Get into shape without the gym

[LeroyG22]

I focus on core and legs. Hiking, burpees, jump rope, lots of lunges. I maintain cardio year round by hiking and mountain biking. Really focus on lower body intensity like 12 weeks out and stop about two weeks before season to let body rest and be in peak form. If you have hills around get after it. You’ll feel great during the season. I am always motivated by a desire to not be the guy on a hunt who is lagging. I want to train and push hard physically cause even in my best form them critters have the edge.

 

[swampthing]

I have never even considered a gym for getting in shape! I guess thats what those things are for! I have always just hiked, biked and spent time in the woods.

 

[Jon Boy]

I'm sure you're more knowledgeable about training than one of the top strength coaches in the world.
You probably already know about the SAID Principle. Just for the education of those who may be interested SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. What that means is the body specifically adapts to the demands placed upon it. Essentially there's no such thing as general fitness.
Poser already thoroughly explained the rest.

Oh I'm sure I'm not, but im fairly certain I spend more time and miles at elevation under heavy weight than him or you and I know what works for me. Just trying to share that little tid bit with the OP.

I dont use a gym and my work out routine consists of a one hour PT hike once a week and 4 or 5 HIIT exercises that really have no direct correlation to hiking (and include lots of burpees). And with a few months of that I can ruck 70 lbs up any ridge with out stopping and work with 45lb on my back for 10-14 hours.

I'm trying to figure out how this is possible and how this relates to the SAID principle? I really dont do that much hiking as its not really feasible to hike much more in the winter and with work Saturday mornings are my only time to hike. I feel the more I jack my heart during circuits and get in better 'general shape' my hiking drastically improves. Is this some sort of suedo effect? I'm genuinely curious now as maybe there is a more efficient way to improve my hiking. I work with 20 other people that run similar routines and some are the best hikers I've ever seen. Of those people the 2 best hikers on our crew do zero hiking in the off season.

As for burpees, they are a really quick exercise when I'm crunched for time and allow me to throttle my heart rate and turn my arms and legs to jelly in under 7 minutes. I'm sure there are better and more efficient exercises that work specific muscles much better but they work really well for me. Another thing is it really helps my mental. Part of my job is pushing pass the pain and continuing to trudge through it. Very similar when I'm trying to beat my 100 burpee time and am pushing past barriers.

Any how at the end of the day I think its finding what works best for you. At the end of the day I know what works for me and I hope the OP can take something away from it.

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[Coach Chris]

Oh I'm sure I'm not, but im fairly certain I spend more time and miles at elevation under heavy weight than him or you and I know what works for me. Just trying to share that little tid bit with the OP.

I dont use a gym and my work out routine consists of a one hour PT hike once a week and 4 or 5 HIIT exercises that really have no direct correlation to hiking (and include lots of burpees). And with a few months of that I can ruck 70 lbs up any ridge with out stopping and work with 45lb on my back for 10-14 hours.

I'm trying to figure out how this is possible and how this relates to the SAID principle? I really dont do that much hiking as its not really feasible to hike much more in the winter and with work Saturday mornings are my only time to hike. I feel the more I jack my heart during circuits and get in better 'general shape' my hiking drastically improves. Is this some sort of suedo effect? I'm genuinely curious now as maybe there is a more efficient way to improve my hiking. I work with 20 other people that run similar routines and some are the best hikers I've ever seen. Of those people the 2 best hikers on our crew do zero hiking in the off season.

As for burpees, they are a really quick exercise when I'm crunched for time and allow me to throttle my heart rate and turn my arms and legs to jelly in under 7 minutes. I'm sure there are better and more efficient exercises that work specific muscles much better but they work really well for me. Another thing is it really helps my mental. Part of my job is pushing pass the pain and continuing to trudge through it. Very similar when I'm trying to beat my 100 burpee time and am pushing past barriers.

Any how at the end of the day I think its finding what works best for you. At the end of the day I know what works for me and I hope the OP can take something away from it.

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FWIW - I start my ruck training with a 65# for 3.5mi and 700' of gain/loss.
Last week I did that same route with a 100# pack.
My long ruck day is 8mi., 1,780' of gain/loss with an 80# pack.
I'm on schedule for my heavy ruck day to hit 130# before season opener.
As far as time under load in the mountains I did research and development for a backcountry ski company for 8yrs. My average vert per season was between 600,000' and 700,000'. In the summer I portered for a backcountry guide service. Pack loads were frequently around 120#.
I'm not unfamiliar with carrying a pack in the mountains.
More importantly I coach mtn guides and pro mountaineers who spend most of their lives at high altitude under fairly heavy packs.

As far as burpees and HIIT working for you. Correlation does not equal causation.
Your bias doesn't change the fact there's simply no such thing as general fitness nor does it make burpees a valid or valuable exercise. Doesn't add validity to HIIT either.

 

[Poser]

One way to understand how the SAID principle works and why “cross training” for endurance really doesn’t work beyond baseline is this:

Why do triathletes have to train on both a bike and running? If the SAID principle didn’t hold water, a triathlete could do all of his/her endurance training on a bike with no running and show up and win.

Why don’t Tour De France racers, arguably some of the best endurance athletes in the world, race and win marathons or distance running events? If the SAID principle didn’t hold water, a TDF champion could simply sweep a series of distance running events while they are coming off the race in peak shape.

Why don’t world record distance runners simply step in and win the Tour De France?
They have great conditioning for running, afterall. Why not win some bike races, too?

Bike training (again, beyond baseline), doesn’t directly transfer to running. Running doesn’t directly transfer to Bike conditioning. Burpees don’t directly transfer to rucking.

Multi sport endurance athletes have to train all disciplines because that’s how endurance works: Specific Adaptation to Individual Demands.

 

[Jon Boy]

One way to understand how the SAID principle works and why “cross training” for endurance really doesn’t work beyond baseline is this:

Why do triathletes have to train on both a bike and running? If the SAID principle didn’t hold water, a triathlete could do all of his/her endurance training on a bike with no running and show up and win.

Why don’t Tour De France racers, arguably some of the best endurance athletes in the world, race and win marathons or distance running events? If the SAID principle didn’t hold water, a TDF champion could simply sweep a series of distance running events while they are coming off the race in peak shape.

Why don’t world record distance runners simply step in and win the Tour De France?
They have great conditioning for running, afterall. Why not win some bike races, too?

Bike training (again, beyond baseline), doesn’t directly transfer to running. Running doesn’t directly transfer to Bike conditioning. Burpees don’t directly transfer to rucking.

Multi sport endurance athletes have to train all disciplines because that’s how endurance works: Specific Adaptation to Individual Demands.

I totally get that, but that's not exactly practical for this conversation. The OP likely doesnt have three hours a day to hike to prepare for 10 consecutive 12 hour days under load at elevation like he would likely see on his hunt. So I just want to get what you guys are saying right, I would be in the exact same hiking shape if all I did was my one hour pt hike per week vs my one hour pt hike and 5 high intensity circuits for the week? There really isnt any supplemental work outs to do to complement a guys hiking? And also in the example of some people on my crew who dont hike at all all winter, but show up and can hike with the best of them, they would be in just as good of hiking shape not doing anything at all as long as there weight and body fat was the same?
How does cardio play into all of this as well?
Am I following you guys right?

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[twall13]

I gotta say I'm with Jonboy on this. While burpees may not be the "best" way to train, that doesn't inherently make them worthless. They still work muscles and help with cardio. Better that then saying, "Well since burpees are worthless and I don't have time for a lengthy weighted hike I guess I just won't work out". While I know that's not what you guys are saying it kind of comes across that way.

Some of you guys are clearly in better shape and know a lot more about fitness than I do, but not everyone is trying to be a world class athlete. I just want to be able to get up and down the mountain without it being miserable. I don't need to be the fastest up the mountain.

Regarding endurance athletes cross training, I'm sure there is some relevance to your point Poser and I'm not discounting that, but I also don't think it's as simple as you make it out to be either. Some of the fact they train for cycling and running, etc. goes beyond cardio and into technique. Remember these guys are competing at an elite level, technique comes into play in a race and you have to practice that. Still, I'm sure anyone on the tour de France could successfully complete a marathon without training specifically for running. Their pace may not be as fast as a specialist but they could complete it because their cardio fitness is there. I seem to recall Lance Armstrong completing the Boston Marathon. I'm in decent shape and run regularly but I couldn't keep the qualifying pace to be in the Boston marathon. Honestly, I don't care about that either because I don't have the time or desire to be on that level. That doesn't mean I can't be in good enough shape to enjoy hunting elk for a week. Sure, my training may not be the absolute best method, but it works well enough for me and I think that's the point Jonboy is driving at.

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[Poser]

Anything is almost always going to better than nothing. And a person who is off the couch will benefit the most from doing anything because they have no baseline, BUT, the effects of that training (“exercise” is probably a more appropriate word choice), are short fairly lived. If the OP can literally not find a way to effectively ruck, then of course burpees will be better than nothing. I think the argument being presented here is don’t use the excuse of “just do Burpees instead and you’ll be just as well off.”

I came off an epic winter season and was doing a lot of bootpacking and skinning to get up these mountains all the way through May and was in great shape for that as a result. Once June got here and I started training on a Mtn bike again, it was pretty ugly and uncomfortable for the first month. People commonly think as such activities as being cardio driven I.e. if your heart and lungs are used to working hard, then you’ll be fine, however, it has more to do with how your heart and lungs respond to the demands of your muscles and your muscles work very differently from one activity to the next and need to be trained for efficiency of that specific activity.

Running, for example, is often presented as the one stop solution for all things cardio. People like the idea of running being a solution because it’s simple: “go out and run and you’ll be in shape”, but the muscular demands for rucking, especially rucking with hunting weight, are different enough that’s there’s not much transfer outside of the baseline fitness (ie the person off the couch who has not fitness level.)

I recall reading Mark Twitght’s book “Extreme Alpinism” back in the late 90s. He was among the first Alpinists to actually train in a supplemental manner for climbing. While most other alpinists of his generation would climb during climbing season and maybe do a little running during the off season, he was interested in how you could show up in the best possible shape. While his Mapped out program includes running for establishing baseline fitness, he makes the statement that reads something to the effect of (im paraphrasing): “running doesn’t simulate movement in the mountains enough to be sufficiently relevant for the purposes of training for the mountains.”

So, the best thing the OP can do is find some way to step up and down with a pack on his back. The other stuff probably won’t hurt, but aren’t going to show much transfer. Maybe he could use burpees to spike his heart rate every so often while stepping up and down off a cooler (mind numbingly boring, I know...), but in the end, the best way to show up for a hunting trip is to go up and down with a pack on. Ideally, you’d spend some time in the gym strengthing those legs, spinal erectors as well as your upper body a bit to help support the weight of a heavy pack, but with that not an option, let’s look at what the OP is actually going to have to do and simulate that task as closely as possible given all of the time and logistical restraints he has to consider.

When I see a thread like this one, I’m rooting for the guy to show up for his big trip as well prepared as possible. He needs to wear a pack and step up and down off of something and do that a whole lot. So, in this context, I’ll argue that he’d be better off building a staircase to nowehere in backyard and jumping up and down it than spending that same time doing burpees.

 

[Blinginpse]

I've been riding my bike running these hills using barn rafters for pull ups mud puddles for pushups gates for sit ups cutting busting wood and building fence. Ill.never own a gym membership. I use my living of farming for my workouts

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[Torrey in Tahoe]

For cardio, I feel that mountain biking is king. I'm in the process of building a home gym as well.

 

[Torrey in Tahoe]

Anything is almost always going to better than nothing. And a person who is off the couch will benefit the most from doing anything because they have no baseline, BUT, the effects of that training (“exercise” is probably a more appropriate word choice), are short fairly lived. If the OP can literally not find a way to effectively ruck, then of course burpees will be better than nothing. I think the argument being presented here is don’t use the excuse of “just do Burpees instead and you’ll be just as well off.”

I came off an epic winter season and was doing a lot of bootpacking and skinning to get up these mountains all the way through May and was in great shape for that as a result. Once June got here and I started training on a Mtn bike again, it was pretty ugly and uncomfortable for the first month. People commonly think as such activities as being cardio driven I.e. if your heart and lungs are used to working hard, then you’ll be fine, however, it has more to do with how your heart and lungs respond to the demands of your muscles and your muscles work very differently from one activity to the next and need to be trained for efficiency of that specific activity.

Running, for example, is often presented as the one stop solution for all things cardio. People like the idea of running being a solution because it’s simple: “go out and run and you’ll be in shape”, but the muscular demands for rucking, especially rucking with hunting weight, are different enough that’s there’s not much transfer outside of the baseline fitness (ie the person off the couch who has not fitness level.)

I recall reading Mark Twitght’s book “Extreme Alpinism” back in the late 90s. He was among the first Alpinists to actually train in a supplemental manner for climbing. While most other alpinists of his generation would climb during climbing season and maybe do a little running during the off season, he was interested in how you could show up in the best possible shape. While his Mapped out program includes running for establishing baseline fitness, he makes the statement that reads something to the effect of (im paraphrasing): “running doesn’t simulate movement in the mountains enough to be sufficiently relevant for the purposes of training for the mountains.”

So, the best thing the OP can do is find some way to step up and down with a pack on his back. The other stuff probably won’t hurt, but aren’t going to show much transfer. Maybe he could use burpees to spike his heart rate every so often while stepping up and down off a cooler (mind numbingly boring, I know...), but in the end, the best way to show up for a hunting trip is to go up and down with a pack on. Ideally, you’d spend some time in the gym strengthing those legs, spinal erectors as well as your upper body a bit to help support the weight of a heavy pack, but with that not an option, let’s look at what the OP is actually going to have to do and simulate that task as closely as possible given all of the time and logistical restraints he has to consider.

When I see a thread like this one, I’m rooting for the guy to show up for his big trip as well prepared as possible. He needs to wear a pack and step up and down off of something and do that a whole lot. So, in this context, I’ll argue that he’d be better off building a staircase to nowehere in backyard and jumping up and down it than spending that same time doing burpees.

Extreme Alpinism is a masterpiece. I've never seen it quoted before on a hunting forum. 'Strategy before tactics. Tactics before equipment. One, two, ten thousand.'

 

[Poser]

Extreme Alpinism is a masterpiece. I've never seen it quoted before on a hunting forum. 'Strategy before tactics. Tactics before equipment. One, two, ten thousand.'

“It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun”

 

[Torrey in Tahoe]

“It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun”

ha ha so true. I screwed up the quote. It's "Strategy before tactics. Tactics before technique. Technique before equipment."

 

[Ram94]

If you want to burn your legs in the heat find some deep water, put on dive fins, a pack with some weight and get in and tread water for a while. Works the hips good also.

I hope nobody tried this haha

 

[Newtosavage]

While I admire and appreciate what some of you guys are describing, I'd sure hate for anyone to read through a thread like this and get so discouraged about their level of fitness that they don't even try to go hunting in the mountains.

Two years ago, I had the good fortune of running into a guy from South Carolina on my first day of scouting a new area. He was incredibly nice and incredibly helpful. He had hunted the area the previous year, and gave me some great suggestions to get started. This fellow was about mid-50's and at least 75 lbs. overweight. Maybe more like 100.

But here's the deal. Much to my surprise, I ran into him several times over the next 10 days, humping his gear up a few of the main trails, a couple miles in and a good 1000+ feet above the parking lot. Was he out of breath? Sure he was. Did it stop him? Not at all. He plodded along and got to where he wanted to go - much further in than 90% of the crowd down in the valley. The difference was his attitude, not his level of fitness.

So while fitness is important, it's not everything. I would say your attitude in the mountains is much more important than how many burpees a person can do, or what weight pack they are used to rucking.

 

[Poser]

 

[KY Ryan]

Run the steps of the local college football stadium. It gets steep and its the closest thing I have to a mountain.

 

[hayesplow]

For hunting or not i always try to live healthy. i find time to jug or run on weekend and i try to eat healthy. i do this as part o my life for years and i never really had issues with getting in shape for a hunting which makes me fell pretty good because i am not young.

 

[Rock-o]

I recently came across a PDF on the Internet from Atomic Athlete LLC - usage granted to Exo Mountain Gear - that lays out a 4-week backcountry hunting training program.

https://exomtngear.com/pages/free-backcountry-hunting-training-program

From the PDF...

PROGRAM PURPOSE
Preparing for a mountain-based endeavor, such as backcountry hunting, while residing in a non-mountainous environment presents a unique set of challenges for the athlete. The primary goal of this 4-week (20-session) program is to improve the athlete’s aerobic capacity, lower body strength endurance, and connective tissue resilience, so that the hunter can successfully operate in mountainous terrain for an extended period of time, while under external load.

Maybe I'm late to the game and many are already aware of it.

Hopefully others will benefit like I'm sure to.

 

[LK2HNT]

Im a pretty big guy having lifted weights since I was 15 yrs old and im now 42. Ive competed in strongman, powerlifting, and even done some arm wrestling for fun in tournaments. I'm currently 253 LBS at 6'2" and im down 20 Lbs. I used to walk around at 270 lbs or so when I was actively competing. Now that Ive gotten into backcountry hunting here in Alaska I can tell you that all that extra Mass is a ******* killer lol. I have all new goals now. For me personally the best stuff I can do now considering I already have a good strength base is to do as much conditioning work as I can and im trying to actually lose weight (down 20 so far). SO for me its rucking and much higher rep, shorter rest times, circuit training. I also ditched the bench press for push ups and heavily favor calisthenics over slinging heavy weights. I guess im trying to say that calistehnics and weighted hiking and stairs are awesome. I also enjoy picking up heavy sand bags as it mimicks tossing around and moving around game bags full of meat and quarted out animals. Just be gritty on a daily basis, train hard so that your hunts are easier.