The Benefits of Hiking Staffs Vs Trekking Poles

Decades ago my Aunt Carol got some special hiking sticks, which looked like ski poles, for Christmas and at the time I was a teenager and thought they were silly and unnecessary. My mother later tried using them and also liked them and got something similar for when she goes on walks.

However as I have gotten older and done my share of hiking, I have determined having a walking stick of some kind is handy for really steep hill climbs (to help with balance, to hook onto trees to help pull myself upwards, etc) and have long since determined them to be very useful.

When I purchased snowshoes a few years back they came with 'snowshoe poles', which ended up being very useful for snowshoeing and staying upright - it is surprisingly easy to fall over when you lose your footing in snow.

Last year I even went snowshoeing in April after a Freak Snowstorm, and did a post about it. See photo below for my snowshoes and poles in action.

So yes, I have definitely changed my opinion about walking sticks.

Hiking Staffs and Trekking Poles are a whole different topic however. There is the classic wooden walking stick, obviously, but there are subtle differences when you get to the more unusual varieties...

• The Classic Walking Stick - A stick you pick up and just use - perhaps even carved so it is more interesting to look at. Usually about the length of a cane or a bit longer.
• Hiking Staff - Typically made of wood, carved, often a lot taller than your normal walking stick, closer in size to a quarterstaff used by "Little John". Might even be decorated with feathers and/or paint. The "Gandalf" of walking staffs.
• Trekking Poles - Ergonomic handled poles similar to ski poles, designed using lightweight but durable materials, spikes on the bottom for better grip.

Pros and Cons of Each

Source: How to Choose Trekking Poles and Hiking Staffs
https://montemlife.com/trekking-poles-hiking-sticks/buyers-guide/

• Hiking sticks and trekking poles help take the load off your feet, legs, and back. By employing one or two additional points of contact with the ground, your upper body can help offset the strain on your lower body and core.
• Hiking sticks and trekking poles help improve your balance. Even experienced hikers occasionally find it difficult to keep their balance while carrying a heavy pack. By giving yourself an additional point of contact (or two), you’ll benefit from much better stability and balance.
• Hiking sticks and trekking poles make it possible to cross more difficult terrain when necessary. If you are forced to cross a stream, climb a steep hill or negotiate a sandy dune, you’ll have much better success if you use a hiking stick or pair of trekking poles.
• Hiking sticks and trekking poles provide a small measure of increased safety vs predators. While they certainly aren’t designed for the purpose, hiking sticks can help increase your apparent size should you encounter a coyote, bear or stray dog that gets too close for comfort.

And I can think of a few more things to add to the list.

1. You can use the pole as a hook on trees to help pull yourself upwards while climbing steep areas.
2. You can lean on the pole when tired.
3. If it is a really good wooden stick and you have a carving knife handy, you could begin the process of carving a longbow while you are walking - you know, for fun. Then you just need to braid or twist some plant fibre together to make a bowstring.
4. You can have swordfights with friends while hiking, for fun.
5. For thwacking it against rocks or trees to make noise - because music is fun, even in its crudest forms. Also handy for scaring away predators with the noise.
6. To keep your arms busy, trekking poles keep your arms in motion which gives you a better upper-body workout while you are walking so you burn more calories.
7. Increased safety while making your way across something precarious, such as a log that bridges a small stream. Not everyone would walk across that, but I would do so easily with a walking stick for extra balance.

Spring is here early, time to get outside and do Archery

March 1st 2017

This year global warming seems to be in Toronto's favour. I just checked the forecast for the next two weeks and there is only one snowy day (March 3rd) coming up for the city of Toronto. There is supposed to be a little bit of rain next week, but the average temperature will be getting very warm in a hurry.

Historical averages are also handy for predicting how warm the weather will be, but with global warming we can expect it to be warmer than average.

In the photo below you see a homemade moving target I made two years ago for Easter weekend (April 2015). See the amount of snow on the ground? Very little. But that was April during a very long winter we had back in 2015.

In contrast if you go outside today, March 1st, and there is no snow at all. None. We are clearly having a very short and mild winter this year.

On Friday, March 3rd the forecast is calling for 5 mm of snow. Just a tiny bit. Probably will melt by Saturday.

And judging by Toronto's extended forecast for the rest of March, that will probably be all the snow we get in March. (I am starting to really love global warming...)

So how can we take advantage of this lovely weather?

Start booking Archery Lessons right now. Because if you wait too long all the warm weather days will be booked up for the rest of the year.

What do Competitive Archers eat before a Competition?

What Fuels Archery Professionals?

Guest Post by Robert Gate - February 2017.

When preparing for a tournament each archery professional has a different way to train and to prepare for the contest. This extends to the meal they eat before the match to prepare their bodies for the strain ahead. Each member of Team USA champion has a different way to use nutrition to feed their body and to calm their mind, and the following gives insight into the food groups and dining choices these archery athletes choose and why they choose them.

Notes

• To gain extra energy many athletes will consume sugar, salt and electrolytes moments before a competition. This isn't limited to archery, but is found across many sports.
• With archery what they eat can be tricky, as they don't want to consume anything that might make them jittery (like caffeine), which could spoil a shot by ruining their ability to remain calm and focused.
• Archers also want to stay well hydrated. Dehydration (and over-hydration) can cause an archer to lose focus, become forgetful, and consequently ruin shots.

Photo: World Archery

Sarah Lance

• Breakfast: fruit, bowl of cereal or bagel
• Snacks: Crackers and carrots
• Drinks: Gatorade or water

Sarah Lance prefers to maintain a similar diet on a shooting day as she does on a normal average day. Making large changes in her diet alters her ability to be able to control her movement and to steady her aim. Most often she chooses the healthy option of fruit for breakfast, or sometimes the more filling option of cereal or a bagel. She likes to snack throughout the day to maintain her strength and stamina and to keep hydrated she drinks water, Gatorade and sips some soda.

Photo: World Archery

Braden Gellenthien

• Breakfast: Salad
• Lunch: Steak or grilled chicken
• Snacks: Almonds, dried fruit, and Clif Bars

Braden Gellenthien likes to prepare for a tournament a week in advance. This includes making healthier food choices that will give his body the edge that it needs. During this period, he prepares all of his meals at home and grills his meat instead of frying it. This way his body is adjusted to his healthier life choices when the time comes for the archery contest. He makes sure all his nutrition is covered by including meats, fruits, and greens in his daily diet. The snacks are also natural, healthy and allow his body to feel light and agile.

Photo: World Archery

Erika Jones

• Snacks: Subway, Pringles, and Oreos

Erika Jones prefers to take a more casual approach to meals at a tournament and eats what she wishes. This can be a healthy option or give in to her cravings and bring a snack higher in sugar and salt content.

Photo: World Archery

Lee Ford-Faherty

• Snacks: Veggies and Carbs
• Drinks: Powerade Zero

Lee Ford-Faherty bases her diet on the components that will give her the most energy. This includes a diet high in carbohydrates and protein which as an athlete she needs. She believes that it is possible to eat healthily wherever you are for the same cost as it would purchase a nutritionally deficient meal. She makes sure she gives her body the fuel it needs to perform and to give it the right balance of nutrients to maintain her endurance. She also gives her body a lot of fluid because it is quickly lost when standing in the heat of the sun. For this, she drinks Powerade Zero, which as well as hydrating her replaces vital electrolytes.

Photo: World Archery

Crystal Gauvin

• Drink: Water

Crystal Gauvin’s main focus is to drink a lot of water to keep herself hydrated over long periods of standing. Nuun tablets can be placed in the water to replace electrolytes sweated out while shooting and also provides a sweeter taste to the drink. It is healthier than other sports drink options and still provides the hydration and energy that an athlete needs. She brings her cool water to a tournament to ensure she has a constant supply and as much as she feels she needs.

Photo: Sarah Bernstein

Ariel Gibilaro

• Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese or egg
• Snacks: Chewy Bars and Crackers
• Drink: Water

Ariel Gibilaro finds it difficult to keep to her usual eating routine when attending a tournament due to the traveling and the extended training involved. Long days at the tournament means most of her meals are snack sized and easy to carry. Chewy Bars and crackers can easily be carried with her and quickly eaten when she has a spare moment. One meal she tries to take regularly is her breakfast, which is a bagel spread with cream cheese or served with eggs for protein. To keep hydrated, she chooses water as the healthiest and most natural option.

Photo: archery.tv

Christie Colin

• Dinner: Restaurant food

Christie Colin believes she deserves to have some fun after a hard day at a tournament. She likes to take her friends to The Olive Garden and restaurants and binge on carbohydrates.

Mackenzie Brown
Photo: Mackenzie Brown

• Snacks: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Dinner: Italian

Mackenzie Brown brings pre-prepared snacks to tournaments with her, so she doesn’t have to worry while busy with the competition. These snacks on an international trip remind her of home and include the traditional American peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She treats herself before a ranking match to dinner at an Italian restaurant with pasta as the main course.

Photo: Dean Alberga

Reo Wilde

• Dinner: McDonalds

Some less professional and unconventional athletes prefer a quick and easy alternative. Reo Wilde prefers to grab fast food before the tournament and he always relies on McDonalds to be there, wherever he is in the world.

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Robert Gate is the founder of Archerytopic.com. He was enthusiastic about hunting from the first shot, from then he decided to become a pro hunter. If you find something helpful in his blog, he would be proud to hear from you.

How to Date a Traditional Bear Bow

In the world of archery, "Bear Archery" is a brand manufacturer from the USA which was started by Fred Bear. The company has been around for decades - since 1939.

And as such there are quite a few antique / vintage Bear bows kicking around. I have one in my collection, a Bear Grizzly Static, from 1949.

The problem with these old antique bows is that collectors sometimes have difficulty dating them. Thus you end up with websites like:

Bear Bow Models, Older Models sorted by Year

You know, as a way to try and differentiate and figure out how to date a particular bow. Find the particular model from the list of bows, and then check the following to narrow down what year a Bear bow was made:

• The Serial Number
• The Coin Medallion
• The Patent Mark
• The Decal stamped on the bow.
• Whether there are wood laminations or not.
• Does it say "Bear Archery" or "Bear Products"
• The location, eg. Grayling, Michigan or Gainesville, Florida

There is another way to do it too, but it involves going through old Bear Archery Catalogs - assuming you can find them - and trying to find your bow using old colour / greyscale photographs that have dulled with age. This method isn't particularly recommended because:

#1. You probably won't even see your bow model in the catalog, as it pretty random what was in a catalog from a particular year.
#2. Even if you did manage to find the catalog from roughly the same year, you could still be guessing as to whether the year is a match or not.

There is another way to date old Bear bows too. If you are willing to spend approx. $39 to add it to your collection...

Jorge Coppen with Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1979

Jorge Coppen, a federal wildlife biologist for 25+ years, lifelong bow hunter, Bear Archery enthusiast, and author, has written a book  on the topic:

"Bear Archery Traditional Bows: A Chronological History"

$38.95 on Indigo.

The book is essentially an informative, illustrated guide book and handy to people who like to collect Bear Archery bows (I only have two myself, I prefer to collect antique bows from many different companies, not just one company).

Here is what the publisher has to say about the book:

" To the Bear Archery traditional bow enthusiast and to the archery community at large, this book "Bear Archery Traditional Bows: A Chronological History (1949–2015)" represents a singular compilation of the chronological history of Bear Archery traditional bow production through the Bear Archery Company’s full timeline. This illustrated reference manual not only preserves the history and heritage of Bear Archery traditional bow production since 1949, it serves as a helpful reference to any and all archers interested in collecting and dating their vintage Bear Archery traditional bows. Each chapter covers a detailed chronology of factory production specifications for each specific bow model or group of related models. It includes photos of bow models for almost every year. The best part is this: at the end of each chapter, there is a table that allows readers to search out the characteristics of their bow by year, AMO length, riser material, medallion, limb glass colors, overlay colors, limb tip colors and where applicable, the two-digit serial number prefix. "

Yada yada. Basically the book is for people who are "Bear Archery Collectors" - the same type of person who would get a portrait of Fred Bear tattooed on themselves.

Photo on the Right: No offense to Fred Bear, but that is a damn ugly tattoo.

Who gets that tattooed on their back? Seriously. Only the true Bear Archery fanatic would do that.

And while I do like Bear bows and consider myself a fan of their bows (and antique bows in general), I don't see myself shelling out $39 for a book when there is a website (the one mentioned further above) which does a very good job of dating the bows. I guess I am just not a super fan.

The South Beach Diet and Four Other Fad Diets

Below is a list of Fad Diets, starting with the South Beach Diet - for which I keep seeing these annoying commercials for on cable TV.

#1.  Prepackaged Meal Plans

The South Beach Diet is a popular fad diet developed by Arthur Agatston and promoted in his 2003 book. These days the South Beach Diet has also expanded to the business of selling meals, just like Jenny Craig / Nutrisystem.

Like many meal-selling diets they sell the consumer / dieter prepackaged meals typically composed of lean protein, lots of vegetables and full grains.

In theory, the diets do work on the principle that the person only consumes the prepackaged food that is sold to them from the company - and cuts the total number of calories a person is eating while still providing all the nutrition an individual needs.

And the food is shipped to you via FedEx - at which point you have to ask, how good is the food if it is sent via a courier and not stored in a freezer en route???

$460 + shipping for four weeks of food - when people could just go buy healthy food at the grocery store for less and take cooking classes on how to make healthy food.

Price Comparisons

Jenny Craig - $15 Monthly fee + $25 Enrollment fee + the cost of food. Cost of food is $420 to $644 for 4 weeks. So it can be slightly less or possibly more than the South Beach Diet.

Nutrisystem - $275 to $577 for 4 weeks, depending upon promo deals and the menu chosen.

Conclusion - All these companies really want to do is sell you food for an outrageous price. What they really should all be doing is selling their food in grocery stores like other food manufacturers, but at a more reasonable price. That way everyone has the option to buy their food items, and at a reasonable price.

#2. Calorie Watching Point System

Weight Watchers has a number of similarities to Jenny Craig, but they don't actually sell you food. Instead they rely on meetings and hanging out with other people who are also going through the Weight Watchers program, and it involves a Point System for how much food you are allowed to eat.

Each day a dieter gets X number of points and they spend those points eating whatever they want, but they only have so many points to spend. Unhealthy foods cost more points. Healthier foods cost less points. Sounds easy, right?

Weight Watchers - $35 Signup fee + weekly fees of $3.45 to $8.67 per week, depending on whether you do online or in-person meetings.

So the meetings work a bit like Alcoholics Anonymous, except it is focused on people who have problems controlling their eating habits. Using the Point System, participants limit their daily intake of calories and use the online support system / meetings to gain positive reinforcement so that gain the mental courage and determination to stick with the diet.

Conclusion - The support system is really what the person is paying for. In theory people could get a lot of the same support from Weight Loss Facebook groups, Meetup Groups for people into dieting/exercising, and similar websites / organizations that operate for free and non-profit.

#3. The Glycemic Index Diet

In the G.I. Diet foods are assigned numbers according to their glycemic index (GI). The higher the GI number, the greater the blood-sugar response. Promoters of the diet claim that low GI foods, such as lentils, can help control your appetite because they're digested and absorbed more slowly - however there is a lack of research on this topic and no real proof that their a connection between lower glycemic levels in food and appetite suppression.

Part of the theory behind this diet is that some low GI foods are nutrient rich, high in fibre and contain unrefined sugars - however that isn't true for all foods. Some low GI foods are still really unhealthy for you. For example French Fries has a lower GI than a baked potato, but that doesn't mean they are good for you.

Conclusion - In theory this diet works some of the time, but it needs to be taken with a mental grain of salt and the wisdom to say no to foods a person knows to be unhealthy, which means it really comes down to moderation and willpower to make this diet successful.

#4. The Zero Carbs or Low Carbs Diet

Various low carb and zero carb diets include notables likes The Atkins Diet, however they all follow the same principle of pointing the blame at carbohydrates - which are frankly in almost everything. If it has carbon and water in the food, then it contains carbs.

It is basically just another way of steering people away from calories, as foods that contain lots of carbs tend to be high in calories - such as bread, pasta and rice.

Similar diets like the Paleo Diet (aka, the Caveman Diet) follows the principle of only eating foods that a caveman would eat, such as vegetables, berries, fruits and meat. Nothing processed and nothing baked (so no bread).

And then there is the Raw Food Diet - which takes the Paleo Diet one step further, but also cuts only a lot of meat that would normally be cooked. So instead a person is reduced to only eating any fruit or vegetable (and possibly raw sushi) that is uncooked and heated no more than 48 degrees Celsius.

However all three of these diets say it is okay to eat avocados - a very fatty fruit - and various other foods that are not healthy either.

The principle of all three diets, Atkins, Paleo and Raw Food is to steer people away from high carb foods like bread, pasta, rice, etc. However the body still needs carbs for energy. You cannot get rid of them completely, plus carbs expand in your belly and make a person "feel full", which in turn reduces a person's appetite.

Conclusion - So eating carbs is technically okay, but it comes back to the moderation and willpower issue again. People can potentially get weight loss success with these diets, but they have to do it smart and the question then becomes, what now after they lose the weight?

#5. Reverse Dieting

Okay, so technically this is not a Fad Diet. I snuck this one in year because almost no one ever does this. Reverse Dieting is what you SHOULD be doing after you successfully lose weight.

You have lost the weight already, but how do you keep it off instead of yo-yo-ing back to your previous weight?

That is where Reverse Dieting comes in, and sadly almost nobody does this - which is why many people end up regaining weight and seeing weight fluctuations over the course of years.

Your goal during Reverse Dieting is to stabilize your eating habits and your weight so that they become a constant. This process takes months to achieve.

After completing a diet a person typically returns to older eating habits, but their stomach is still roughly the same size as it used to be. Unless they somehow lost weight slowly and gradually, their stomach is probably still the same size. They need to continue eating lesser amounts of food until their stomach shrinks down to a size that matches their new body.

One way to do this is to count calories and incrementally increase the amount of food a person eats only their body-weight stabilizes.

Example

If a person was eating 1400 calories per day and losing 1 lb of fat per week and then they reach their desired weight. Their old diet was 2500 to 2800 calories per day, which was clearly way too much. If they just went back to their old diet, they would end up regaining the weight in a hurry.

Instead, knowing how much they were consuming during the diet they should now incrementally increase their diet until their weight stabilizes, such as increases it to 1500 calories per day for 1 month and keeping a record of their weight fluctuations during that month.

At the end of the month they see that they have still lost a few pounds of fat, which means they need to incrementally increase their diet again, this time to 1600 calories per day.

The goal then is to keep doing this each month until their weight stops fluctuating and remains a constant.

Once the constant has been reached a person should keep track of their calories for 6 months or more so that their stomach and eating habits permanently adjust to their new diet. Thus their diet becomes complete.

Conclusion - A key component of Reverse Dieting is maintenance and vigilance. All other diets are basically useless unless a person also learns how to keep the weight off and maintain their ideal weight.