May 14, 2025
#811: 2x Olympic Archery Medalist Jake Kaminski — Lessons Learned and Mantras Used After 1,000,000 Arrows
The Tim Ferriss ShowAbout this episode
Jake Kaminski is a two-time Olympic silver medalist in archery and a longtime member of the US Archery Team. He runs a successful YouTube channel , writes training guides, and develops high-performance gear under the Kaminski Archery brand. Sign up for the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship here. Sponsors: Helix Sleep premium mattresses: https://HelixSleep.com/Tim (27% off all mattress orders) AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://DrinkAG1.com/Tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.) Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: https://shopify.com/tim (one-dollar-per-month trial period) * Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:06:50] A glimpse into the high-precision world of Olympic archery. [00:11:04] How Jake and I connected. [00:18:27] Jake’s auspicious introduction to archery. [00:21:15] Why you (Yes! You!) should try archery. [00:22:01] The differences between bows. [00:25:19] The admirable proficiency of Shot IQ’s Bodie and Joel Turner. [00:26:24] Ethical bow hunting, performing under pressure, and transitioning from rifle to bow. [00:29:22] Why I wouldn’t have cut it as a competitive archer in Korea. [00:30:14] Mindful archery and training hard to make competition easy. [00:37:00] What Jake did when compound bow archery started to get boring. [00:40:00] Meeting legendary Coach Kisik Lee (KSL). [00:43:06] The upsides of having no social life as a kid. [00:45:20] The welcoming weirdness of archery communities. [00:46:33] For the sake of form, Coach Lee shakes things up. [00:51:21] “I am.” — an affirmation for apathy adjustment. [00:58:11] London, 2012 Olypmics: when it all starts coming together. [01:08:28] How does teamwork play out in archery? [01:15:40] My own experience with Coach Lee. [01:19:23] The trials of training and traveling. [01:27:33] Blank bale practice. [01:31:14] Layering, biomechanics, and other early points of focus. [01:33:03] The underrated importance of follow through. [01:36:40] Coach Lee’s take on follow through vs. release. [01:37:29] Gauging tension and intention as an instructor. [01:38:52] Attention to grouping over hitting the bullseye. [01:40:57] Making adaptations for physical limitations. [01:43:30] The ups and downs of our patented “Jesus take the wheel” instinctive approach. [01:46:24] Warm-up tournaments, barebowing, black bales, and string walking. [01:50:54] Recovering from the disaster that made me rethink Lancaster. [01:55:15] Rebalancing gear: arrows and arrow rests. [02:00:50] The importance of practicing in tournament-like conditions. [02:04:03] Securing convenient fuel. [02:08:17] Lancaster preparation logistics (with special thanks to Heather Kaminski and Rick Simpson Oil). [02:13:17] The glue that holds us together: note-taking and training logs. [02:16:47] Even counterintuitive consistency is key. [02:18:45] Our experience at Lancaster. [02:28:00] “The goal is to do the least necessary, not the most possible.” — Henk Kraaijenhof [02:31:44] Learning by observation and conversation on the practice range. [02:35:35] What’s the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship, and why should you get involved? [02:40:30] How can you (and why should you) get started with archery today? [02:42:48] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast . For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter ( 5-Bullet Friday ) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . 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