Fitness Baseline for the Mountain

[123efd2]

Hey y'all,

I'm an east coast whitetail newbie getting ready to do my first Idaho elk hunt this fall. Can you guys tell me what a good baseline goal is to be mountain fit? What should my core lifts be at and what my runs lengths and times should be etc? Just workout level goals that are good enough to do a 10day backpack elk hunt.

 

[renagde]

Try the 22's challenge from mtn tough.

 

[wesGiddingshunt]

I’m not an Idaho expert but spend time in the mountains. I can’t tell you an exact baseline but I would say get out and hike with your pack on. Throw some weight in there. If you can’t hike hills much where you live get on a stair stepper or incline treadmill even. Strong legs and back come in handy so you can squat/deadlift if weightlifting is your thing. But you don’t have to be a gym rat to hike with a pack on, just hike more! Also renagde is right.. the 22’s challenge is a pretty awesome workout.

Also, don’t forget to do lots of curls.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Core lifts? I squat, deadlift, bench and press year-round. I follow a program called 5/3/1 for these lifts. Pullups, bent-over rows and kb swings for accessory lifts.

It would be hard to throw out any baseline run times or lengths for hunting, especially since we don't know your current level of fitness. I will say that, while running on flat ground is better than nothing, it won't directly translate to mountain hunting. You will be better prepared by focusing on movement patterns that are more specific to this sport. Running hills, stairs, stadium bleachers, hiking, rucking, step-ups with a heavy pack, etc. Any that prepares you to gain and lose elevation with weight in your pack.

 

[Btaylor]

As a flatlander, I have found focusing on core back and legs is really important. Hiking hills or bleachers with a 50# pack as part of your weekly routine will help. What I try to focus on is doing workouts that get me well into the "this freakin sucks" zone cause it not only helps build the body but it builds the mind too. More times than not the mind will fail you before the body will.

Wife and I did a 22's styled workout last week with pushups and running stairs. The stairs consisted of 3 flights or 37 steps from top to bottom, up and down was 1. I'm am going to keep that one in the rotation for sure because it really sucked.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Since February, I've been focusing on Kettlebell, Heavy sandbag (105lbs), crossrope and some heavy pack workouts, one of the mountains I like to train on was finally opened since the road is closed for the winter so we climbed it yesterday, I wore a 50lb pack for the ~6 mile hike and felt awesome. I was worried about stepping away from the heavy squats and deadlifts but I feel better than I have in a few years.

 

[keithstrausbaugh87]

Will be my first time heading out also. The closest steep hiking trails are about an hour away from me. Ive been doing stairs at work with my pack at 30lbs for a few weeks. Started 65lbs last night, slowed me down the 16 flights but made it up without stopping. Hoping to do get to 80lbs up and down twice before season. Trying to prepare but most likely get my ass kicked on the mountain. Cant wait to find out

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[bozeman]

High school football stadium bleachers will become your ‘friend’.......

 

[5MilesBack]

I've never had a "baseline" for mountain fitness. You can be in the best shape you can be, or you can show up in whatever shape you're in and then push yourself to whatever level you want. The question is.......how is your mental game? Will you want to quit when your body says "no more", or will you tell your body to pack sand and keep pressing on?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I've never had a "baseline" for mountain fitness. You can be in the best shape you can be, or you can show up in whatever shape you're in and then push yourself to whatever level you want. The question is.......how is your mental game? Will you want to quit when your body says "no more", or will you tell your body to pack sand and keep pressing on?

This is absolutely true, I’ve shown up feeling unprepared with my clothes feeling tighter from being fatter and been successful, I’ve also had year where I spent countless hours training and got skunked and humbled by weather and steep mountains.

Any more I just make sure I have a good baseline of fitness all year from doing hard but fairly short workouts from 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week and hiking with my pack when possible, unfortunately, even living here in AK, work often makes it tough to do as much pack training as I’d like, especially this time of year.

 

[Vandy321]

If you're a gym guy...give this a shot for 4 months, you'll be gtg. Will not only help with the physical aspect, but the mental game as well. You can replace some of the endurance based rows/runs with heavy rucks... or add them in on your own on the lighter days.

Mark Twight (love him or hate him) knows how to train for the mtns. An old team guy buddy (I'm not and was not a team guy) mentioned he used to run some of their mountain training courses, before he went on to start Gym Jones...

Also cant go wrong with Mountain Athlete...or Mil athlete, for that matter. No offense to those who like it, but all this new Elk Fit and Mtn Ops flat bill hat stuff seems, well...gimmicky, to say the least. But good on them, they saw an opening in the hunting fitness market and they capitalized on it.

Horseman Workout Program

The Horseman workout program was designed by a group of operators to outline a path to building a solid base of fitness. The program was created using content from various sources – Mark Twig…

thepinnacleselfdotcom.wordpress.com

 

[RDoucey]

If you're a gym guy...give this a shot for 4 months, you'll be gtg. Will not only help with the physical aspect, but the mental game as well. You can replace some of the endurance based rows/runs with heavy rucks... or add them in on your own on the lighter days.

Mark Twight (love him or hate him) knows how to train for the mtns. An old team guy buddy (I'm not and was not a team guy) mentioned he used to run some of their mountain training courses, before he went on to start Gym Jones...

Also cant go wrong with Mountain Athlete...or Mil athlete, for that matter. No offense to those who like it, but all this new Elk Fit and Mtn Ops flat bill hat stuff seems, well...gimmicky, to say the least. But good on them, they saw an opening in the hunting fitness market and they capitalized on it.

Horseman Workout Program

The Horseman workout program was designed by a group of operators to outline a path to building a solid base of fitness. The program was created using content from various sources – Mark Twig…

thepinnacleselfdotcom.wordpress.com

X2 on the Four Horseman program

 

[bigbuckdj]

Thanks for sharing the four horseman thing, I’ve never heard of it. I’ve lifted forever but I’m getting more serious about my general fitness, that seems like a good program.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KHNC]

Seems like the 4H workout will take at least 90 mins or more to complete. How has it been on time for yall?