Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting 2023 - Fitness / Workout thread

Decent week- 30 miles (940 for the year), about half those miles with a 35# pack. Starting a every other day weighted ruck, August is getting close

My wife and I dusted off the mountain bikes (it's been a looooong time for me!) and got two rides in, about 20 miles.

Got both my strength training sessions I'm; knock on wood my hamstring hasn't flared up, but I'm keeping the weight no higher than 75% of my 1RM. I'm going to keep it that way until after my sheep hunt, can't risk an injury now.

Yesterday was a total body resistance day, deadlift, kettlebell squats, lat pulls, Arnold press, push-ups. Sprint intervals and stairmaster.

Yesterday was a hike in full kit (plates, rifle, comms, pistol, ammo, etc..luckilyno helmet lol) About 5 miles. Cross country, mountainous terrain. It sucked.

Threw on an 11kg weighted vest & hiked to the top of a nearby ridge between rain storms. I’ve managed a daily 10k of hard hiking 7 of the last 10 days so I’m consistently getting a few miles in even though I’ve been working a lot. Coming off of a recent annoying injury, walking with a bit of extra weight through some hills is a good easy recovery exercise.

I drew another top tier elk tag, time to not only train for the sheep hunt next year but the elk tags this year.

I'm going to utilize the Performance First rucking program for my summer conditioning program.

Pretty good week- 47 miles (987 miles for the year), probably 15-ish of those miles with a 35# pack. Did a quick overnight/peak bag in the Elkhorns and racked up just under 20 miles (with 4000') of gain.

Both strength train sessions in, still not going above 75% of my 1RM. I'm also pretty much turning them into HIIT workout by doing 3-5 rds/5-10 reps (60 second rest between rds)- squats/bench/pullups one day, deadlifts/overhead press/chinups the other day.

Going to bump the pack weight up to 40 lbs this week, shooting for 3-4 weighted hikes.

Threw the little tarp (5x5') in at the last second as it showed a very favorable forecast, good thing I did as it started raining at 3 in the morning and never quit after that.

Back squats 5x5, leg press, sled drags, stairmaster & 45lb ruck

Awesome

Bench, incline, push-ups, more running and rucking.

Planning a 4 or 5 day hike about in the beartooths for the 4th of july...should be fun.

^ you'll enjoy that, great country!

Hope so, hoping the snow level isn't bad up high still

Normally snow would likely be an issue, but not this year. We went from normal to slightly above normal snowpack to no snowpack the quickest I've ever seen. Snotel sites at Fisher Ck and Whitemill are showing no snow, typically there would be a couple of feet.

I think you'll be golden

Lat pull downs, seated rows, pull-ups, dB rows, sprint intervals and 30mins on the stationary bike

Pretty good week- 36 miles (1023 for the year). Strength trained both days (squats/bench one day, deadlifts/overhead presses the other) 5 x 10 reps, still not exceeding 75% of my 1RM.

KB squats leg press and rucking for 35mins.

Tapering the workouts this week as the plan is to cover as much country as possible this weekend

You headed to the Beartooth's this weekend?

That's the plan

Have fun and post some pics

Hard to believe, but I actually got paid to work a bunch of that country

I am in training for the 2024 Marche De L'Armee. It will be back to back 40 KM (about 25 miles each) marches on a saturday and sunday in late May in Europe. My SIL will be doing it with some of his Air Force buddies, with 35 lb ruck and ACU's, in formation, doing the cadences and the whole bit. I will trail behind, not being a super-fit 20 something. I will train for the ruck, but will do the march ruck or no ruck depending on if I feel I can keep up with his group. I figure this training will be good preparation for both this and next years hunting season.

https://www.marche.lu/#/en/home

Just started training about a couple months ago with brisk walks and pushups (About 2 hours per day, 4-5 days a week), in GI type boots, with a small ruck, hydration pack and some modest other kit about 15 lbs total. Right now its mostly about endurance, but I just bought a weight bench and will soon add weight training and expand the calisthenics.

Wondering if how best to address the shoulder chafing issue with the rucks, other than just tough it out, if anyone has ideas.

^ looks like fun

Shoulders definitely need a little time breaking in with a pack. Sometimes though chafing issues are pack fitment, so you might mess around with that and see if there is an improvement. As the weight goes up, pack fitment becomes more and more important.

Anti-chafe cream can provide some relief too (it's good to have a small tube on hand as shoulders aren't the only thing that can chafe )

I think you're on the right track, build up your aerobic base with shorter, not overly taxing hikes- volume is king to build the base.