Elk Hunting Workouts

[Hornhunter]

Whats everyone doing to get in shape for 2015 ? Ive been doing hills with a loaded pack and treadmill at the gym gonna start doing a little upper body here real soon just curious what everyone elses routine is

[wewarev]

Last year I looked into different crossfit workouts. I checked out Insanity P90X before settling on Rushfit. I chose this workout because I was working out of town and needed something with minimal equipment, yet a workout that would give me a full body workout with a lot of emphasis on the legs and core. I've continued to use it all year and really like the complete body conditioning it gives me. I also included hikes up and down hills with a loaded pack a couple times a week, increasing my weight last year up too around 53 lbs before going on my hunt.

Last year was my first elk hunting trip and I thought I was in pretty good condition for not knowing what to expect...this year I'll be in better shape now that I have some experience under my belt. Also, since I'm in my 50's, it takes more effort to focus on conditioning and more time to get in good shape so I've tried to stay in decent shape all year.

Can't wait to tackle those mountains again!!!

[Lefty]

Bear hunting
I hauled in 2,55 gallon drums, two feeding tubes, 10 gallons of grease, 100lbs of oats, 10 lbs of fruit, bear suckers.
Anyway I need to get in better shape those mountains and bait kicked my butt yesterday, ended up with bad cramping at midnight.
Ill be doing some bike riding with my daughters, and bear hunting

[Heartwood]

Mountian bike, hike hills ,climb with pack and stretching. Turkey hunting in the mountians.

[2Rivers]

Bike riding and power walking. Spring beaver trapping. I use a Duluth pack to pack traps and haul beaver out of the woods. In May I will add canoe portaging for spring boundry waters canoe area lake trout and walleye fishing trips. I heat my home with wood, so summer's are spent cutting, hauling, and stacking firewood.

[Ben Nicholson]

A coach once told me, "The easiest way to get in shape is to stay in shape."

I play hockey year round, and race triathlons from late spring through summer. It works for me.

-Ben

[Tigger]

I have 4 iron man's scheduled for this year and ....wait, no, that isn't me!

Every morning I do 40 pushups and 40 calf exercises where I stand with my heels hanging over the stair and drop my heel all the way down below the stair and then up. For anyone having Achilles issues, I really recommend that exercise!

I try and go for a good fast walk for a couple miles or more every day and some days twice per day, hit the Y 1-2 times per week and run 2 miles once a week. I know it is not enough, but I will add hiking with my pack here pretty soon. I found that the 2nd walk of the day really helps.

[elkaholic]

I work out and train year around but increase the intensity about July to peek in September and October. I usually have four days for lifting and 2 to 3 cardio days a week where I run 3 miles each. As the season approaches I'll start throwing in hillclimbs and more intense CrossFit workouts.

[2011bullyelk]

I have been working out 3 times a week with a personal trainer. My days off I usually get on the elliptical when I wake up for around 45 minutes. I will start hiking every day as well when my schedule slows down a bit, (I am working 2 jobs right now, I don't usually get home until around 10 or 11pm) I am also planning on hunting a new area so scouting and setting up trail cameras will help as well.

[elkstalker]

Been doing a bit of shed hunting (more like running the dogs in the hills and getting lucky to find a shed every once and a while), hiking around the mountains. I lift 4-5 days a week, and run my two dogs (although they say I need to be more consistent with this).

[jmez]

I do Crossfit 5 days a week. This summer I'll do weighted hikes in the Black Hills in the evenings/night. As time allows I'll do some mountain biking as well. Usually do that on the weekends. Don't mind hiking in the dark but don't like riding the bike in the dark. Dangerous on trails and someone will run over you on the road. For me, the Crossfit thing has worked out very well. A lot of that depends on the particular gym and their philosophy.

[otcWill]

Besides hunting everything under the sun all year round , I run and do body strengthening exercises (pushups, pullups, situps) almost every day. This kind of training is definitely not necc. but it makes hunting the way I do MUCH more enjoyable.

[Long Range]

I’m very lucky, my company built fitness room last summer so I have been working out over my lunch breaks. I run 2-3 miles, sit-ups, push-ups and stretching. But that is only during the winter months, now the construction season started and I’m not in the office. It’s a busy time of the year. Between my full time job 45-50 hours per week, plus an hour commute one way, three kids and wife, I have Beef cattle and help my parents on their farm. It is hard finding the time during the spring and summer months to work out. Now I’m not the only one that has a busy life, so what are you guys doing for quick work outs?? Thoughts / help. Thank you!!!

[Duck-Slayer]

i'm 31 so this is what keeps me going, I rotate 3 days than 2 days each week, every time I go too the gym its 1.5 hrs, I run 3 miles and either do upper body or do a 45 minute group ride on the bike's, the run will do about 400 calories and the group ride does about the same, on upper body I concentrate on the shoulders and arms, you get enough in the group ride for your back if your doing it right. I do this year round except half of August and the month of Sept. than its back too that routine. Works great, I helped pack out 2 elk, one of my own and I packed out my second elk and a big ass mulie all were 1 mile or further, hopefully i'll repeat that this year....
Matt

[Charina]

Now I’m not the only one that has a busy life, so what are you guys doing for quick work outs?? Thoughts / help.

Have you looked at HIIT (high intensity interval training)? There is a growing body of research out there that evidences significant benefits from it, despite the limited time it consumes. I struggle to find time to exercise 30+ minutes 3 times a week, but try to make time to do so on tues, thrus, and sat. On mon, wed, and fri, I try to emulate some HIIT by doing stairs in the stairwell at work.

[ishy]

I've been hitting 5 or 6 days a week. Several tri swim classes, strength classes (mainly a high intensity interval stuff like TRX etc...), then group speed work at a local HS once a week, and the always fun long run and a long bike ride one a week. The long ones are growing, runs are at 16 miles, and the bike is 40 and will get bigger weekly. I know it's over kill, but it hurts SO GOOD!

[Tigger]

This High Intensity Interval Training intrigues me. Does a sprint to the fridge for a snack count?

In all seriousness, I have been doing basically the exact opposite. Low intensity continuous training.

[Heartwood]

I have been using HIIT now for a few seasons on the advice of one of my hunting partners (Twinkieman). It definately works to increase ones cardiovascular capacity and doesn't take very long to complete. It does take ones full effort and is not very fun. I have applied the hiit technique to hill climbing both with and without a pack and to hill climbing on a mountian bike. It can be used with almost any exercise however. I usually time my first rep. to set the pace. Say i'm climbing 60 vertical feet and it takes 60 seconds at 80 or 90% effort. I then walk back down to my starting point which might take 90 to 120 saconds. This represents one repitition and the walk down is recovery time. I try to set the times such that i can complete 10 reps. within the set time brackets. This takes some trial and error but can be fine tuned after a few workouts. I use a timex ironman watch that has alarms that go off at preset intervals for the climb (sprint) and recovery (walkdown). The key is to get those time intervals to work with the proper amount of recovery time and sprint time so that you can sussesfully complete the # of reps desired. The intervals can be set to be as difficult or easy as you want but great gains can be made when you find that setup that is near your limit. Like i say, not fun but it works to break through barriers. My hunting partner was an outstanding track athlete in the 1/2 mile and mile and used interval training as part of his conditioning. A close cousin to interval training is the Fartleck method which is a less structured and involves varied paces on a run or other cardio exercise. I was a track and field athlete also but not in the endurance events. I always shied away from the more painful events but have found that to train for elk in the mountians pain and discomfort must be your friend at times.

[Tigger]

So if I adopt this method, I will be taking the advice of a gent named Twinkieman? There is a bit of irony there, eh?

I have the perfect hill for that. I have used it in the past and am eyeing it up again.....but man, it is a beast!

[twinkieman]

Yes Twinkieman is my nickname, but not for the reasons you're probably thinking of. I worked for Hostess for 30 years (30 looong years) , someone started calling me twinkieman, and it just stuck. I can't stand Twinkies, but they were good for the bank account.

I should have never told Heartwood about the method, now I have to work harder as well, but the two of us together are a great team.

[GobbleFarmer]

I don't intentionally work out, but I am staying in shape partly for when I can hunt elk in rough terrain. It consists of constantly lifting 3 different size weights: 50 lb feed bags or two 50 lb feed bags, and on rare occasions three 50 lb feed bags, in other words the easy work on our farm . walking, jogging or running anywhere from 1/2 mile (close whitetail hunting area) 3/4 mile (church complete with pond containing a few 12 lb cat's ). 1 mile another hunting area. 2 1/2 miles (turkey hunting and great bass fishing area). Pretty soon I am getting a working mountain bike, and will be biking for miles at a time (mom permitting)

[Ridge Ghost]

5/3/1 barbell cycles, crossfit wods and running all year
Hockey in the winter
Hiking, Scouting, mountain biking in the summer

This has worked well for me

[G Posik]

I lift 5 days a week. I will do 8-12 weeks of strength cycle, then 8-12 weeks of HIIT cycle. Strength cycle is normally 5 sets of 5 and HIIT cycle 4 sets of 12. I try to limit my rest time to 30 seconds between sets. I do legs twice a week. I also do 20-39 minutes on the tread mill 5 days a week doing 2 minutes sprints and rest one minute. 4 nights a week I try to get a 2.5-3 mile easy run in. Then Saturday I will either drag a truck tire for a while or haul a heavy pack around. Some times I have enough in me to do both. Then I take an active rest day. This will be a nice easy walk. Nothing to get the heart rate up. More to just get some movement in my legs. This has worked well for me so far.

Glenn

[elk.addict]

I used to spend a lot of time on working out (gym, running, lifting, etc), but now I just hike up the hill behind the house in the morning. It's 800 vertical feet to the top, and that has proven enough to keep me in shape (keep in mind I regularly snowshoe/hike/mtn climb on weekends). The dogs get their workout this way too. I manage to eat enough food that I haven't been 'thin' in a long time, but I can still keep pace with most.