One end to go, you just need 28 from the 3 arrows to make your 1300, the first hits a 10, perfect, but the 2nd takes 3 attempts to get it off and you only hit an 8. Your tired after a long weekend of shooting, yours arms and shoulders feel heavy and your concentration wavers between the nice cool drink while you wait for prize giving and the long drive home.

Your arms will not stop shaking, the last shot is punched away too quickly **** it another 8! Missed the 1300 AGAIN!

This scenario must have occurred so many times to me, until I realised one of the things holding me back from my goals was my fitness levels. I had a few too many kilos and the heart and lungs of an asthmatic dog. Something had to change!

Whilst I took the rather drastic action of changing careers to become a fitness professional in order to get fit, your own shooting can be improved quite dramatically with some simply habit changes. You don't necessarily need the latest bit of kit to gain a few points. Take a huge leap forward in performance with even a slight improvement in your physical condition.

Many people think that they need to do sports specific routines to get the most out of their training time, however in most cases this is not entirely necessary. Obtaining a good level of fitness through the use of something a little more generic is ideal for most archers. Until you start competing at the elite level of your sport, then a sports specific routine will not necessarily be the best use of your time.

Generic doesn't sound particularly interesting does it?

However you'll be surprised what generic actually means. But first here is a couple of big DON'TS

Don't go jogging, it is a waste of time if your goal is to shed body fat, and even for general conditioning it is probably the slowest method of "getting fit"
Avoid those spinning classes, if you think your posture sucks now, spinning will make it much worse!
Crunches, sit ups and most other abdominal exercises are over-rated. If your training time is limited, then their are much more effective exercises you can do.

Despite being a fitness professional, I actually don't like your usual gym environment. It is probably the most unnatural of environments for doing a workout. You don't really need to join an expensive gym and you don't need much in the way of equipment, the stuff you do need is not particularly expensive either.

Workouts should not take more than 40 minutes at a time. Done regularly through the week, using a mixture of short interval based cardio routines and all body exercise routines that help improve your posture, strengthen you heart and lungs as well as burn a bucket load of body fat from your body.

To see most gains in terms of performance and score in the shortest time avoid exercises that "isolate" individual muscles. Your training time is limited so stay away from the abs or bicep exercises. Doing exercises such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, pull ups and rows incorporate all the major muscle groups and make the difference between getting to the end of your round feeling shattered or feeling like you could do the whole round all over again.

Future articles and videos will cover in more detail, specific exercises, training plans, cardio routines and all the mobility and conditioning routines you need for getting the best out of your physical conditioning and sports performance.