Training For Whales

One of the things I suggest for anyone who wants to photograph wild animals in open ocean is to get in shape.

I use to go to the gym four or five times a week, but in recent years, that's become impractical given continual travel. As a result, I ditched my gym membership and I've had to learn to improvise.

This video is a montage of some of the training I've done since the beginning of the year to prepare for the upcoming humpback whale season. It's not comprehensive, as some things, like stretching and soft-tissue work, aren't conducive to video. Ditto for meal prep, studying nutritional science, and getting adequate sleep.

These are just some of the exercises I've been doing when I'm at home, video-ed on three separate days. On the road, I make do with whatever I have access to...sledgehammers, crowbars, swing sets, etc.

One of the most important things I've learned from working out is that life isn't fair.

Physical training is asymmetrical. It takes a lot of hard work and time to build-up to excellent condition, while it doesn't take long at all to lose conditioning, a fact that becomes more evident with each passing year.

As I get ready to head out again, I do so knowing full well that even though I'm in excellent condition now, I won't be by the time I get back.

So I'll have to start all over again. And it'll suck. But not being healthy would suck even more.