July is basically the middle of Summer and it is a really good time of year to be doing cardio exercises outdoors. Some of these you can do any time of year, but why not July?!
Thus here are 8 Fun Cardio Exercises that are perfect for the month of July.
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.
The photos on the right is of a woman who gradually lost 88 lbs in 1 year through a combination of diet and exercise.
She didn't use any fancy diets or any special exercise program. She simply made an effort to eat healthier, watch her calorie intake, and she exercised more often.
That was it.
88 lbs in 52 weeks.
It is really more a matter of math, determination and knowing it can be done. In other words motivation to stick with the healthy diet and to keep exercising regularly was the primary reason she succeeded. Had she adopted a defeatist attitude of "this is impossible" or "I will never succeed" then she would have failed simply because she had no confidence in her own ability to succeed.
Lets say you have two twins who are identical in every way except the way they think, and these two twins agree to have a marathon race (42.195 km or 26.22 miles).
The first twin thinks "I can do this, all I have to is run slightly faster at the beginning than my twin does and then keep ahead of them the rest of the race."
The second twin thinks "I don't think I can even run 5 km, let alone 42 km. I might as well just quit now. Even if I try I only have a 50% chance of winning anyway, so why bother?"
Obviously the first twin is the one who will likely succeed simply because they have set a positive goal for themselves and have even worked out a strategy for staying ahead. The second twin will likely give up the moment their more positively thinking rival sprints ahead at the beginning.
The correct response to that situation is to set a goal of "I am going to keep pace right beside him the whole race and at the end I am going to sprint and pass him."
Thus knowing you can succeed through perseverance and positive thinking can make a big difference.
I also mentioned math earlier.
88 lbs in 52 weeks means she was losing approx. 1.69 lbs per week. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories, so she needs to burn or reduce 5915 calories in one week. Almost 6000 calories per week.
Or more concisely 845 calories per day.
If she adopts a diet of 1600 calories per day (a reduction of 400 from the 2000+ calories she is normally getting) and then spends 90 minutes per day exercising in an effort to shed an extra 445 calories, yes, it can be done.
Note - She doesn't have to burn a whole 445 calories from 1 exercise. By doing cardio activities she could trigger the Afterburn Effect and end up burning 25% to 100% more calories than normal. eg. If she burns 300 calories by doing High Intensity Interval Training, she might trigger the Afterburn Effect and burn an extra 200 or 300 calories. The Afterburn Effect is triggered whenever a person's blood sugar goes below a certain point and their heart rate is elevated due to intense exercise, thus triggering a fat burning effect that lasts up to 48 hours after the exercise is over.
Thus any person who adopts a more intense exercise routine will burn more calories simply because they are triggering the Afterburn Effect.
The beauty of the Afterburn Effect is that the fat being burned makes the person feel even more energetic, and it is addictive. The heightened level of energy makes the person want to do it again every day and the next thing they know they are exercising religiously every day, chasing that energy high. It is basically a fat burning induced sugar high.
Craving sugar? Go do an intense exercise and note the feeling of excitement and invigoration you feel afterwards. That is the Afterburn Effect burning fat and the feeling it gives you.
Positive thinking combined with positive reinforcement of getting a sugar high off exercising every day can have a dramatic weight loss effect on a person. It can change their life completely.
It can change your life completely too. All you have to do is try, keep trying, and keep doing it. When you see the results you will know it is working.
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.
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.
"Thanks so much, the lessons were so fun you're a great teacher." - Natalie B.
"Thank you again for the wonderful archery lessons and also for being so accommodating after my husband broke his leg in 2014 and rescheduling us for 2015. It was a huge wait, but he really appreciated the extra time so he could heal properly. [I offered them a choice between a refund or we could reschedule for a much later date.]
Regarding the lessons we found the lecture on proper form very helpful and your insights into what we were doing wrong and how best to fix it made a huge difference. We learned a lot during our lessons. Good luck to you in the future and we hope to see you again." - Beth and John N.
"Thank you for the archery lessons you gave us in May. It made a huge difference in our shooting form. Sammy is now competing in high school archery competitions and I am coaching him. I look forward to reading your archery book when it comes out but in the meantime I am reading that website you recommended." - Maximilian S. and Sammy S.
Note - The website Maximilian is referring to is "A Blog for Archery Coaches" by Steve Ruis, which I highly recommend for anyone who is coaching archery.
"Thanks again for the archery lessons! We are recommending you to our friends so expect their emails soon."
So here it is! 10 MORE Weightlifting Tips for Archers!
#1. Proper Weightlifting Shoes, AKA Flats
What you might not know is that the shoe industry makes specific styles of shoes for weightlifters that allow them to build muscle faster when doing specific exercises. Indeed there is a bit of an argument within the weightlifting community as to which is better: Flats or Raised Heels.
Basically all you need to know is that there are pros and cons to both flats and raised heel shoes for weightlifters. All weightlifting shoes (regardless of whether they are flat or raised heel) are designed to have better traction to avoid slippage, a hard sole, and a snug fit. Where the two schools of thought differ is what activities the shoes are being used for:
Raised Heels are better for front squats, back squats, and Olympic style lifts and squats.
Flats are better for deadlifts, barbell rolls, wide stance squats, and basically everything else.
I should note also that for archery purposes, flats are best. If you are curious about why flats are best I recommend reading Steve Ruis' blog post on the topic of Leaning In, during which he rightly bashes crosstrainers (which I despise) and extolls the benefits of wearing flats.
#2. Learn Proper Form
The principle of learning proper form applies in weightlifting just like it does in archery. Whatever exercise you are doing please learn the proper way to safely do that exercise because: A. It builds muscle faster and B. It prevents injuries.
For example lets say you are doing a Back Dumbbell Row (an exercise which targets your rhomoids, deltoids and triceps) you need to be doing it properly.
To do a Back Dumbbell Row start by kneeling down on an exercise ball (or sofa or chair or bench) with the opposing arm holding onto a dumbbell. Slowly bring the dumbbell upwards to your chest keeping your elbow tight as possible into your body. Slowly bring the weight back down to the starting position.
A good starting weight to use for this exercise is 15 lbs.
#3. Learn Many Different Exercises
Don't limit yourself to just 1 to 3 exercises. Research new exercises and learn how to do them properly too. For example learn other versions of exercises that are similar, like the Front Dumbbell Row shown below:
Other exercises archers should try include:
Chin Ups or Reverse Grip Chin Ups
Close Grip Pulldowns
Dumbbell Bent Over Row
Exercise Band Standing Back Row
Lat Pulldown
One Arm Row
Power Clean / Hang Clean
Seated Row
Standing Row
Straight Arm Pulldowns
T-Bar Rows
#4. Invest in Quality Equipment that is Versatile
Just like you do with archery, invest in equipment you can use and keep using because of their versatility. Dumbbells for example are very versatile and can be used for hundreds of different exercises. Exercise balls in contrast are comparatively limited in terms of the number of things they can be used for and arguably are completely unnecessary when a chair, stool, pillow or other device could be substituted. Spend your money wisely on versatile equipment.
Also avoid buying cheap junk that breaks easily. Exercise balls can get punctured, a dumbbell in contrast is very difficult to break.
#5. Even Things Out
Don't just exercise the one body part like Homer Simpson did in that one episode. Work both sides of your body evenly. For archery purposes you might think you can get away with only exercising the one side, but trust me, you actually need both.
#6. Skip Anything Too Good To Be True
If a weightlifting gadget or supplement sounds like it is too good to be true, then it is. Don't waste your time or money on gadgets or supplements making ridiculous claims. The companies selling such products make their livings by selling to gullible suckers. Don't be a sucker.
#7. Supplements Only Help If Used Properly
Whey protein and Creatine supplements will help you to build muscle faster, but only if you are using them properly in the correct proportions for the amount of exercise you are actually getting. If you are only exercising for tiny amounts and then gorging yourself on whey protein, you are not going to get all the benefits you were dreaming of. Eat healthy, use minimal amounts of supplements, don't overdo it.
#8. Safety = Use Common Sense
You know the saying "Common sense is very uncommon." ? Well if it seems like a bad idea, then you probably should NOT do it. A lot of weightlifting accidents happen when people try to lift things that are way beyond their ability to lift and properly control.
The same thing goes in archery, as you should already be aware. Don't try to pull a bow you know you can't handle and hold steady properly.
#9. Get a Spotter
Honestly, having someone watch what you are doing is incredibly important for safety - especially with the heavy weights. If you drop it, cannot handle it, you could potentially hurt yourself or even kill yourself by accident.
#10. Try Bodyweight Exercises like Yoga or Gymnastics
Many different kinds of exercises utilize bodyweight instead of using dumbbells, barbells, etc. Yoga for example is very effective for using your bodyweight to give you the physical challenge of lifting your own body. Gymnastic exercises are also good for building the necessary strength.
If you have been shooting for a long time and start getting tired you will start to experience fatigue in your bow shoulder which will cause inconsistent shots.
When your shoulder gets tired your arrows will start making lines on the target - often perfectly straight diagonal lines like the image below. The shots below were performed by a student on June 2nd and I felt it was such a perfect example of shoulder fatigue that it deserved a photo.
What is happening in the photo above is the person is making almost no mistakes and the only problem they are experiencing is shoulder fatigue - and possibly inconsistent full draw.
This means the way to correct this problem is two fold:
#1. Take a break and relax. Your shoulder needs some time to recuperate.
#2. When shooting try to perfect your full draw so you are using more back muscles on your upper back (rhomboids) and less shoulder muscles (deltoids). Your back muscles should be tense and your bow shoulder should be relatively relaxed. (If you are unclear about the anatomical terms for muscles see Anatomical Terms for Athletes.)
Having stronger shoulder muscles does help, but it is not a cure. Ideally you need to be using your back muscles to be pulling the bow and stronger back muscles will do the most to help steady the bow. Thus if you are encountering this problem regularly you may want to consider regular exercises designed to make your rhomboids stronger (and to a lesser extent, stronger deltoids).
Pushups are a good example of an exercise that will target both your rhomboids and deltoids (and as a bonus, your triceps and pecs).
If you have dumbbells handy you can also do the exercise below to help strengthen the appropriate muscles. Like pushups, the exercise below will also target your rhomboids, deltoids and triceps. Because you are leaning forward it will also target your lower back too (traps).
If you are making no mistakes at all, you are not fatigued, and the wind is not a factor (low and steady wind) then you should be getting super tight clusters of arrows. Or even better, split your own arrow.
I shot the cluster of arrows below on June 3rd while doing some personal archery practice. The target butt was so soft the arrows were penetrating right out the back of the target butt in a nicely grouped cluster roughly the size of a Canadian quarter.
Evidently I should be shooting at a different location of the target to avoid having my arrows penetrating so deep, but there was a target at that location on the opposite side of the target butt that was "just begging to be shot".
In the background on the 2nd target butt you can see an empty water bottle dangling from a string tied to a broken arrow. If you are familiar with my practice of shooting at moving targets then you may have read my previous post from August 2014 wherein I Robin Hooded (split) an arrow on a moving target. See Robin Hooding a Moving Target.
Hot Tip for Shooting at Moving Targets - Learn how to Gap Shoot.
If you are new to archery then chances are likely you are making lots of mistakes that you don't know about. Below are five tips to help you shoot better. Want more tips? Sign up for archery lessons in Toronto.
#1. Make sure you are using your dominant eye for aiming.
Check by reading Dominant Eye for Archery. Using the wrong eye is very often a reason for people to be shooting improperly. Just because you are right handed does not mean you are right eye dominant.
#2. Get a bow you can actually pull properly.
If you cannot pull the bow properly then it is obviously too hard for you. Get a bow you can pull easily and hold steady for at least 10 seconds.
#3. Pull with your forearm in line with the arrow.
If you pull with your forearm in a straight line with the arrow you are using your muscles more efficiently. You will be able to pull more because your back muscles (rhomboids) will be doing most of the work. If you are pulling with your forearm on an angle then your arm is going to shake like crazy.
#4. Don't squeeze the bow with your bow hand.
Squeezing the bow is completely unnecessary and will only cause you to torque your hand during shots - often causing the arrow to go off to the side. Learn to relax your hand completely. Squeezing the bow handle too much is a very common beginners mistake, but if you learn to just relax your fingers and thumb you will have much more accurate shots. Some archers also wear a strap on their hand or wrist to prevent themselves from accidentally dropping the bow while relaxing their hand.
#5. Stand up straight.
Bad posture is going to make for lots of bad shots during archery practice. Practice standing up straight while shooting. Also practice proper posture when standing, sitting and other activities too so your posture improves even when you are not doing archery.
Want to learn lots more? If you live in Toronto you can sign up for archery lessons, or if you do not live in the GTA please read more of the archery tips available on CardioTrek.ca for free.
#2. Take your dog to the beach - go swimming and play frisbee!
#3. Doggie Weightlifting - this is you lifting your dog up in an affectionate manner and rubbing their belly, then setting them back down, and repeat. You dog will think it is a game.
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!
"Charles made learning archery an enjoyable experience. He is very knowledgeable and has the ability to pinpoint areas where a student needs help in his patient and witty style. I bought my first bow and accessories after a couple of lessons with Charles, and has learned much more in subsequent lessons. There are a lot of tips and pointers online, but only a knowledgeable instructor like Charles is able to observe and correct your mistakes individually. Getting the basics right in archery is extremely important as bad habits are difficult to get rid of.
Charles made the learning process fun and enjoyable - the hallmark of a great instructor! I would highly recommend Charles to anyone who wishes to learn archery in Toronto."
- Tim C.
"I took three archery lessons with Charles from Cardio Trek and can honestly say I enjoyed every lesson and learned a lot each time. I strongly recommend anyone looking for an archery instructor consider getting lessons from Charles. The first lesson included a safety lecture, eye dominance test and a lecture on proper form - which Charles explained in a very thorough and easy to understand manner. By the end of the first lecture I was getting clusters of arrows near the bullseye. Subsequent lessons focused on fine-tuning my form and aim so my clusters of arrows were tighter and more on target. I had no idea when I started archery it would be so difficult, but I am very happy that I got an instructor like Charles who really knows how to break down issues like form and explain the physics of why people make mistakes when shooting. I went away with a new appreciation for physics and human physiology. Thank you again for all of your help." - Sandy R.
"Thanks for the archery lessons and all the equipment advice. You are the best! My girlfriend and I will be recommending you to our friends. :)" - Jeremiah D.
Getting kids involved with archery at a young age is a great way to get them interested in the Great Outdoors - and off the sofa.
However keeping kids interested and motivated can sometimes be tricky, even with a sport as engaging as archery. Thus one way to get them more motivated is to introduce games so they are more motivated to try harder.
#1. Bowling for Cups
Cans work equally well for this activity but the concept is simple enough. The more cups or cans you knock over the more points you get.
#2. Shooting Balloons
Makes a nice satisfying sound when they get hit. If they are getting hit too easily move them further back, or if they are too difficult to hit then move them closer. The balloons are not reusable like cups or cans are, so you will want to make them just hard enough to hit so that your kids have to pay attention to what they are doing to actually hit them with an arrow.
#3. Hit the Foam Ball
Below is a foam/rubber target ball usually used by hunters for practicing shooting at different distances. For kids however you can substitute a cheap foam ball or for extra challenge, a tennis ball. The goal is to hit the ball at different distances and learn how to adjust your aim regardless of the distance you are shooting.
#4. Bow-Making Contest + Flight Archery
For added fun you can also have a wooden bow making contest - for this activity your kids should be 10 years or older and have some experience with carving knives. As parents you will want to supervise this activity and help them using any of the more dangerous woodworking tools. eg. Don't let your kids use a skilsaw or band saw by themselves. But a draw knife, hand saw, rasp or sandpaper would be okay tools for them to learn how to use.
Their goal during this contest is to make a bow out of wood or bamboo or PVC that can shoot really far - flight archery is a good measurement of whether their bow is any good. Making a stickbow, bamboo bow or PVC bow is ridiculously easy, but to get it to shoot really far is the true challenge because that requires the bow to be "fast on the cast".
Tip #1 - Thick limbed bows are sluggish and slow. Bow-making is an artform wherein you have to learn how much thinness will make the bow shoot faster, but still provide good power / prevent breaking.
Tip #2. Top and bottom limbs need to be tillered evenly so they both bend the same amount, in the same places, and bounce back at the same speed. One limb slower than the other will make your arrows fly slower.
Even for adults with some woodworking skills making a quality bow is a challenge. If you are interested in bow-making try reading The Traditional Bowyer's Bible - Volume I. There are 4 volumes, but the first volume covers all of the basics.
Note - For the purpose of the above activity try using store-bought arrows on your homemade bows. Arrow-making is a challenge by itself.
#5. Tic Tac Toe Archery
Tic Tac Toe is a very easy game and all you really need is a target and two sets of arrows that are different colours.
Other games that are more for adults are: Poker Archery, Dart Board Archery, Battleship Archery (you can see their ships on the board, but can you hit them?), Clue Archery, Chess Archery and more.
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:
The man in the photos below is Christian Haettich, a professional cyclist. Ignore his chosen career, just look at what he is doing...
Cycling through the mountains of Europe with only one arm and only one leg.
That is pretty awe inspiring in my opinion. I tip my hat to him. He is an inspiration to us all. So just imagine, if he can do it - why not you too? What is stopping you? The world is yours to conquer and the bravery to do so is within you.
Roughly 20% of hunters in the USA are bowhunters, as of 2012. In 2012 there was between 3.5 million and 4 million registered hunters in the USA, meaning there was between 700,000 and 800,000 bowhunters. (Precise numbers fluctuate year to year, but are generally on the decline.)
Sadly I don't have statistics for what percentage of hunters in Canada are bowhunters, but the number might be reasonably similar. A statistic I was able to find was that 5% of Canadians in 2012 were hunters, so doing some math that means there is roughly 1.76 million hunters in Canada. However I found a different source that claimed there was 1.4 million registered hunters in Canada, and the same source said the numbers were declining. (Note - Not all hunters are registered, so it is difficult to get a precise measurement.) However lets assume that the total is approx. 1.5 million and that Canada is similar to the USA also has roughly 20% bowhunters, for a total of approx. 300,000 bowhunters in Canada. More or less.
That is a pretty big number when you consider Canada has only one ninth of the population the USA does. It is probably because Canada has a larger percentage of people who live in rural communities, has a lot more wilderness for Canadians to enjoy, where in contrast most of the wilderness in the USA is used for farming and a larger percentage of Americans live in towns and cities.
Even with archery being in vogue due to all the movies / TV shows / etc, that has really only seen a huge boost in recreational archery. New archers have not been lining up to apply for a hunting license. The vast majority of new archers just want to do recreational archery, and the scant few new archers who choose to get into bowhunting is quite small and has done little to replace what is essentially "a dying breed" when it comes to the archery world.
Two decades from now maybe we will see a more dramatic boost in the number of bowhunters, but don't expect to see a huge boost in bowhunting happening any time soon.
However if you are thinking of getting into bowhunting let me tell you about some of the physical benefits...
#1. Hiking to get to your chosen hunting location (whether it be a treestand, ground blind, etc) while carrying all of your gear. This process alone will burn a good chunk of calories. The hunter will hopefully have set up their tree stand on a previous visit, but if not they will have to carry that too and go through the process of setting it up. In the case of a ground blind they will need to carry and set that up too.
#2. Climb into your treestand or tree sling. You can see what a tree sling looks like below. Tree stands are used because deer have a habit of not looking up, which means they wander closer to the hunter who is patiently waiting for a good distance to shoot.
#3. Bowhunting requires a lot of practice shooting at different distances - for example most deer are taken at distances of 5 to 30 yards. In Ontario bowhunters have to use a minimum of 39.7 lbs of draw weight when bowhunting to ensure the wound is fatal. Many bowhunters use 45 lbs or more however, just to make sure they are getting extra accuracy. This means they are building up more strength during their practices.
#4. Carrying the dead deer back to your truck. Assuming you managed to get a buck or doe, you will still need to carry it back to civilization and have it butchered so you can eat it. Hunters use a variety of different ways to carry the deer. I personally like the traditional way, which is to tie the deer's legs to a long stick and have two hunters carry the stick on their shoulder. Some hunters simply drag the dead carcass, but it is arguably easier just to carry it.
#5. Deer venison has a number of nutritional benefits, as do moose and elk.
Compared to beef, venison has only 187 calories per 100 grams, whereas beef has 250 calories per 100 grams. Venison has less fat, more protein and more iron. Being a leaner meat it is automatically healthier for you to eat. Venison also is a good source of niacin, riboflavin and thiamin.
Rifle hunters have a risk of exposing themselves to lead poisoning from lead bullets, but bowhunters don't have that risk because you recover the steel arrowhead.
Note - I don't have any moral issues with people bowhunting, as long as they are doing legally and they are eating what they kill. From my perspective it is admirable for people to be acquiring their own food the traditional way instead of relying upon slaughterhouses for the food. Hunting is arguably more humane than cattle being slaughtered because at least the hunter is killing the deer quickly. The same cannot be said for industrial farming.
A huge theme in bowhunting is all about getting an ethical killshot. Bowhunters won't take a shot unless they know they can hit the lungs and/or heart of the deer they are shooting, this way they can be guaranteed the animal dies near instantly - thus ensuring it is ethical and humane.
If you are thinking of getting into bowhunting I recommend signing up for archery lessons so you can ensure every shot you do is on target.
Part of what I have been doing while I am working on my forthcoming book on the topic of recreational archery is trying to better define what "recreational archery" is.
Often people try to define things by what they are not.
Recreational archery for example is not competitive. This does not mean that archers cannot have a friendly competition, but they're not competing for prizes, trophies, etc. At most recreational archers might compete and the loser buys dinner.
Recreational archery is also not done solely for the purpose of bowhunting or bowfishing. True, some bowhunters or bowfishers may engage in recreational archery as a form of practice, but if their primary goal is hunting or fishing then they are not really recreational archers, are they? They are primarily bowhunters or bowfishers, and they only engage in recreational activities with respect to archery as a matter of circumstance or habit in order to practice for the next time they go hunting or fishing.
Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to compete or to use your skills to put food on the table (although there is something wrong with trophy hunters who don't actually eat what they kill). Choosing to get into competitive archery or bowhunting is really a personal choice. Yes, ego plays a role, as does a certain amount of bloodthirstiness in the case of hunting, but as long as people try to remain humble and actually eat the animals they are killing I don't have a problem with it.
Recreational archery however is void of any attempt to compete for the sake of ego or to sate the need to hunt like our ancestors did. It is archery for archery's sake. The joy of the ancestral tool and weapon, part of our heritage regardless of what part of the world we come from.
The enjoyment people feel from just launching an arrow into the sky, like a rocket, and see it plummet back to earth and strike a target in the far distance is unlike anything you could achieve using firearms or pyrotechnics. Yes, you could shoot the target with a rifle, easily, but where is the challenge? The rifle does all the work. You get way more enjoyment out of achieving something that you did yourself. Your own power transformed by the bow into an arrow arcing forward and visually seeing it strike the target. Bullets go so fast you never see anything more than a flash of muzzle flare and a hole appear in the target.
"The Witchery of Archery" as it was once called in a book published in 1878 brought archery back to the public eye as a recreational pastime. Written by American author James Maurice Thompson, the book's primary goal was to promote archery as a pastime, and while it did touch on bowhunting, most of the book was dedicated to recreational use and manufacturing techniques of making archery equipment.
Thompson also wrote a 2nd book "How to Train in Archery", which dealt in both training techniques and also competitive archery in the form of the "York Round". Reading through both books you will however agree that Thompson's primary goals in writing the books was to promote recreational archery, as his manner of dealing with topics of competition and bowhunting were really aimed more at the percentage of archers who would like to get into those fields, while the vast majority of his books were aimed instead at recreational archers.
There are many books that deal with the topics of competitive archery and also bowhunting - I know because I own many of those books. However what is sorely lacking is books on the topic of recreational archery - archery for archery's sake.
And so to distill a definition of what recreational archery is, I think we have arrived at a conclusion: Archery for archery's sake is the best definition of recreational archery.
I can also argue that recreational archery is also the purest form of archery, that it is devoid of ego and bloodlust, but people would doubtlessly call me a hypocrite for saying such things because they would likely point to my past history of bragging and bowfishing. However I don't need to brag to enjoy archery, nor do I do need to bowfish. Bragging and bowfishing are not my primary goals when I do archery. Nor is bowhunting, an activity I have become increasingly fascinated with despite past affirmations that I would never take up bowhunting and had no interest in doing so. My opinion on bowhunting has softened somewhat in recent years and my curiousity to take it up is a personal choice I will likely make within the next year. So any argument from me about recreational archery being the purest form of archery is really me just being an elitist, trying to claim that recreational archery is superior to other forms of archery*.
* Which I firmly believe it is. Bowhunting serves a purpose, to survive by killing an animal and eating its flesh. But archery is just a tool in the goal of shooting a beast that is typically within point blank range so they can get an ethical shot. The goal could easily be a achieved using a spear, an ingenius trap, or firearms. Olympic competitive archery is so focused at shooting 1 distance (70 meters) using one set of equipment (Olympic recurve bow with stabilizer, sight, clicker, etc) that if you ask an Olympic archer to shoot at something between 5 meters and 150 meters away, they don't know where they should even aim. Let alone asking them to shoot a moving target, shoot a stationary target while the archer is in motion, or even shooting a moving target while the archer is in motion. A recreational archer who is experienced at what they do can shoot at any target, regardless of the distance, regardless of how big or small, regardless of whether the target is moving. Why? Because they practice doing such things for fun. For fun. And that is why recreational archery is arguably superior to other forms of archery, recreational archers will try new things, they experiment, they like a challenge. They learn to read the wind, judge distances, time their shots on moving targets, and rely on their experience to make a well-placed shot rather than any kind of gadgets. They enjoy archery for the sake of archery itself, chasing perfection at every distance for every target.
So am I an elitist for claiming recreational archery is superior? Maybe. If so, then I say so proudly. With a measure of bragging even. Does that make me a bad person? No. Not really. I am just very devoted to the sport of archery. Is that really a bad thing? I don't think so. I am a pretty good shot however, no bragging there - tis the honest truth.
If you enjoyed reading this and love recreational archery be sure to bookmark and come back when my book is done and published. Subscribe to CardioTrek.ca if you want more free archery advice.
Back pain can be really excruciatingly painful - and inhibit people from getting a good night's sleep, a necessity for them to maintain their health. Most people in North American will at some point have some form of back pain.
For some people in North America (33%) the back pain will be so severe it will cause chronic pain and conventional treatments will be useless to rid them of their pain.
There is however a solution: Posture exercises.
If you research the problem of chronic back pain in the USA and compare it to statistics in other regions of the world what you will discover is there are different regions in the world where back pain hardly exists. eg. One indigenous tribe in central India reported essentially none. Also, X-rays and studies of the discs in their spines showed little signs of degeneration as people aged. The entire tribe was apparently immune to back pain. This phenomenon is not limited to one tribe either, it can be found in many indigenous cultures where people are doing something special that many modern people are no longer doing.
So what are they doing differently?
Their posture when they are standing or sitting is the biggest difference. They stood in a manner that their spine made an elegant J-shape instead of a curved S-shaped spine like many Americans with back pain have.
In a J-shaped spine the back in straight and erect, and the buttocks curve outwards behind them. The S-shaped spine of people with chronic back pain causes them push their upper backs backwards into an unnatural position - often this is the result of trying to compensate for being overweight on the front and trying to compensate. This problem also goes hand-in-hand with having weak core muscles.
This J-shaped spine is not limited to specific cultures either, not historically at least. If you look at statues from Ancient Greece you will see they too had J-shaped spines.
In drawings from Leonardo da Vinci or a Gray's Anatomy
book from 1901 you will see the spine isn't shaped like a sharp, curvy S. It's much
flatter,and then at the bottom, it curves to
stick the buttocks out. So the spine looks more like the letter J.
The J-shaped spine can be found in a lot of artwork dating back centuries. However in the 1900s something changed. People, especially in North America, started getting fatter, getting less exercise and developing poor posture. The combination of poor posture, lack of exercise and carrying too much weight puts a lot of stress on their spine - so much stress it causes pain so intense they cannot sleep properly.
Thus for people looking for a permanent fix to their back pain they need to think outside the box and start thinking POSTURE.
Five Stretching Exercises / Tips For Better Posture And Less Back Pain
Try these exercises while you're sitting at your desk, sitting at the dinner table or even just walking around.
#1. Do a shoulder roll
North Americans tend to scrunch their shoulders forward, so their arms are in front of their bodies. To fix that, gently pull your shoulders up, push them back and then let them drop - thus completing a shoulder roll. Now your arms should dangle by your side, with your thumbs pointing out. This creates the natural position for humans to hold their shoulders.
#2. Lengthen your spine
Being careful not to arch your back, take a deep breath in and grow tall. Then maintain that height as you exhale. Repeat: Breathe in, grow even taller and maintain that new height as you exhale. The exercises activates your core muscles and your spine goes into the more natural J-shape.
#3. Squeeze your glute muscles when you walk
In many indigenous cultures, people squeeze their gluteus medius (muscles near tailbone on your buttocks) muscles every time they take a step. It has a side benefit of creating a more shapely derrière as you are tightening the buttocks muscles every time you take a step - the muscle also keeps your buttocks more perky as you get older so you don't develop a saggy bottom.
#4. Don't put your chin up
Instead, add length to your neck by taking a lightweight object, like a bean bag or folded washcloth, and balance it on the top of your crown - or even just put both hands on top of your head. Next, try to push your head upwards against the object without tilting your chin upwards. The exercise lengthens the muscles on the back of your neck and allows your chin to angle down in a relaxed manner.
#5. Don't sit up straight!
Trying to sit up perfectly straight is just arching your back and deliberately making the S-shape you are not supposed to be doing. Instead do a shoulder roll to open up the chest and take a deep breath to stretch and lengthen the spine.
Thus a little bit of daily stretching and good posture will eradicate your chronic back pain. Happy stretching!
Want to know what the number one mistake beginner archers do?
The answer is: Not anchoring properly.
Eight Archers, One Anchor Spot
So lets talk about this so people get a better understanding about what anchoring is and where they should be anchoring. First lets have a little mini glossary so people have a better idea of what we are talking about.
Anchor Point - The point on your face (usually on your face) that you are pulling back to when preparing to shoot. It is usually a very specific spot and you want to be using the same spot - the exact same spot - every time you shoot.
Cheeking - Pulling to an anchor point on your cheek, further to the side. Using this anchor point has a disadvantage in that you cannot see straight down the length of the arrow and when shot the arrow will end up going further to the side (to the left on a right eye shooter or to the right on a left eye shooter). [See Dominant Eye for Archery.] Cheeking effectively puts the arrow on an angle going more to the left or the right and when shot the arrow will fly more in that direction.
Note - Cheeking does give the arrow more power + speed, but it comes with a loss of accuracy.
Clicker - A gadget used on Olympic recurves that tell the archer when they have achieved full draw. This device is only used in combination with South Anchor (see South Anchor further below). The archer pulls back to South Anchor as they prepare to shoot / aim and wait for the Clicker to slide off the tip of the arrow and make a click sound, at which point they release immediately after the sound of the click.
Facewalking - This refers to a person who is anchoring inconsistently on their face, meaning they are using a different anchor point each time they shoot. Facewalking will typically cause an archer's arrows to make tall lines going up and down. (This is similar to Stringwalking, which is inconsistent placement of the arrow nock on the bowstring.)
Fishhooking - Fishhooking is when an archer is pulling to North Anchor (see North Anchor below) and is pulling the corner of their mouth further back in the direction of their cheek. The end result is the same as Cheeking (see Cheeking further above).
William Shatner using North Anchor on a Traditional Recurve
North Anchor - An anchor point located on or near the corner of your mouth, often either directly on the mouth, just above, or just below the mouth. This anchor point is sometimes also called a High Anchor or the Traditional Anchor Point. Anyone using a traditional bow, such as a recurve, longbow or shortbow that doesn't have a Clicker (see Clicker above) should be using North Anchor as their Anchor Point. The reason why traditional archers use their mouth as an anchor point is because it is easier to remember as a landmark on their face, resulting in more consistency. If they are pulling near their eye, on their cheek, on their chin, etc, then there is less consistency because they cannot remember the same spot on their face as easily.
Arnold using South Anchor on an Olympic Recurve
South Anchor - An anchor point underneath the chin and alongside the jawbone. Also known as Low Anchor or the Olympic Anchor Point. This anchor point should only used in combination with a Clicker (see Clicker further above), because South Anchor is not a fixed anchor point (it doesn't stay the same every time you shoot). Instead South Anchor relies on the Clicker to tell the archer when full draw has been achieved and when they will achieve the most accuracy when they release. (South Anchor also uses a tab release with a shelf on it, designed specifically for being pulled along the underside of the jawline in the hopes of attaining more consistency.)
Okay, so now that those are out of the way you will probably have an idea that Cheeking, Facewalking and Fishhooking are things you want to avoid doing. If you're either a beginner or a traditionalist then you should be pulling to North Anchor. If you are getting into Olympic archery and you have a Clicker installed on your bow, then absolutely, you should be using South Anchor.
Katniss using South Anchor, she should be using North.
Thus a very common mistake is for people to use South Anchor, but with no Clicker. The result is inconsistent draw distances because they are just guessing as to where to be pulling to on their chin/jawline. It also causes inconsistency left-right because they are pulling the same distance on the side of their jawline.
You can see this failure in films like The Hunger Games in which Katniss pulls to South Anchor when using a longbow and again later with a recurve that has no clicker on it. Having this in a film then perpetuates false information that this is a good place to be anchoring with a traditional bow - which it is not. Katniss should be using North Anchor, but the filmmakers don't know any better.
Not Anchoring At All
On the right you will see a woman who isn't anchoring at all. She is just pulling back the bowstring off the side of her face. She cannot see down the length of the arrow and is really just guessing as to where it might go.
Another way of not anchoring is to be pulling back the bow, but not pulling it back all the way to your face. This is essentially a partial draw, but it is also a failure to anchor properly. You can see this as demonstrated by Marilyn Monroe in the photo below.
Marilyn Monroe Partial Draw
Another common mistake I have seen beginners do is trying to anchor near their eyeball, either right in front of their eye, right below their eye, or to the left or right of their eyeball. I even once saw a beginner trying to anchor on his forehead. Pulling to the side of the eyeball near the temple produces results similar to Cheeking (as explained further above), whereas pulling straight to the eye, under the eye, or even to the forehead will result in a person having to aim above the target in order to hit the target, and will also result in inconsistency because they cannot remember where they are pulling to precisely (or where they are aiming, because they are aiming above the target and cannot see the target itself because the arrow is in the way).
I don't like using the word "newb" because I find it is impolite and used to discriminate against people who are beginners, but I must admit it is a word I often think of when I see people pulling close to their eyeball. Calling them "Green Archers" would be more polite and a hat tip to the 1940s serial short films produced by Columbia Pictures, "The Green Archer". (Green Arrow, the DC Comics hero is loosely based off The Green Archer serial.)
So in conclusion, always anchor - and always use an anchor spot where you can get a lot more accuracy. To learn more about this topic read Instinctive Archery Vs. Anchor Points.
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!
