Prepping for float trip

[madtinker]

I’ve gotten a lot of good info here on rucking, and I’ve made great strides in my fitness for rucking and general strength and endurance.

My buddy got a float permit for next year and we are planning a mule deer hunt around the float trip. I am the only one with much rafting experience, but it’s been over ten years since I was on the water. This will also be a bigger raft than I’ve used before.

The goal is to design a workout routine that maintains rucking fitness while adding an element of endurance to my upper body workouts. I do pushup variations and pull-ups. On a river raft I was taught to face downriver, so most of the day you row with a pushing motion at low intensity, but when rapid maneuvering is needed you backstroke with a pulling motion.

So I currently incorporate pulling as pull ups. I’ll need to add rows. I do pushing as pushups of various flavors and handstand pushups. I need to add dips just for variety and wider range of motion. With variations of these exercises I think I can cover basic strength.

Suggestions for increasing endurance? I can do rowing workouts on a machine maybe once a week. I’ve considered running with weights (start off at a pound and work up), and try to focus on range of motion. Other ideas?

 

[P Carter]

This is out of my wheelhouse, so take it for what it’s worth. But I’ve viewed pull-ups and push-ups as muscular endurance exercises, once you get past a certain point where you have the strength necessary to complete the exercise. (Call it 40 push-ups and 10 pull-ups.) After that point, to increase strength you’d need to add weight with fewer reps. So maybe continue high volume pull-ups and push-ups, but add overhead press and bent over rows, with progressive increases in weight for strength.

Would strongly advise against weighted running - not effective, because you can and should train endurance and strength separately, and theres a very high risk of injury.

I have very little experience rafting, so I have no idea what the best training for that would be.

 

[madtinker]

I’m working through a calisthenics progression where my max reps is in the 10-20 range or even less, but regular old pushups are endurance; that’s a good point.

When I say run with weights, think the old-school heavy hands workouts. A pound or two in each hand with a large range of motion. It was intended to boost cardio, but my idea was that it would simulate the repetitive effort of rowing. I would never run with a weighted pack; my knees wouldn’t take it.

Rows are definitely entering the rotation. I’ll find a bodyweight version that works for me then work to increase intensity.