I’m a soccer goalkeeper, so I just stand around. Yet I’ve discovered that it is still one of my favorite workouts and even though a game is ninety minutes of mostly standing, it’s one of my best workouts.
We get a better workout doing something we are excited to do. Excitement raises the heart rate which causes us to burn more calories, even if we are just standing around waiting for a shot to come.
It releases hormones that allow the body to continue in the exercise longer. Endorphins and Adrenaline are the two major ones. Endorphins act as a painkiller so we don’t feel the as much stress of the exercise. Adrenaline supercharges the muscles to work longer. These changes occur not from what we do, but how excited we are to do that exercise.
Another one of my favorite activities is Archery. And it turns out that the bow is an excellent exercise machine. Drawing back my bow is like performing a 60 pound single-arm row. I got my wife a bow and she tested the draw. She was barely able to pull it back but had trouble holding the heavy weight. But we went up the canyon and I convinced her to try her bow. She had her doubts but eventually relented. She was soon able to repeatedly hit the target and she commented to me afterwards how when she was shooting it didn’t feel as hard to pull back. The difference wasn’t because she suddenly got stronger, but that the exercise got more exciting. Before she was only able to pull the bow back a couple of times, but with a target to shoot she released dozens of arrows into the foam block.
If you do not enjoy your method of staying fit, find a way to make it enjoyable. If it is something that you detest entirely than find something you can get excited about. You’ll last longer in your healthy lifestyle and you’ll get more benefits from the exercises you do.
Bow Workout
For all those archers out there, here is an exercise routine you can do with your bow.
