Why cardio ain't enough for the backcountry

[LaHunter]

One reason that I am not a fan of the use of the term “cardio” is because it is so non Specific. In the sense that you use the cardiovascular system to literally do anything, be it taking a dump, deadlifting or shoveling snow, everything is literally “cardio.”

The term “conditioning” is much more accurate because sport specific conditioning is in fact a specific adaptation. What people seem to confuse is that any and all cardio is general and this is not the case. Again, triathletes have to train all 3 sports. Why is that? Because running does not effectively condition the body for the adaptations of riding a bike.

Sense rucking is under the added stress of weight and mountain sports involve a considerable amount of time going uphill, it is a different adaptation than general running. Muscular endurance for the purposes of rucking is a specific adaptation where the capillary density of the muscles are able to continuously perform a sub maximal movement Over and over again. Strength plays a considerable role in this as the stronger the muscles, the less stressful the task, however, that capillary density adaptation is a separate (or additional) adaptation from pure strength and is specific to the sport.

Strength itself, however, is a general adaptation. Strong quads are strong quads, but there are sport specific adaptations that need to be made to perform specific sports: a cyclist may be concerned with lactic threshold as it relates to their quads, for example. As a person who puts on a backpack and hikes uphill for hours at a time, muscular endurance is where it’s at. Does it rely on the cardiovascular system? Absolutely. But, your muscles are the primary pathway to performance in this case.

Not a high quality, fancy influencers video, but it’s as simple and stupid as this video demonstrates. The semantics of this is largely where people get confused because it’s seems to be the case that few people actually understand the difference between “cardio”, which is a very non specific term, “conditioning”, which is more specific and “muscular endurance.” As it stands, people seem to lump these term all generically under the umbrella of “cardio” and express the idea that all “cardio” is therefore productive as it relates to “cardio” and that is simply false.

In the end, I will stand by this advice as the end all be all for rucking performance: get strong (general adaptation most effectively achieved by doing the basic barbell movements with heavy loads and low reps) and build your sport specific muscular endurance. If you lack the necessary strength to perform the necessary force production over and over again, you’ll have to build that along the way while conditioning and that is a very slow and arduous process. That portion of this simple equation is best achieved in the gym.

I think what I have a difficult time 'wrapping my head around' is your generalized statements of being stronger is better / most important. I think being 'strong enough' is what is needed. Being able to squat 700 lbs does not give you an advantage in the mountains, in my opinion. I will wager most guys that can really get after it in the mountains probably can't squat 450, but they have stamina and can 'go' for hours without getting gassed. I think being strong enough, without sacrificing stamina and endurance, is the formula.

 

[Poser]

I think what I have a difficult time 'wrapping my head around' is your generalized statements of being stronger is better / most important. I think being 'strong enough' is what is needed. Being able to squat 700 lbs does not give you an advantage in the mountains, in my opinion. I will wager most guys that can really get after it in the mountains probably can't squat 450, but they have stamina and can 'go' for hours without getting gassed. I think being strong enough, without sacrificing stamina and endurance, is the formula.

Good question, but I think the way this question gets poised is often weaponized and excuse not to strength train. For example, I don’t think anyone anywhere has advised squatting 700lbs for mountain sports. In fact, very few people will actually squat 700# even in strength sports. Are there even any NFL players, even just one, for example, who can (legit) squat 700#? So that’s an absurd overstatement.

It is very difficult to prescribe hard strength numbers to the general population because of genetics and anthoprometry, but, the data points seems to indicate that the vast majority of men are fully capable of potentially squatting up to around 400 lbs and deadlifting around 500# with proper coaching, programming and nutrition. In some circles, that is strong, in other circles that is not strong. I’ve read that the US men’s Olympic rowing team all deadlift 500 lbs or more and they maintain huge anaerobic capacities and are all over 6 feet tall. On the flipside, I’ve read that if you average male Crossfitters across all of the boxes using the games as a data point, the average squat is less than 250#, which is pathetically weak for a largely strength based sport.

With that in mind, there’s no number that works, HOWEVER, you should be strength training. Everyone should be strength training. Your grandmother should be strength training. And you should aspire to be stronger. Sports, hobbies, “cardio”, family commitments, vacations, hunting trips and work stress are all going to prevent you from being “too strong.”
Now, don’t confuse what I’m saying: strength training is different from hypertrophy. You’re not training for beach muscles, you’re not even training for size as pure strength training results in tighter muscle density than hypertrophy. The goal is to be as strong as you can be within the context of what you do: a competitive road cyclists may only squat 135# and will benefit from having a 135# squat vs a 90# squat.

In general, the statement is this: most people will only benefit from being stronger. Hunting is heavy, sometimes absurdly heavy. Strong people will, all things being equal, handle heavy better than weaker people. A strong body will, generally speaking, have better potential longevity and be more durable. A stronger posterior chain, which cannot be adequately trained with Bodyweight exercise, will only benefit the vast majority of people. So, when I say, “stronger is better” it’s not because you should aspire to a 700# squat, maybe not even a 200# squat, it’s that you should aspire to be stronger, therefore you should strength training. Statements such as “a 700# squat won’t get you up the mountain” are what knobby kneed, no glute having, shoulders like a 11 year old boy, cardio junkies make so that they have an excuse to be weak and physically wrecked later in life. Trust me, living in a mountain town, there’s plenty of absolutely wrecked 50 somethings who are just scrawny and ran, cycled and skied their way into the dirt in their 40s and they are broken. Absolutely broken.

A couple of my partners and I have found that for this lifestyle, squatting around 300# and deadlifting somewhere between mid 300s-400 seems to fit the bill. Beyond that, the training time is too extensive to combine with lifestyle considerations. So that’s around a number that is sought to maintain while hiking, backpacking, hunting, Mtn biking, backcountry skiing, ultra races etc. of course, those numbers fluctuate throughout the year and I’ve come back from 10 days of elk hunting and Barley squatted 225#. But, I can run that back up to around 300# in less than 3 weeks and maintain it from there. But that’s not a number that will work for everyone: some guys who are bigger, have different backgrounds and only do a single hunting trip each year and have no other physically stressful hobbies, might be stronger. Some guys who are smaller and also like to compete in 5ks and tough mudders might be weaker. The hard numbers don’t matter so much, it’s the benefits of progressive strength training itself that matter.

We have a pending storm that is looking to drop 5 feet of snow over 3 days. After this weekend, after 3 days of all out snowboarding, I will be weaker next week than I am today. Then I’ll get a little bit stronger over the course of another week. Then I’ll have a big weekend in the backcountry and be a little weaker again. It’s not static and I’ll never squat 700# with this lifestyle. Nor will anyone else. Just the same, I’ll keep getting under that barbell and I’ll keep grinding it out and keep pursuing strength because it is the single most beneficial form of fitness, takes the most amount of time to accumulate, it’s the baseline for everything else and you only stand to benefit from it with little to nothing to lose in exchange for your effort.

 

[LaHunter]

Good question, but I think the way this question gets poised is often weaponized and excuse not to strength train. For example, I don’t think anyone anywhere has advised squatting 700lbs for mountain sports. In fact, very few people will actually squat 700# even in strength sports. Are there even any NFL players, even just one, for example, who can (legit) squat 700#? So that’s an absurd overstatement.

It is very difficult to prescribe hard strength numbers to the general population because of genetics and anthoprometry, but, the data points seems to indicate that the vast majority of men are fully capable of potentially squatting up to around 400 lbs and deadlifting around 500# with proper coaching, programming and nutrition. In some circles, that is strong, in other circles that is not strong. I’ve read that the US men’s Olympic rowing team all deadlift 500 lbs or more and they maintain huge anaerobic capacities and are all over 6 feet tall. On the flipside, I’ve read that if you average male Crossfitters across all of the boxes using the games as a data point, the average squat is less than 250#, which is pathetically weak for a largely strength based sport.

With that in mind, there’s no number that works, HOWEVER, you should be strength training. Everyone should be strength training. Your grandmother should be strength training. And you should aspire to be stronger. Sports, hobbies, “cardio”, family commitments, vacations, hunting trips and work stress are all going to prevent you from being “too strong.”
Now, don’t confuse what I’m saying: strength training is different from hypertrophy. You’re not training for beach muscles, you’re not even training for size as pure strength training results in tighter muscle density than hypertrophy. The goal is to be as strong as you can be within the context of what you do: a competitive road cyclists may only squat 135# and will benefit from having a 135# squat vs a 90# squat.

In general, the statement is this: most people will only benefit from being stronger. Hunting is heavy, sometimes absurdly heavy. Strong people will, all things being equal, handle heavy better than weaker people. A strong body will, generally speaking, have better potential longevity and be more durable. A stronger posterior chain, which cannot be adequately trained with Bodyweight exercise, will only benefit the vast majority of people. So, when I say, “stronger is better” it’s not because you should aspire to a 700# squat, maybe not even a 200# squat, it’s that you should aspire to be stronger, therefore you should strength training. Statements such as “a 700# squat won’t get you up the mountain” are what knobby kneed, no glute having, shoulders like a 11 year old boy, cardio junkies make so that they have an excuse to be weak and physically wrecked later in life. Trust me, living in a mountain town, there’s plenty of absolutely wrecked 50 somethings who are just scrawny and ran, cycled and skied their way into the dirt in their 40s and they are broken. Absolutely broken.

A couple of my partners and I have found that for this lifestyle, squatting around 300# and deadlifting somewhere between mid 300s-400 seems to fit the bill. Beyond that, the training time is too extensive to combine with lifestyle considerations. So that’s around a number that is sought to maintain while hiking, backpacking, hunting, Mtn biking, backcountry skiing, ultra races etc. of course, those numbers fluctuate throughout the year and I’ve come back from 10 days of elk hunting and Barley squatted 225#. But, I can run that back up to around 300# in less than 3 weeks and maintain it from there. But that’s not a number that will work for everyone: some guys who are bigger, have different backgrounds and only do a single hunting trip each year and have no other physically stressful hobbies, might be stronger. Some guys who are smaller and also like to compete in 5ks and tough mudders might be weaker. The hard numbers don’t matter so much, it’s the benefits of progressive strength training itself that matter.

We have a pending storm that is looking to drop 5 feet of snow over 3 days. After this weekend, after 3 days of all out snowboarding, I will be weaker next week than I am today. Then I’ll get a little bit stronger over the course of another week. Then I’ll have a big weekend in the backcountry and be a little weaker again. It’s not static and I’ll never squat 700# with this lifestyle. Nor will anyone else. Just the same, I’ll keep getting under that barbell and I’ll keep grinding it out and keep pursuing strength because it is the single most beneficial form of fitness, takes the most amount of time to accumulate, it’s the baseline for everything else and you only stand to benefit from it with little to nothing to lose in exchange for your effort.

Thanks for your reply. This makes perfect sense to me

 

[Larry Bartlett]

This is a practical scientific and exercise physiological key to your backcountry strength and resilience.

lb

 

[AKjon]

This is a practical scientific and exercise physiological key to your backcountry strength and resilience.

lb

An educational video disguised as a hunting video... Genius!!

I've stumbled across a couple of your float hunt videos before, but somehow missed this one. Very informative, well explained, and I stayed awake through the whole thing

Thanks for posting!!

 

[wyoguy03]

Another good idea is to wear your hunting boots or ankle weights, if you want to re-live the 80’s. The muscles in your hips that flex your legs will drive a good deal of fatigue if you wear very light running shoes for step ups

Monkey feet

Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

 

[BBob]

I've found no use for strong biceps in the backcountry

Whaaaat? I think the hunting bro brah's Bomar and the Elk Shape dude would disagree

 

[Poser]

Whaaaat? I think the hunting bro brah's Bomar and the Elk Shape dude would disagree

While I wouldn’t advocate the need for most any athlete to spend any significant amount of time specifically training biceps (almost everything that involves extending the elbows will effectively train the biceps), seeing how hunting often involves picking up heavy things such as putting on packs, hauling firewood, cutting wood, moving stones to build fire pits etc, it would be shortsighted to blankety claim there is “no use for strong biceps in the backcountry” unless your backcountry experience does not involve ever picking up anything heavy.

A more accurate statement would be “I have found no use for BIG biceps in the backcountry” or, “I have found no use for hypertrophic trained biceps in the backcountry”

 

[jshelton2006]

Good read

 

[Bighorse]

I've been killing mountain critters a long time....I studied exercise science in college blah blah, My personal background is triathlon and mt biking as a young beast. As an old beast I still swim, hike, and bike. I also train with a pack maintaining agility doing some HIT interval stuff, mobility drills, occasional strength work. I believe a few things as it relates to mountain hunting.....
One...there s no substitute for the neuro and physio conditioning that mountain hiking yields. The coupling is important.
Two....There's no substitute for quality genetics! Some of us are just bigger and stronger with the right mental gear for the grind. A 155 man with a whole Dall sheep digs super deep. Feasible yes, optimal and repeatable less likely. A lighter frame will need much more athletic conditioning to accomplish magnum big mountain hunt results.
Best wishes for all ya beasts wanting to tackle big hills and slay beautiful mountain critters!

 

[2buffalo]

Good article. Thanks for posting.

 

[Scott2002]

Good read.

 

[ROON99]

Balance is definitely the key. A great article.

 

[WYhuntshoot]

I worked in wild land fire as a hotshot for 6 years. Each season between May and October racking up 1000 hours of overtime. One thing all those tough challenging days taught me was toughness. I worked with lots of people over those years. This is just my opinion but the large framed and over 6’2 folks never really were able to get into the Rhythm of the physical demands of 16 hour+ shifts and sleeping on the ground 95 days a year. Backcountry mountain hunting and that line of work have a lot of parallels. The most durable folks were the 5’8 155lbs-6’1 190lbs. However, a lot can be improved with proper training. I would run, spin, hike with WEIGHT, lift and HIIT. Maybe it is apples and oranges.

 

[Marbles]

Interesting article and discussion. I think someone who can squat 50-80 pounds for 200 reps will be better off than someone who targets being able to squat a specific weight (say 400 pounds). And some who can do 1 mile of body weight lunges will be better off than both.

Training strength and endurance in one activity, rather than splitting the two up.

I see my 120 pound rucks as endurance strength training. I'm sure I could optimize my training better, but optimized systems tend to be less durable. I think one problem with most training plans is they optimize one set of muscle movements while the mountains will force the use of different movements due to terrain.

 

[MrMarc]

Good read. I need to get back at it with a better program.

 

[jbs29]

Try a 100-mile foot race - you'll learn what physical and mental you need to endure

 

[badger109]

Interesting article but I wish they elaborated on a training program. This is super vague.

An ideal training program for the mountains has balance of things like strength, endurance, oxygen adaptation, stamina, heavy pack training, stability and more.

 

[joel]

Just my 2 cents on this subject from a personal perspective. Any cardio or strength conditioning will help you in the mountains but nothing is going to have you running sprints up the trail with a loaded pack and enjoying it. Something most men overlook is Yoga......for me it is a life changer.....not the chanting type but the stretching and strength poses type. Yoga will improve your endurance and your durability for the back country or otherwise. I officiated college basketball for many years and yoga was the key for me in officiating as well as in hunting and hiking. Try it if you dare but be warned it will kick your rear end, if you stick with it you will know and feel what I mean. Cheerio.

 

[h2so4]

Interesting article but I wish they elaborated on a training program. This is super vague.

You’ve got to buy their programming for that info..