How many times per week leading up to hunt do you train with weighted pack

S

Sleeperls

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
139
Location
Kansas
Just curious. My shape would be called round. 33 weeks to go, but I have a tendency to go to hard to fast.

Been doing 3 times a week, but trying to decide if i should do more. Doing 50 pound pack 1 to 2 mile hike depending. Going to extend this over time.



I live at a lower elevation 2000, 2200. Hunting elevation 7 to 10k

Hunting pack hopefully will be 35 40.
 
All of these details and what is/isn't right for anyone is going to be very personal and differ greatly from one guy to the next. I hike with a weighted pack 2-4 times a week (2-8 mile hikes) all year long, its just part of my basic routine. Things I've learned over time, watch the amount of weight you haul if you hike frequently - if you're a young gun, you can likely get away with more but eventually the extra impact on knees/ankles/back will take its toll. I use 35-40 lbs for most of year but mix in hikes with more elevation change and more weight as I get closer to the season.
Also, I've learned the hard way you cannot get enough cardio training with hiking - almost everyone is going to need to run in order to beef up their cardio base. Unless you can hike miles of hills under a lot of weight, you aren't likely to get your heart rate up high enough for long enough.
I wouldn't suggest more hiking than 3 times/week. I would suggest filling in the extra days with other activities - weight/core training that at least strengthens your core & lower back and jogging/running/biking or something that is more cardio intense.
Just my .02, i'm no expert. Just learned the hard way what does/doesn't work for me. Good luck
 
I agree with TB. I personally like to hike with pack as my favorite workout , but as i age i think it wears on knees and hips. So I do less weight 30-35 pounds for most hikes and save one day for 50-60 lbs. Cardio of some sort or weight training on other days.
Fo what you like most so you keep at it.
Good luck
 
I do a trail run once per week (12.5km) and hike half that distance with 60lbs once per week. It has been a great system to prep for a sheep hunt this fall.
 
I ruck 2 days a week
Day 1 - Heavy Day - I hike a 3.5mi loop with 700' of gain and loss. I start the training season with a 60lb pack + water and work up from there until hunting season starts. Last season I finished training season with a 115lb pack + water.

Day 2 - Distance Day - I hike with an 80lb pack + water the vert is fixed at 1,729' of gain and loss. I start at 7.29mi. and increase the distance from there.
 
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You guys are in better shape than I lol. I've always did well until things get above 45 pounds.

What I've been doing is shed hunting with 20 to 30ish pound pack on the weekends when I have the most time. Did 5 and 5.5miles this weekend. In the week I'm going to start 3 days with 50 pounds. Keeping it at a mile mile and a half for now. Work up from there. Off days I'll prob shed hunt some more etc. With a 30 pound pack.

If I didn't hate running so much I'd do that. I might have to break the old bike out for some higher heart rate cardio.
 
Sleeperls said:
Been doing 3 times a week, but trying to decide if i should do more. Doing 50 pound pack 1 to 2 mile hike depending. Going to extend this over time.
Click to expand...

Well since it is important I will ask, what terrain are you hiking? Road is easiest, trail is more difficult and bush whacking is harder. Next is pace, 2mph or 4mph? 50# for 2 miles at 3+mph cross country thru thicker areas with lots of up/down (I understand we are not in the mountains) is a huge difference compared to 2 miles at 2 mph on a road. We have some trails around here that are up/down more than others but going straight thru the woods (no trail) is more difficult imo. Even a strictly deer trail is much harder than a hiking/horse trail.

I love a nice hike but if I am working toward a fitness goal I am generally doing shorter/intense workouts, doing simple tracking of what I am doing and gradually increasing frequency, pace and difficulty.

I think you will see more cardio gains thru increasing pace and difficulty than by increasing distance.

I would also seriously consider posterior chain free weight exercise's like azz to grass squats, deadlift, smith machine leg press, glute bridge, clean and press, etc.

Swimming is awesome and is also going to be more beneficial with increased pace/lap speed.

As far as too hard too fast:
General rule for me is that if I am looking forward to the end at the end of a workout I am right on track, complete exhaustion at the end 3-4 times a week is not good for me but I am older.

If you can run then I would run some.

Keep at it, brother......looking forward to seeing you for some whitetail action this fall. I may go up to Caulker City for a camp out and some hiking in a few weeks if you want to meet up let me know. Thinking about getting out of Lawrence permentaly and need to look around the state for some living options, going to start in the north centsal region.
 
I mix it up a little bit but my bread and butter hike is 1.5mi up a 600' hill and back down. I do this with a 50lb pack a couple times a week. For more challenge, I try to beat my last time. Anything under 55:00 is good for me. Over an hour, I'm pissed.

I have some other trails with similar vert but I can stretch out my hikes to 4-6mi if I want. I'm usually only limited by time.
 
I live in Kansas where the hills are limited. That's why I do like the shed hunting season as you get off the pavement.

Sounds like I'm on the right track
 
I don't ever "train" with weight on purpose, but our regular spring and summer recreation has me hiking a lot. Since I carry our two year old daughter, that has me hauling a 50lb load at minimum on a regular basis May-October. She's 30lbs, and our kid carrier strapped to Kifaru frame is 10lbs. Add in water and any gear and the weight stacks up fast.

While the specifics are different since our daughter was born, I never "trained" with weight before she was born either. Just did a lot of spring and summer backpacking/scouting and hauled a lot of comfort items. I could never get excited about hauling needless weight like sandbags, but I love backpacking and hiking. Bonus is you get your gear dialed in, and get more use out of it as well.
 
What terrain and type hunt you doing? You mention elevation, which it pretty high, so assuming Rockies for mule deer or elk or?

With 33 weeks to go, you have tons of time if you use it wisely to get where you need to be. Which means first setting your goals first, then forming the plan to get there. I wouldn’t hesitate to enlist a personal trainer even if serious about it or find it would help.

Mention this as you said your shape is mostly round. Been there. Went from big defensive football player build, to oversize offensive lineman, to post grad desk job and simply got round. I’ve done a lot of hunts, ones that were successful too, for big game in the mountains that simply hurt because I was too heavy.

Finally had enough and shed an average female two years ago and haven’t looked back since. For bigger guys, higher intensity weight training, shorter sessions of additional cardio, and then 1-2 days of hiking is a great. Anything engaging your posterior chain, such as stairclimber, squats, mountain hiking will literally shed weight with lightening speed.
 
Since you live in the plains, if doing a mountain hunt, I’d find the closest thing you can to replicate that activity at least one day a week. Find a valley and go up/down and repeat, and repeat. Or go to your local stadium and do series of stairs going up/down and repeat and repeat. Nice that gets easy, add weight, and repeat. As you get closer to the hunt, add the number of days you are replicating climbing with some weight.

While it won’t help with elevation, an elliptical that has the ability to raise the angle can be a huge help. If you’re going to be climbing up and down hunting, you need to work those muscles, which are slightly different, but noticably so, than hiking flat.

I’m blessed to have some nice steep mountains close to the house, couple perfect for training giving an elevation gain well over 1,200’ per mile. My favorite gains 3200’ in 2.4 miles, and you will see going up works your body quite differently than going back down the 3200’. 4.8 miles isn’t that far at all, but climbing and descending 6400’ in such a short distance is a solid workout. Your body will need some rest initially, but you can work n increasing the frequency of doing it, up to a few-several times a week. So if doing a mountain hunt, get an idea how much elevation you’d likely do in a day and over what distance then do your best to replicate it in your neck of the woods.

My hunting buddy last year kept carrying a heavy pack each night in prep for our sheep hunt. He could carry that thing all night. But, when he had to go up a mountain with it, different story. He ran into some things that limited his ability to make our training hikes, but it resulted in me carrying his pack on several ascents. Some of it was unavoidable, but training on stairs even with less weight, would have helped him more.
 
Biggest problem I have is pack slippage over 40 pounds. Works it's way down and causes hip discomfort.

The more weight I lose the better this will get. Today sucked. On the week days I walk in the. Neighbor hood where it's half and half hills, flat down hill. A measly 1.3 miles.

Today I was deffinatly ready to be home. Seems like a long way to go but even if I don't end up like a mountain goat, I'll be better prepared than doing nothing. Hopefully I'll enjoy it enough to go again next year.
 
I havent been hiking much lately, but man carrying those shingle bundles around and crawling on roofs is getting easy. I have my pack mock loaded with my backpacking gear and ill probably hit the trails soon for shed antlers. Ill try to get some long weighted hikes in shortly before i head to the field, just to prepare my feet.
 
Sleeperls said:
Biggest problem I have is pack slippage over 40 pounds. Works it's way down and causes hip discomfort.

The more weight I lose the better this will get. Today sucked. On the week days I walk in the. Neighbor hood where it's half and half hills, flat down hill. A measly 1.3 miles.

Today I was deffinatly ready to be home. Seems like a long way to go but even if I don't end up like a mountain goat, I'll be better prepared than doing nothing. Hopefully I'll enjoy it enough to go again next year.
Click to expand...

Embrace The Suck.
 
Coach Chris said:
You might want to get your pack fit checked?
Click to expand...

It's just do to my build. To much cushion where it needs to lock in. Exo has been awesome with my questions etc.

I tighten the belt until it can't move. It's uncomfortable for a min or two but not bad.

Is what it is until I lose some more midsection. I'm not horrible over weight but my short stature 5 foot 7 prob 185 190 right now. Even when I was 165 i had a gut just not as bad lol.
 
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