I was probably 20 when I took my first trip. I increased my vanity workouts and got religious about them months before that trip. We paddled in for what I now consider to be a very miniscule distance and the next day my paddling muscles were SORE! I've never been sore like that since, even when paddling ~4+ times that distance the first day.

I don't "work out" for trips anymore. A yearly trip or two IS my main exercise regime these days. Stay on the portages and it's not like a trip is all that physically demanding even if you travel every day. Yeah fine, so I huff and puff a bit more on portages than I would if I exercised, I figure that and the occasional smoker's cough gives the critters notice that I'm out and about.

Honestly, I've prepared less and less over the years and the same portages still keep getting shorter and easier. I've lost all desire to get sweaty just for it's own sake. My brain's neurochemicals which I'm sure many of you could name off the top of your heads become elevated the moment I set my butt down in a loaded canoe, wiggling my hips and saying ahhhhhhh.

The only thing I do before a trip is split wood or something like that to work up some calluses on my hands that my normal 12 oz curls don't provide. My hands ultimately become the weakest link and those calluses aren't really going away after a trip anymore like they once did. Some of the main ones are still there from, I don't know, 2003?

I always kid my friends that they are wasting their time and wearing out their joints by exercising. In the end, they may live longer but at least I didn't waste all my quality time wearing my body in an effort to live longer.  ;D