Get In Shape For Tarpon Fishing
TOM ROWLAND PODCAST
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“It only takes 4 minutes, but if done right it can be very painful.”
Podcast Synopsis
I got a question from a listener about how someone might get in better shape so they could enjoy their Tarpon trip much more. It might seem silly to some to think that fishing requires fitness, but most people don’t stand up all day in the hot sun. Leg strength, lower back strength, and proper nutrition and hydration can go a long way to helping you to enjoy your trip much more. I had to maintain my fitness to be able to guide 320 a year in the Florida Keys. Much of what I did can apply to the seasonal traveler to be able to simply enjoy their trip more. If you find this article interesting check out How To Extend Your Guiding Career and Primitive Travelers Survival Guide.
Most of the clients that come to the Florida Keys and other destinations are not prepared to be standing all day so leg strength becomes very important. Simply going on a walk, or even putting on a weighted backpack, will help a lot. If you could progress to walking 3 miles with a weighted backpack before your trip then you should be able to stand on a rocking boat all day without a problem. Another way to improve leg strength is step up onto a high stair or cooler. Additional work for balance can be performed on a BOSU Ball which will prepare you for both, respectively, stepping up onto the deck and for the rocking of the both.
Think about the things you do in a typical day and compare it to how active you will be on your flats trip. Do you stand up all day? Are you constantly doing step ups, fighting fish and battling a rocking boat? I know you aren’t trying to win a triathlon but you have been waiting for this trip all year so you want to make the most of it. Doing some prep work for the type of movement you will be expected to do will go a long way to helping you enjoy your trip more.
While you are on location, make sure you take care of yourself while you are out on the boat, stay hydrated, sleep a lot and have a blast catching some fish.
Let me know what you think of this podcast and shoot me an email if you have any questions - podcast@saltwaterexperience.com
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See you next week - no excuses,
-Tom Rowland
FULL TRANSCRIPT
I've been going through a lot of emails
lately - some of them are kind of a mix
between how-to and physical Friday.
People want to know some things about
getting in shape but they also want to
know some things about fishing and one
of the emails that I was sent was “could
you tell me some things that I could do
that would get me in better shape to go
down on my annual flats trip”
okay
sure - absolutely there's lots of things
to think about and there's lots of ways
that you can start training to do a
little bit better on that flats trip.
What is one thing that you always
do while flats fishing?
You're gonna stand up all day long in a rocking boat .
Okay so most
people aren't used to standing up all
day… in fact most people sit all day so a
lot of the clients that come down are
not equipped or ready to be standing
all day doing anything much less on a
rocking boat.
So leg strength is
super-important you can do things like
you know as simple as just taking a walk
doing a little bit more walking .
You can
put on a backpack with put some books in
it put some bricks in it put whatever. We
call it rucking you can do that you know
if you got up to where you were walking
three miles with a weighted backpack
before you came down your trip
versus not doing anything your legs are
going to be way stronger your lower back
is going to be way stronger you're gonna
be way better at standing up on that
deck all day long.
But the other thing that happens as we
get older sometimes we lose some
strength in the legs is that it's harder to get
up onto the deck. So you can do box step
ups bench step ups or you can step up onto
something or you can do the Stairmaster at
the gym.
squats are also very helpful in
order to keep your legs strong so that
you are more capable of stepping up onto
that deck and then standing there and
having pretty good balance throughout
the day. There is something called a BOSU
ball you could put two of those BOSU
balls together and just kind of simulate
a rocking boat and that's a very good thing
to do. Then, in addition to that you
can practice some isometric holds there
these rubber bands or there are you know
cable machines or whatever and you can
just kind of get into a position where
you are pulling like you're pulling a
fishing rod and you can just kind of
hold that in that position because
that's what you're going to be doing.
you're gonna be holding that in that
position and fighting a fish for 20 30
40 minutes if that's not something that
you're doing everyday or you're not
training in the gym you're gonna have a
hard time with that. Your arms are gonna get
really tired and you're gonna want to
pass the rod off a lot of times there's
nobody to pass the rod off to so you got
to fight it or you got to switch hands
or you got to do something but for for
somebody that's in really good shape not
gonna be a problem at all . Somebody that
sits all day and wants to have the best
fishing experience that they can you
know you need to do a little bit of a
preliminary training. It seems
like it might be silly to to train for a
fishing trip but it's physical you're
standing up all day long just look at
what you do in a regular day do you
stand up all day long chances are you
don't unless you have a standing desk so
make sure you can stand up all day where
a weighted backpack and do some walking.
Just walk you know if that's the case
step up onto something
an 18-inch platform a cooler a bench
whatever the stairs in your house and
just just step up onto those things as
that gets easier and easier maybe where
the weighted backpacking and step up
there and you know you're not trying to
win a triathlon but
you're trying to make it to where
you've waited all year for this trip now
let's make the best of it ok so if you
can do a little training before great
we've talked a couple of times about the
different types of casting drills that
you can do but I guess it doesn't matter
how good a caster you are if you can't
stand up on the deck all day so you do
need to have some sort of minimal
physical strength in your legs
particularly and in that way you'll be
able to get up on the deck stay on the
deck and maintain your concentration
throughout the day without getting too
tired the other thing to think about is
when you're actually there need to take
care of yourself man.
You know you've waited all year for this
trip you want to do the best you can and
take it a little bit easy at night get
to bed a little bit earlier than then
maybe staying up till two o'clock in the
morning drinking and stuff like that
whatever that's fine everybody wants to
have a good time on the trip but just
know that that's gonna affect you the
next day if you want to have the best
trip you know have a reasonable dinner
get to bed early and then when you're
out on the boat the most important thing
that you can do is drink a lot of water
most people get dehydrated and and start
going down after two or three days so
work on that leg strength before you go
and drink a lot of water when you there
other than that catch some fish have a
good time and let me know if this helped
podcast at saltwater experience comm
that's the email address go to iTunes
rate and review this show if you can I'd
really appreciate it and until next week
see you
[Music]
you