Performing your best on the road comes down to one principle: replicate what you do at home as closely as possible — the same breakfast shake, the same supplements, the same sleep routine — so an eighteen-hour shoot day or a week of travel never knocks you off your plan. Since March 10 I have dropped 20 pounds with the Carbon app, and a big part of holding the line is my travel system. In this Physical Friday I show the pre-bagged shake trick that gets my whole morning routine onto an airplane.
Watch now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Replicate your home routine as closely as possible. When I travel and eat differently than I do at home, I do not feel well and I do not sleep well — and I travel for work where I have to be at my best for shoots, meetings, and entertaining. That is why I bring my breakfast with me, prep lunches when I can, and only leave dinner to chance. The closer the road looks to home, the better you look, feel, and perform.
Two bananas, two scoops of 1st Phorm Formula 1 protein powder, half a scoop of Ignition, a scoop of creatine, and two scoops of Opti-Greens. On top of that I take an Alpha BRAIN and the Micro Factor vitamin pack. The vanilla milkshake Formula 1 is the first protein powder I have actually liked after trying a bunch of them. If I had to pick just two pieces, I would keep the protein and the greens.
Pre-bag the dry mix. Before I fly, I measure each day's shake — protein, Ignition, creatine, Opti-Greens — into a sandwich bag, drop the Alpha BRAIN on top, and pack the vitamin packs. A dozen shakes fit in one gallon ziplock. When I land, the only shopping I need is a bunch of bananas from a grocery store, and my whole home breakfast is back online.
I travel with LMNT packets: 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 of potassium, and 60 of magnesium per stick. Work out in the morning, then sweat on the bow all day — you have to put that back. The LMNT packs have been fantastic for staying rehydrated on long sun days, and they take up no space in the bag.
Because travel is when you most need to be at your best and when it is easiest to fall apart. Eat differently, sleep differently, skip your supplements, and you feel it — and you might get sick right when an eighteen-hour filming day shows up. Same breakfast, same nighttime supplements, same routine, and you perform the same whether you are in a crappy hotel room or a beautiful resort.
Gut health and keeping you regular, which matters double on the road when your food sources change. Of everything in my shake, the greens and the protein are the two I would never cut. The creatine is one of the most scientifically supported supplements there is, and the Ignition pairs with the protein for post-workout recovery — but greens earn their spot every trip.
Here is the exact packing system I show on camera in the episode.
One gallon bag, one grocery stop, and the road stops being an excuse. The full show-and-tell is in the player above.
A couple weeks ago I shared my success with the Carbon app, and the progress kept going: I wanted to lose 17 pounds, lost it, and now I am 20 down on the way to 166 — mostly because I want my running back, and lighter running is better running. The travel system in this episode is how the streak survives trips. I cover the numbers in the episode above.
My profession makes me travel, and when I travel I cannot be average — business meetings, television shoots that take eighteen hours a day to film, entertaining people. The way to show up at your best is boring: eat what you eat at home, sleep how you sleep at home, take what you take at home. Different inputs produce a different you, and usually a worse one. I make the full case in the episode above.
Driving, I can bring the cooler, the blender, and the whole pantry. Flying, I get a backpack. The fix is embarrassingly simple: each shake pre-measured into a sandwich bag, a dozen bags into one gallon ziplock, vitamins alongside. Land, buy bananas, done. I show the whole assembly on camera — press play above.
Maybe your go-to breakfast is not a shake. Fine — the trick is not my recipe, it is replication. Whatever your successful home breakfast is, find the travel version of it. Whatever you take at night to sleep, bring it on vacation. Crappy hotel or beautiful resort, you will look, feel, and perform your best because the routine never changed. More in the episode above.
Since March 10 the system has been simple: track everything with the app, keep the morning routine identical wherever I wake up, and protect sleep. Twenty pounds down and feeling absolutely fantastic — not because of willpower on the road, but because the road looks like home.
If you have travel tricks of your own, text me at (305) 930-7346 — I am always upgrading the kit. Press play above to see the full system.
Carbon app · 1st Phorm Formula 1 · Ignition · creatine · Opti-Greens 50 · Alpha BRAIN · Micro Factor vitamin pack · LMNT electrolytes · pre-bagged shakes · travel nutrition · Montana trip · Hawks Cay · Physical Friday
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. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong for life — short, practical episodes you can put to work in your next workout.
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