prepare for backcountry

[Newtosavage]

What’s y’all’s preferred way to prepare for the backcountry? Being from Texas the way that seems to help me the most is running, I try to stay in shape year around but if I do go on a break the way I start out is running a mile every day for about 2 weeks then increasing to 2 miles a days under 15 minutes then by the time Im about to go on my hunt I’m up to 3 miles a day trying to keep my time around 23 minutes this helps to keep my heart rate rising which I’ve found is the best way for me to prepare for the mountains this year I’m goin for 4 miles a day

I'm from TX too and I can tell you from experience that running flat ground won't do much for you in the mountains.

Best thing I ever found was running (not walking) bleachers at the HS football stadium. Over and over and over again until you find your limit. Then do it again with a 1 day rest, then again and so on. Running bleachers is the closest thing you'll find in Texas to actual conditions in the mountains. And the hotter the better.

 

[Newtosavage]

Running 40+ miles a week and strengthening legs, back, shoulders and core in preparation for a heavy pack.

40+ miles/week? Who has time for that?

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I switch to light beer around June or so.

I've been living off of really high previous strength and conditioning but I have a feeling that lack of training for a few years is gonna shock me this coming season so I'm reading through these threads for some motivation.

 

[VTHunter08]

At which point do you transition from weight training and cardio to focusing more on weighted pack cardio and hiking? I'm at least a 30 minute drive from any type of mountainous terrain, so it's mostly going to be a weighted pack on my gym's stairmaster, with weekend hiking trips when I'm able to fit it in.

I'm going on a mtn goat hunt in BC in Sept. and right now, my plan is to start making the switch to more pack-based workouts and hiking beginning in June (which will give me 3 months to ramp up).

Thoughts?

 

[type2bowhunter]

40+ miles/week? Who has time for that?

Time isn't real

 

[JD Jones]

At which point do you transition from weight training and cardio to focusing more on weighted pack cardio and hiking? I'm at least a 30 minute drive from any type of mountainous terrain, so it's mostly going to be a weighted pack on my gym's stairmaster, with weekend hiking trips when I'm able to fit it in.

I'm going on a mtn goat hunt in BC in Sept. and right now, my plan is to start making the switch to more pack-based workouts and hiking beginning in June (which will give me 3 months to ramp up).

Thoughts?

I just keep after it all year. Couple weeks out I’ll slow down a little on the overall volume

 

[Newtosavage]

Time isn't real

At the pace I run, it doesn't seem real either. LOL That's 8 hours of running for me!

 

[WI in the west]

Im a fan of doing a little of everything but leaning hard on what you like to do actually. Right now im way to running heavy i will admit, starting to hit 50-60 miles a week but im getting ready for a 50mile race to see if i can do it. But i try to do some body weight exercises every day, squats, pushups and situps.
I think the perfect world happy place for me would be doing long run, and a medium length run, lift 3 times a week and carry the pack several times a week walking the dogs. But i like running a lot more so i want to see where i can take it in the ultra world ( not competitively) for now and balance back out when i feel like it.
Edit: i should add im 5’10 160lbs so my build is perfect for being ok at strenght and enderance not really great/elite at either

 

[Old_Norther]

What’s y’all’s preferred way to prepare for the backcountry? Being from Texas the way that seems to help me the most is running, I try to stay in shape year around but if I do go on a break the way I start out is running a mile every day for about 2 weeks then increasing to 2 miles a days under 15 minutes then by the time Im about to go on my hunt I’m up to 3 miles a day trying to keep my time around 23 minutes this helps to keep my heart rate rising which I’ve found is the best way for me to prepare for the mountains this year I’m goin for 4 miles a day

Lots of good ideas here, Ill throw in my personal approach.

First keep my BW under 200lbs. Im 6'2''. Run roughly 10 miles per week, keep a cycling FTP of 2.0 w/kg or better. Squat 2x my BW, bench press 100kg. for sets of 10. This means running or cycling combined with lifting roughly 7 days per week. Close to summer I will do 15 plus mile rucks with a 60lb. pack, gain/loss over 4k feet in elevation. I never have a problem getting into the critters during season.

After all of that, a quote by Aaron Snyder is relevant ''The hardest part for most MFer's to actually shoot the animal''. That is my problem 100%.

 

[TheArdentOutdoorsman]

Put weight in my pack and walk up and down the local hs football stadium bleachers until my legs are jello. Stretch often. Simple and effective. My first high country trip I ran often in preparation and believe it didn't hit the same muscle groups needed for going up and down steep grade, climbing over deadfall, etc.. new routine seems much more effective for hunting backcountry.

 

[Shraedus]

I do jiu jitsu during the week mixed with mma and striking classes. Next month, I'll break out the pack and start hiking. I should have pretty decent cardio by Sept. Although, the altitude will get me because I am in Ohio.

 

[Lwarner03]

I switch to light beer around June or so.

I've been living off of really high previous strength and conditioning but I have a feeling that lack of training for a few years is gonna shock me this coming season so I'm reading through these threads for some motivation.

This is me

 

[jenkinsd]

I hunt BLM which gives me terrain options for what I feel like doing that day. I mix it up daily so I use different muscles, equipment and etc. I stay active.

 

[Noahtwiggs]

Greta info all, I need to step my game up it sounds like. New to all this backpack hunting stuff and right now I’ve just been lifting!

 

[Krcooke92]

Appreciate the responses guys looks like we all got different ways to prepare glad people on this forum can actually have grown up conversations unlike all the Facebook pages you see

 

[Bobrobheimer]

It’s kinda dry but Training for the New Alpinism is a book directed towards training for mountaineering - which in my opinion is the most similar to elk hunting for a main stream sport - especially for less technical mountaineering goals. Their approach is pretty science based and wasn’t what I was expecting. The fist step is to build as big of an aerobic base as possible - something that can be improved for many years. You are trying to raise your anaerobic threshold via a variety of adaptations. This is mostly accomplished by relatively low intensity long duration work (55-70% or so of your max HR as a ball park indicator). The big base gives you the capacity to do more work in subsequent more specific training periods but is also a key component for endurance work.

Max strength is also important for endurance work by giving you more recruitable muscle fibers to cycle between. But their approach isn’t via muscle building rather better recruitment - they don’t want to add oxygen sucking weight that’s not needed. The books got a lot of info - I have listened to it twice the last couple years and still miss a lot.

 

[mtwarden]

^ I've adapted a lot of what Uphill Athlete advocates. The science backs up building a solid aerobic base by doing most of your training at low intensity; the "old way" of running/hiking as fast as possible and at a high volume, simply led to more injuries, fatigue and a performance drop. Still need to mix in higher intensity stuff for sure, but it needs to be tempered with the fact that it's a much smaller percentage in the scheme of things.

I do think for any mountain endeavor, a solid strength program concentrating on large compound lifts is going to help, not hinder. I'm not talking about a hitting the weights six days a week, a structured program and a couple of days (only talking ~ two hours/week) at the gym is sufficient from my experience.

I find consistency is the the key that most folks fall short on; it takes some time (and effort) to get there, but pays off big dividends. I'll avoid the temptation of 30 days of this or two weeks of that- with a promise of great fitness; simply doesn't work like that.

 

[Stickmark]

New Alpinism, great book. Climbing Mr Wheeler, off trail in trees with some deep snow , met a 68 yr old. He was going up his 3rd time in a week, training for a Canadian peak. He recommended it.

One big take away: low intensity cardio, like just hard enough to talk w a bit of difficulty. My girl friend followed this advice. As a result, she started peaking with more ease.

 

[grfox92]

40+ miles/week? Who has time for that?

When I'm running alot I'm running 16 miles a week. No idea when I would have time to run 40.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[mtwarden]

40+ miles/week? Who has time for that?

Retirement baby- I'm averaging 40 miles hiking a week!