Lessons Learned and Mantras Used After 1,000,000 Arrows — Olympic Archery Medalist Jake Kaminski

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 (@JakeKaminskiArchery) writes training guides, and develops high-performance gear under the Kaminski Archery brand. Sign up for the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship here: https://usa.kaminskiarchery.com/pages/events 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) Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 900 million downloads and been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three years running. Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's free weekly email newsletter): https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-yt/ Follow the Tim Ferriss Podcast: https://tim.blog/podcast/ Visit the Tim Ferriss Blog: https://tim.blog/ Follow Tim Ferriss on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tferriss/ Follow Tim Ferriss on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/ Like Tim Ferriss on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ [00:00] Start. [00:44] Greetings [00:57] A glimpse into the high-precision world of Olympic archery. [05:23] How Jake and I connected. [12:55] Jake's auspicious introduction to archery. [15:48] Why you (Yes! You!) should try archery. [16:36] The differences between bows. [19:53] The admirable proficiency of Shot IQ's Bodie and Joel Turner. [21:08] Ethical bow hunting, performing under pressure, and transitioning from rifle to bow. [24:08] Why I wouldn't have cut it as a competitive archer in Korea. [25:01] Mindful archery and training hard to make competition easy. [30:53] What Jake did when compound bow archery started to get boring. [33:52] Meeting legendary Coach Kisik Lee (KSL). [37:08] The upsides of having no social life as a kid. [39:24] The welcoming weirdness of archery communities. [40:24] For the sake of form, Coach Lee shakes things up. [45:28] "I am." — an affirmation for apathy adjustment. [52:21] London, 2012 Olympics: when it all starts coming together. [01:02:44] How does teamwork play out in archery? [01:10:01] My own experience with Coach Lee. [01:13:50] The trials of training and traveling. [01:21:57] Blank bale practice. [01:25:43] Layering, biomechanics, and other early points of focus. [01:27:40] The underrated importance of follow through. [01:31:19] Coach Lee's take on follow through vs. release. [01:32:08] Gauging tension and intention as an instructor. [01:33:31] Attention to grouping over hitting the bullseye. [01:35:33] Making adaptations for physical limitations. [01:38:02] The ups and downs of our patented "Jesus take the wheel" instinctive approach. [01:40:56] Warm-up tournaments, barebowing, black bales, and string walking. [01:45:31] Recovering from the disaster that made me rethink Lancaster. [01:49:54] Rebalancing gear: arrows and arrow rests. [01:55:33] The importance of practicing in tournament-like conditions. [01:58:52] Securing convenient fuel. [02:03:10] Lancaster preparation logistics (with special thanks to Heather Kaminski and Rick Simpson Oil). [02:08:13] The glue that holds us together: note-taking and training logs. [02:11:46] Even counterintuitive consistency is key. [02:13:43] Our experience at Lancaster. [02:22:51] "The goal is to do the least necessary, not the most possible." — Henk Kraaijenhof [02:26:34] Learning by observation and conversation on the practice range. [02:30:20] What's the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship, and why should you get involved? [02:35:12] How can you (and why should you) get started with archery today? [02:37:25] Parting thoughts.

Jake KaminskiguestTim Ferrisshost

May 15, 20252h 40mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: May 15, 2025
Duration: 2h 40m
Channel: Tim Ferriss
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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 (@JakeKaminskiArchery) writes training guides, and develops high-performance gear under the Kaminski Archery brand. Sign up for the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship here: https://usa.kaminskiarchery.com/pages/events 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) Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 900 million downloads and been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three years running. Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's free weekly email newsletter): https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-yt/ Follow the Tim Ferriss Podcast: https://tim.blog/podcast/ Visit the Tim Ferriss Blog: https://tim.blog/ Follow Tim Ferriss on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tferriss/ Follow Tim Ferriss on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/ Like Tim Ferriss on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ [00:00] Start. [00:44] Greetings [00:57] A glimpse into the high-precision world of Olympic archery. [05:23] How Jake and I connected. [12:55] Jake's auspicious introduction to archery. [15:48] Why you (Yes! You!) should try archery. [16:36] The differences between bows. [19:53] The admirable proficiency of Shot IQ's Bodie and Joel Turner. [21:08] Ethical bow hunting, performing under pressure, and transitioning from rifle to bow. [24:08] Why I wouldn't have cut it as a competitive archer in Korea. [25:01] Mindful archery and training hard to make competition easy. [30:53] What Jake did when compound bow archery started to get boring. [33:52] Meeting legendary Coach Kisik Lee (KSL). [37:08] The upsides of having no social life as a kid. [39:24] The welcoming weirdness of archery communities. [40:24] For the sake of form, Coach Lee shakes things up. [45:28] "I am." — an affirmation for apathy adjustment. [52:21] London, 2012 Olympics: when it all starts coming together. [01:02:44] How does teamwork play out in archery? [01:10:01] My own experience with Coach Lee. [01:13:50] The trials of training and traveling. [01:21:57] Blank bale practice. [01:25:43] Layering, biomechanics, and other early points of focus. [01:27:40] The underrated importance of follow through. [01:31:19] Coach Lee's take on follow through vs. release. [01:32:08] Gauging tension and intention as an instructor. [01:33:31] Attention to grouping over hitting the bullseye. [01:35:33] Making adaptations for physical limitations. [01:38:02] The ups and downs of our patented "Jesus take the wheel" instinctive approach. [01:40:56] Warm-up tournaments, barebowing, black bales, and string walking. [01:45:31] Recovering from the disaster that made me rethink Lancaster. [01:49:54] Rebalancing gear: arrows and arrow rests. [01:55:33] The importance of practicing in tournament-like conditions. [01:58:52] Securing convenient fuel. [02:03:10] Lancaster preparation logistics (with special thanks to Heather Kaminski and Rick Simpson Oil). [02:08:13] The glue that holds us together: note-taking and training logs. [02:11:46] Even counterintuitive consistency is key. [02:13:43] Our experience at Lancaster. [02:22:51] "The goal is to do the least necessary, not the most possible." — Henk Kraaijenhof [02:26:34] Learning by observation and conversation on the practice range. [02:30:20] What's the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship, and why should you get involved? [02:35:12] How can you (and why should you) get started with archery today? [02:37:25] Parting thoughts.

SPEAKERS

Jake Kaminski
guest
Olympic archery medalist and coach known for Olympic recurve training and technique education.
Tim Ferriss
host
Author and podcaster who hosts The Tim Ferriss Show, interviewing high performers across fields.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Tim Ferriss, featuring Jake Kaminski and Tim Ferriss, Lessons Learned and Mantras Used After 1,000,000 Arrows — Olympic Archery Medalist Jake Kaminski explores olympic archer Jake Kaminski on precision, pressure, and practice systems Jake Kaminski defines Olympic recurve as a sport of repeatability and hyperprecision at long distances with minimal sighting references, where wind and tiny form changes heavily influence outcomes.

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