building stamina

[Jim]

I have started walking / jogging on my treadmill at home. What is the best way to build my stamina? Should I maintain a fast walk or should I try and jog as much as possible. Maybe a combination of the two? Or if there is another option I would like to hear that as well.

 

[Lawnboi]

Mix it up. One day I'll run 5 miles. The next ill do more fast paced intervals that really push my cardio. Throw in the bike every now and then. Incline treadmill, somedays just walking, some running till I can't breathe any more. Your body will get used to the workout if you consistently do the same thing, at that time your gaining less.

I would throw some lifts in there too. You don't have to go nuts, even body weight squats at a fast pace will give you a lot

 

[Ross]

As lawn noted variety will enhance your gains. Be sure to add in one interval day a week, followed by an easier day as interval training will tax your body. Additionally you don't have to jog or run to build endurance or stamina, walking both at a fast past or with an incline will achieve this, the key is to be consistent with your workouts, give yourself ample time to achieve the results your looking for and have a way to measure how hard your working. A heart rate monitor is a great tool.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Stamina is a ubiquitous term that really doesn't describe the various aspects of fitness. There are different types of workouts that will:

Build strength
Develop base aerobic fitness
Elevate anaerobic threshold
Reduce recovery time
Increase anaerobic efficiency.

Ross hit on the basic with intervals and variety in your training. If you are just looking to develop your base aerobic fitness, you can accomplish this by walking and hiking. Hiking hills will give you an interval workout, as you are pushing your heart rate and then resting for a recovery period.

I do Insanity a couple of days a week, spin class one day a week, and then a couple of days of trail running. I may throw in a day of TRX training if I have time. Each workout has a purpose. The Insanity fills the high intensity/interval/strength slot, spin does the high intensity/aerobic threshold workout, running is the aerobic base/leg strength, and TRX is total body strength.

 

[thru-hunter]

One key piece of the puzzle is guts (drive,nut sack, willpower). There is a point where everything burns and wants to give up. No doubt all the other stuff matters and pushes that wall a little further but there is still a point where you hit the wall. I work in IT and have gone on hunts after months of long hours at work where I was in extremely poor shape but just dug down and gutted it out. No doubt I would prefer to avoid that situation but the hunts were worth the pain and after a couple days I was moving pretty good.

I will say that I would take a couple weeks with daily mountain hikes over a couple months on the treadmill. I think there is value in treadmills but at least in mountain hunts I haven't noticed much difference in how I feel at the end of the first day of a hard hunt vs times I have headed out with little to no training. I honestly don't believe that there is any better training than actually doing the activity you are training for as much as possible. I recall coming back from a year of junior hockey in phenomenal shape. I went over and helped a buddy finish splitting his winters wood. He didn't exercise at all but had already split a massive amount of wood the previous two weeks. At the end of the day I was wrecked and he was no worse for wear. Had we hit the gym or the rink I would have blown him away but when it cam to bucking logs and splitting rounds he had me licked!

 

[Ray]

Sounds like you are just starting out in this stuff.

Sprinting once a week works well. Warm up well before and then stretch well after. It's helped me quite a bit. I have never been able to sprint on a treadmill like on grass.

Once a week HIIT work outs build full body endurance. Fitness blender has some good workouts.

If you are just starting out then a Tabata air squat work out will kick your but enough for a start. Three or four rotations is enough for me. Now I just need to work on my speed on the squats. Old fat man is slow.

 

[Jim]

Ray you nailed it. I am planning on my first elk hunt in 2015 and I'm starting to get in shape by loosing some weight and getting myself in better shape.

Basically it sounds like variety is the way to go. I will look into some of the programs mentioned. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Warren1726]

If you combine all the advice here, and take into account you goals you get what is called Crossfit.

 

[SDHNTR]

Intervals!

 

[JP100]

my advice is get off the treadmill!
those things suck. its not like that in the real word. do your training outside on rough terrain like the hunt will be.
walk,jog up hill. hardest track you can find. jog untill you cant anymore then walk. then jog again.
you cant learn to walk on un even rough terrain inside on a treadmill.
things like walking in the rain and cold over rough terrain is the best training as thats what it is likely to be like.
thats my advice anyway

 

[Jim]

Thanks for the input everyone. I've been using the treadmill because it's what I have at my disposal and I can use it everyday.
Since my original post I have started mixing in some of the HIIT workouts from Fitness Blender like someone suggested. Even the lower end stuff I'm on is a real workout for me.
I would like t get out onto some roughish trails like JP100 suggests but my area of North Texas is pretty flat.
What I'm taking away from this is variety is the way to proceed.

 

[Ray]

North Texas...bound to be a decent football stadium around with 15 or more rows. Find it and use it. Lots of fast single steps then lots of fast double steps.

The one issue flat landers struggle with are the downhills. With or without a pack. Your quads will develop micro tears over a long period of downhill. It's best to get that experience out of the way during training and not during your hunt.

 

[JP100]

North Texas...bound to be a decent football stadium around with 15 or more rows. Find it and use it. Lots of fast single steps then lots of fast double steps.

The one issue flat landers struggle with are the downhills. With or without a pack. Your quads will develop micro tears over a long period of downhill. It's best to get that experience out of the way during training and not during your hunt.

Good advice man. Uphills hard on the heart and lungs, down hills hard on knees/legs.
Down hill is allways the hardest part for me.
running in a park is better than a treadmill(pretty much any out door running is)

 

[Lawnboi]

Trail running is great. My 2nd favorite workout is running the local ski hills here in wi. Not much at about 350' gain in a quarter mile but running up them is tough.

I like trail running but it doesn't do it like mtn biking does for me. Another great activity that will get you outside and whip you into shape.

Can't wait for spring, working out in the gym only is killing me.

 

[JWP58]

If you combine all the advice here, and take into account you goals you get what is called Crossfit.

Nobody told the poor guy to run out and buy florescent knee high socks, shmedium t-shirts, or to act like a d-bag. Or to do Olympic lifts till failure so he can for sure exhibit very poor form by the end and probably blow his L5.

Now to the real topic of the thread.

I would suggest adding weight lifting in to your workout, especially legs. You want to build endurance (i.e. 4x10 at probably 65-75% of your maximum). And also like most everyone is stating, high intensity anaerobic workouts (sprints, hills, build ups, fartleks, ect) are going to increase your VO2max. Increasing the duration and lowering the intensity will increase your muscle endurance.

Good luck.

 

[JP100]

Nobody told the poor guy to run out and buy florescent knee high socks, shmedium t-shirts, or to act like a d-bag. Or to do Olympic lifts till failure so he can for sure exhibit very poor form by the end and probably blow his L5.

haha best description of cross fit ever hahahaha

 

[bmart2622]

Nobody told the poor guy to run out and buy florescent knee high socks, shmedium t-shirts, or to act like a d-bag. Or to do Olympic lifts till failure so he can for sure exhibit very poor form by the end and probably blow his L5.

Now to the real topic of the thread.

I would suggest adding weight lifting in to your workout, especially legs. You want to build endurance (i.e. 4x10 at probably 65-75% of your maximum). And also like most everyone is stating, high intensity anaerobic workouts (sprints, hills, build ups, fartleks, ect) are going to increase your VO2max. Increasing the duration and lowering the intensity will increase your muscle endurance.

Good luck.

That's a pretty bold statement, have you ever actually done any crossfit workouts?

 

[Lawnboi]

Some of the crossfit workouts are awesome, and I enjoy copying them as well as tweaking them to my needs.

I don't wear bright socks or small shirts.

I won't go to a crossfit gym though. Ungodly expensive around here.

 

[afteamroper]

Traintohunt.com is one great way for sure. I have been doing it for a year now and couldn't be happier with the results.

 

[bmart2622]

Train to hunt is cross fit that has been tweaked to be more beneficial towards hunting. Dan Staton, who is one of the main guys owns a cross fit gym in Wa. I do lots of cross fit workouts, they are very efficient and get you into real world practical shape. And I have yet to see or do one that requires an olympic lift to failure.