Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 15 is a Monday-morning solo check-in recorded on April 27, 2020, in which Tom Rowland ties a Lao Tzu quote, "if you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place," to the daily discipline of a 100-day burpee challenge and a Wim Hof breathing and cold-shower practice. He explains how a few minutes of breathing and a hard cold shower each morning create space for clear thought, and previews a stacked week of guests coming up on the show.
Listen now: Spotify, or press play in the player on this page.
It's a quote from Lao Tzu that Tom Rowland uses to frame this episode. His point is that a few minutes of daily discipline, in this case burpees and breathing, gives you a clear head at least once a day, and that clear-headed moment is what lets you work through fear, frustration, and anxiety and make decisions from a positive, grateful place instead of a reactive one.
It's an April challenge where participants do one more burpee than the day before, starting at one and building all the way to 100 by the end of the challenge. On the day this episode was recorded, April 27, 2020, that meant 27 burpees, with 28 the next day, and so on.
Tom was running a parallel 40-day Wim Hof challenge: four rounds of Wim Hof-style breathing followed by push-ups, plus a daily cold shower that had built up to a minute and thirty seconds by this point in April. He says the breathing has been most valuable to him as a form of meditation that clears his head.
Cameron Kirkconnell is a spearfisherman with 18 spearfishing world records of his own and more than 30 world records set by his guided clients. He's an unlimited-tonnage master mariner, a US Coast Guard Silver Lifesaving Medal recipient, has traveled to roughly 90 countries including Antarctica and the Arctic, and runs a premier spearfishing guide service for both yacht- and land-based international trips.
He teased a How 2 Tuesday on rigging with Scott Walker, filmed in Scott's kitchen while he was canning tuna, a live Instagram interview with Cameron Kirkconnell, a full-length episode with Kyle Jemas about a trip to catch arapaima (the largest freshwater fish, caught on a fly rod), a full-length conversation with self-described "certified health nut" Troy Casey, and a Physical Friday episode on poling technique, the right pole to choose, and exercises to protect your shoulders, grip, and forearms.
He says the main benefit for him isn't the immune-system or performance research behind Wim Hof-style breathing, it's that the practice clears his mind. Getting one real moment of clear thought a day lets him work through fear, frustration, and anxiety so he can make decisions from a calmer, more grateful state, which is the same idea behind the Lao Tzu quote that gives the episode its name.
This was a Monday in the middle of the 2020 quarantine, and I wanted to start the week with something other than just news about the world falling apart. The 100-day burpee challenge and the Wim Hof breathing had already become a daily habit for me by this point, and the Lao Tzu line felt like the right way to frame why I keep doing it even on the days I don't want to.
The math is simple, one more burpee than the day before, but the discipline of showing up for it every single day, especially the days you don't feel like it, is the part that carries over into everything else. I talk through where I was in the challenge and what that daily habit was doing for me on this episode.
By this point in the challenge the cold shower had built up to a minute and thirty seconds, on top of four rounds of Wim Hof breathing and push-ups. I get into why the combination matters to me on this episode, and why I still don't particularly enjoy the cold part even after doing it every day.
I run through everything on the schedule that week: a How 2 Tuesday on rigging with Scott Walker, filmed in his kitchen mid-tuna-canning, a live Instagram sit-down with spearfishing record-holder Cameron Kirkconnell, a full-length conversation with Kyle Jemas about chasing arapaima, and a visit from Troy Casey, who I just call "the certified health nut." Hear why I was looking forward to each one in the episode.
I closed this one with a line from Travis Bradbury on grit: it's the passion, perseverance, and stamina you channel to stick with your dreams until they become reality. That, paired with the Lao Tzu quote, is really the whole message of this short episode, correct your mind first, and keep showing up for the small stuff.
Press play in the player on this page, or catch it on Spotify.
Lao Tzu · Wim Hof · Scott Walker · Cameron Kirkconnell · Kyle Jemas · Troy Casey · Travis Bradbury
Tom Rowland is 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. His Monday episodes often pair a personal discipline check-in, like this 100-day burpee and Wim Hof breathing challenge, with a preview of what's coming up that week on the show.
Tom: Good Monday morning. It's April 27, 2020, and we're getting ready for a great week. Lao Tzu said, if you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. That applies to the April challenge, a burpee every day for a hundred days. Today is the 27th, so we're doing 27 burpees today, 28 tomorrow, and on up to 100.
At the same time we're doing a Wim Hof forty-day challenge, four rounds of Wim Hof-style breathing followed by push-ups. For me the breathing has been most beneficial as a form of meditation. It clears my mind so I can turn off a lot of what's going on and get real clear thought at least once a day. Combined with the burpee challenge, every day I'm exercising discipline and finding time to clear my head.
That clear head lets me work through the thoughts I have, sometimes fear, sometimes frustration, sometimes just overall anxiety, and make decisions appropriately. So as Lao Tzu says, if you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. Even if it's just for a few seconds a day, getting into a positive, grateful frame of mind to start the day changes everything else. That was written a long time ago, and I think it applies today as much as any time in history.
Don't forget the cold showers on the Wim Hof challenge, we're up to a minute and thirty seconds. It's not fun, I don't like it, which is all the more reason to do it.
Tom: We've got a good How 2 Tuesday with Scott Walker on rigging, the way he likes to rig stuff, filmed in his kitchen while he was canning tuna. We're continuing that series and starting a new one on electronics.
Tomorrow we're trying something new: a live Instagram podcast on the Saltwater Experience account with Cameron Kirkconnell, one of the best spearfishermen in the world. His resume: 18 spearfishing world records, 30-plus world records set by his clients on guided trips, an unlimited-tonnage master mariner, a US Coast Guard Silver Lifesaving Medal recipient, and he's been to 90 countries including Antarctica and the Arctic, running the premier spearfishing guide service for international trips.
Wednesday we've got a full-length episode with my friend Kyle Jemas, who's been all over the world, most recently to catch arapaima, the largest freshwater fish, on a fly rod. Thursday, a full-length episode with Troy Casey, the certified health nut from California.
Friday's Physical Friday came from a listener question about poling a boat, how to get better at it and avoid getting so tired. That episode covers technique, picking the right pole, and exercises for shoulder health, grip, and forearm strength, since a lot of guides develop shoulder problems from the repetitive motion.
All of this week is dedicated to discipline and grit, so I'll leave you with a quote from Travis Bradbury: grit is the extra something that separates the most successful people from the rest. It's the passion, perseverance, and stamina we must channel to stick with our dreams until they become reality. Get ready for an awesome week.
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