What did you guys/girls do to get into Mt. Goat shape?

[IDShane]

A friend of mine and I are hunting with Bob Milligan for Mt. Goats in October 2024. The past year has been spent just starting to get into shape. It has been quite awhile since I have felt this good physically so I feel like I am at least heading in the right direction. My current goals are just to slowly pick up different tactics to slowly build myself and prepare myself for this hunt and just generally being in better shape. I will be 50 this year and have lost around 25lbs in the last year. What am currently doing is 10-12 miles on the airdyne bike every other night and the opposite nights I am doing sit-ups, push-ups, curls, lunges with weights and some stabilization exercises. I know I will eventually be hiking more and with a weighted pack and I have been thinking about picking up a stairmaster or something like that. I am just looking for some exercise ideas or anything that the Rokslide Family might suggest Thank you in advance!
Shane

 

[gerry35]

You're taking it seriously so you'll do fine. The best is to hike in rough terrain with a pack, start light and increase the weight slowly. I would do some upper body as well, it's very common here to have to pull yourself up the steep brushy and dog hair (thick small conifers) slopes. Good luck on your hunt! It's rough here but beautiful and big goats.

 

[buckchaser]

Hike up steep hills as much as possible, preferably with weight. I know this sounds incredibly simplistic - but that is the essence of the mountain goat hunting I have done.

Obviously, any improvements to your fitness base you can make through other training is beneficial. But being able to shift into “two leg drive” in very steep terrain for extended time periods is functionally what you need to be able to do.

 

[Valsport]

Stairmaster machine if you got one or a gym, best prep for backcountry skiing as well

 

[PineBrook413]

I've never mountain goat hunted but I've been western hunting for a few years now in AZ, CO and MT. I think there is no replacement for hiking with a pack on in the hills. I find my cardio always needs more work and I find my quads are always the first muscle group to fatigue and cramp up if I'm either pushing it too hard or my fitness level is lacking.

 

[kcormack]

Table Rock. Start / End at the old penitentiary. Take optics, natural pack weight.

 

[MaraviaDave]

Backcountry Big Game Hunting Packet - Mountain Tactical Institute

Backcountry Big Game hunting is one sport which bridges the mountain and tactical focus of our training speciality.

mtntactical.com

If you’re very motivated, willing to eat healthy and able to put in the time required to do the workouts. This program will get you ready for the most demanding hunts.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Just like any other sport, specific training is the best. Ideally you’d do a lot of hiking with a pack on. Other strength, cardio and mobility work is helpful but ideally would be secondary to your sport specific training.

In real life though, you might get to hike once or twice a week. Look at the training long of @mtwarden and that is probably ideal for mountain hunting but the guy is retired, motivated and has excellent access to a trail system so what he does likely isn’t possible for most folks.

 

[chizelhead]

Congrats on the weight loss and improving your health. I think what you're doing is great. A few things from a non-expert that have worked for me. For your weighted pack work outs, try adding side hills during the hikes. I can't think of a more effective way to build up strength in that part of your body that you likely will be using a lot. Also, on days you do weights, I would add a low intensity (zone 2 cardio) 2-3 mile or longer walk. I've found it to be a great way to add to my endurance. Last, would be a long hike or endurance workout on the weekends. That will further build out your base. You can add pack/weight.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

This is what I did for my last goat hunt (when not on the road for work):
* Mon-Thurs: Weighted pack (started with 20# and went to 50#) and 3.5 miles around the neighborhood in an hour or less. Time dropped considerably over time.
* Sat-Sun: Started with 20# pack (full optics arsenal, water, etc) plus rifle and do a several mile loop with no stops to the top, rest at the top to include glassing the area, and then no stops to the bottom. Over time the pack weight went up to 50# and my overall time dropped.

 

[Ron.C]

I've done a few backbapck goat hunts and trained hard for all of them. Always felt prepared going into each hunt but at some point in every hunt I hit a point where I realized I should have been in better shape.

LEGS LEGS LEGS, CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO.

A goat hunt will most certainly push both beyond what you trained for.

And don't disregard exercise that will prepare you for steep decents. IMHO, some of my hardest days were decending extremely steep / precarious slopes that pushed my legs/knees to their limit, especially after you've already climbed most of the day.

It's hard to beat the real thing for training when possible. Regularly climbing and decending steep country with a weighted pack, adding more weight as you progress, minimizing rest stops, and trying to better your best time.

I'm planning a solo hunt this year so I'm also focussing on my endurance as well. There is no way I'll be able to pack out a goat in the terrain I will be hunting as far as I'm going in with my gear in one shot. Will require ferrying the load and need to be prepared for a couple long hard days at the tail end of a hard hunt to get a goat out by myself.

 

[SwiftShot]

Did one Sheep hunt with a friend. Legs legs and cardio, do it with pack and weight. Lots of hiking is the best, up hills if you can. I went every other day to our archery range here. I carried my pack with 15 to 30 lbs and my bow. I would hike the targets and stop every 5th one to shoot. Ended up doing the range like 6 times. It is trails and hills so it worked out. Towards the end I was jogging or speed shuffling the trail. Like someone said before, you will find you could have done more.

Every pound you lose now is a pound off that mountain.

 

[Lvthntitall]

The one thing I didn’t concentrate enough on was my core. The ability to balance with a heavy pack is huge.

 

[mtwarden]

As much as feasible, hiking in steep/tough terrain. As @thinhorn_AK mentioned in his post, specificity rules over anything else.

I really believe it's worth taking the time to build a big aerobic base (measured in months and years, not weeks). This is accomplished by relatively high volume hiking/biking/running/etc at a relatively low heart rate (look up Zone 2 training). A large aerobic base is the best insurance for endurance activities, which goat (or any mountain) hunting would certainly be. You'll want to sprinkle in some Zone 3/4 stuff into your training, but your Zone 2 training should make up the vast majority of your training- 80+%.

I think strength training a couple of times a week concentrating on large compound movements (think deadlifts/squats/bench/overhead press) is an important component as well.

I do have the luxury of being retired and having time to devote to training that most folks don't have, but even before retirement I made fitness a priority in my life- no regrets

 

[204guy]

Aside from what’s repeated above. I’d spend some time specifically side hilling in rough terrain with a pack on. That and mental toughness. Something like a goat hunt is more mental than anything.

 

[Grisha]

Hike uphill with pack. Work in some tabata style cardio. The big challenge will be packing out the meat and hide. Everything else will be "easy."

 

[Mangata]

A daily consumption of hills.
Increase your weight and incline, walk steeper hills. You will be able to feel your improvement. Keep pushing yourself!!!

 

[ianpadron]

Lift heavy weights 2-3 days a week, compound movements as a priority.

Hike with a pack, jog, bike, etc. and build a huge and efficient aerobic base. Keep it fun. Scouting, ripping with the bros on the skin track, racing the dogs up the local hill...none of it FEELS like exercise, so you tend to do it without thinking about it, and the volume adds up way quicker than plodding along on the stairmaster or treadmill indoors.

Combine those 2 things with a diet that gets you down around 10-12% bodyfat and there really isn't anything you won't be able to do in the mountains. Fatter than that and you're carrying excess weight and working harder, drop much below it and you start to get cold in a hurry and don't have a ton of reserves to deal with the demands of a week long hunt where it's impossible to carry enough calories to replace.

 

[207-12A]

What in God's name is "ripping with the bros on the skin track?"

And cardio, just do more cardio. It's easy to power through jelly legs, it's very hard to keep going when you're gasping for air. That leads to taking lots of breaks which allows all the gross stuff to build up in your muscles.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

What in God's name is "ripping with the bros on the skin track?"

You don’t want to know.