2016 Archery Resolutions

Wow...I've had this blog 2 years and started it as a journal for my archery progress. I'd heard of other bloggers talking about blog analytics but thought, yeah right that'll never happen to me. At first, I didn't even make this blog public. Imagine my eyes bulging a foot in front of my head  shock as I saw I had viewers from Egypt? Hong Kong? Mexico! This is truly amazing. I've met quite a few archers from the US and other countries on tumblr and as one said recently though a message, 'Meeting archers online is always bittersweet.' But you never know, I have many travels in my future and I hope that the majority of them are archery related. And I will always try to reach out to fellow archers. That's what's so great about the archery community.

As everything else in my life is getting a revamp, why not the ol' blog too? Let's be honest, even my tumblr account colors make me cross eyed. I want to offer my readers a polished, quirky place to read about my journey and all things archery obsessed. I don't know about you all, but the airplane window template and the dandelions in the grass with the blue sky just aren't cutting it for me anymore.

Some equipment news-I finally managed to sell my yellow infitec challenger riser to a JOAD club in Florida. And my SF axiom + stabs and Beiter vbar, are on their way to another archer in California. Great thing about selling archery equipment? I suddenly had money to buy HMC+ stabs I found on archerytalk. I got them for a great deal (hi Scott!). I've ordered this vbar and the thing most archers seem to swear by, a bow trainer. There's no other way for me to build strength since my ceilings are too low for my bow and it's too cold to shoot outside. And honestly, shooting at an indoor range is a luxury right now so it doesn't happen often. Can I move here yet?

I really want Winex limbs. So archery resolution #2 for 2016 is to be at 34# draw weight by the end of the year. The only way I will get there is if I can pull a bow string or something similar every day. And the only way I can justify paying that much is if I can make a 4# jump. And get my family to chip in for maybe half the price? (Good thing Christmas and my birthday pretty much rub their backs together lol.) And with new limbs will come new arrows but I'll cross that  bill erm bridge when I come to it. I don't anticipate X10's happening this year.

So a recap:

Archery resolution #1:  to upgrade to HMC+ stabs
Archery resolution #2: to upgrade A Southpaw Archer Girl-make it worth reading and easy to navigate!
Archery resolution #2: to buy 34# Winex limbs by the end of  2016.   Accomplished in July 2016!

And that's only my archery list. But I'm already good on goal #1 on my other list-I passed my CPT exam! I'm starting out at a gym soon and I don't think "NEWBIE" could be written bigger on my forehead but I everyone starts somewhere! I've picked up Pilates seriously again and am loaning my new trainer my archery book put out by Kisik Lee and his team of coaches and archers. I'm really interested in getting more certifications through NASM and getting certified in Pilates too.

If you've hung in there with this post for this long I applaud you! Lots more to accomplish this year!

New Year, New Plans

Wow...2015 was one hell of a year. I faced major personal issues and although they are not resolved yet, some aspects of them will be closed soon. I am figuring out who I am, how I want to parent my kids and how to provide for them.

I started taking my certified personal trainer course last year and I will test out of it in 2 days. Then I can be hired at a gym as a trainer, build my business and provide for myself and my kids. I have a very strong desire to be my own boss, decide my own hours and be completely independent. It will take awhile to build my own business as a trainer but I am not afraid of hard work and sharing my passion about fitness and health with other people.

Archery is by no means going by the way side. But I learned some hard lessons. I learned after I had already been strength training awhile that I was on the wrong track for archery strength training. My upper back started getting much too built for my comfort, while I shook and struggled at a draw weight I had been shooting prior for months comfortably. It seriously freaked me out that I was building muscle that didn't help me shoot better. So I am training myself and doing pilates to help build long and lean muscle. I focus a lot on core and back strength. I will be working with much lighter weights than before so as to prevent my back muscles from getting any bigger. I will also be using my bow and hopefully a bow trainer once I can swing it, to gain the strength I need to increase draw weight. The weather is much warmer than normal for my area but still too cold to shoot outside. (Hey I'm not Korean and not on the Korean team!)

The most important lessons I learned last year is that success takes time, independence and skill take time to achieve and build. But there's nothing to be afraid of. I will stick with my crappy 30# limbs till I have mastered them and save and work my butt off to provide for my kids and save for these limbs at 68, 34#, mediums. The best deal brand new is on alternativess.com. But I will keep my eyes out for deals on used ones. I will also be on the hunt for a better stab set and then of course i will have to budget for new arrows along with the 34# limbs. I am already researching for indoor arrows to have at ready for competition next indoor season.

I joined tumblr recently! I found a bunch of other archers on it. It's a great way to share bits and spurts of info with pics quickly. It's very cool to see fellow recurve archers in other countries work hard to achieve their archery dreams too. My color scheme looks revolting but I am waiting on better pictures to update it.

Here's to a year of super hard work and hustle; this year I can be whom I choose to be!