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

Nothing wrong with swimming, everyone should be able to swim, especially packrafters and paddlers of course. Swimming is part of GPP (gen phys preparedness) but unless you are tri training, don't overdo it 'cause it'll lead to bone loss if you use it as a primary form of cardio. The SEALS figured this out a long time ago (actually NASA did, but the SEALS can read and are smart enough to apply it)

One Crossfit workout consists of swimming a lap, climb out, do kettlebell swings, then pushups, repeat 3-5 times. You won't be able to hold your breath, trust me.

I think P90X is 3 months well-spent. I don't think it's something that you want to jump into without any kind of conditioning base, and I don't think it's necessarily the end-all of backpack hunting training. That being said, I did quit 60 days into it (Hey, summer happened ). There is a fair amount that doesn't really transfer to functional fitness IMO (curls, for example).

If you go that way, I'd plan to finish well before your hunting season (at least 2-3 months). Some of the P90X stuff is fairly aggressive, and you will want to be somewhat careful to avoid injury/allow for recovery time.

I'd also want to have some time set aside for just putting on a pack and walking up some hills after all the beach body stuff is done...

I also quit after about 2 mounths of P90X back in april. I couldnt keep doing it while trying to go hiking and mountain biking. I was to tired and sore to want to go out and do something. Its great to do during the winter and then hit the hills in the spring.

deadlifts x 400 m sprint x 3

That hurts me just reading this!!

Take this for what it's worth as I have never hunted sheep. But a few years ago I read an article in Backpacker magazine about Ed Viesturs'workout. The basis for the article was that he spent alot of time in the gym lifting and his new trainer basically said it was a waste of time. Take for instance a traditional benchpress or squat, what real world scenario does this mimic? None. Instead his trainer tried to teach him to get the the same muscle groups working, but from an unstable platform like a stability ball. This forces you to engage your abs with every exercise. I think the most important part of the equation is a strong core, everything stems from there. This article was published in 2006 sometime and you may be able to find it on the net. I would check in with a personal trainer that specializes in this type of thing. To bring it home all you will need are a few dumbells, resistence bands and a stability ball. As far a the debate about cardio, if you're a busy guy I don't think you'll have enough time to worry about doing so much cardio that you begin to hurt yourself and have to worry about loosing muscle mass to an unhealthy level. 80% (or something about there) of olypic atheletes workouts are done at conversation pace. Meaning they aren't winded to the can hold a conversation with a running partner (or whatever). This type of exercise will burn fat, and also increase the strenghth of your heart. Thats whats going to be really important ( I would think) at high altitude. Again, not a sheep hunter but thought I would share my two cents. Good luck!

One of the strangest incidents that a guide friend of mine had happen in Alaska occurred a couple of years ago. They were in the Talkeetnas with a client who was a 30 something tri-athlete. Looked the part for sure but at the end of day 2, he done. Literally could not go on. After two days, he was able to climb and luckily got his ram. In retrospect, the guide, who is a mountain racer of some notoriety, thought the hunter wasn't as good as he had convinced himself.

Doesn't sound strange to me, swimming, cycling, and road running don't involve moving any weight 'cept yourself. Altitude wasn't an issue 'cause the Talkeetnas aren't that high.

I have been on several mountain goat and sheep hunts and have tried numerous training methods.

The best is sport specific. Weight your back packs up slowly over time and try to mimic conditions. You must find some method of side hilling steep terrain and walking with backpack over uneven terrain.

This is after you are in shape cardio wise. When you can go on a 4 hour hike with no trouble you are ready to start training the tendons and muscles.

Remember that being in shape is not the same as sheep shape.

Seldom in our daily lives do we spend up to 12 hours a day for several days in a row climbing around on uneven and steep terrain.

Good luck. It is something you will never forget!!

No truer words were ever spoken

Sure. You are gonna be sore as hell even if you are fit, because of the volume of activity. A fit person will accomodate and recover from that volume MUCH faster and more completely than an unfit person.

How do you prepare for hundreds of yards of bowling ball sized rocks, with super sharp edges, on a slope?

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but if you live where its flat, you could try weighing your pack down and running or walking fire escape stairs in a tall building. Seems like it would work well. I've never done it personally because I live in the mountains. I backpack hunt for elk and all I can say is work out till you're questioning your sanity. It still won't be enough...

The same way you prepare for more than a dozen miles of the same - by getting really freaking strong and letting the chips fall from there. Screw "cardio".

Lunges, lunges holding a barbell plate overhead, pistols (one-legged squats), box jumps, jumping rope, body weight squats, BARBELL SQUATS. In otherwords, just do Crossfit.

The Crossfit Games were held this past weekend. You can pull up the competitors stats online. All the top tier competitors had impressive lifts totals, but they also had 18-20m 5K times, so obviously they don't think they should "screw" cardio. They are getting a ton of cardio from Crossfit itself, but they are also putting in some miles.

Two of the seven exercises you mention are worthwhile. The rest are runofthemill calisthenics, bar tricks (pistols), or things that folks with limited strength flat-out shouldn't do (box jumps).

Lots of strength (and resultant joint stability), lots of power (sprints and oly lifts), lots of lower leg toughness, and a modicum of aerobic ability; that's what I as a middle aged ex-jock aspire to. Like I mentioned before, #4 takes care of itself in developing #3, and not having #3 will screw up your hunt LONG before not having #4 will. #s 1 and 2 contribute greatly to not hurting one's self when packing heavy on crappy terrain.

I am with you vek, i think take a knee is a little over the top,
nothing better than getting on the trail with your pack and hoofing it around, have to agree with strength and cardio built up over many months

I'd be very interested in hearing his sheep hunting stories...

I spent a quite a bit of time in sheep country (Denali and the Talkeetnas) roaming about when I was stationed at Wainwright but never got a chance to hunt them.

Holy Chit, doing my cardio in the Georgia mountains and was swarmed by yellow jackets today, had to bail. A sting in the ear is a be-auch! Feels like I was hit in the ear with a hammer

Ouch on the ear! Those little insects are sneaky. Haven't been after sheep but have been high in the Rockies walking those rock fields. I do not like it, but if you want to get sheep you have to be able to do it. It wore me out and I'm a grinder who has logged several super long days in the mountains on search and rescue with a backpack, run (literally) garbage routes carrying a lot of weight all day long and played college basketball a long time ago. I'm 57 and my goal is protecting my joints while gaining strength. I'll include low back in the joint protection. Got some great advice from my orthopedic surgeon after a second knee surgery last year, "Make the elliptical machine your friend, save the pounding for the things that matter and use the trekking poles." He's been one of the best sports medicine docs in the NW and his advice makes a lot of sense. I've let the young guys help me at the gym and they like the body weight exercises until they feel like they've strengthened the joints and lost enough fat. They like the balance exercises because they strengthen all the muscles that stabilize the joints using the balance balls. If you think your cores is in shape do a plank on an exercise ball. If you are like me, your obliques will tell you they are working like they never have.
If the sheep hunt is anything like going after elk at 10K feet on rocks, a combination of balance, strength and cardio is in order. Even then, you gonna be tired!
FWIW, we used to get the muscled up guys running garbage routes with us in the '70's and they almost always couldn't last the first day. It took a mindset of grinding it out and not quitting to get through the week or two of getting in shape. High mountain hunting requires that same kind of mindset and preparation. Sure seems worth it to me!