Mountain biking for cardio?

[TimberHunter]

Last year I focused on weight lifting 3 days a week, treadmill on 12* incline for 1 mile with 25lb pack twice a week and then a death hike of 600’ in .5 miles with no stops as fast as I could (increase max heart rate)

That plus eating more I was able to put on about 18lbs (155 to 173). While the strength definitely helped with the pack outs last fall, the normal hiking with a pack and rifle was not much better than when I did little to nothing to prepare.

Wondering if mountain biking and then focusing more on my lower body only for lifting would be a better route to go. I’m referring to the rough single tracks where your heart beat will get up to the 170s

Anyone see much benefit hiking wise from conditioning by mountain biking?


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[Jason Snyder]

I mountain bike a fair bit in the summer. It’s more of a prolonged session of HIIT than anything, at least where I ride.

Give it a try. There are probably better ways to build hunting fitness, but it sure is fun.

Edit to add: road biking is a much better way to build incredible base fitness. However, a 5-6 hour ride in the mountains is a pretty fantastic workout. Last week we did 16 miles and about 4K elevation change.

 

[BBob]

Anyone see much benefit hiking wise from conditioning by mountain biking?

Cycling both road and mtb have served me well in staying in shape come hunting season. All the strength in the world isn’t much help if you can’t breathe in the mountains.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I don’t hike much in the summer for training. I mountain bike all summer instead. It’s more fun.

 

[chizelhead]

I mountain bike a fair bit in the summer. It’s more of a prolonged session of HIIT than anything, at least where I ride.

Give it a try. There are probably better ways to build hunting fitness, but it sure is fun.

^This and better than anything less.

 

[Coach Chris]

The closest thing there is to "general fitness" is absolute strength. It's the foundation for every physical capacity.
After that specificity is king.
Only rucking can condition you for rucking.
Mountain biking is an awesome activity.
Depending on where and how you ride it's usually "tempo training".
It's not going to get you "fit" for carrying a big pack in the mountains.
You don't just ruck with your lower body.
Good Journey

 

[IBen]

make sure you focus on your downhill muscles. This is the weakest part of most peoples mountain fitness. Lots of different ways to train them besides hiking downhill (slant board, backwards sprints, backwards hill walking, Skipping a step walking down stairs)with a lot of mountain biking those muscles will be under trained unless you have a fixed gear

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I agree that only rucking can prepare you for rucking. A lot of it is mental preparation and confidence building. Come up with a progressive ruck training plan and stick to it. One ruck per month of 3-6-9-12-15-18- hunt - 15-12-9-6-3 should help you keep it without destroying your body. Weight is whatever you plan to actually carry in the field (including your rifle or a rifle equivalent). No more. No less. Pace should be 3 mph counting a ten-minute break every hour. At least that’s how I was trained.

In my youth, there were always guys who could run way faster on a track than me and pick up and put more weight than me, but I had a body made for rucking. I was so confident in my ability that I could walk younger, stronger men into the dirt. Until I stopped doing it for a while after developing some knee problems and discovered that it’s perishable… I went to a new unit that was on the 9-mile hump the day after I joined. Instead of taking my free out of being out of cycle and coming off knee surgery, I went on the hike. Huge mistake.


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