When is enough, enough? (strength related)

[Weekender]

Too much is when you're constantly nursing injuries incurred at the gym, IMO

Agree...reoccurring joint pain is bad which is common with heavy lifts. Sore muscles is one thing sore joints another.

 

[Shawn Hultquist]

I am one of those fellas that you refer to with the oddly insane numbers. I can tell you for a fact that it takes an awful lot of oxygen to feed those muscles in the mountains. I was worn out to complete exhaustion packing out my elk. Im 43 now and have since retired from competitive Olympic weightlifting.

I will say having a 530 back squat made things easier for strength and power but the lactic acid built up quickly due to oxygen demand and oxygen depravation.


Plus it's really hard to find pants that fit correctly.

 

[307]

All pants are skinny jeans when your legs are big enough...

 

[Shawn Hultquist]

All pants are skinny jeans when your legs are big enough...

Tis is true!! ok so for a realistic approach put strap a bag of sack-crete (80 lbs) or sand to you pack with your gear and go for a hike from the trailhead this would let you know for sure where you are in your training. do it every two weeks as a test to see if your program is working and your improving.

 

[Bighorse]

Gentlemen, I'm a mountain hunter with ten mountain goats to my name. All DIY and none done via aircraft. I'm 240 pounds of flexible aerobic strength. I swam over two miles today doing many 100 free on a 1:17. Yesterday I hit the squat rack. Nothing over 185 pounds and smooth ROM work. I'm always stretching, like yoga type shit. Maintaining effective motion and balance are important. Where I hunt upper body strength is very functional FYI. I'm pulling up and hanging off all kinds of vegetation in the forests of SE Alaska. I'm also using poles to act as my third leg and diffuse effort during prolonged packing jobs. Not to mention you want a stable and secure upper spine and neck while humping magnum loads. Upper body conditioning will help with this.
Don't mess your shit up by heading to the mountains unprepared. The fitness isn't necessary for success, it's necessary for longevity. C-spine, shoulders, L-spines, hips, and knees.... Your friendly MRI technologist

 

[justinspicher]

The more of these I read the more it seems like folks are trying to justify what they do and why they do it.

I suspect that if a guy looked at his fitness at a lifestyle rather than goal oriented, he could do whatever wherever.

 

[Will_m]

I agree with what a lot have said about cardio - being able to hold a sub 8 pace for multiple miles does not necessarily transfer into usefulness in the mountains. Running like that gives you one thing, and one thing only, the ability to perform aerobically. In practice, its rare that you are tested purely aerobically. However, with a strong strength base, you are much more capable of performing under load, and performing dynamically. Obviously, this can be taken too literally, as someone who is a pure powerlifter has likely "overdone" it in the fact that they are enormous and capable of performing one thing really well - the 1rm of their main lifts.

In the end, I think it much better to have a strong strength base and a minimal cardio base rather than vice versa. As a matter of fact, you could probably skip running in its entirety and do lunges and squats and you would be ok in the mountains.

Plus if you're strong you can always tell Mr. twiggy arm marathoner to go find another herd if you catch him sniffing around your bull, what's he going to do about it?

 

[Ramcam]

I know this goes against the whole social media driven hunting fitness fad...but let me know how a max rep bench press directly relates to mountain hunting, I must be missing something?

I strength train because I want to look and feel good but mountain hunting is all about the legs. Sure some basic core and upper body work helps, but it is all about the legs.

Here is my benchmarking, and this is really all the complexity that is required. I have a trail on one of the local ridges that I call the test trail. 900 feet at about 27% grade. Best I can do around me. When I can hoof it up there with a 40 pound sandbag without stopping and not feel like death at the top I know I am ready to rock and roll. Last year I was recovering from a torn MCL and never completely reached that point, and I still got around fine elk hunting some brutally steep canyons. It's just not as hard as some make it out to be.

This is what i do its all you need to do to be fit for hunting in the mountains