Research On Crews, Others Yields Startling Results Crews in Control

Virginia’s John Crews is one of the fittest anglers on tour. At 5’9″ and about 165 pounds, his max bench press is 315, and his max squat’s about 350.

He’s very attuned to his body mass, and became concerned a few years ago when he began to lose weight during the season. For someone with his body type, that meant he was losing muscle.

At the end of the 2006 season, he was 15 pounds lighter than when the season began. But with Hoover’s guidance, things improved and after the most recent season, he’d only lost 5 pounds.

“Last year, Ken tracked about 10 or 15 guys,” Crews said. “We wore heart monitors during the tournament day so we could track how many calories we were burning. That’s very important so you’re able to stay focused, and you body’s continuously able to replenish itself out on the water. You don’t want to go into starvation mode and do bad things to your body.”

Along with Crews, the study included pros like Jason Quinn, Gerald Swindle, Peter Thliveros, Shaw Grigsby, Randy Howell, Alton Jones, Mark Tucker, Kelly Jordon and Todd Faircloth, and will expand to at least 20 families this season, including possibly everyone on Team Toyota.

“Our average heart-rate, as you might imagine, is very elevated throughout the fishing day,” Crews said. “The pressure and competition makes you burn more calories than if you were just going out and taking it easy.”

And what was most surprising to both Crews and Hoover was how many calories Crews burned through last year at Smith Mt., where he finished 8th.