't match mine, I can simply point them towards the book instead.

So I am not doing it for the money. I am doing it because I genuinely want to help people learn archery.

Also it is nice being on the CBC, CityTV, TSN, etc for archery clips because I enjoy promoting the sport - but I don't want to be doing that stuff full time. A few days ago I was contacted by a journalist student from Ryerson who is making a documentary about archery. Unfortunately their schedule didn't mesh with mine, so I couldn't help them.

So it is a matter of priorities and scheduling in my opinion.

Less than a month ago I was contacted by a television producer looking for someone for a reality TV show. With some trepidation I put my name in the hat of candidates, even though I despise reality shows. Does that make me a hypocrite? Maybe. But it also makes me realistic. The reality of the situation is that I would probably enjoy being on that show. If I don't enjoy it, I could go back to what I usually do.

Thus, note to future self: If I am not enjoying something, stop doing it and go back to what I do enjoy.

In other news, Happy Halloween! Below are some zombie archery targets, both 3D and 2D.





New Winter Archery Lessons Logo

In order to promote my new service of "Winter Archery Lessons" I have added a new logo for promoting Winter Archery in Toronto. It is basically identical to the normal archery logo, with the added bonus of a stylized snowflake in the background.

I also have retroactively gone back to older posts and added the new logo.


This is not the first post regarding logos on my website. In September 2012 I announced the Cardio Trek Logos that have long since become the standard for how Cardio Trek has chosen to direct itself with respect to logos.

The other new logo below is for Archery Biathlon Training - a new service I first offered last year, geared towards those rare few individuals who wanted an unique challenge. For obvious reasons not everyone in Toronto is into archery biathlon, but for those who are it provides a great cardiovascular challenge while simultaneously challenging your endurance and accuracy.

For those curious about whether it has to be cross country skiing. No, it does not. Snowshoeing also works quite well in my opinion. For more information on either Winter Archery Lessons in Toronto or Archery Biathlon Training please email cardiotrek@gmail.com.


Age Requirements for Archery Lessons Updated - 2016 and Beyond

Earlier this Summer I began contemplating changing my minimum age requirements for archery lessons. Previously they had been a minimum of age 10 or higher, but as of 2016 I will no longer be accepting students younger than 15 and maintaining a minimum age requirement of 16.

Why the change you may ask?

Multiple reasons...

#1. Lack of attention span. This is more common with teenagers, 13 to 15, in my opinion. Often teenagers in this age group just want to try archery and once they've tried it they either love it or they begin to lose interest. If they lose interest their attention span goes out the window and it is a bit like teaching someone who isn't even listening. "Failure to listen" has basically become a pet peeve of mine when teaching teenagers who just don't want to listen.

#2. Lack of emotional maturity. I find this is more of a problem for kids ages 10 to 13 and I have to be extra watchful of what they are doing to make sure they don't do something unsafe. I have the same concern for kids under the age of 10 too, which is why I previously set the standard of minimum age 10.

#3. Youthful Stubbornness. I wish there was a better way to describe this. I have on occasion encountered teenagers who not only refuse to listen, but just outright ignore the instructor and do what they think is right - and is ultimately wrong judging by their arrows flying right over the top of the target and have to coax them to shoot and aim properly, however no amount of coaxing will work if they are so stubborn that all my efforts are basically an exercise in futility. I encountered one such student in 2014 that was so stubborn I became suspicious that they might have a learning disability that caused them to refuse to listen to instructions. To this day I am unsure which it was as they seemed intelligent, but were so stubbornly opposed to listening / following instructions.

#4. Parents lying about their kid's age. Because I had previously set the standard minimum age of 10 I am pretty sure some parents were lying about their kids age so they could get their 8 or 9 year old archery lessons. Parents claiming that their kid is "small for their age" for example makes me worried they are just plain lying to me, and the behaviour of their kids often reveal their true maturity.

#5. I am not a babysitter. Parents have sometimes been known to sign their kids up for archery lessons and then disappear during the 90 minutes I am teaching, ignoring my request that they stay present at all times during the lesson. I require parents to stay present in case the kid has any health issues (allergic reactions, asthma, etc) and also so that their kid behaves themselves, thus reducing the chance that they might misbehave in a manner which is unsafe on the archery range.

By increasing my minimum age requirement to 16 I am guaranteed to get more mature students who have longer attention spans, more emotional maturity, less likely to refuse to listen due to youthful stubbornness, a significantly higher age that parents will be less likely to lie about their kids age, and lastly because they are at least 16 years old I don't feel like I am babysitting a kid any more.

Now in theory it is still possible that parents might try to lie about their 15 year old's age and claim they are 16, but I would hope that parents don't try to deceive me in that manner. If they did and I discovered the falsehood I believe cancelling the lessons (with no refund) would be an appropriate punishment for such deceit.

I should note that there are many kids I have taught in the past who listened, were very attentive, very safety conscious and their parents were equally responsible and took an interest in what their kid was learning - sometimes even developing a keen interest for having lessons themselves. It pains me that I have to change my rules / requirements, but sadly some bad eggs have spoiled it for other potential students.

As your kids get older contact me about getting them archery lessons for their 16th birthday. Have a great day!

Above - Jeff and Austin, father and son, admire a shot at 60 yards that went half way through the target.

Triple Senior's Discount for Archery Lessons during September and October 2015

For archery lessons I normally offer a Senior's Discount of 5% for people over the age of 65 (with proof of age), however for a limited time I am offering a 15% discount for seniors over the age of 65. This offer is only good for people booking their lessons in September or October 2015.

My Weekday Rates

1 Student
$60 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $170; 5 Lessons - $270; 10 Lessons - $520.

So if you live in Toronto, you were born in 1950 or earlier, and you want to learn archery now is your chance to get archery lessons in Toronto. For more info email cardiotrek@gmail.com with any questions.

Have a great day!


New Weekend Archery Rates

Weekend archery lessons is one of my most popular / most requested services. Unfortunately, weekends also tend to be time I want to spend with family - and due to supply and demand there are only Saturday and Sunday to choose from.

(Or alternatively, you can prebook Winter archery lessons.)

During the 2015 archery season I opted to charge a different rate from weekday lessons and quickly determined that charging extra for weekend lessons was not much of a deterrent. People booked them up so much that every weekend time slot was fully booked to the end of the year by the time mid July rolled around. Logically this meant every person contacting from mid July to the present and asking for weekend lessons was going to disappointed that I had only weekday time slots to offer - or worse, I was pointing them towards prebooking for 2016.

So if you are looking for weekend lessons and reading this, you are coming to the conclusion that weekend archery lessons are rare - and more so if you are looking for a quality instructor. This is one of the reasons why I have been devoting more of my free time to writing my new book on the topic of recreational archery, because I know I cannot teach everyone. I simply do not have enough hours on weekends to teach every person who emails asking for weekend archery lessons.

But I can however sell them a book that teaches them all of the fundamentals.

And for those willing to pay a premium for weekend archery lessons, here are my new rates that are coming into effect at the end of October.

New Weekend Archery Rates

1 Student
$90 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $255; 5 Lessons - $405; 10 Lessons - $780.

2 Students
$120 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $337.50; 5 Lessons - $540; 10 Lessons - $1050.

3 Students
$150 for 90 minutes; 3 Lessons - $427.50; 5 Lessons - $675; 10 Lessons - $1320.

(Note that I also charge the weekend rate for ALL lessons conducted outdoors during the Winter. If I am going to freeze outside in the snow while teaching, I should get paid extra for it.)

Prebook for Archery Lessons in September and October

Time is running out to prebook for archery lessons in Toronto - the only time slots remaining in 2015 are in September, October and the start of November. (The archery season ends roughly when there is snow on the ground and it is too cold.)

If you still hoping to get archery lessons in 2015 sign up now for lessons in September and October.

For a limited time you can also sign up for compound bow lessons and get a 10% discount. This offer expires July 31st.

Very Dead Turkey

Top Twelve Archery Posts on CardioTrek.ca

During the past year I have been working on my forthcoming book on recreational archery and compiling various chapters. However for those of you who cannot wait for the book to come out, have a look below at samples of my past writing on the topic of the archery.

Arrow Splitting String Down Middle
Below is a list of 12 archery posts on CardioTrek.ca ranked by their popularity (excluding archery lesson testimonials).

Archery Warmup Exercises + Stretches

Rapid Fire Archery - Different Techniques of Fast Shooting

Archery as an Alternative to Weightlifting

Correcting Errors in Archery Release

Learning Instinctive Shooting for Archery

Archery Lessons for Kids in Toronto

Robin Hood after hitting Moving Target
How do you calculate poundage on a Bow?

Archery Tips for Amateurs

Stabilizers for Archery - How do they work?

Olympic Archery Equipment - Does more expensive equipment mean better shots?

Mind Body Fitness Vs Zen Exercising

Dominant Eye for Archery and Other Sports

On the topic of recreational archery I feel that is archery at its purest form. The sheer joy of archery for archery's sake. No compound gadgetry or Olympic gadgetry, no confusing hunting or competing with the sport of archery, just archery in its most natural form without anything added or subtracted.

Earlier this week I was named "Athlete of the Week" by CityTV News, not because of any great deed in terms of competition, nor for any feat of bowhunting skill, but for my interest in furthering recreational archery as a sport. Yes, I teach archery - but I don't limit myself solely to bowhunting or solely to people who want to compete in archery. My goal is much simpler: To promote archery as a whole, both as a pastime and as a recreational sport.

The CityTV news clip made reference to my ability to shoot at moving targets and shooting while walking, but I do many other things too. For example in my personal practice I routinely practice shooting at many different distances, sometimes while also shooting at moving targets. Such practices force my brain to work over time, to force myself to concentrate on the task at hand.

In my most recent personal practices I have taken to shooting at tiny moving targets, the size of a bottle cap. Or other similar targets so small most archers wouldn't even attempt to shoot at a moving target that small. Such practice causes me to go into a semi-meditative state as I study the moving target and determine how best to hit it. Part of it is timing, other parts are things like aiming (finely honed aiming), perfect form, perfect release, etc.

Bullseye on Plastic Bottle Cap
If you are looking for archery lessons in Toronto or if you want to add your name to the waiting list of people who want a copy of my upcoming book, send me an email. Sometime in the future I will also be adding a form for people who want to pre-order my archery book*.

* Note - Technically it will be my 2nd archery book. The 1st archery book I wrote was a book of zen poetry on the topic of zen archery and is titled "Dreaming of Zen Archery", which is available on Kobo.

Have a great day reading and shooting!

Specialized Personal Training - Catering to the Needs of the Client

On several occasions I have been contacted by men who are into MMA (so-called "Mixed Martial Arts") who are looking for a trainer who trains MMA fighters.

Every time someone contacts me for this particular specialized kind of sports training I laugh. Not so much because it is funny, but for several reasons.

#1. I actively make fun of the "sport" of "Mixed Martial Arts". I don't consider it to be a real sport compared to boxing, for example. It is not a "Martial Art" either. Visually speaking, it is an activity wherein one man jumps on the other man, they wrestle and then the one on the top start punching (if you can call those punches) the one on the bottom. There is almost no fighting skill required either, as MMA has the same level of technique utilized by chimps or gorillas fighting each other - or little kids fighting in a schoolyard. No noticeable skill. Just brute force. It is a sport for gorillas and like minded individuals.

Boxing on the other hand is a sport for gentlemen (in a broad sense of the term). Boxing has rules (no punching below the belt, no kidney punches, etc) and your goal in a boxing match is to score more points (hits) than your opponent. The sport of professional boxing therefore has seen many upsets over the years as savvy boxers will focus on scoring more points than their opponent, and win the match through points. Winning a match via KO (Knock Out) doesn't actually mean the opponent was knocked out cold. It simply means they didn't get back on their feet before the count of 10. There is also a TKO (Technical Knock Out), which is when the ring physician declares that one or more fighters are not healthy enough to continue.

Thus someone contacting me asking for MMA training is a bit like contacting a vegan and asking for tips on how to fry bacon. You are asking the wrong person!

#2. Why is the person contacting me not contacting someone who specializes in training MMA fighters? Wouldn't it make more sense to hire a professional MMA coach or perhaps a former MMA champion who has retired and might be tempted to start coaching?

This is what I mean by Specialized Personal Training. You contact someone who is a Specialist in the field you are seeking to learn about, because they are an expert in that field and you will learn far more from them than you would from someone who is not an expert in that field.

It would be like contacting a piano teacher and asking them to teach you how to play the bagpipes. It just doesn't make any sense. I laugh because again, for a separate reason, you are asking the wrong person!

#3. Several of the people who contacted me asking for MMA training were clearly amateurs trying to get into MMA fighting - and clearly had no clue what they were doing. Thus the visual image of a complete amateur getting beat up on the floor gorilla-style was inherently funny to me.

#4. The phenomenon of MMA in North America is pretty much limited to the type of gorilla-minded individuals who think what they are seeing is entertainment. You get the same level of entertainment watching actual gorillas fight. It is always the same thing too. The two gorillas attack each other. One gorilla realizes he is outmatched and tries to keep his distance. Eventually their struggle back and forth meets a climax when the two gorillas roll on the ground and one gorilla pounds the other. Don't believe me? Search for "gorillas fighting" on YouTube and then compare what you see to MMA videos. Any time people mention MMA I laugh, either aloud or in my head. MMA is basically a joke.

If you want to be entertained more, try watching the recent Planet of the Apes movies. The fight scene between Cesar and Koba will suffice.

Specialized Personal Training

There are many kinds of personal trainers - and no two trainers are completely alike. For example:

Weight Loss Personal Trainers (sole focus on cardio exercises).

Weight Loss Personal Trainers / Nutritionists (similar, but heavier focus on diet).

Sports Trainers / Coaches for Specific Sports (eg. boxing trainer, Olympic skiing coach, figure skating coach, marathon coach, football coach, etc).

Muscle Gain Personal Trainer (sole focus on weight lifting).

Body Building Personal Trainer (sole focus on weight lifting, with an eye for competitive bodybuilding).

Powerlifting Personal Trainer (sole focus on competitive weight lifting).

Examples of Specialized Personal Trainers in Toronto

In Alphabetical Order

Briar Munro - Holistic fitness for women.

Charles Moffat - Archery instructor and general fitness personal trainer.

Dena Ryde - Pre and post-natal personal trainer for soon-to-be moms and new moms.


Gary Roberts - Former pro-hockey player turned personal trainer. Only trains young hockey players.

Greg Hetherington - Former pro-football player turned personal trainer. If your goal is football or rugby, he is your guy.

Joanna Zdrojewska - Olympic weight lifting trainer.

Joel N.M. Kerr, Dr. - Rehab personal trainer.

Kathleen Trotter - Weight loss and general fitness personal trainer.

Lyzabeth Lopez - Gymnastics, aerobics and body shaping.

Melissa Wessel - Strength training for women.

Nick Vernelli - Olympic weight lifting trainer.

Sarah Davis - General fitness personal trainer.

Steve Ashalou - Sports therapist / massage therapist and weight loss personal trainer.

Toronto has many other personal trainers, but you have to realize that each one has their specialties. Don't waste your time with a personal trainer who is doing something other than what you actually want to be doing.

So for example if you are looking for a MMA coach, contact a MMA coach. If you are looking for an archery instructor or general fitness, contact me. I also teach boxing, swimming and ice skating depending on the season.

The Pan Am Games in Toronto

The Pan Am Games are coming to Toronto this month and will take place from July 10th to July 26th. The Parapan Am Games will also be in Toronto, August 7th to 15th. The sports involved in the Pan Am Games are as follows:

Archery (70 meter Olympic style archery only, no field archery, no flight archery, no equestrian archery)
Athletics (includes all the track and fields events such as running, hurdles, discus, javelin, shot put, high jump, long jump, etc)
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Beach Volleyball (seriously, beach volleyball is a separate sport from regular volleyball)
BMX (as a separate category from cycling)
Bowling (why is billiards, darts and lawn darts not considered sports if bowling is included?)
Boxing
Canoe / Kayak Slalom
Canoe / Kayak Sprint
Cycling - Road
Cycling - Track
Diving
Equestrian (just horse jumping, no horse racing for some strange reason)
Fencing
Field Hockey (as if we couldn't find an ice rink to have a normal hockey game in Toronto...)
Football (World Football, or as Americans call it "Soccer")
Golf
Gymnastics - Artistic
Gymnastics - Rhythmic
Handball (it is like a cross between hockey and basketball)
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Mountain Bike (why isn't that considered to be a cycling event?)
Open Water Swimming
Racquetball
Roller - Figure Skating (wait, wait, wait... figure skating? But no ice hockey???)
Roller - Speed Skating
Rowing
Rugby Sevens
Sailing (small sailboats that are built for speed, in other words a sport only rich people can do, although you could say that about many of the other sports listed here - like horse jumping)
Shooting (rifles, but why not crossbows too? Crossbows at least require more exercise to load.)
Softball (baseball with bigger balls)
Squash
Swimming (for speed that is, including many different styles of swimming)
Synchronized Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis (another sport for rich people who have their own tennis courts)
Trampoline
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo (but not normal polo, the kind you play with horses - although admittedly polo is another sport for rich people)
Waterski & Wakeboard
Weightlifting
Wrestling (Olympic style wrestling, not the American version with play-acting and steroids)

I am ever amazed as to how certain "sports" get into these large scale events like the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, etc. I do therefore have some criticisms, on this and other topics.

#1. Some sports just aren't that popular, so why are they included?

Are there really that many people who play handball or water polo? I think not.

#2. Some sports aren't really sports in the normal sense.

eg. Shooting or Bowling, yes, I get it they do require some physical strength to do them - but they're not exactly something you break a sweat doing. Worst case scenario you might get a sore trigger finger or sore bowling fingers. And if shooting and bowling are sports, why not darts, lawn darts, billiards, or the biathlon (shooting and skiing)?

#3. Sometimes it feels like they are just inventing new sports.

Waterski, Wakeboard, Trampoline, Kayak Shalom or Sprint... if these are sports why not also:

Surfing
Windsurfing
Dolphin Riding (no seriously, if we have horse jumping, why not dolphin riding?)
Rock Climbing
Skydiving
Team Paintball
Team Archery Tag
Snorkeling

#4. Some sports are really just aimed at rich people.

Golf, tennis and sailing are three good examples of sports that are mostly only done by rich people. Equestrian horse jumping and any other sport involving horses also falls into this (as would Dolphin Riding...)

#5. What if a Parapan Athlete wants to compete in the normal Pan Am games?

This is an idea that has always made me wonder. For example lets say a man is missing a leg, but wants to be in horse jumping? His single leg might be a minor disadvantage when it comes to riding the horse, but you could also argue that he weighs less and the horse might be able to perform better with a lighter rider.

Same goes with golf. Do you really need two working legs to play golf? I think not.

Shooting rifles? Sure, they just need one good eye and a trigger finger.

Archery? Same deal. No reason why a person in a wheelchair cannot achieve greatness as an archer.

Fencing? A person with one arm only needs one arm to do fencing. In the video below you see a French citizen who is missing part of their arm.




So in conclusion always remember that the sports during the Pan Am Games (and the Olympics and other similar events) are the result of a committee voting on feedback from not the athletes themselves, but from sponsors. Sponsorship money is really what it comes down to.

The same thing goes for the athletes. The necessary time needed to practice a sport, train, eat properly, the cost of coaches and traveling to competitions is often the result of money from sponsors. If sponsors were sponsoring equestrian archery for example, then that would likely be a sport at the Pan Am Games.

In the world of competitive sports, it really all comes back to the issue of sponsors and money.

If you can think of a sport that should be included, leave a comment below.

If you have comments on the issue of money in sports, absolutely leave a comment about that too.

Gone Hiking and Fishing - The Niagara Escarpment

From June 26th to 30th I will be away on vacation - hiking, fishing and camping - and will not be answering emails very quickly during that time period.

The location I will be hiking will be along the Niagara Escarpment of Ontario, which has many cliffs, rocky outcroppings, waterfalls and other sights. Below is a map showing waterfalls that dot the landscape along the Niagara Escarpment.


One of my personal favourites to visit is Hilton Falls near Milton, Ontario - not because it is the closest to Toronto, but because you can walk both on top of the falls and also behind the waterfalls. To get to Hilton Falls it is a roughly 20 minute hike through the woods from the parking lot.

Walking along the top of the waterfalls, close to the edge


At the base of the waterfalls


Behind the waterfalls


There are many places within a quick drive from Toronto where people can go to exercise, go hiking, cycling, swimming and many other activities.

Get out there and exercise!

Splitting Arrows + CityTV

Monday, June 22nd 2015

Yesterday I split an arrow while I was shooting at a paper target of a turkey. It was a solid cluster of three arrows so tight they were touching, but unfortunately the middle arrow broke the shaft of the arrow below it and scratched the side of the arrow above it.


Below - The bottom arrow in the cluster that broke from being hit by the middle arrow.


Earlier today I did an interview with CityTV for an upcoming spot where I am being honoured with the title "Athlete of the Week".

Following the interview I was doing some personal practice and split another arrow, this time on a moving target (moving bottle in the wind). Unfortunately the cameraman was gone and wasn't there to film the feat. Oh well. Here are some photos.



And lest we not forget Saturday, when I shot 4 arrows into a supertight cluster where they were all touching. I liked that cluster so much I made a video of it.

My apologies for the sound quality, it was windy at the time.



These are just recent feats from Saturday, Sunday and today. Feats which unfortunately means it is time for me to buy more arrows. Just 30 minutes ago I contacted my local supplier and ordered 24 more arrows.

Call it the downside of hitting your own arrows - I have to buy new arrows regularly.

On the 17th (last Wednesday) I split a string down the middle.


Two weeks ago I had a supertight arrow cluster that came out the back of an old target butt that is due to be replaced.


At the end of March I was practicing on a box suspended and blowing in the wind on a snowy day and got the supertight cluster of 3 arrows shown in the video below.



And I could go back further, back to an earlier post when I first Robin Hooded an arrow on a moving target last year and determined that I need a new challenge.

To see more arrow clusters / split arrows read Arrow Clustering at Work, which I wrote in October last year.

1,000,000 Visitors to Cardio Trek

June 1st 2015

Sometime in the next 3 days Cardio Trek will have its 1 millionth visitor to CardioTrek.ca. On Sunday May 31st the website surpassed 995,000 visitors and judging by the May average of 1765 visitors per day CardioTrek.ca should break the 1,000,000 mark sometime on June 3rd.

Not bad for a company that has only been around since December 2011.

Now you might ask why do we have so many visitors?

Well there is multiple answers to that question, so here goes:

#1. Cardio Trek has over 550 pages of unique content providing advice on topics ranging from weight loss, muscle growth / weight lifting, cardio exercises, as well as sports advice on topics ranging from swimming to boxing to archery, and lastly dietary / nutritional advice. And all of the advice located on CardioTrek.ca is FREE to access.

#2. Cardio Trek is home to Toronto's "best archery instructor" according to the testimonials of archery students - and archery's popularity is growing so fast we are in constant demand for archery lessons in Toronto.

#3. Cardio Trek also offers a number of unique / bizarre exercises and tips that only a handful of other websites talk about - including nose exercises for people who have suffered nose injuries or simply want to change the appearance of their nose, and also advice on how to reduce saggy skin after extreme weight loss / pregnancy. Those two topics are two of the most popular topics on CardioTrek.ca.

#4. If you Google 'cardio personal trainer toronto' then CardioTrek.ca is the #1 personal training website that comes up in the results. CardioTrek.ca is also #2 too. CardioTrek.ca is #1 or in the top 10 for a variety of different topics. So kudos to the quality of our website and our marketing efforts. (Although truth be told we don't really advertise much any more. We get most of our advertising from word of mouth.) Some topics we are not so hot at (eg. CardioTrek.ca is #27 if you Google 'weight lifting personal trainer toronto'), but that just means we need to work harder on those topics.

#5. We make a special effort to make Cardio Trek fun to read - whether it be via personal insights, the occasional joke, or the hundreds of inspirational quotes we have posted in the hopes of inspiring people who are looking for a little extra motivation to eat healthy, exercise harder, and have fun while doing so.

So in other words we have great FREE information, an amazing personal trainer / sports trainer, unique articles that are both interesting and fun to read, and a healthy dose of quality writing. Huzzah!

Here is a virtual toast* to the next million visitors!

* With a strawberry smoothie in a wine glass.

Away on Vacation - Gone bowfishing!

Bowfishing at Denny's Dam near Owen Sound, 2014
Dear readers, client and students:

Please be advised that there may be delays responding to emails as I am currently on vacation visiting family, plus I have made plans to go bowfishing while visiting the countryside.

If you are looking archery lessons in Toronto or my other services as a sports trainer / personal trainer send me an email and I shall respond as soon as I am able.

If you want to learn more about bowfishing I recommend reading the following websites:

Bowfishing in Ontario

Primitive Bowfishing

Bowfishing Basics

Bowfishing Under Water (Video)

DIY Simple Bowfishing Reel

How to Make your own Bowfishing Reel

Try Bowfishing, Getting Started

Wednesday and Thursday Archery Lessons Special

Spring Early Bird Special!

For a limited time I am offering a 10% discount to anyone in Toronto wanting to book archery lessons on Wednesday or Thursday mornings or afternoons (between 10 AM and 4 PM).

This means if you are looking to sign up for a 1-person lesson on either Wednesday or Thursday morning/afternoon, the price is $54 instead of $60.

See my rates for archery lessons if you want to book multiple lessons or up to 3 people at once.

To get this Early Bird Special you need to email me with the following Promo Code: WEDTHURS10PROMO.

The Promo Code only applies to Wednesday or Thursday morning/afternoon bookings and does not apply to any other days or time slots.

This offer expires on April 30th 2015.

Happy Easter!

The following video and the above photo were taken on Easter Sunday. If you want to learn how to shoot at moving targets sign up for multiple lessons. :)

Exercise + Nutrition Vs Advertising

I am going to go a bit off topic today, but my goal here is to talk about the advertising industry and its place when it comes to both the exercise industry and the food industry. Time for some myth busting!

SAY CHEESE

You would think, judging by TV commercials for cheese that cheese is inherently good for you because it contains lots of calcium. This is only partially true.

It only takes a Google search to find hundreds of articles about the Cheese Lobby in both the USA and Canada, and how it is being used to sell everything from fattening cheese pizza to cheesy Taco Bell to cheeseburgers and more...

eg. Read the NY Times article: While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales

Fun Fact: "Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate."

The Cheese Lobby in the USA is HUGE. They represent every fast food chain that has cheese on the menu, whether it be cheese pizza or cheeseburgers. Their goal? To fool North Americans into thinking cheese is healthy for you because it contains calcium.

Truth be told when you actually check milk and cheese isn't actually a good source of calcium. Milk is actually a good source of protein, and cheese is a good source of fat. Cheese is something you should be asking for less of, not more of.

Want a good source for calcium? Check out the vegetables below.


FIVE RED FLAGS

To demonstrate how bad the food industry is sometimes I am going to show 5 Red Flags to look for when you are watching advertising:

#1. Exotic Ingredients from Asia, Brazil, Africa, Etc.

The idea here is simply: To fool people into thinking that you can lose weight by eating some kind of exotic berry (acai berries for example) or fruit from a place you've never been to (South African Hoodia Extract). If they're pushing something exotic for a hefty price, they're basically just selling you juice or extract for something you don't actually need.

#2. Fake Studies with Fake Doctors

If they have to back up their product with a study from a doctor, most likely the doctor in question is either not a real doctor or he/she is being paid oodles of money to push a bogus study that says their product works. Often there will be a photo of a doctor dressed in white holding a supplement.

#3. Free Trial

Free Trials are a great way to get gullible people hooked on a product that doesn't really work any better than a placebo. Plus when you try to cancel they make it very difficult to do so - you basically have to cancel your credit card to get rid of them. Note - Many companies stick an addictive agent (caffeine usually) in the product so you become addicted to the product.

#4. Celebrity Testimonials

It doesn't matter whether the celebrity is a bodybuilder or Oprah, if they are pushing the product using a celebrity then then company's primary goal is to make money off gullible people.

#5.  Too Good to be True

If it contains the words "Lose Weight Fast and Easy" or some similar slogan, you know they're lying to you.

THE FITNESS LOBBY

If you Google the words fitness lobby you will get a bunch of gym websites and photos of lobbies of gyms. The reason why, apparently, is because there is no "Fitness Lobby" in the USA or Canada (or in any other country for that matter).

I did manage to find one article about fitness groups lobbying for a tax break, but it wasn't an actual lobby group being paid to lobby the government, it was simply a selection of fitness groups trying to get a tax break. They only had one cause and they weren't being paid to do it, whereas lobby groups are basically hired thugs being paid to fight on behalf of the tobacco industry, the cheese industry, the oil industry, and basically any industry which everyone knows is doing something bad.

How many decades did the tobacco industry use lobbying to keep cigarettes being sold and how many more decades will they continue to do so before smoking cigarettes gets banned in North America for causing ridiculous amounts of cancer and killing two thirds of smokers? An industry that kills 66% of its customers is doomed to eventually get banned.

In contrast the fitness industry doesn't kill people when they are selling new fitness gadgets.

But it does use false advertising, like the Fake Doctors, Free Trials, Celebrity Endorsements, and Too Good To Be True slogans mentioned above.

But here are additional tricks used in advertisements:

#1. The fitness industry often uses people who were already thin and attractive (or already lost weight) before they started using whatever new fitness gadget is being pushed at the consumer. So regardless of whether they are trying to sell a Thigh Master or a Bowflex, their goal is to show you people who are already fit using the product. They don't show you people who overweight and not fit using it and then the slow progression of them losing weight - that would be too time consuming, and also impossible because people would realize that the people using the product are also using other kinds of exercises.

#2. They don't mention that people using the product should also be using a wide variety of other exercises - such as jogging, swimming or cycling - in their goal to lose weight.

#3. They ignore the fact that a home gym composed of weight machines really only builds muscle and is useless to someone who wants to lose weight by shedding fat. To shed fat they need to be doing cardio exercises.

#4. Fitness gyms sign people up for 1 year contracts and then make it difficult to cancel the contract by charging the membership fee every month even after the contract has been finished or cancelled. Fitness gyms claim it is due to clerical errors that people are routinely charged again and again even after their contract has expired or been cancelled.

#5. Fitness gyms routinely overcharge members for their membership fee, for an inflated amount with hidden fees - or sometimes charge the membership fee twice in the same month. Or both.

#6. Fitness gyms offer personal training services, but often charge ridiculous rates for those services while paying their staff peanuts. eg. Extreme Fitness charges $80 to $90 per hour for the services of a personal trainer, but only pays the trainer $17 to $20 per hour.

So the fitness industry doesn't really need a fitness lobby because they're already making lots of money off gullible people signing up for fitness gadgets they don't need and gym memberships they likewise don't need.

Want to get some exercise? Start by going outside more often and doing fun activities that require exercise.

Want to lose weight through dieting? Start by learning how to cook healthier food.

Valentines Day Archery Lessons Gift Vouchers

If you are looking for archery lessons in Toronto or you are looking to give your loved one archery lessons as a Valentines gift, you can purchase a Gift Voucher for archery lessons from Cardio Trek.

You can also get Couples Archery Lessons for you and your loved one.

Weekday Daytime lessons are $60 each for one person or $80 each for couples.

Weekday Evening or Weekend lessons are $80 each for one person or $100 each for couples.

If you are over 65 there is a 5% Seniors Discount.

If you are purchasing 3 or more lessons there is additional discount. See our archery rates for details.

Please Note - Gift Vouchers have an expiry date 18 month after the date of purchase. eg. If the Voucher Number says SEP17, then it expires September 2017.


Burglars need to exercise more / Merry Xmas from Cardio Trek

I heard an intruder up on the roof last night so I took a bow and arrow and shot the bastard. His body fell off the roof and was eaten by a crazy herd of man-eating reindeer. Looks like he was trying to steal all our Christmas gifts. Don't worry, we got his bag of loot. All is good.

Serves him right for sneaking around on people's rooftops on the night Jesus was born. Burglars need to exercise more these days. They're getting too fat and jolly. The burglar had the nerve to call me a ho. I am guessing his day job was pimping. He was certainly dressed like one.

If he wanted to be a cat burglar he really needs to get into shape. You can't be running around on rooftops like that and not expect some physical challenges. When I spotted him he appeared to have his foot stuck inside the old chimney that has been plugged up for decades. Not too bright. How he thought he could fit down that I will never know.

When he realized I caught him he started calling me a ho again and again and reaches for something under his jacket. I figured he was reaching for a gun so I shot him first. The impact knocked him off balance, he fell off the roof and the crazy reindeer then ate his corpse.

I grabbed the bag of loot he stole from us and went back inside to call the cops. But as I was about to dial I realized that they would never believe this farfetched story of a burglar dressed in red on rooftops. There wasn't even evidence he was ever there. So since the reindeer had already disposed of the body I shrugged and went back to bed.

The nerve of the guy. Doesn't he know last night was a Holy Night? Twas the night Jesus was born (supposedly, though some say he was actually born in March and a Roman emperor moved his birthday celebrations to December) and therefore not a night to go robbing people.

Plus it was freezing rain last night. How crazy do you have to be to be crawling on an icy / slippery roof during freezing rain? In the dark no less. I nearly slipped and fell.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all! If you don't find any gifts under the tree from your loved ones this year it is because a bastard in a red suit stole them all.



Looking to sign up for archery lessons, boxing lessons, swimming lessons, ice skating lessons or personal training sessions? Start by emailing cardiotrek@gmail.com and lets talk fitness!

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