Exo Experience Challenge

[Truck24hr]

That’s kind of the point I’m getting at. They hammered you, but for what end? How often do you step backwards, down hill, under load in the mountains while hunting? Burpees will hammer you too, but how often do you do a burpee on a backpack hunt?

I think an either or is the best way forward: either 1,250 feet of gain or 1k box step ups is a better solution.

There’s always a place for musculoskeletal training in anyone’s overall program, but there’s no substitute for application specific training. At least that’s been my experience, YMMV.


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I don't think I'd agree, but that's ok. Lots of guys have the terrain to hike uphill 3 miles for 1250', but not 1250' in 1 mile or less.

If everyone is doing box step ups, it's equal.

Either way, It's EXO's challenge, their rules, I'm good with it.

 

[fatlander]

I don't think I'd agree, but that's ok. Lots of guys have the terrain to hike uphill 3 miles for 1250', but not 1250' in 1 mile or less.

If everyone is doing box step ups, it's equal.

Either way, It's EXO's challenge, their rules, I'm good with it.

That’s a fair point. Only the person doing the work can ultimately decide what’s fitting their training needs better.

I hunt with a group of guys that are very dialed in on the physical side. We’re all doing the challenge, and we’ve all agreed that we’re further from what we consider September mountain shape at this point of the year because of the time we’ve spent doing the EXO challenge instead of our typical training regiment.

I see this challenge for what it is, designed to get guys that aren’t already experienced mountain backpack hunters ready enough for mountain hunting.


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[Truck24hr]

That’s a fair point. Only the person doing the work can ultimately decide what’s fitting their training needs better.

I hunt with a group of guys that are very dialed in on the physical side. We’re all doing the challenge, and we’ve all agreed that we’re further from what we consider September mountain shape at this point of the year because of the time we’ve spent doing the EXO challenge instead of our typical training regiment.

I see this challenge for what it is, designed to get guys that aren’t already experienced mountain backpack hunters ready enough for mountain hunting.


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With the step ups, I've been really focused on the step down, and trying to take 3 seconds down. Very slow, and very controlled.

Not fun, and I'm not cranking out 1k in 40 minutes, but I do think it's going to make a difference on the steep, heavy descents.

We'll see.

Good luck on the challenge and your training

 

[Big Sky Guy]

That’s a fair point. Only the person doing the work can ultimately decide what’s fitting their training needs better.

I hunt with a group of guys that are very dialed in on the physical side. We’re all doing the challenge, and we’ve all agreed that we’re further from what we consider September mountain shape at this point of the year because of the time we’ve spent doing the EXO challenge instead of our typical training regiment.

I see this challenge for what it is, designed to get guys that aren’t already experienced mountain backpack hunters ready enough for mountain hunting.


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Or guys like me that are experienced mountain hunters to take working out a bit more seriously. I’m 38 ectomorph and have just rolled the dice and gone with the flow for the last 10 years and done zero training for hiking with heavy stuff other than actually hiking with heavy stuff and just staying pretty active with activities. I tore my ACL and meniscus playing softball a couple years ago so this has been great and I’m really looking forward to seeing how much this helps my mountain excursions and hopefully makes the sucky parts of it suck a lil less lol.

Odd to me folks would feel behind in their training when the challenge is so very easily scalable. Step ups were required just one day a week, so 4 hours in May. Same for the strength training except with strength training you could easily scale those exercises up. Maybe if a guy is limited to two days a week training and those now replaced a better/more difficult workout but you still have 5 other days a week to do what you normally would so idk just seems odd.

Blows my mind that the target audience and those who signed up for the challenge are complaining about risk of injury for a task that was clearly stated as required from the beginning lol. I thought the EXO response to that question in the June challenge document was on . Since I tore my ACL I decided that playing softball isn’t worth the risk and takes away from time I could spend in the mountains, so guess what, I don’t sign up for it. If I did sign up for it I am well aware of the risks and wouldn’t go online stating that USSA needs to change the rules to make it safer lol!

I really hope @Mark at EXO keeps the challenge very similar or the same if they do it again and ignores all this noise. Yes, I’m sure they could improve things but for a nationwide challenge and for a lot of guys a CHANCE to win a sheep hunt (I’m only in for goat), 5k step ups over 10 days is more than worth the risk.