Archery Testimonial

"Thanks again for the lesson....today was awesome! I'd like to do another lesson on the next warmer day whenever you're available and at around the same time would be good too. Thanks for the picture! I really didn't expect to have those results for the first time out but the teaching must have been the key."

- Chris

Spectator Sports Vs Activity Sports

Can you name the number one spectator sport in America?

I will give you some hints.

It is NOT football.

It is NOT baseball.

And it most certainly is not basketball or hockey!

The number one spectator sport in America is NASCAR.

That is right. Its not even an exercise. Although the drivers do get injured regularly, they're not sports injuries in the normal sense of the word.

Now that isn't to say Nascar drivers don't have to stay fit. They do, but their goal isn't peak fitness - its peak awareness, reflexes and reaction time. In theory a juggler would be good at driving a car in Nascar.

Another big spectator sport is the horse races - again a sport where the rider isn't doing much of the work and its mostly the horse which is getting all the exercise. Horse racing is mostly popular however due to the gambling that goes on, as the horse races really wouldn't exist on a day to day basis without gambling propping it up financially.

Now obviously many people who watch Nascar or go to the horse races are not racing cars around a circular track or riding horses on a regular basis. Many of them have probably never even touched a racecar or a horse.

When it comes to regular sports however the percentage of people who watch the sport and the percentage of people who also engage in that particular sport can vary wildly. eg. For many winter sports like the bobsled, figure skating and giant slalom skiing the people watching such sports have likely never used an Olympic bobsled, figure skated professionally, let alone attempted to ski down a giant slalom track.

I am ranting here, I admit.

Sports rants are actually pretty common to sports oriented websites and blogs. There is even a YouTube channel called SportsRantz wherein that is all they do - rant about different sports. See http://www.youtube.com/sportsrantz to see what I am talking about.

SportsRantz TV - Interactive sports talk and sports tv

But that is just the thing about spectator sports. They're for spectating. Normal people don't actually DO these sports.

Oh sure, some people out there play football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, cricket... Some of them like me even do boxing, archery and swimming.

But being an avid spectator of a sport and being an active participant in a sport are two extremely different things. They can certainly be complimentary however.

If you watch sports regularly, yes, you can learn things to improve the quality of your performance in your chosen sport. But it will only happen if your chosen sporting franchise is actually giving away professional tips to people new to the sport.

Example...

Watch an archery competition on YouTube sometime. They will talk and talk about concentration and focus, and it is true that those things are important. But they will completely skip over important aspects of archery such as form, balance, training regimens, training methodology, diet, cross-training, etc. In other words the sports broadcasters / announcers are really focused on the entertainment value of what they are presenting and they aren't teaching the viewers anything about the sport and how to get better at it.

And there are many televised sports that do this - all entertainment value, almost no sports educational value.

And then there is the advertising commercials - which largely vary between beer commercials and sometimes, if you're lucky, you might get a Nike or Adidas commercial.

Lets take for example the Tour de France - a bicycling race across part of France which takes 21 days to complete and includes 2 rest days. Which means people watching the Tour de France on television are basically watching 21 days of people doing nothing but bicycle really hard (and sometimes have crashes, which admittedly makes it a bit like Nascar, people like to see athletes crashing into each other).

When you watch the Tour de France on television you will see on a regular basis commercials for bicycles. And it is basically the only time I have ever seen a bicycle commercial. You will see other commercials too, again geared towards sports fans, but the bicycle commercials will dominant.

Now that to me is the way commercials for sports SHOULD be done. The advertising fits the sport itself.

Whereas if you watch football every second ad will be either a truck commercial or a beer commercial - because they've recognized that the people who watch football in America are the working class, and they just happen to like beer and trucks. (Ironically you will also see a lot of commercials telling people to not drive while drunk, which makes perfect sense when you consider the other things they are being told to go out and purchase.)

Anyway, back to my original point of this post...

If you are going to show interest in a particular sport I recommend actually doing that sport yourself. If you love tennis, go get a tennis racquet and learn how to play tennis. You don't even need a partner or a tennis court to practice either. You can practice against a wall for fun (similar to a squash court).

Although I do recommend it be a wall without windows. Breaking windows and losing your tennis balls constantly would be a bad idea.

Some tennis courts also have walls specifically made so people can practice against a wall by themselves - as shown by the image on the above right.

So you definitely don't need a partner all the time if you want to do a competitive sport, and therefore a shortage of an exercise partner should be no deterrent from you getting your needed exercise.

Of course, if you absolutely must have a partner you could also hire me as your personal trainer. Although I admit, I suck at tennis, but that is mostly because my backhand is so horrible and I don't do tennis that often.

However like with any sport that takes patience and practice a person will get better if they just follow the Nike slogan and "JUST DO IT".

How to Train for Archery at Home

Here is a 10 Exercises you can do at home to improve your body for the sport of archery.

#1. Pushups. Lots of them!

I do 25 push ups at a time, 4 times per day. If you can't do 25 at once, try doing 20, 15 or 10 pushups at time... but aim for a total of 100 pushups.

#2. Headstand Pushups!

I do 20 of these per day. Use a wall or door to balance your feet so you don't fall over. You should feel a muscle ripping sensation in your arms and shoulders. If you are new to this exercise, aim to do 5 at a time.

#3. Yoga!

Yoga helps build core muscles, posture and balance, both of which are important for archery and maintain a good still pose while readying a shot. You can put as much effort into yoga as you have motivation. I recommend at least 30 minutes per day.

#4. Situps!

Situps will help tighten up your stomach muscles and improve your breath control. For extra challenge try doing breathing exercises while doing your situps. Learning to control you breathing and you stomach/lung muscles is an important part of archery. Breathe into your gut, not your chest. Aim for 100 situps twice per day (morning and late afternoon).

#5. Bicep Curls!

Get some dumbbells. Preferably a weight that is a challenge for you, but not so much that you can't do more than 5 repetitions. Aim for a weight where it starts feel like a challenge after 10 reps.

#6. Tricep Curls or Triceps Kickback!

This one is more important than the biceps, because you use your triceps a lot more in archery. My favourite way of doing tricep curls is to lift the dumbbells above and behind my head, and then lift upwards above my head. You should feel it in the backs of your arms. Do 20 reps, rest, repeat 5 times.

Another option you can do is the Triceps Kickback, shown here on the right photo.

#7. Squats

Do 20 squats, 5 sets.Try and keep your back straight up and down while you are squatting. The goal here is to improve your posture and balance.

#8. Balancing Exercises

Explore a variety of balancing exercises. Invent your own! There are a variety of yoga poses you can do to improve your balance.

#9. Rowing

If you have a rowing machine at home or at the gym, use it! If you don't get a stretchy piece of fabric or a rope and do rowing exercises using it. An exercise stretch band would be ideal.

#10. Fast Shadow Boxing

The action of punching and pulling back your arm super fast uses the triceps a lot. For extra challenge use a small weight (5 lbs) while you are boxing.

The end result is to forge your body into a more efficient archery machine. After that its just a matter of honing your aim, building experience, and mind-body control.

If you want to push yourself even further I recommend exploring Zen Archery.

An Interview with Lou Ferrigno

"Your health is your best wealth." says Lou Ferrigno, who talks about weightlifting, wine and how his career kept his life on the right track. All that and more in the following interview with William Shatner.

How to Reduce Stress using Exercise, Diet and Sleep

Q.

"Hello!

I have a very busy schedule with work and it is extremely stressful. It isn't really a lot of hours, but its the stress and I am not sleeping properly either. I want to exercise more, and I do have time on the weekends, but I don't feel motivated because I am so exhausted and stressed out from work. HELP!

Seriously, any advice would be extremely helpful.

- Jonathan R."

Stop stressing out!

A.

Hey Jonathan!

I am sorry to hear work has got you down so much. But let me try to help you with some very sound advice (which I have separated into three sections below).

SECTION #1. DIET

I noticed you didn't mention your diet at all. What you are eating is often largely responsible for how you are feeling. From a nutritionist perspective diet plays a huge a role (about 80%) in everything we do. Sleep and exercise also plays a role, but the percentage of each is small in contrast.

When people are stressed out they tend to crave comfort food. Foods that are high in carbs, sugar, etc. Breads, pasta, ice cream, chocolate, and also salty junk food. The reason is because these foods cause a temporary boost in endorphin levels. They're like a drug and they are addictive. The extra carbs later makes you feel worse, bloated and depressed, so you go back for more just so you can get that temporary boost in endorphins. Its a horrible cycle and its only made worse if you are under a lot of stress.

So how do you fix this?

STEP ONE - Don't go grocery shopping when depressed. Go when you are in a positive mood and only buy things that are good for you. Whole wheat breads/pastas, get yogurt instead of ice cream, buy lots of veggies and fruits (LOTS!), skim milk instead of 2%.

STEP TWO - When hungry, snack on healthy things. Don't starve yourself until later. Eat now and eat healthy. Starving yourself is both unhealthy and adds more to your stress levels.

STEP THREE - Plan your meals ahead of time to make healthier meals. Doing so will help regulate your stress levels.

STEP FOUR - Don't get rid of carbs completely. You still need them. That is why whole wheat bread/pasta is good for you.

STEP FIVE - Avoid junk food, but don't be afraid to indulge during parties and special events. You are there to have fun and relax. Enjoy! Don't punish yourself either.


SECTION #2. EXERCISE

Many people who come home from work and are exhausted just want to chill in front of a TV and not doing anything active all evening. However exercising for 30 minutes to 60 minutes between 6 PM and 8 PM will also help you get a better night's sleep and will reduce your stress levels dramatically. I don't recommend exercising after 9 PM because then you can get insomnia from getting "too pumped up". Basically if the sun is still up, its a good time to exercise. Once the sun sets, its time to relax and get ready for bed.

Plus some exercises are really good at lowering stress levels. But what exercises can you do at home that help lower stress?

OPTION ONE - Boxing. I love boxing myself. It is very good for cardio. Just doing shadow boxing by yourself for 30 minutes every night will both provide exercise and reduce stress. Other forms of martial arts are also handy, but more difficult for beginners to learn and do at home.

OPTION TWO - Yoga. Yoga is great for developing your core muscles and also reducing stress.

OPTION THREE - Weightlifting. Try getting some dumbbells to start off and lifting weights while watching your favourite TV shows. During commercial breaks do jumping jacks and then go back to the dumbbells. If you progress further with this get a barbell and do deadlifts during the commercial breaks, but be sure to learn how to do a proper Olympic style deadlift so your form is correct and you don't hurt yourself. Start off with weights that are just heavy enough that doing 10 reps is a challenge. If you can only do 5 they are too heavy. If you can do 30 without feeling a challenge, they are too light.

OPTION FOUR - For the weekends look for exercises you can do that get you outside and are either "low stress exercises" like going for nature walks and similar "low cardio exercises", or alternatively try "stress release exercises" like archery, boxing, martial arts. Look for fun exercises that you can enjoy again and again every weekend.

You may be exhausted after work and on the weekends. But if you make a plan to do these things you will find the motivation because you've made it part of a schedule.

SECTION #3. SLEEP

Having a balanced diet and regular exercise will help you sleep better, but there are also other ways to improve your sleep patterns.

#1. Close the drapes / get thicker/blacker drapes so you can block out the light. This way you don't have the light bothering you while you are trying to sleep.

#2. Get more comfortable pillows.

#3. Clean your bedsheets and make your bed regularly. A smooth and comfortable (and clean) bed will help you sleep better because it will be more comfortable.

#4. Some people prefer to fall asleep to music. Get a stereo or program on your computer (or app on your smartphone) with a timer which will play music and then shut off automatically after 45 minutes or so.

#5. Seek psychiatric help. Some people have problems sleeping at night because of old guilt / unresolved feelings. Might even be giving them nightmares. Facing your demons, apologizing to past enemies, visiting the gravestones of your loved ones, etc can also help you to sleep better at night once you've figured out what is stressing you out.

#6. Sex. Ahem. Yes, that could certainly help you sleep too. Great for reducing stress too! And its exercise!


If it is really purely work that is stressing you out and you can afford to make a career change, you might also consider that as a possibility. It really depends on how much you love your job or whether you only do it because you are chasing the almighty dollar. That is for you to determine, not me. I will say however that money is not everything and learning to let go of our stress over money can also lead to a happier and healthier life.

A career change, taking a year off to travel and relax, taking a sabbatical - they are all options if you have the resources and/or will.