Single Best Workout to Prepare For Elk Hunting?

[Opus56]

Combo of hiking hills with weight and basic kettlebell exercises - swing, squat, get-ups, rows.

 

[ManyBullets]

BRO laid it out last year - it's all about muscle confusion.

Seriously - hike if you can, adapt and do something active if you can't go hike some hills.

 

[Poser]

BRO laid it out last year - it's all about muscle confusion.

Seriously - hike if you can, adapt and do something active if you can't go hike some hills.

“Muscle confusion”

I can’t help but laugh everything I hear someone use that phrase.

 

[*zap*]

SINGLE best - hiking with a pack in hilly country.

 

[Adarby]

I walk pipelines for a living in WV. This year I decided to get paid to workout and started carrying my weighted hunting pack with me. Then once I get home I do an additional 25-30 minute cardio workout.

 

[LostArra]

SINGLE best - hiking with a pack in hilly country.

^^ with a positive attitude.

There are a lot of elkless miles "hunted" that can just turn into depressing hikes only to top a ridge too fast and bust a herd because you quit HUNTING.

 

[ManyBullets]

“Muscle confusion”

I can’t help but laugh everything I hear someone use that phrase.

There's just nothing better if you want to get yoked and stoked for elk hunting.

But everyone needs to remember that to optimize muscle confusion you need to Keep Hammering. These 2 concepts are the top things you can practice to ensure success this fall IF and only IF you add in your Mtn Ops products. Otherwise you're just a truck with no fuel or a Tesla with no charging station.

 

[Poser]

There's just nothing better if you want to get yoked and stoked for elk hunting.

But everyone needs to remember that to optimize muscle confusion you need to Keep Hammering. These 2 concepts are the top things you can practice to ensure success this fall IF and only IF you add in your Mtn Ops products. Otherwise you're just a truck with no fuel or a Tesla with no charging station.

I’d just love to hear or read a thesis that explains how it is that muscles, the vast majority of which only perform one single function, can possibly be (or get) confused. Is your quad screaming, “I’m so confused about what it is that I am supposed to be doing even though all I literally do is extend the knee!”

Maybe you have to wear a flat bill hat for muscle confusion to work?

 

[ManyBullets]

I’d just love to hear or read a thesis that explains how it is that muscles, the vast majority of which only perform one single function, can possibly be (or get) confused. Is your quad screaming, “I’m so confused about what it is that I am supposed to be doing even though all I literally do is extend the knee!”

Maybe you have to wear a flat bill hat for muscle confusion to work?

Flat bill is key to unleashing the confusion. Mtn Ops and spandex also help.

The "science" of the muscle confusion is to train the body in different ways, so that it can never adapt to the the training, which means your training will never “plateau”

You see? NEVER PLATEAU!

You just gotta TRUST THE SCIENCE

 

[Southforkguy]

I liked using the local gravel pit for training. Nobody there to laugh at me either. Good vertical sidewalls slip out from under you, it's a bitch to run up the walls. Give it a try sometime!

 

[Poser]

Flat bill is key to unleashing the confusion. Mtn Ops and spandex also help.

The "science" of the muscle confusion is to train the body in different ways, so that it can never adapt to the the training, which means your training will never “plateau”

You see? NEVER PLATEAU!

You just gotta TRUST THE SCIENCE

Is that really what the “muscle confusion” argument hinges on? No adaption?
That’s kind of funny considering that adaption is the actual result of training. No adaptation = no progress.

 

[ManyBullets]

Is that really what the “muscle confusion” argument hinges on? No adaption?
That’s kind of funny considering that adaption is the actual result of training. No adaptation = no progress.

Don't shoot the messenger here. P90x has taken the world by storm and could be the cure for Covid too. The science will be settled soon if you just ask an expert.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I like 95# BB thrusters, followed by 24" steps up with the atlas and 45# plate, then I shed the atlas and do some burppee pull ups..10, 20,10 rep count or something similar for 30min or so...its flat here so can't hike steep hills with weight.

 

[NB7]

Far from an expert here, but I would offer this...incorporate variety, and whatever you're doing, make it hurt.
Different days, different workouts.
Maybe today it's rucking 4-5 miles with a heavy pack, maybe tomorrow it's a long wind-sucking run with interval sprints, maybe next day it's box work with a heavy pack, maybe one day it's squats and lunges with no pack, maybe one day it's biking till you're sure your legs are going to catch fire because they're burning so bad...some days it's a combination of these things.
None of this has to be in any order. Just mix it up and make it hurt. The long rucks are good for endurance and toughening up muscles and tendons, the short aerobic bursts are good for cardio and lung recovery. You need long term endurance and short term recovery capability.
Both should make different muscle groups sore, a sign you're getting it right.
I think a good mix keeps you more well rounded.
That's always been my experience anyway, ymmv.

 

[mtwarden]

the single best workout is long days in the mountains; but since most folks have to work, are married with families, maybe don't have mountains or multitude of other reasons- I agree with mixing it up- cardio, weights, HIT, rucking

but when you can- a long day(s) in the mountains is king

 

[UTJL]

+1 for CrossFit. I’ve been doing it for 3 years and have seen huge strength and endurance gains. I like the variety of workouts and not having to create my own program

That said I also hike with a heavy pack during the summer. Hauling a heavy pack up or down a steep hill can’t be replicated in a gym and stresses a lot of stabilizing muscles.

 

[Whiskey Bizned]

I just posted the workout program that I've been doing the past couple months...

Backcountry Ski Pre-Season Training Program | Mountain Tactical Institute

Do you want to prepare for the ski season? A 7-week plan that gets you ready on backcountry & sidecountry skiing. Click the link to start training.

mtntactical.com

It is a ton of legs and core, not much upper body to speak of, but I guess that's by design. There are 30 workouts and design to be 5x days/week, but with my work schedule (and because I pansied out of 5x days a week) I do it on MWF, so ended up being a 10-week program for me. Very much worth it though!!!

Also, a couple scouting days recently made me realize that me feet are not in shape for long days of hiking on uneven rocky ground. I have excellent boots with good insoles, always has worked for me before, but made me realize that hiking hills with a weighted pack on rough terrain gets the feet ready for those longs days too. Seems there is just no getting around hiking hills with a weighted pack!!!

 

[beejwest]

The best training for hiking around the mountains with a heavy pack is hiking around the mountains with a heavy pack. A friend of a friend swears by dragging a tire behind you around the neighborhood. I bet you would get some funny looks.

I drag a tire a LOT. Used an old piece of tow strap and a chain to eye bolt to the tire. If on asphalt I weight it. On grass I don't. I usually alternate sprints or running with up to a mile of dragging per workout. Great workout.

 

[V2Pnutrition]

I drag a tire a LOT. Used an old piece of tow strap and a chain to eye bolt to the tire. If on asphalt I weight it. On grass I don't. I usually alternate sprints or running with up to a mile of dragging per workout. Great workout.

@beejwest by "great workout", you mean "death"; right? In all seriousness, I've found little that compares to weighted pack progressions (look up Mike Prevost's ruck plans) and weighted tire drags. They're both miserable and insanely effective.

 

[Poser]

On the tire drags: I’ve looked at some studies and the antecedent evidence from a number of respected coaches and the data/conclusions seem to indicate that pushing a prowler is far more productive for “heavy (or weighed) conditioning than pulling a prowler. Something to consider.

With that in mind, you’d certainly be better off spending any conditioning time hiking with or without a pack vs. any other form of conditioning as it tends to be very sport specific: dragging a tire around will make you efficient at dragging a tire around. Hiking with a pack will make you efficient at hiking with a pack. There’s a reason why triathletes have to train all 3 disciplines and why just training one won’t cut it for the other 2. Do you want to be good at dragging a tire around or hiking with a pack (or maybe you want to be good at both? I hear there’s a lot of money to be made in the professional realm of tire dragging competitions….)