JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Dozens of professional bull riders will gather in Jacksonville for “PBR: Unleash the Beast.” The bull riding event will take place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on February 20-21. I got the chance to sit down with professional rider Wyatt Rogers ahead this weekend’s event to talk about training to be a bull rider, how he got into it, and the worst injury he suffered while bull riding.
‘When I was little, I took gymnastics and a bunch of balance classes and stuff like that, so I definitely go work out," says Rogers on his training regimen. “Bull riding is all core strength and balance, so I definitely go work out and I have to do a lot of endurance and agility work. Because I’m bigger bull rider, I have to focus on my body weight, and staying kind of lean and on the athletic side, and just getting on some practice bulls and stuff. The only way I can practice bull riding is by getting on the bulls.”
Rogers says he doesn’t use mechanical bulls when it comes to training. “Just real live animals that we practice on, they’re just not the level of buck and bull that you’ll see this weekend.”
“This is the elite of the elite,” says Rogers when describing PBR: Unleash the Beast. “It’s the top 40 best bull riders versus bulls in the world.”
You can hear what Rogers says is the worst injury he suffered from bull riding, and how long it took him to recover in the full interview.
Tickets for PBR: Unleash the Beast on are on sale now.
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