Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting At Home Fitness Program for Sheep Hunt

I have been working on getting ready for my 2012 Sheep Hunt. It will be a backpack hunt into the Chugach Range.

To say I started last year at zero physical preparedness would be about true. Until now I have focused on the Cardio - Treadmill, bike, etc. I want to start some strebgth training and with my schedule it would be best at home.

What programs, DVDs, etc, would you recommend?

I would ditch the treadmill and run outside. If there are trails in your area I would recommend these over running on pavement. You'll get a way better workout, treadmills are only 60% of the effort required to actually physically run.

For home workouts I use www.bodyrock.tv for a blend of strength and cardio. A word of caution here, the host is very very attractive and you may spend more time "watching" the videos than actually doing the work.

If you want to buy something I'd recommend P90X, it is strength and cardio with a lean on the strength side. Craigslist usually has them for sale at a fraction of the price. You just need to use the mute button as the host is a typical workout tool (but the exercises are pretty damn good).

I do run outside at times but my knees just ache.

I had been thinking of the P90X or the Core Performance Essentials.

Take your pack that you will be using, or any pack, and weight it up. Walk some trails and hills (preferably). Try to increase your time, speeed, and distance as you progress. This can also be done on your treadmill, if it has an incline feature. If your knees bother you when you run on pavement, there is no need to do it and get an injury that may mess up your hunt. Some weight lifting with the legs would help also.
Good luck!

Find a local Crossfit gym and join it, learn the movements and make them your own. Buy yourself a squat rack, and american-made quality barbell like a York, Pendlay, or Rogue and 260# of rubber bumper plates for your garage. Order the book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe. Read it twice. Get busy.

Start ramping up the cardio early next summer after crossfitting and lifting from now until then. Do this, and you'll thank me, order some bullschit DVD's and you'll be hurtin' most likely.

Be kind to your knees - don't jog. If you're going to run, for pete's sake RUN - get up and out over your toes and give 'er hell. Long distance jogging is a damaging specialty (JMO). Particulary if you actually plan on shooting something.

Regarding strength - we don't know your age, and that's a fair predictor of your recovery capability. I'd say that if you're <40, then the starting strength protocol should work unless you're otherwise weird. Older than 40 - you may have to water it down slightly and stretch it out.

If you're <40, you need to be geared up and beginning the "starting strength" protocol promptly as soon as you're done hunting this fall. You can do that with ~300lb of iron weights, a bar, some sort of rack to hold the bar chest and hip high, and a flat bench. Run it out until your improvement slows/stops. That should be 4-6 months. Transition then to continued lifting 3 days a week with same movements in different mixes. Your goal should be to not lose your strength

As for "cardio", I'd propose that, from personal experience doing the same thing you're about to, if you have a solid strength base and tough feet, you won't have any problems. Tough feet only come about by walking on uneven ground, loaded, in your boots. "Cardio" takes care of itself.

older guy here(60), i have done alot of biking to get cardio, legs and knees in shape for mtn hunts 1,000 miles or more a summer
that takes care of my lower body and no damage to my knees, will also cause you to lose weight if ya got any extra ya don't need. still need to hit the trail with a pack and put on some miles.
many things you can do with weights for upper body strenght.
Have a great hunt, i will be up by denai park next year,looking for a dall
Thanks for all the ideas

P90X. In 2005, I trained for 9 months by running, stadiums and heavy pack hiking. In 2010, after finishing P90X I was in better shape even though I was 5 years older; and, my knees thanked me.

Well I am 44, and to be honest feeling it. I really have never worked at being in being in shape and that is part of the desire to do this hunt for me. Sometimes I think I am nuts for trying it ... Going from 0 to Chugaches.

I also live in flat Illinois so finding a place to hike up and down is tough. My guide suggested finding a old gravel pit - I am going to start looking for one get "Tough Feet" as Vek suggested.

Lots of good things to think about - thanks. I really like biking as well so that will continue to play a part of my process.

I was 38 last year in the Brooks and live in the swamps of Louisiana if that makes you feel better. I wouldn't preach P90X if it didn't get me in the best shape I've been in since high school.

I agree with Vek that about getting your feet in shape. I would add the hips too. The first time you hike with a heavy pack it puts all kinds of stresses on the hips. Better to work out the kinks before the hunt. Even on flat ground I'd recommend walking with a fairly heavy pack on a regular basis staring 3 months before your hunt. Helps wear the body in all the right places. I just got back from a 5 mile hike with 50lbs. Sheep season less than two weeks....

I don't sheep hunt, but one of my buddies kills sheep almost every year doing walk in hunts. He does p90x pretty regularly. Maybe he'll post on this thread, but he usually posts on AOD.

Not arguing with anything Vek said, but I would add that if you can find a PT 7000 Stepmill:

http://www.amazon.com/StairMaster-Stepmill-7000-PT/dp/B000NZKXNG

Get on this thing maybe twice each week, hard and fast short workout and a longer slower one a few days later.

Also I must mention the Concept II Rower. This is the only piece of "cardio" equipment that is worth spending your hard-earned money on. A new one is about $900 and worth every cent. I found a used one for about half that. Guys on the Crossfit board talk about finding them for $100 from some fat guy but don't count on it.

64 now!!!! Made my living as strength / fitness director at University level. Now at a couple of upscale health clubs, (on SS).. I feel that if one is not spending 80% on cardio, something is missing. P90x is age old circuit training, and effective, but long term injury prone.. I indoor bike x 40 min. 4 days a week intensely. 2 days a week intense racing canoe, x 40 minutes also. So I don't have to lift boring weights. At 6'5", I stay below 210!
But, the biggest advantage for me was teaching myself to filet to backpack. More meat, less torque on back!!!!

Well, you should know better than that then. The man who invented the term aerobic, Dr Ken Cooper MD, has reams of longitudinal studies that prove that the point of diminishing returns for running is fifteen miles/week. A further increase in mileage increases fitness buts yields zero increase in longevity. Really high mileage programs, 50+ miles/week sap testosterone and can lead to muscle loss. No one ever got put into a nursing home because their 5K time was too slow. Nursing homes are full of people who are too weak to extend their hips.

Ramping up the cardio is a good thing before sheep hunt, it only makes sense. It doesn't make sense to do it year round.

Didn't mention running! (I hold lifetime certification from Cooper clinic)... Nursing homes... What? I do what works for me ... good luck!

Call me a little girl but i still think that one of the cheapest most effective ways is jumping rope. Even with a pack on.

add in alot of push ups and squat thrusts...

You mentioned cardio, of which running is but one type, the principal still applies.

Nursing homes? Crossfit founder Greg Glassman has opined that our grandparents and olympic caliber athletes' physical requirement differ only by degree, not by type.

Outside of dementia, inability to extend the hip (rise from a chair, toilet,etc) is what renders the elderly incapable of self-care, ADL etc. Since you didn't seem to get the connection, weight training via functional movements is what forestalls this.

I have a test for you. Measure off 400m. Get a barbell and load your bodyweight on it. After a proper warmup, deadlift it 10 times, then run 400m flat out. Repeat three times and post your time for us. Then after you catch your breath, hang on a pullup bar and see if you can slowly bring your knees up and touch your elbows.

Not a bad workout, but if you do it everyday it won't work, you'll get achilles tendonitis for starters. That would constitute about 1-2% of the typical crossfitter's regimen.

Everyone has seemed to cover everything except swimming. It's a great workout and cooldown after lifting or even on a recovery day from running. A great cardio workout is to do laps taking a breath every stroke and then adding strokes between breaths till you can't do it anymore. You can swim half or even the whole pool lenght before taking a breath for example. You do that awhile and then run again and you'll see a big difference. If you suck at swimming it's an even better workout. Just don't black out and drown. Something different.