A taper is the planned period before a big event when you back off your training load and duration — while keeping intensity and skill work — so you arrive rested, healthy, and uninjured at your peak.
I recorded this Physical Friday a week out from an elk hunt I had trained a year for, and that is exactly when a taper matters. By now you are not going to get any stronger or better conditioned — that work happened months ago. What you can control is showing up uninjured and well rested, and the taper is how you do it. I break down what to keep, what to cut, and why.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
A taper is the period right before an event when you deliberately reduce the volume and duration of your training while keeping the intensity and your skill work. Runners taper before a marathon, fighters taper before a bout, and you should taper before a big hunt or fishing trip. The goal is to arrive rested, healthy, and uninjured, having banked all the real fitness gains in the months beforehand.
Because once you are about a week out, you are not going to get meaningfully stronger or better conditioned — that work happened months ago. The week before is not the time to test yourself or chase a PR. Tapering lets your body rest and recover so you can perform at your very best, and most importantly it keeps you from injuring yourself right before the event you trained a year for.
You keep moving — you do not eliminate all activity. Maintain intensity but cut the duration and the load. Ross Enamait, who coaches combat athletes, keeps the intensity of workouts but shortens them, so you might wrestle hard for twenty minutes instead of two hours. For my elk hunt I kept the full workout but dropped the weight, doing 135-pound deadlifts where the workout called for 225.
Move, stretch, and sharpen your skills. Go through your full range of motion, do mobility work, and practice the skill that matters — shooting your bow for a hunt, casting for a fishing trip. Take long walks, break in your boots, and make sure your gear is organized. Avoid anything that could injure you, like a max deadlift or an all-out time trial.
No. This is not the week for a PR deadlift or a max 5K. If you know a hard physical event is coming — hiking, heavy rucking, packing out an elk — you want to show up fresh, not beaten up. Go through your movements at lighter weight and shorter duration so you still get the benefit of moving without risking injury or fatigue.
It depends on the event, which is where a coach is invaluable. A taper for a marathon looks different from a taper for an ultramarathon, and a 5K taper differs from tapering for a hunt. Whether you get the plan from a coach, your own research, or a program you follow, just make sure a taper is built in so you arrive at your best.
When I sit down a week before my elk hunt and ask myself whether I’m going to get stronger or better conditioned between now and then, the honest answer is no. That work happened months ago. This is where some people disagree with me, but I’m convinced the week before an event is for sharpening and recovering, not building. Trying to cram fitness in at the end just leaves you tired or hurt. I explain the mindset shift in the episode, so press play in the player above.
A taper is not sitting on the couch — do that and you get stale and slow. The trick is to keep the intensity while cutting the load and the duration. This morning the workout called for 225-pound deadlifts and I did 135, a weight I’m completely comfortable with, going through the full movement and getting the benefit without risking my back. Ross Enamait coaches combat athletes to keep intensity but shorten the session. I break down how to apply it in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The week before is for the things you can still control: skill work, gear, and staying healthy. For the hunt that means shooting my bow a lot, making sure my gear is dialed, and breaking in my boots if they need it. Long walks are great — low injury risk, real movement. What I won’t do is test myself with a max lift or an all-out run, because showing up uninjured and rested is the entire point. I get into the specifics in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here is how I taper in the final week before something I’ve trained a long time for.
I detail how I scaled this for my elk hunt in the episode. Press play in the player above.
The taper is what lets all the training you’ve banked actually show up on the day that matters. The build makes you stronger and fitter over months; the taper makes sure you arrive healthy enough to use it.
Whatever you’re training for — a marathon, a GoRuck event, a hunt, a big fishing trip — build a taper into the plan and show up rested and uninjured. Press play in the player above for the full breakdown, and I’ll talk to you after the hunt.
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.
elk hunt · taper · Ross Enamait · marathon · 5K · GoRuck · SealFit Kokoro · boxing · wrestling · rucking · deadlift · bow hunting · Physical Friday
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, mobility, nutrition, and mindset work that keeps me — and the guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen who listen — strong enough to keep doing what we love for life.
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