Senate Bill 2508 is legislation that was snuck in at the eleventh hour and threatens to reroute money earmarked for Florida's water issues, putting years of clean water progress at risk. It is exactly why we turned this year's 10,000 Pushup Challenge into an awareness campaign for Captains For Clean Water. In this Physical Friday I explain what SB 2508 means for fishing guides, real estate, and tourism, what you can do about it today, and the every minute on the minute technique that let me finish my 10,000 pushups in ten days.
Watch now: press play on the video above and follow along.
SB 2508 is Florida legislation that was pushed in at the eleventh hour and would allow money earmarked for water issues to be rerouted elsewhere. Clean water is what Florida is all about. If the water is clean and the fishery is thriving, so are the restaurants, real estate, businesses, and tourism. The bill threatens fishing guides' livelihoods across the state, which is why the whole fishing and outdoor community got fired up and pushed back hard.
Take two incredibly small actions: sign the petition at captainsforcleanwater.org and call your state senator and representative to tell them you want that money to go to clean water where it was intended. Small actions done by a lot of people make a huge impact. You can also make sure everyone doing the pushup challenge with you is registered, which puts them on the Captains For Clean Water mailing list so they hear about the next fight too.
EMOM stands for every minute on the minute. You find a number of pushups you can do easily in one set, for me that was 20, then you do that number at the top of every minute for a set period of time. The short burst takes fifteen or twenty seconds, the rest of the minute is recovery, and the rest mixed with short bursts gives your body just enough time to clear lactic acid. It is the best technique I have found for stacking serious pushup volume.
I used the every minute on the minute method, starting with 20 pushups a minute for twenty minutes, then forty minutes the next day. On the final day I had 1,970 pushups left, so I did 20 on the minute for ninety four minutes and finished with a few extra sets, ending the day over 2,000 pushups. The surprise was the next morning: I was not sore, which I credit to the short bursts mixed with built-in rest.
Ray Cash Care is a Navy SEAL and the pushup king, and he is coming on the podcast. He does a thousand pushups a day, and on Saturday, his rest day, he does 1,324, which is 22 pushups every minute on the minute for sixty minutes. The number 22 represents the number of veterans lost to suicide each day, so the workout carries real meaning. Hearing about his routine is what inspired me to try the EMOM approach on my own challenge.
Pick a number nowhere near failure, a set you can finish in ten to twenty seconds. If your number is 10, doing 10 on the minute for twenty minutes gives you 200 pushups with forty to fifty seconds of rest each round. The number could be five, ten, twenty, or fifty depending on your fitness. The point is repeatability: the bursts stay easy enough that you can keep hitting them minute after minute without burning out.
This is the every minute on the minute method I used to finish the 10,000 Pushup Challenge in ten days.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play above.
We decided this year's challenge would be an awareness campaign so that if something ever threatened Florida's water, we would have an army ready. Nobody expected the threat to land in the middle of the challenge. SB 2508 showed up at the eleventh hour, and suddenly every conversation a pushup started became a chance to bring someone into the fight. I walk through how the timing played out in the episode, so press play above.
Fishing guides, restaurant owners, hoteliers, realtors, anybody connected to tourism in the Florida Keys is worried about this bill. Nobody wants to vacation on a stinking beach covered in dead fish, and when the fishery suffers, everything downstream of it suffers too. The governor opposes the bill and so does everyone associated with clean water, but it could still happen without pressure. I explain who is speaking up and why in the episode, so press play above.
On my last day of the challenge I had 1,970 pushups left and the finish line in sight, and when I see a finish line I go for it. Ninety four minutes of 20 pushups every minute on the minute, a few extra sets, and I cleared 2,000 for the day. The next morning I kept waiting for the soreness and it never came. I break down why the burst-and-rest format made that possible in the episode, so press play above.
You have been doing your part with the pushups, and I am proud of every one of you, men and women alike, doing this for something bigger than yourselves. Now let's finish the job on SB 2508.
Tell everyone in your challenge group to go to captainsforcleanwater.org, sign the petition, and call their representatives. The pushups got their attention. The phone calls win the fight. Press play above for the full story.
Senate Bill 2508 · Captains For Clean Water · 10,000 Pushup Challenge · EMOM (every minute on the minute) · Ray Cash Care · Navy SEALs · the Everglades · Florida water quality · Florida Keys tourism · lactic acid
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. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen, where I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep me ready to fish, hunt, and live hard for the rest of my life.
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