ALL EPISODES

This week is all about the importance of grip strength in fishing. The farmer’s walk is an Old School exercise that has stood the test of time for a good reason…it works! It is just like it sounds, you basically take something that is heavy and walk around with it. Just like everything else I do, this one does not require anything expensive or only available in a gym. I fill up two 5 gallon buckets and take a few laps around my driveway. To make things harder, I also do this with heavy kettlebells. The Farmers Walk and Farmer’s Hold are not flashy or new. They are time tested and effective. Throw this into your workout a couple of times a week and I promise that you will be able to hold that cast net longer, pull the anchor faster, carry more ice, lift heavier coolers all without hurting your back. Plus, when we get back to shaking hands with each other you will crush people and make a great first impression. Just don’t break anyone’s hands. You will be COUNTRY STRONG! Email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com or tag me on Instagram @tom_rowland with any creative ways that you use the farmer’s carry.

The ascending/descending workout is a great way to keep workouts interesting. I like to create workouts that have 2 parts. On the first part the reps will decrease each round and on the other part the reps will increase. You feel great knowing that your next set will be less reps on the first part but you are also building reps on the other side. Try a couple of the variations I discuss in this episode and Let me know ways that you use this workout. Tag me on Instagram @tom_rowland or by emailing me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. If you liked this episode please subscribe and leave a rating and review. Share with a friend who needs a new workout.

With a lot of gyms still closed, many people are trying to find creative ways to work out at home. Using your own body weight can be a great workout, but sometimes you want a little bit more of a challenge. That is when the weighted vest comes into play. You can do all of your same body weight workouts, but just with more of a challenge. The great thing about these weighted vests is that you can add or remove weight based on where you’re at. Email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com to let me know how you implement the weighted vest into your workouts.

People always ask me what kind of supplements I am taking, and I really only take one. When I am out on the water or doing anything that will result in a lot of sweating, I always drink plenty of water, and I will add in a supplement to replenish my electrolytes. I take Hammer Endurolytes, but there are a number of alternatives. What’s most important is that you stay hydrated and are able to replenish your electrolytes during a hot day in the sun.

With the coronavirus shutting down gyms, many online retailers are completely sold out of equipment for home gyms. In this video we talk about a great workout with equipment that you can get at your local hardware store and junkyard. A sledgehammer workout can be a great high-intensity exercise that you can do right in your backyard. Combine this with burpees, squats, or a number of other exercises to ramp up the intensity. Let me know what variations of this workout you use by dropping a comment below or emailing me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com

For this week’s Physical Friday, we’re talking about partner workouts combining isometric and rep exercises. Working out with a partner will help keep you motivated while pushing each other to the next level. With these workouts, you will establish a rep goal and work together to achieve that goal. You can make these as easy or as hard as you want, making them a part of a circuit or establishing high rep counts. Let me know how you use this workout by emailing podcast@saltwaterexperience.com

One of the hardest parts of traveling for me is staying in a consistent workout routine. The deck of cards is certainly not my idea and it is not a new idea, but one that I use all the time. I learned this from Ross Enamait (@Rosstraining) but athletes for many years have used a deck of cards to create all kinds of workouts. Ray Lewis is one of many famous and successful athletes who have used a deck of cards for years. The Deck not only gives you a great format to work out without a gym, but also will help to keep you motivated on a daily basis, because you already know what your workout will be. I go over some of my favorite variations of the Deck of Cards and how I use them but the possibilities are literally endless.

One of the most necessary skills when out on the water is the ability to pull your bodyweight up. Imagine that you get tossed out of the boat. Would you have the strength to pull yourself back up onto the deck? If you fall off the dock, could you get yourself back up? Simply training for this scenario can result in life or death. In this week’s Physical Friday, I walk through some progressions to gradually get anyone to be able to do a full pull-up. Things like elastic bands and olympic rings can help to build up your strength slowly, and then eventually graduate into the full pull-up. Then, you will be strong and confident in the outdoors. Be Safe, Be Strong!

Traveling can always make having a consistent workout routine more difficult. We have talked about the deck-of-cards workout as a way to overcome this, but using a pair of dice is another great way to work out on the road. You may not always have access to the same equipment, but I have put together a few different sets of dice for different situations on the road. Some dice require just one piece of basic equipment, and others require none at all. Let me know if you use this method or if you have any other travel tricks for keeping your workouts consistent by emailing podcast@saltwaterexperience.com

For Physical Friday this week, we will be talking about formats for setting challenges for periods of time. Whether that be a 30 day workout challenge, or something like the 100 day burpee challenge that we just finished. Setting challenges with an end date will help to keep you motivated to push through. It is also a great way to build up your endurance as you build sets day by day.

Team workouts increase intensity and also create camaraderie. I like a format called the Leap Frog workout that uses 3 exercises for 2 athletes. One of my favorites includes 10 Pullups, 10 Kettlebell Swings and 10 Wall Balls. Decide on a time for the workout. In this case, lets pick 20 minutes.

Experienced waterman and spear fisherman Capt Scott Brown joins us to talk about how to get physically prepared for lobster season or spear fishing.

Experienced waterman and spear fisherman Capt Scott Brown joins us to talk about how to get physically prepared for lobster season or spear fishing.

Our 100-day burpee challenge is a good analogy for life in general.  Take a massive amount of work and stare it down.  It is easy to become intimidated and quit.  However, successful people don’t do it that way.  Winners look at that work and start to break it into manageable pieces.  They use momentum to begin to accept and overcome larger challenges along the way and before they know it they have accomplished the task that once seemed so daunting.  This challenge is much the same.

Our 100-day burpee challenge is a good analogy for life in general.  Take a massive amount of work and stare it down.  It is easy to become intimidated and quit.  However, successful people don’t do it that way.  Winners look at that work and start to break it into manageable pieces.  They use momentum to begin to accept and overcome larger challenges along the way and before they know it they have accomplished the task that once seemed so daunting.  This challenge is much the same.

A callous is created as a beautiful response from your body to adapt to a stimulus. You are doing something that is wearing off skin in a certain area like pullups, poling the boat, rowing the boat, lifting weights and your body develops a callus right at that spot. It also develops a callous only as thick as the work you are doing with it. So if you only do a little poling or lifting or a few pullups, you will have thin, small callouses. If you do a medium amount you have medium callouses. This is where the problem comes in. When callous tears it is usually because you are asking more from your body than normal.