midwestwi
FNG
What do you think? Single best workout to get ready for elk hunting if you could choose only one?
I would vote for hiking with a weighted pack, followed closely by as many stairs as you can do with some kind of weight, either in a pack or just carrying kettle bells. I actually think the stairs with weight might edge out the hiking now that I've done it more the last few weeks, I have not decided for sure.
I have not been home as much as I'd like since April and have been stuck at work long odd hours. Last year I was doing long hikes with my pack but this year have not been able to do that due to lack of time (only home long enough to sleep).
A bunch of us like to workout a bit on our lunch breaks so we've been hitting the stairs in one of the main buildings going from basement to the 12th Floor, either with vest and duty gear (15-20 lbs ) or adding a 25-lb kettle bell in each hand (with same duty gear) for a rough total of 65-70 lbs added weight.
My legs are in better shape this year (even without the kettle bells) having done the stairs compared to the long hikes last year. I guess this could be dependent on the terrain. In my area it would be hard to get 600 vertical feet in a couple miles of hiking but with 4 full stair climbs I'm at that in under a half hour.
Being 41 it has been a little struggle and the gains have been slow. One of my team just got out of the Marine Corp and is doing a full stair climb in 1:15. The best I've done so far is 3:00 but I think I can knock that down to 2:30 in the next week or so. Having someone to keep up with can be both a blessing and a curse!
I would vote for hiking with a weighted pack, followed closely by as many stairs as you can do with some kind of weight, either in a pack or just carrying kettle bells. I actually think the stairs with weight might edge out the hiking now that I've done it more the last few weeks, I have not decided for sure.
I have not been home as much as I'd like since April and have been stuck at work long odd hours. Last year I was doing long hikes with my pack but this year have not been able to do that due to lack of time (only home long enough to sleep).
A bunch of us like to workout a bit on our lunch breaks so we've been hitting the stairs in one of the main buildings going from basement to the 12th Floor, either with vest and duty gear (15-20 lbs ) or adding a 25-lb kettle bell in each hand (with same duty gear) for a rough total of 65-70 lbs added weight.
My legs are in better shape this year (even without the kettle bells) having done the stairs compared to the long hikes last year. I guess this could be dependent on the terrain. In my area it would be hard to get 600 vertical feet in a couple miles of hiking but with 4 full stair climbs I'm at that in under a half hour.
Being 41 it has been a little struggle and the gains have been slow. One of my team just got out of the Marine Corp and is doing a full stair climb in 1:15. The best I've done so far is 3:00 but I think I can knock that down to 2:30 in the next week or so. Having someone to keep up with can be both a blessing and a curse!
