Note to Self - Personal Trainers and Sell Outs

Note to Self

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pumping Iron, 1977 Documentary

Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Pumping Iron" is a 1977 documentary about the 1975 IFBB Mr Olympia competition, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno.

In bodybuilding circles this film is a classic. Harking back to the days before steroids becoming commonplace at bodybuilding competitions and bodybuilding was considered to be more like sculpture - an art form similar to figure skating or ballet.

Indeed the very first scene of the documentary is a scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger practices poses with a ballet dancer.

You can watch the trailer below:



And you can watch the full film in HD on Netflix.

Admittedly it only has 2 stars out of 5 on Netflix, mostly because people who are not into bodybuilding / weightlifting would probably find the film boring, but I personally enjoyed it and gave it 5 stars. Proof that bodybuilding truly is a subjective art form.

A nice long quote from the film:

"Let's say before a contest, if I get emotionally involved with a girl... that can have a negative effect on my mind... and therefore destroy my workout. So I have to cut my emotions off... and be kind of cold, in a way, before a competition. That's what you do with the rest of the things. If somebody steals my car outside of my door right now... I don't care. l can't be bothered with that. I would only have my secretary call the insurance agency and laugh about it. Because I cannot be bothered with it. I trained myself for that. To be totally cold and not have things go into my mind." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

How to Shoot a Tiny Moving Target (and catch it on video)

In archery it is comparatively easy to hit a tiny moving target, like a bottle cap dangling on a string, moving about in the wind.

Catching it on video, that is the tricky part.

Like in the video below.



Now in order to make that video what you don't see is the following:

• The years (or decades in my case) of practicing archery.
• The warm-up practice the day of the making of the video.
• The rounds prior to the video that involved hitting the bottle or close to the bottle - and all the shots the missed completely because I was not paying attention and too busy talking to friends.
• The amount of wind there was on that particular day, both in rounds prior and during the round shown in the video.
• The archer taking a break to drink hot tea because it was also cold outside that day.

I can however give you some tips.

#1. Get archery lessons so you learn how to shoot properly and accurately. If you live in Toronto, contact me about getting archery lessons in Toronto.

#2. Practice, practice, practice. Just because you got lessons doesn't mean you shouldn't practice regularly. "A sharp blade is always sharpest when it is honed regularly."

#3. Challenge yourself with a new goals. How are you supposed to get better at something if you don't challenge yourself? Aim to do something amazing, and with practice and perseverance you will eventually get good at doing the goal you have set.

#4. Take your time! Don't rush your shots. Avoid getting frustrated just because you aren't achieving the goal you set right away - frustration will only push you further from the target, not closer.

The photos below are just a few of the previous times I have set a goal of shooting a tiny moving target.

In the above somewhat blurry photo the bottle cap went flying off.

I cannot take credit for these shots. These were done by a student of mine.

Bullseye. You can tell from the string angle how windy it was.

This is a larger moving target, but note the broken arrow. The arrow next to it snapped it.

Shooting at a broken tab from a pop can. Pinned it on 3 sides.

Arrow splitting string down the middle, AND it is a bullseye at the same time. Huzzah!

Ripped the bottle right off the bottle cap, and shot it a few more times for good measure.

Shooting at a bunny on Easter Sunday.

And many more photos in my collection, like the 3 photos below which are from the same demonstration as the above video.

Have a great day and happy shooting!

10 Exercise Workout You Can Do At Home

Need a workout you can do at home in about 20 minutes? Do the following 10 exercises with 1 minute breaks between each exercise. Total time should be less than 1 hour to complete. Do each exercise for 1 minute.

All of these exercises require zero equipment, so they're extremely frugal.

#1. Knee Highs

#2. Jumping Jacks

#3. Squats

#4. Lunges

#5. Plank Leg Raises

#6. Climbers

#7. Bicycle Crunches

#8. Leg raises

#9. Knee pull ins

#10. Push-ups

Got extra time after completing all 10 exercises? Not tired yet? Start over again!

You can do the above workout once per week, once per day, twice per day - whatever fits your schedule and needs. You can do them at the park, at the beach, in a hotel room while on vacation. Because the above workout requires zero equipment it makes it very versatile.

You can also customize the workout and add / subtract things to it, design it to fit your individual needs. Need more help? Hire a personal trainer. If you live in the Leaside area Toronto consider hiring me as your personal trainer.

For more frugal exercises subscribe to Cardio Trek

 and browse our frugal exercises section.

Buff Vs Obese, Why BMI is confusing to muscular people

Yesterday I wrote a post on the topic of stubborn belly fat titled: Why is it so hard for skinny people to shed the last few pounds?

During the post I talked about how people get too obsessed with trying to weight a specific amount because they have been looking at BMI charts and think that they need to be a specific weight in order to be healthy / attractive.

On the right here you see two cartoon people, both are 6 feet tall and both weigh 250 lbs. Lets call them Dave and Bob.

Dave is extremely muscular and weighs a hefty 250 lbs. Bob in contrast, weighs the same amount but has a lot more fat than muscle. The trick here is that fat takes up more space than muscle, because muscle is actually heavier than fat. 1 lb of fat takes up lots of space, whereas 1 lb of muscle takes up very little space. Thus even though they look very different, Dave and Bob still end up weighing the same.

And having the exact same BMI measurement of 33.9. Which is so heavy it isn't even on the chart below, because this chart only goes up to 215 lbs.

But what we do know is that 33.9 is in the low 30s, so that is the lower half of obese which ranges from 30.0 to 39.9. 40.0 or higher would be extremely obese.

However there is an obvious problem. Nobody in their right mind would call Dave obese. He looks like a bodybuilder. Thus the BMI chart is flawed because it ignores the possibility that a person might have more muscle mass (or possibly even more bone density, which is a factor people often ignore).

Thus we need better ways of measuring body weight / obesity. Well luckily there are ways to do that.

The following three methods are recommended.

#1. Body Adiposity Index

BAI multiplies your hip circumference by your height. Although clinical studies have not shown any proof, it is widely believed that Body Adiposity Index is more accurate than BMI as the resulting figures are approximate. BAI is also useful in areas whenever scales are not be available.

#2. Waist Circumference Measurement

Ah, the old fashioned tape measure. By measuring the natural waist you can get a good indication of the amount of abdominal fat you are carrying. Knowing the circumference of your waist can help determine your risk of getting heart disease and other medical conditions. According to physicians, the following figures indicate individuals in the 'at risk' group:

Women with a waist circumference of 35 inches and over.
Men with a waist circumference of 40 inches and over.

#3. Waist-to-Hip Ratio

The waist-to-hip ratio is not only an excellent way of calculating how much excess weight you are carrying, it can also be used to indicate susceptibility to a number of health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

Using a tape measure, take a reading from your natural waist line and the widest part of your hips. Now divide the circumference of your waist by your hip circumference measurement. The World Health Organization considers abdominal obesity is represented by a waist–hip ratio above 0.90 for males and above 0.85 for females.

The following two methods are NOT recommended.

#4. Hydrostatic Weighing

Hydrostatic weighing is NOT an effective way of calculating body fat. The weighing process takes place underwater on a chair that is placed on a zeroed out set of scales. You then sit on the chair before exhaling all the air from you lungs and then placing your head underwater. Once the scales stabilize, your weight is then noted down. The resulting figure is then passed through a series of formulas which, ultimately, produces a body-fat reading based on the buoyancy of your body fat. That is a hugely inaccurate way of measuring body fat however as it ignores muscle buoyancy, ignores bone density, ignores how much air might be in your lungs, etc. So don't bother.

#5. Body Fat Measuring

By using a special set of callipers skin and fat measurements are taken from the waist, shoulder blades, biceps and triceps. The resulting readings, in millimeters, are added up to produce a single figure. The figure is then plotted against a chart that takes the patient's sex, age and measurement into consideration to determine the body-fat percentage figure. In theory the higher the body fat, the higher your risk of suffering from obesity-related conditions. However this method also suffers from inaccuracy as it also is confused by measurements due to saggy skin / very elastic skin, a more muscular physique, and even factors like disproportionate body shape.



Conclusions? Maybe stop worrying about the numbers and just exercise because you enjoy feeling healthy. It doesn't matter HOW you do it. Just enjoy doing it.