Money Out, Money In
Chapman Confident That Gym Work Will Pay Off In '08

Photo: Bobbi Chapman Brent Chapman does modified push-ups under the watchful eye of trainer Matt Morando during a recent workout at 24-Hour Fitness in Shawnee, Kan. Chapman has done three such sessions per week during the offseason.

The 35-year-old Kansan has endured some good-natured harassment from friends because he's paying a personal trainer to help get him get into optimum physical condition for the upcoming campaign. He's confident, though, that he'll get it all back – and then some.

If it results in me making one more check, then it pays for itself easily," he said. "Some of my buddies have been giving me a hard time about it, but the reason I do it is I can get 10 times the results in 1 hour with (the trainer) than I could in 2 hours of doing it on my own.

"When people see me at (next month's Bassmaster Classic), I might not look like I've spent a lot of time lifting weights. But I haven't been lifting to get bigger muscles – I've been trying to get what I've got into better shape. Instead of trying to get bigger biceps, I've been focusing on my core and my back and my shoulders."

Immediate Results

Chapman first started working with a trainer last offseason, and he said the gym work was one of the main reasons he had a strong 2007 campaign (he finished 8th in the Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year (AOY) race and will compete in the Classic for the first time since 2004.)

The impetus to change his winter routine stemmed from the '06 season, when he fished both the Elite Series and the FLW Tour. There were times toward the end of the year when the pain in his back or shoulders prevented him from employing basic techniques – such as flipping.

His best outing that year, a runner-up finish in the Champlain Elite Series, was somewhat of a fluke. He flipped on day 1 and would have preferred that to be his predominant pattern throughout the tournament. Instead, he went the rest of the way with finesse baits on spinning tackle, simply because that was all his back could handle.

"You can't be a top pro angler if you can't go out and do what you know you need to be doing," he said. "That was a crazy year – it was just too many tournaments – and my back eventually started hurting so bad that I was losing focus on my fishing.

"I knew I had to do something to make it feel better."

He worked with a trainer twice a week last year, but stepped that up to 3 days a week this offseason. He also does three more sessions of cardio work on his own.

Photo: ESPN Outdoors Chapman believes the exercise program he underwent last offseason played a key role in his strong 2007 campaign.

"Just like in fishing, everything has evolved," he said. "It's unbelievable how much more refined everything is now. If you do things the way (the trainers) teach you, you can get more out if it even though you might be putting in less time."

A Real Athlete

Matt Morando, Chapman's trainer, said the angler has been an easy client to work with.

"He does absolutely everything I ask him to do, and because of that, he gets all the results he wants," he said. "A lot of people might not want to call a fisherman a pro athlete, but I can tell you that he works at a higher level than many of the college athletes I've trained.

"The exercises he does are beyond an advanced level. There's no question that he's an athlete."

The tangible gains he's achieved and the fact that the fished relatively pain-free last year have convinced Chapman that shelling out for a trainer is something he needs to do every offseason for the rest of his career.

"No doubt, especially because I'm getting older," he said. "I'm 35 now, and I have to work harder to stay in shape than I did when I was 25. I'd like to get to the point where I don't have to rely on (the trainers as much), but they're sticklers on making sure your form is right because it's so critical how you do things.

"It's pretty expensive, and that's the part that's kind of tough. But if I have an appointment that day that I've already paid for, I'm more apt to get in there and get the work done."

Notable

> Chapman has made a commitment to a low-fat diet for January and he's dropped 5 pounds (down to 161).

> Full workouts aren't possible during competition weeks, but he plans to do a short stretching routine each day. "One other thing I've taken away from this is the importance of flexibility. If I can't do anything else on a tournament day, I'm going to make sure I take 5 minutes to stretch."