Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Getting in shape for BP hunting

Right on buddy. I'm in Colorado for the month with the Hills. I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss methodology with you.

The Hill People?? I've always been kinda scared of those guys.

Where are you guys, Grand Junction? I would love to talk to someone knowledgeable on cross-fit. Are you getting over towards Denver?

I'll add my two cents. Consistancy, repitition, and rest.
Most out of shape sorts do one of two things. They don't stick with it, or they push too hard, too soon. The muscles get stronger alot faster than the ligaments or tendions. That's why 80% of the people who take up running get injuried and quit in less than a year.
You'll need to stay in shape the year round as you get older. But watch out for over training injuries. If in doubt, take a week off.
Diet helps alot too. When I switched over to the Federal Food Guidelines and started eating alot more complex carbs, my performance and general condition improved alot.
That, BTW, does not mean eating more protein. It means eating less. E

For the average person adequate amounts of protein are obtained in a normal diet. For those who workout hard and long, additional protein is needed to build and maintain strength.

My experience is almost 180 degrees in the opposite direction. When I went away from the feds ideas (food pyramid, etc.-mom was a "home ec." teacher back in the days) I felt 100% better daily, my performance increased and my conditioning is easier to maintain. I'm not 100% paleo/caveman (probably closer to 70% if I'm honest with myself) but I do feel the difference.

George

Federal food guidelines are tainted with political payback to the dairy, grain and other farm interests. It's all about votes.

Preach it, brother. Plus one.

E has had that reality pointed out to him at least a thousand times now.

Quite true, but someone who has been taught how to do a proper powerclean, squat, and deadlift knows how to maintain his/her lordotic and kyphotic (?) curves and will do so on a C2 rower with just a few coaching cues. Those barbell movements (the same ones personal trainers shy away from) are truly foundational.

There are great how-to vids at the Crossfit site on rowing on a C2.

Within a year from now you will admit I am right about this. In surveying a piece of land, the surveyor sets up his instrument and marks it on the plat as the POB (point-of-beginning). That is what Crossfit is, it is the best foundation to support human movement, like carrying a pack, riding a bike, etc. Mark Twight likened Crossfit to a "springboard" from which just about any athletic endeavour could proceed. He no longer does Crossfit "only", nor should most of the rest of us unless your goal is to compete in the Crossfit Games, but it will heal and patch up all sorts of physical maladies if you go about it properly. It hasn't healed my neck, as that will take a surgeon most likely, but I've learned to work around it without further damage.

If you're saying I'll admit that crossfit is a good workout, you may be right. If you're saying I'll admit that there's only one right answer to the OP's question, I think it's highly unlikely.

The more I see (the older I get), the less I'm inclined to think there's only one right answer to most questions, especially questions like "how do I get in shape to hunt in the mountains."

Before you "get in shape to hunt in the mountains", you need to just get in shape, as in no weak links, or if a weak link is identified (and nothing will do that like crossfit methodology) it is brought up to whatever potential is possible. This "diagnosis" is, IMO, Crossfit's greatest asset, and it's second is coaching proper functional human movement, which will heal/alleviate injury.

A really weak guy may never get a strong as he needs to get doing Crossfit alone, but doing Crossfit will identify that weakness, and someone will get him a copy of Rippetoe's book and set him on the proper course. No crossfitter will ever win the Olympic Gold in the marathon, but lots of crossfitters can finish marathons or longer, without getting gaunt and injured.

Distance-running, powerlifting, bike-riding etc are all in addition to, not a replacement of, at least not permanantly.

I've posted before that I think Stew Smith has defined the ultimate fitness program. Start powerlifting (IE, do Starting Strength) every new year for 8 or so weeks, then start crossfitting with occasional runs, slowly adding runs and distance, but seldom running two days in a row. Taper the crossfit and push the runs into the summer, then crossfit during the fall hunting season when you aren't hunting, and substitute ruck-marches for the runs. Rinse and repeat.

If that's the case, the FFG's are all about corupt polictics, etc, then how come they have such wide acceptance among those who aren't in it for money like UC Berkeley, California ? Their Wellness Letter, for instance, is published to counter the hype put out by those who need to sell you something based on junk science.
Say whatever you like. But the bottom line is our bodies run on a primary fuel, glucose, with fat as an energy level extender. Protein's primary job is to repair and maintain the body, not to act as a fuel. E

E:

Give them enough votes and they will make funnel cakes a major food group. They used to also tell us to stay away from eggs. Now they are good for us.

Have a M.D. friend that I go to and we have talked nutrition a couple times. He has come around to believing that elite athletes are breaking new ground when it comes to understanding nutritional health and the medical community has much to learn from them. Admittedly nothing more than one mans opinion.

Agree with you on the carbohydrate fuel issue. However, if the muscles break down during a hard long haul hunt, the hunter will be breaking down with them. At a minimum, 1 to 1.5grams of protein-amino acids-per Kg is the standard for maintaining muscles strength in people who make a living doing the hard stuff.

Addition: Interesting observation is the diet of the Men on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Probably one of the hardest long term journeys man has made. It primarily consisted of protein.

Then there is the fact that we all are not equal.

Some are blessed with larger than normal ligaments and tendons which enable them to do more with less. Ancient Cro-Magnon men bones have shown huge indentures in the bones they attached to and ran over. Which enabled them to do things we can only imagine today. A bigger than normal heart and lungs will do the same.

Had a bird dog that could go all day and every day. He was tireless in his prime and impressive in his old age. Took him to the Vet one day for a cough and the Vet did a chest x-ray. He said this Dog has a huge heart and lungs. There was the answer: Bigger engine and he ran on high octane oxygen. Nutrition was only a part of why he could go when others quit.

I have a cousin that is a Professor and Director of Nutrition @ Rice University, his exact words were "very few Universities follow the FFG's any more" he also said if you take "modern" day technology the FFG's are at best 30% on course and that by mandate they will be changing in the next 3-5 years! I'm pretty sure he's up to date on this but, it's only one opinion!

Interesting that you bring this up. Anthropologists will tell you that when agriculture became a lifestyle, two distinct trends developed--lower life expectancy and smaller, lest robust bones/muscles/tendons. This is one of the arguments for the paleo diet. The question is, were the trends caused by the diet, the lifestyle that went with agriculture vs. hunting-gathering, or a combination.

Many theories out there. Their knee and hip joints were also bigger, which in theory enabled them to bear more weight and go longer.

Watched a show recently that asked the question; Why did Homo sapiens win out over the Neanderthals when from skeletal studies the Neanderthals were the stronger? Their conclusion was based on brain comparisons. Homo sapiens brains were more developed for communication and thus could more efficiently pass on knowledge previously learned. Future generations of Neanderthals had to figure out the same problems over and over. The summed it up by saying "The Nerds Won."


Addition: To stay a little on the thread track:

Yesterdays workout was 1hour 45min hiking with a 50lbs pack. Then 8hours of work.

Today, off to the gym and weights and stretching. May even throw in some cross fit stuff I watched on you tube, since some of you are making me want to go where I probably shouldn't. Admittedly if I was younger, I would be into it. Then some shotgun or .22lr in the afternoon.

Breakfast this AM: Bowel of peaches, bananas with milk and a 25gram drink of whey protein. Tonight Deer meat with a sweet potato.

Not really. Eggs, for instance, were dished because of their high cholesterol. But later testing showed us that it wasn't that high, first of all. Second, eggs have lots of good stuff we can use as well. So now they are recommended in moderation.
The Federal Food Guidelines aren't pushed much these days by the medical community not because they aren't based on sound science, but because it's too tough to get people to follow them. Their recommendations are not only widely ignored because people simply insist on eating what they like, but they are widely misunderstood by the news media as well.
Nowadays, the same things are pushed, but in a different format. The current push are portions on one's plate of the major food groups.
The excessively push for protein consumption by the so called "people doing the hard stuff" is also widely misunderstood. Those so called standards were developed by the body building culture. They eat small quantities of food, several times a day which is very heavy on the protein as they are trying to build muscle mass. They do very little in the way of carbs or fats. Then, before they do any shows, they crash diet to get lots of defination. When they look really good, BTW, they often very weak.
You are quite right that we need protein to rebuild that which has been broken down by the stress of heavy exercise. What you don't understand is that w/o sufficent glycogen stores, the body must convert protein to glucose. That wipes out the proteins needed for muscle rebuilding. Since the body can only maintain a small amount in the blood stream and can't store protein as protein, once that's gone, it then has to convert muscle tissue to glycose in order to stay alive or to rebuild other parts of the body. That's why long distance runners often have very little upper body muscle mass.
Sure, you can use protein for fuel, but you can't store the excess as protein. The body converts it to fat. Once it's fat, there is no going back.
What the protein addicts do is they try to use it for both purposes. They apparently feel that they can eat enough to keep both their blood sugar levels up and keep enough protein to maintain their muscle mass. Hence they must eat several meals a day that are heavy on protein.
Professional athletes do something similar, but they don't concentrate on protein. They eat it all, proteins, fats and complex carbs something like five meals a day. That's because they burn so many calores, they need to keep their glycogen stores up, as well as their protein levels and they need fat to extend their energy levels.
There have been many studies done about professionals and their nutrition requirements. Even the pros need very little more protein than 1 gram per 7 lbs. of body weight, which is a very long way from the 1 gram per pound or per Kg. But, again, the problem is getting them to do that. Most of them would far rather eat steak than pasta. E

I should write down what my 14-yr-old jockette eats in a day. It's astounding. She is a physical specimen so we just keep healthy foods around and let her have at it at will. I do understand 14 ain't 44..... oh how I do understand that painful truth <g>.

One quick aside... you know how with injuries, or with chronic problems like say lower back, there's this fantasy that if you could just get it to <stretch pop relax> just right it'd suddenly be all better? You hear stories... always someone else though. Well, I had something like that actually work. I was workin' in the vintage guitar store, which meant lots of standing on concrete and just enough heavy lifting to be a potential problem but not enough to where you'd "warm up" to it... and my lower back was killing me. This skinny yoga-hippie guy, probably 35 years old, single, and vegan (you'd know the type if you lived in Eugene) and I are talking and I mention my back. The guy flops down on the floor in front of everyone and shows me a stretch, and hot DAMN if that wasn't borderline miraculous for me! It's an intense one but boy does it work. I was doing it last night along with crunches and pushups.

If anyone has those issues down on either side of the tailbone I'll try to explain it. I'm not posting a pic. I'd never hear the end of it.