Saddened to hear Muhammad Ali is dead, boxing legend, age 74

I don't normally talk about obituaries on here, but nevertheless I was saddened to hear that boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died. He was 74. The cause of death was septic shock. He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for over 30 years.

Muhammad Ali, sometimes referred to by his birth name of Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., was three time world heavyweight boxing champion. His moral behaviour represented many of the things I admire about the sport of boxing - in the context that it is a gentleman's sport because it follows rules and a code of honour.

There is a stereotype that heavyweight boxers are huge lumbering brutes. Muhammad Ali was none of these things. He combined speed, agility and power into a fighting style rarely seen in large boxers. He was light on his feet and lightning fast with his jabs. Other boxers were often worn down by exhaustion over time by Ali's endurance. He won 56 fights over a 21 year professional career and only lost 5.

He had a sometimes brash personality, but it was combined with magnetism and personal convictions that made him stand up for his beliefs. When asked to go fight in Vietnam, Ali responded.

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years." - Muhammad Ali.

Born January 17th, 1942. Died June 3rd, 2016.

Muhammad Ali's boxing career started young (age 12), and by the age of 18 he won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy.

Returning to the USA after his win he became frustrated with prejudice and discrimination and according to rumour threw his gold medal into a river. He would eventually sign a 6 year contract in Lousville, where he would also be introduced to the "Black Muslim Movement" in the USA and be given the name "Muhammad Ali" by the leader of the movement, Elijah Muhammad.

By 1963 he had won 15 professional fights and was still only 21. He appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and set to fight heavy hitting slugger Sonny Liston, who he mocked as a "big ugly bear" and issued his now famous quote: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rumble, young man, rumble."

The heavyweight champion, Liston was expected to win that fight easily, the odds were placed as 7 to 1. But in the opening rounds of the fight it became pretty clear who had the upper hand. At 210 lbs and 6'3" tall, Muhammad Ali would dance away from Liston's clumsy punches and pepper him with jabs. By the end of the 7th round, Liston gave up. He had torn muscles swinging uselessly at Muhammad Ali. He was tired and broken.

Sonny Liston swinging uselessly at Muhammad Ali.

 In 1965 Liston would be given a rematch, but Muhammad Ali took him out in the first round with what became known as the "Phantom Punch". Many speculate that Liston took a dive and bet against himself.



After refusing to fight in Vietnam, Ali was stripped of his title, but fought attempts to send him to prison. He would not be allowed to fight again until he was 28 years old, losing 3.5 years of his athletic prime. His draft avoidance case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and during that time he worked on a film, appeared in a Broadway musical, and endorsed a burger chain called Champburger.

When finally allowed to fight again it was Oct. 26, 1970, a minor fight before he would be allowed to go up against the new champion Joe Frazier on March 8th 1971. Frazier would win the 15 round match on points, but the fight was seriously damaging to both boxers and was a close decision.

Meanwhile Muhammad Ali was winning in the courts. The United States Supreme Court looked favourably on Ali and on June 28th, 1971, it unanimously reversed a lower court decision and granted Ali his conscientious-objector status.

After losing to Frazier on points, people began thinking Muhammad Ali was done. That he should perhaps retire. But that never happened. Over the next few years he would fight in 14 matches and win 13 of them, eventually getting a rematch with Frazier and winning, and also beating George Foreman who had become the new heavyweight champion.

The Foreman fight was unusual. It took place in Zaire, on October 30th 1974 and was billed as "The Rumble in the Jungle". Near the beginning of the fight Foreman hammered Ali with blows to the chest and shoulders that hit like sledgehammers, but as the fight wore on Foreman wavered and got tired. Ali just seemed to get faster and faster and by the 8th round Ali knocked out Foreman with a blurry series of lightning punches. He took back the heavyweight title.

Ali would fight Frazier again in 1975, in a match called the "Thrilla in Manila". Unlike their 2nd match, this one lasted 14 rounds, but Ali still won by knock out.

In 1978 Ali lost a fight to Leon Spinks but would regain his title during a rematch.

Ali’s longtime ring doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, urged him to quit, noting the slowing of his reflexes and the slurring of his speech as symptoms of brain damage. Ali refused. In 1980, he lost to Larry Holmes. A year later, his last fight, Ali lost to Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas.

It was time to hang up the gloves.

Ali would later be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Some would claim it was caused by exposure to chemicals at his training camp, but as the years went by and more boxers / football players / etc became victims of mental illnesses, it became pretty clear that the symptoms were due to head trauma.

Even after his retirement Muhammad Ali would continue to speak out on issues that concerned him. Not all of his comments were welcomed or admired, but he would speak his mind regardless. As the years went by he began to lose his ability to speak and had a loss in mobility.

More Quotes from Muhammad Ali:

"I ain’t got nothing against them Vietcong."

"I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want."

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' "

"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

"If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize."

"I've made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven't lived in vain."

"The word 'Islam' means 'peace.' The word 'Muslim' means 'one who surrenders to God.' But the press makes us seem like haters."

"If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you."

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."

"I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others."

"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen."

"The man who has no imagination has no wings."

"My trainer don't tell me nothing between rounds. I don't allow him to. I fight the fight. All I want to know is did I win the round. It's too late for advice."

"Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are."

"Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don't belong anymore to anyone, that I'm not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one."

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe."

"I don't have to be what you want me to be."

Muhammad Ali will never be forgotten.

Archery Testimonials x 4

#1.

"Thanks again for the archery lessons! You are the best. We tried archery tag several times but didn't really learn how to shoot properly until we met you.

To anyone reading this, Charles is an amazing archery instructor who is very patient, very good at communicating ideas, and he helped us to get rid of a lot of our bad habits. You could not ask for a better instructor. He makes the lessons fun and we learned so much every lesson.

- Amber and Muhammad"

#2.

"Charles provides quality archery instruction and service. He has good attention to detail, is nice, friendly, very knowledgeable, and I am very happy with my archery skills. They are all due to his tips which covered everything from how to stand, how to pull, WHEN to pull, how to stand up straight, how to aim, how to release and much more. I had a problem with my drawing arm that was causing me to tremble, but Charles taught me how to fix it by pulling the bow correctly after pre-aiming. I would not have thought of that. He also taught me how to use consistent power so each arrow has the same amount of power and why that is important for accuracy. I am coming back for more lessons next year.

Thank you for the archery lessons!

- Zhang Min"

#3.

"Charles is a great instructor. I took five lessons with him and each lesson is different and tailored to fix whatever problems I am having. By lesson 5 I was shooting long distances and even scored a few bullseyes. The part I enjoyed most was the drills in which he would challenge me to try new things, like moving a target ball around so I have to learn how to adjust my aim, adjusting my aim for windy conditions and shooting at moving targets. I never thought I would be able to shoot at moving targets or long distances so accurately, but now I can.

I surpassed my expectations and now have my own equipment. I am extremely happy with the lessons I received.

- Jennifer D."

#4.


"To the reader:

Before signing up for archery lessons I did my research. I did this because I want to get into traditional bowhunting and I wanted someone who understood what I was looking for. One of the things that impressed me right away is that Charles practices archery in the winter. From what I can tell he is the only instructor in Toronto who does that. He also does bowfishing, which is not the same as bowhunting, but impressed me nevertheless. I was also impressed by the amazing amount of archery tips he had on his website, all for free - which got me thinking, if that is all the tips he gives away for free, then what is he teaching? So I decided it would be worthwhile to sign up for 1 lesson. I figured 1 lesson wouldn't hurt.

Wow. I learned so much in the first lesson it still boggles my mind. He started with a safety lecture, then he did an eye test to see which is my dominate eye, then he showed me how to put together a 3-piece recurve bow (at the time I didn't even know what a recurve bow was and I kept calling it a longbow by accident). Then he did a lecture on how to aim and then a lecture on proper archery form, which covered everything from what I should be doing with my toes, my fingers and even my neck.

Then we started shooting. Charles was very careful to adjust my form each time I was shooting so I could get better shots and foster what he calls good habits. Sometimes he allowed me to make mistakes so I could see what a difference bad habits makes. By the end of the lesson I was shooting clusters at a target 62 feet away.

Needless to say I immediately asked to sign up for more lessons. The following lessons taught me how arrow spine worked and how that effects the quality of the shot, how arrowheads come in different sizes and shapes and what they are used for, how to wax a bow string, how to properly string a recurve bow, how to string a real longbow, and he gradually increased the strength of the bows I was shooting so that I was becoming stronger. He also taught me several different aiming methods, which I found fascinating.

During lesson 6 we were shooting at a paper target of a deer 165 feet away, which I found to be a lot of fun. Charles had learned that I was also interested in bowhunting and surprised me during the final lesson with the deer target. He gave me an interesting tip:

If you want to hunt then you should routinely practice at double the distance you intend to hunt at. So for example if you want to hunt at 90 feet or less, then your should regularly practice at 180 feet. This way you feel confident in your accuracy at a time when you more likely to be pumped full of adrenaline and might start second guessing your accuracy.

That was an important tip to me. But it was just one of many I learned from his lessons. What you see on his website is just the 'tips' of the iceberg. Thanks again!

- Chris W."

Ten Ways to Lose Weight while Running Errands

Don't have time? Make time.

Hey Toronto! Want to lose weight and get in some extra cardio?

Step #1. Starting from your home, jog to the following locations which are near your home and using a watch or the time on your cellphone to calculate the time it takes to jog to each location. Make sure you have an adequate rest break and a small drink between each jog.

• Library
• Post Office
• Grocery Store
• Convenience Store
• LCBO / Beer Store
• Drug Store / Pharmacist
• Dollar Store eg. Dollarama

You might also add other things to your list, depending on where you live and how close you are to the following:

• YMCA / Gym
• Tennis Courts
• Hockey Arena
• Dentist Office
• Doctors Office
• Swimming Pool
• Subway Entrance
• Baseball Diamond
• Dog Walking Park
• Stores like: Canadian Tire, Staples, Home Depot, etc.

Step #2. Next type out the list of the approx. jogging times of each location, print it out and keep the list close to wherever you keep your shoes. So for example, I keep my shoes and boots in the foyer, so the list would be going there. For fun you might even decide to frame the list using an old picture frame you have (or buy a cheap one at the local dollar store).

This way every time you put on your shoes to go do an errand you will see the reminder that the library is only a 3 minute jog away. Or that the subway entrance is only 9 minutes. Or that the grocery store is 5 minutes.

Step #3. Every time you run an errand, look at the list and then make the decision to jog there instead. Or walk if you are carrying something heavy. It isn't that far, you've jogged it before when you made the list.

Step #4. Over time as you jog more regularly you will become faster and your endurance will skyrocket. You will be able to go jogging and barely break a sweat. You will be faster at it. When you start noticing that you have become faster, make a note of it by writing the date in the corner of the list. Within one week of that date, do Step #5.

Step #5. Jog to all the locations from your initial list and record the times again. Check to see if you have gotten faster at jogging to any of those locations. Make note of all the new times in minutes, rounding down.

Step #6. Add several new locations you can jog to on to your list. Locations that are further away that perhaps you don't often go to, but places you feel that are close enough now that you are faster and have more endurance that perhaps you could and should start jogging to those locations too.

Step #7. Repeat Steps #2, #3 and #4. Repeat Steps #5 and #6 maybe once per month to see how you have progressed.

Step #8. Once you feel confident about your jogging skills, make a new list that is specifically for wherever you work. Determine how close certain stores for coffee, tea, office supplies, drug stores, food, etc are to your workplace in terms of jogging distance. Or perhaps calculate the walking distance or "brisk walking" distance if you want to avoid jogging in your work clothing.

Step #9. Repeat Steps #2, #3 and #4, but this time for your workplace. Put the list on your desk in some place prominent so other co-workers will see the list and realize that they too are only a "3 minute brisk walk from the gourmet tea shop". This way you are doing the extra walking, but you are also promoting your co-workers to try out these steps too.

Try making a list of travel times for your bicycle.

Step #10. Some day you will feel very confident about your skills and say "Hey, its time to run some errands!" Except instead of jogging you will literally run and sprint those errands, and you will feel great doing it.

Bonus Tip - Make a separate list for bicycle times and distances. This way you will be motivated to get out your bicycle more often.

"If you do something gradually and get better at it gradually, before you know it you will be doing something amazing."

"Everything worth doing is worth trying."

A Steady Relaxed Hand on your Compound Bow

What NOT to do - over-gripping the bow.

A very common beginners mistake for new archers is gripping the bow when you don't need to. Gripping the bow tightens up the forearm muscles and causes people to torque and/or jerk the bow, as well as increasing unnecessary vibrations and micro-jerking.

The best solution for preventing this is to completely relax the hand and forearm. Not even the thumb should be tensed. Everything should be relaxed. Fingers, hand, thumb, forearm, and elbow should be relaxed. Even the bow shoulder should be reasonably relaxed.

Hand position is a matter of debate however. My preference is for the base of the hand (the palm) to be bracing the bow as that reduces the chance of torquing the bow.

Some archers however prefer to angle their hand slightly diagonally, which increases the chances of hand torque. As an instructor I try to steer people away from that and I consider it to be bad form if a student is doing it because it is robbing them of more accuracy. However some archers swear by their chosen hand positions (archers are sometimes a superstitious lot) and choose to ignore physics.

The above hand position will tend to cause left-ward torquing.

Some archers also like to tuck their fingers up on the side of the handle, which again tensed up the forearm and increases the chances of jerking the bow mid-shot. Even micro-jerking (so small the human eye can barely detect) will rob accuracy. Again, some archers swear by this hand position and choose to ignore the laws of physics.

The fingers are too tense and will cause right-ward jerking.

Close, but if the fingers are too stiff, they can still cause jerking of the bow.

Another problem is people who have their fingers facing forward but they are still making them stiff or making claw fingers. Any amount of tension is going to hurt accuracy. Ideally what you want should look more like your hands do when you are standing and your hands are relaxed at your side. Or comparatively, the shape of your hand when you reach out to shake someone's hand. A nice relaxed, natural position.

Another common mistake is when archers relax only three fingers, and then pinch their thumb and index finger together. Again, any amount of tensions robs accuracy.

Please don't pinch your index and thumb together.

Claw hand plus even a tensed up pinky finger can rob accuracy.

Ideally you are going for the nice relaxed handshake position, with the base of the palm bracing the bow (not the thumb, the thumb area used as a brace increases hand torque). See the above photo and several of the photos from further above from people who favour bracing the bow against the lower "drumstick" of the thumb.

Some people only seem to have a basic understanding of what hand torque does to their shots and cannot be bothered to try fixing the problem.

Common Mistakes

• Gripping the Bow.
• Tensing the Fingers.
• Tensing the Thumb.
• Pinching Thumb and Index Finger.
• Claw Hand.
• Rotating the hand and bracing on the Thumb "drumstick".
• Holding the Handle too far to the left or right (aka, not centering the hand on the handle).

HOT TIP

Comfort also seems to be a big factor for accuracy. If someone doesn't like the handle of the bow they are using, that lack of comfort will often cause them to tense up their hand when they should not be. Having a good comfortable handle therefore allows the person to relax their hand more and allows for a more comfortable, relaxed and accurate shots.

Notice above how many of the people in the photos are using the bare handle and haven't added anything to the handle to make it more comfortable. That is because they don't know any better.

What people are supposed to be doing is purchasing a better quality grip and then attaching it to their bow. Some people even make their own. Like the two examples below.

Another alternative is to wrap the handle, as desired by the user, with leather or faux leather. Some people also use braided para-cord and have experimented with other materials.

To learn more about how to shoot compound bows you can sign up for compound bow archery lessons in Toronto.

6 Tips for Tighter Compound Bow Clusters

Below are six bow tuning tips for improving the quality of your clusters when shooting a compound bow:

#1. Make sure your Nocking Loop is installed correctly.

Most compound bows these days come with a nocking loop for a mechanical release already installed on the bow these days. Most of the time they are installed correctly. Sometimes they are not. Here are some tips for making sure it is correctly installed:

(A) Make sure the loop is not pinching the nock too much while at full draw. A way to test this is to draw the bow back, arrow nocked, with no arrowhead on the arrow. If the arrow rises off the arrowrest (assuming you are not using a whisker biscuit or hostage arrowrest), then nock pinch will result in the arrow rising a bit off the arrowrest. If the arrow isn't staying on the arrowrest, then the nock is being pinched. To fix this, adjust the nocking loop so that the nock has about 1/4 or 1/3 of a mm of extra space. Some people might even give it 0.5 mm. At full draw the extra space disappears. Retest to see if you are getting arrow lift, if it is doing so, repeat the process to give the nock more space until it stops causing arrow lift when at full draw.

 (B) Check what direction the nocking loop is pointing. It should be pointing straight back away from the bow, but sometimes it could be installed crooked. The "String Torque" of it rotating back to its original position from a drawn position can result in minor fluctuations in accuracy. Sometimes if the loop is really off centre, it might even come in contact with the arrow, which could potentially ruin a shot entirely.

#2. Synchronize your Cams.

There are a variety of names for this, including synchronizing, timing, positioning, and indexing. Whatever you call it, the purpose of synchronization is to make sure the dual-cams on your bow are reaching full draw and let off at the same time. Having both cams synchronized increases speed, accuracy, consistency and the overall "feel" of the compound bow.

When synchronizing it is best to have a friend (or archery instructor) with you so that one person can be drawing the bow while the other person is checking the positions of the cams. Preferably someone who has done this before and knows what to be looking for. (It is also possible to use a machine to draw the bow for you, like a Draw Board. eg. The Lancaster Archery Supply Pro Shop Draw Board sells for $199.99, but if you are only buying it for this one task, then it is really not worth buying.)

Once you determine that one cam or the other is out of synch then all you need to do is either lengthen or shorten the cable by either twisting / untwisting the cable to change the lengths. Depending on the model of the bow you can also adjust the length of cable by changing the position of the stopping peg.

Note - Adding extra stuff on your bow strings can sometimes drastically change the tautness of the bowstring and effect synchronization, and thus hurt speed and accuracy. Thus any time you add or remove anything from the bow string / cables you should recheck the synchronization to see how it was effected.

#3. Make sure your nocks fit the bow string properly.

Sometimes people buy arrows with nocks and they are either too tight or too loose on the bow string. Both are bad for accuracy. Too tight means the bow string is pulled forward on the brace height during release. (Too tight also adds string noise by making a louder twang, which for hunting purposes could alert the prey.) Too loose could result in a misfire / the nock slipping off the bow string during a critical juncture.

Ideally what you want is a nock that isn't too tight, too loose, allows the bow string to spin freely but without torquing the arrow. If it cannot spin freely when nocked, then it is too tight. If it is so loose that the nock falls off the bow string, it is too loose.

When nocking an arrow you should hear a click sound. It should not be a snapping or twang sound. Then roll the string using your fingers and see if the string can move freely within the nocked position. Click and spin.

Another way to test for looseness is to nock an arrow, point the bow at the ground and gently tap the string. If the vibrations of the bow string being tapped cause the arrow to slip off and fall to the ground, it is too loose.

If your nocks are too tight or too loose you will need to experiment with other nock sizes until you find one that is perfect. Or the reverse is to re-serve the serving on the bowstring and make it slightly thicker or thinner.

#4. Make sure your arrow nocks are properly installed.

An improperly installed nock can sometimes be the difference between shooting the target and digging broken shards of arrow out of your arm. Hopefully that doesn't happen to you! Such accidents sometimes occur when people are shooting a nock which is broken, damaged, cracked, or my favourite word of the day: Kaputt!

But if the latter can be avoided, so can the former - improperly installed nocks. The correct way to install a nock is to wax it first (string wax works great for this) and then slide it into the shaft. Once in, align the nock as desired and it is done. That is it. Wax it and install. The wax acts to make the nock even tighter inside the shaft, and reduces the chances that it will slip out in the future or become crooked due to vibrations.

You should also regularly check the status of your nocks for damage and check the alignment.

#5. Learn how to do Nock Indexing.

The definition of Nock Indexing is simply checking to see how the nock is aligned compared to the arrow fletching vanes. It should probably be called "Nock Fletching Alignment" as that more accurately describes what you are doing. Briefly touched on above, it is simply a matter of aligning your fletching and nocks so that they are in the same position and match your arrowrest when shooting.

If you don't do Nock Indexing, your fletching will rub against the arrowrest in different ways and each shot will be slightly different.

Note - You also need to make sure that the fletching vanes are not coming in to contact with any cables while being shot. To check for this, draw back the bow for a shot, then go back down slowly to check to see if any cables make contact with the vanes.

#6. Reinforce the Peep sight serving.

I am a strong believer in this last one.

When you buy a compound bow the peep sight is usually installed for you, but the serving around the peep sight (assuming they served it!) can sometimes be loose and move around - which in turn causes the peep sight to move around between shots. To remedy this problem, reinforce the peep sight with extra serving and make sure that sucker isn't moving around on you. Having a peep sight that stays put where it is supposed to be dramatically improves consistency in my opinion.

Photo on the Right - The serving above and below that peep sight is too loose in my opinion. Minor movements up and down by even 1 mm will effect the accuracy by about 2 inches at a distance of 20 yards, or dramatically more than that when shooting at 30, 40 or 50 yards. On my bow I reinforced the serving a full cm top and bottom, and tightened it so the peep sight cannot move around at all.

Note that reinforcing the peep sight may effect the cam synchronization, so you should always do this first before doing any synchronization.

Want to learn more about compound bows and archery? Sign up for compound bow lessons in Toronto.