I’ve shown you mine, now show me your Desert Island exercise. Comment below…

Well mine couldn’t be further from that ‘ideal’.

Most of my weekends involve getting up earlier and heading out to an archery tournament.

Much like last weekend my choice of coffee this morning is poor… Some boiled crap with a splash of white stuff that has never seen a cow.

The shoot this weekend is our national championships, which basically means a straight out contest between myself and my team mate Gilles Seywert for honors.

This is the field championships which rewards good shooting AND being fit enough to get around the course being able to perform the whole weekend. If i have any motivation for being fit for my sport, this is it. two days of climbing up and down hills shooting 72 arrows over the course of 6 or more hours.

If you’re not fit there is no way you can perform the same shot at the start and at the end of the weekend.

All those hill sprints I do at Forestfit pay off on courses like this. You kinda feel invincible and certainly way ahead of your competitors when you are not gasping for air at the top of each incline.

The other side benefit of all this training is your balance and flexibility. Many of the shooting pegs are on uneven ground and the angle of your shooting posture is not even close to the perfectly flat ground of your practice shooting facility. This makes it essential for you to have a strong stance and flexibility to contort yourself into the right position for the shot.

Outside observers of archery would think it is sport for the non athletic type of person. I know you can compete if you are some fat bloke, but you’d be far more competitive if you did some type of physical training, and I really know how much more enjoyable it can be when you are fit.

Train with a purpose, don’t just say you want to be fitter, or to lose ‘some’ weight. Train to be better at your sport it really gives meaning to your workout.