Have you done a full season with MTN tough? It sounds like it. I am very curious to hear your thoughts after this hunting season.
That is what I am really looking for...
1. Real folks who have done MTN tough as designed for a season or two.
2..Real folks who have done EVOKE as designed for a season or two.
In some sense, those are the only folks who can speak to the effectiveness of the two methodologies...
He is making solid points.
One puts an emphasis on your general strength and muscular endurance and the other places a higher priority on your aerobic capacity. Both train both, in some capacity.
I’ve read and followed both books and my wife has a lot of experience with mtn tough, so I’ve seen a lot of it by proxy.
Who you are matters though. My wife trained mtn tough 5x a week and then took 3rd overall female in an 18 mile trail race with 3k of elevation. In her mind it’s all because of the programming, in my opinion it’s a high level of base fitness combined with a natural ability to run and a ridiculous competitive nature that got her those results.
If I were to take the same approach to that race, I would crash and burn in embarrassing fashion.
Her and I are on different ends of the spectrum athletically. I’m fast twitch with a history of fast twitch sports and she’s slow twitch with a family history of great off the couch runners.
The reality is that if you aren’t regularly training at this moment, both will give you results. If you are a strong person by nature, it’s likely that you will benefit the most from your aerobic training.
If you come from an endurance background but putting 200lbs on your back sounds scary, you probably would benefit from doing more strength and muscular endurance.
Finally, after achieving a high base level of fitness in both, you can now try and balance and optimize for both for the rest of your life while managing your life and injuries and setbacks as your fitness and the seasons come and go.
At this point, you’ll have a solid enough understanding of what training works and what you need to self select and problem solve on your own.
