The changes that have me feeling my best at 53 are better sleep, dialed-in vitamins and greens, and a dedicated stretching program — plus the water I was already drinking. A listener on my text thread asked what I have done in the last year that made the biggest difference, and it is a fair question, because this has been one of my best years physically. I am setting PRs at an age when everyone says you are supposed to be on the downhill slide. I sat down, made notes, and traced exactly what changed.
Watch now: press play on the video above, or listen in the player at the top of the page.
Three things I can put a finger on, plus one constant. I overhauled my sleep using Matthew Walker's book Why We Sleep, I got blood work done and built a vitamin, greens, and fish-oil routine around the results, and I committed to Joe Hippensteel's stretching program — sometimes two hours a day. The fourth thing in the title was drinking enough water, which I had been doing all along. The stretching made the single biggest difference.
Straight from Why We Sleep: clean up the sleep environment. I got the lights out of the bedroom, added blackout curtains, started paying real attention to room temperature, made the bedroom for sleep only — no TV — and cut electronics an hour before bed. The surprise was that I did not know I was sleeping badly; I was just tired. Better-quality sleep showed up as feeling better all day.
I have experimented with melatonin and with the cocktail Andrew Huberman suggests — magnesium threonate, L-theanine, and apigenin. I am still playing with the dosage, but there is no question it is helping me fall asleep faster and stay asleep through the night. Huberman works with Matthew Walker, whose book started this whole overhaul for me.
That is how I did it, and I recommend it. I had my doctor check a range of vitamin levels — it can be expensive, but it showed me where I was okay and where I was low, and I built my supplementation around the results rather than guessing. Vitamin D matters especially: clothing and sunscreen block production, and in northern climates the sun sits too low for much of the year — I tell my boys in Montana to supplement roughly October through May.
Opti-Greens is a greens powder I throw in my shake to cover vegetables and gut health — I felt it working immediately, especially on the road, where it keeps digestion completely regular no matter what I eat. Opti-Reds is the companion fruit-extract product, loaded with antioxidants. The multivitamin pack took about a month before I noticed a difference; the greens and reds I felt right away.
Joe Hippensteel's Ultimate Human Performance program takes you through 24 ranges of motion with specific standards — positions you should be able to hit, and keep working toward if you cannot. The Advanced Ranges of Motion workshop is not cheap, but as you close in on his standards the clock starts winding backwards. Joe calls it the fountain of youth, and I tend to agree: my back, knee, and hip pain are gone and I have had zero injuries.
Here is the exact sequence of changes I made, in the order I would tell a friend to make them.
I show the book, the supplements, and both programs on screen in the episode. Press play in the player above.
A back injury at Christmas. I had my entire family down in Key West to fish every single day, and somehow I hurt my back — again. It has happened plenty of times and I always just worked through it, but this time I was tired of it and decided to get to the root instead. That decision led me to stretching programs, then to Joe Hippensteel, and the rest of the year followed from there. I tell the story in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Because that is what Joe Hippensteel calls it, and I tend to agree. His Advanced Ranges of Motion workshop gives you 24 positions with hard standards, and the closer you get to those standards, the more the clock winds backwards. I was putting in up to two hours a day because every bit made me feel better and I wanted more. Knee pain gone, hip pain gone, back quiet, zero injuries — and it translates to the gym, the boat, hunting trips, and stairs. I go deeper in the episode — press play in the player above.
That I was guessing before. The panel showed me okay in a lot of vitamins and low in some, so I researched a pack to address exactly that and added fish oil. Vitamin D got my attention most — every cell in your body uses it, and between clothing, sunscreen, and northern sun angles, a lot of people cannot make enough. The vitamins took a month before I felt a difference; then it arrived clearly. I cover what I take in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Ben Patrick — the Knees Over Toes Guy on Instagram. Alongside Joe's program, I picked up his protocol for my lingering patellar tendonitis: ten to fifteen minutes, three times a week, not easy but short. I have watched his knee success stories climb from under 2,000 toward 3,000 — people like me who hurt going up and down stairs and fixed it themselves. If you have knee issues, he is worth your follow. I explain how I combine the two programs in the episode — press play in the player above.
Full confession from the episode: the title says four things, and when I counted my notes on camera there were really three — the fourth was drinking enough water, which I never stopped doing. Sleep, vitamins and greens, and a dedicated stretching routine. Those moved the needle.
This is not about celebrating how I feel at 53. It is about saying that if you are having issues, you can get through them — start with one of these three and see what it does. Links to everything I mentioned are on this page, and if you have a question of your own, the text thread is 305-930-7346.
Why We Sleep · Matthew Walker · Andrew Huberman · magnesium threonate · L-theanine · apigenin · vitamin D · blood work · Opti-Greens · Opti-Reds · fish oil · Joe Hippensteel · Ultimate Human Performance · Ben Patrick · Knees Over Toes Guy · Key West · Joe Rogan podcast · book club
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, healthy, and in the game for life — short, practical episodes you can put to work the same day.
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