Tom Rowland Podcast

In the XPT Breathing Course, we went through a protocol that many people can benefit from. If your mind races as you lay down in bed and it becomes more difficult to go to sleep, this method may help.Inhale for 5 seconds through your nose, exhale for 7 seconds. I was taught that the 7 second exhale is critical. It can be more than 7 seconds but not as beneficial if it is less than 7 seconds. Do this 5-10 times.I like to extend this out to a 7 second inhale and a 14 second exhale. Ill do this for 10 times and fall asleep like a baby.

Many workouts are too difficult for someone’s current fitness or skill level. Scaling through progressions allows individuals to be able to participate in most workouts while gaining strength and skills to eventually be able to do any movement

Noah Ohlsen is a legitimate CrossFit superstar. His resume includes 1st, 2nd and 6th place in the Worldwide Open, 4 1st place finishes and a 2nd in the Regionals, and he has been in the top 10 in the World at the biggest stage in CrossFit, The CrossFit Games, 5 out of 6 times to include a 4th place and a 2nd place at the 2019 CrossFit Games. Despite being a true star of the sport, Noah is one of the most positive, friendly and supportive people I have ever been around. His enthusiasm and positivity are infectious. We met at the CrossFit Peak 360 in Miami and did a standard 9:00 am class. Noah just jumped right in with the regular folks like me after greeting everyone in the gym, fist-bumping and being genuinely interested in each person there. After seeing this authentic display of leadership, it was no surprise to me why he has created a loyal army of supporters around the World.I hope you enjoy this conversation with Noah Ohlsen on-site in a hot sweaty upstairs office at Peak 360 with his giant Golden Retriever, Max, at my feet.Visit Noah's website: NoahOhlsen.comFollow Noah on social: @NoOhlsenGet a Happy but Hungry T-shirt: Happy But Hungry Men's T-ShirtThis episode was brought to you by Waypoint - Watch all your favorite Saltwater Experience episodes at any time and find your favorite podcasts on the Waypoint Outdoor Collective. The episode was produced by Tom Rowland and Brock Rustand. The show was edited by Brock Rustand.See you next time,Tom Rowland

So far on our breath series we have gone over the Wim Hof method and we have covered Box Breathing. But now we are going to talk about what to do in situations where you might be anxious, nervous or overwhelmed. In these situations you are taking short breaths into the top of your chest and you activate the sympathetic nervous system where you are ready for fight or flight. In situations where you will be stressed or anxious you can do the Box Breathing or Wim Hof method to relax yourself so that you can focus. Sometimes the fight-or-flight reaction might be good, but if you are about to fly on a plane, or make a business presentation, then you want to be calm and collected. When feeling anxious or overwhelmed, try this technique to bring you back to a relaxed state.Simply stretch your hand out and with your other index finger simply start at the wrist and trace a line to the top of your thumb as you breathe in through your nose, trace a line back to your wrist as you breathe out.  Follow this for all your fingers entirely through your nose.Do this protocol as many times as needed until you are in a relaxed state, your heart rate has dropped and you are feeling calm.This podcast is brought to you by Waypoint. Produced by Tom Rowland and Brock Rustand. Audio editing by Brock Rustand. If you have any questions, email podcast@saltwaterexperienece.com.

I got a question recently from a listener asking, "how do you start working out if you haven't worked out in a long time." My biggest concern is what is your reason for working out. That is the most important thing and is what will carry you through the process of getting fit. It is important to have a good "why" when you are getting back into the habit of fitness.

Mike Dunlap is a Firefighter and fishing guide who is preparing for the Everglades Challenge. He plans to do the event on a Standup Paddleboard. The Everglades Challenge is an unsupported, expedition style adventure race for kayaks, canoes, and small boats. The distance is roughly 300 nautical miles depending on your course selection. There is a time limit of 8 days or less. Your safety and well being are completely up to you. You can follow the Everglades Challenge HERE, and watch Mike through instagram @chesapeaketjam.Follow @tom_rowland on instagram and watch every episode of Saltwater Experience for free on WaypointTV

When I went to SealFit Kokoro, a 50 hour camp run by Navy Seals, one of the first things we learned was the technique of Box Breathing. Box Breathing is a technique that calls for breathing in for a specific time, holding for a time, breathing out for a time and then holding for a time. Repeat this 5-10 times.The idea of box breathing is that this protocol allows us to move from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system or from fight or flight to relaxation. It turns out that we learned this technique early because we would find many…many times that we would be placed in chaos and definitely in fight or flight and need to make decisions without emotion and clear headed.The technique is simple. Lets take 5 as the count for all sides of the box. You simply breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, breathe out for 5 seconds and hold for 5 seconds. Repeat this 5 to 10 times.Try this when feeling anxious or preparing to perform. Maybe even when you are poling up on a big tarpon and your knees are knocking and breath is shallow. Let me know what you think of this technique by emailing me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and leave a comment below.

I know we have talked about the Deck of Cards a lot on this podcast, but I want to give you some variations of the Deck of Cards that you can do. No matter how many times I talk about it I continue to get questions about it, so lets go over it one more time. In an average deck of cards you have for suits (hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs). Face cards in this deck equal 10 and aces equal 11 or 1 if you need to scale it back. So from this point I will assign an exercise to each suit (for example burpees|spades, pushups|clubs, sit-ups|hearts, and squats|diamonds. So if you turn over a 3 of spades, that is 3 burpees, but a Queen of clubs would be 10 pushups.If you are outside you can take advantage of Joker cards or blank cards, designate them to be a running exercise or pull-ups. But often I will do this in a small space (like a hotel room) where I will have to just disregard the Jokers. So now that the Deck of Cards layout is established, let's go over some variations that I really like to mix up the Deck of Cards workout: Spades: Burpees, Clubs: Pushups, Hearts: Sit-ups, and Diamonds: Squats Black Cards: Burpees, Red Cards: Pushups Scale It Down: Face cards = 5, Cut the Deck in Half Spades: Sit-ups, Clubs: Flutter Kicks, Hearts: V-ups, and Diamonds: Supermans Spades: Toes to Bar, Clubs: Knees To Elbow, Hearts: Sit-ups, and Diamonds: V-ups Spades: Single Arm Snatches, Clubs: Single Arm Swings, Hearts: Goblet Squats, and Diamonds: Weighted Lunges The Deck of Cards workout has been my number 1 go-to for traveling workouts. It is phenomenal because it requires no equipment and little thought. It is something that I can squeeze in no matter how busy I am and there is no excuse for me not getting a workout. If you have some variations to this workout, send me some of the exercises that you are doing (podcast@saltwaterexperience.com) and I will try your workouts.

Chris Dombrowski is from Michigan and is known far and wide for his debut nonfiction book, Body Of Water: A Sage, A Seeker, And The World’s Most Elusive Fish. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Chris and getting to hear about his story and what inspired this book as well as his other fictional publications.Chris is from Michigan and earned his MFA from Montana where he then published Fragments with Dusk in Them (2008), September Miniatures with Blood and Mars (2012), and the collections By Cold Water (2009) and Earth Again (2013). Chris is quite the poet and draws a lot of inspiration from an early reading of Norman McLean’s novella A River Runs Through It. Chris has earned awards and honors for Associated Writing Programs Intro Award, Alligator Juniper’s National Poetry Prize, and a runner-up for Foreword Magazine’s Poetry Book of the Year. Chris still lives in Montana where he is a fly-fishing guide, director of the 406 Writers’ Workshop and the Beargrass Writing Retreat, and the Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Montana. Chris continues to write and teach alongside his many other gifts and is working on another nonfiction book.Body of Water: A Sage, A Seeker, and the World’s Most Elusive Fish, was hailed in The New York Times Book Review; lauded as “finely wrought and profoundly life-affirming.” The book was called “a spiritual memoir in the tradition of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” in Orion magazine. Body of Water was named to numerous Best Books of 2016 list, and the American Booksellers Association placed the paperback on its Top Ten Indie Next Picks for 2017-2018.I highly recommend this book, you can click here and purchase it! Keep an eye out for more books from Chris and check out some of his older works and poetry!

Wim Hof Breathing Method In October of 2015 I came across a documentary that changed how I started my day. Vice did a documentary about a Daredevil named Wim Hof who, through a breathing technique, was able to do amazing things previously believed to be impossible. He ran a marathon barefoot in the Arctic Circle, another marathon in extreme heat, he climbed Mt Kilamanjaro in shorts and even went up Everest in a pair of shorts. He set world records for swims under frozen lakes, he stayed in ice up to his neck longer than anyone to set a World Record. He was also able to influence his autonomic immune system in a laboratory environment to astound the scientific community. What was the most impressive to me, though, was that he claimed that he could teach these methods to anyone and that anyone could do what he has done. Strong claim…but he proved it by takin untrained people right up Kilamanjaro and teaching a group of people to alter their autonomic immune system in a lab just as he had done.I was intrigued, so I tried it and I felt changes immediately. I have started every day with this protocol since. Do not take my word for it. Here are some videos for you to see all this for yourself:Vice Documentary on The Ice Manhttps://youtu.be/VaMjhwFE1ZwWim Hof doing the WM Method himselfhttps://youtu.be/nzCaZQqAs9I Wim Hof on Joe Rogan 1https://youtu.be/Np0jGp6442AWim Hof on Joe Rogan 2https://youtu.be/H2NtdOKn630Wim Hof teaching Lewis Howes to do the Wim Hof Methodhttps://youtu.be/RW1C_3OXhEs