Thread: Hunting fitness

This'll probably sound soft compared to some of the workouts here. But I'm trying to lose weight and get that bush fitness back again. Each morning I go to the pool and jog 40-lengths (1km). That equates to about 1.6km on land; but without those bloody shin splints! I'm just thinking of it as going for a walk rather than exercise; just a silly mind game thing; but it works. Been doing it solidly for 3-months and really noticed it when I went for my last day hunt. I'm not able to do multi day hunts due to work etc.

But; I'm thinking of the exercise as a "something I have to do for the rest of my life" (I'm 56); rather than a 6-month I'm going to get fit and lose weight regime. I'm not doing the getting on the scales every week thing either; just relying on the clothes getting baggy and noticing the fitness now I'm getting back into the hills again. By doing it every day I don't feel like I've backslid if I have to miss a few mornings due to work.

It's something I look forward to every day; whereas when I used to swim 2-3kms per night after work; it was just sheer hard work and easy to talk yourself out of. Sounds silly; but the jogging is sorta meditative. I won't be fit enough for a Duley hunt; but by doing this and eating whole foods I'm feeling better, fitter and sleep a lot better!

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Yeah sorry I time just the climb from the waterfall to the top should and it seldom varies more than a minute whether we go hard or easy. I think we are moving at very close to anaerobic threshold. Total time up and down is more like an hour but dont compare to other people it's only yourself that matters.. It's good exercise for heavier people too as long as you dont push it specially coming down hill. If you're stuffed afterwards start doing just a quarter up to the first flat bit for a couple of months the to the half way seat for a couple then to the three quarters seat for 2 months then to the top lookout tower. In 8 months you will have built up your own fitness heaps which is pretty darn quick.

Are you talking about the Hicks road end? Trying to picture where the waterfall is.

For the Northlanders, I try and do Mount Manaia at least once a week (three times so far this week). Not exactly iron man stuff, but it's better than nothing. Having said that, I can't believe DOC class this as an "easy" track as it's pretty much a straight climb!

I started a hunting fitness thread but it got deleted. This is my 2c worth.

You can thrash yourself to your hearts content, you can get your cardio as high as you like. It will not matter if you do not move efficiently. Put a pack on, load it to the point it is awkward to walk on, then get off trail. Focus on walking as tall as you can and not moving awkwardly.

Training often teaches you to move inefficiently. If you want to move well and carry heavy loads well, climb and avoid injury, it is your level of agility, your rhythm and cadence, balance and efficiency of motion that matters.

By the time you sort that out, where you are choosing your footing well without looking down to much, moving in time with your breathing, controlling your cadence and rhythm well without losing it to obstacles, you will have cardio and strength.

If you are stuck in a city, do agility work with a pack on. Do sprints, especially with sharp cornering. Do heaps of balance exercises.

Personally, I would take a dance class. People usually pull faces when I say this, but it is pretty normal for MMA fighters. Not usually called pussies. This will give you great feet and life is pretty easy with great feet.

When you get wrecked by someone in the hills that looks like they are just floating along, this stuff is the reason. If you are clumping about with poor balance stumbling about, heavy foot falls and breathing all over the place, that is where all your energy is going. Some people just seem to float, even under a heavy pack.

Originally Posted by R93

All that would do is improve my grip strength...... Could help with pistol shooting tho? Silver lining to everything eh.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Well after all man to hand combat is where you excel aye @R93 haha

Originally Posted by Tussock

I started a hunting fitness thread but it got deleted. This is my 2c worth.

You can thrash yourself to your hearts content, you can get your cardio as high as you like. It will not matter if you do not move efficiently. Put a pack on, load it to the point it is awkward to walk on, then get off trail. Focus on walking as tall as you can and not moving awkwardly.

Training often teaches you to move inefficiently. If you want to move well and carry heavy loads well, climb and avoid injury, it is your level of agility, your rhythm and cadence, balance and efficiency of motion that matters.

By the time you sort that out, where you are choosing your footing well without looking down to much, moving in time with your breathing, controlling your cadence and rhythm well without losing it to obstacles, you will have cardio and strength.

If you are stuck in a city, do agility work with a pack on. Do sprints, especially with sharp cornering. Do heaps of balance exercises.

Personally, I would take a dance class. People usually pull faces when I say this, but it is pretty normal for MMA fighters. Not usually called pussies. This will give you great feet and life is pretty easy with great feet.

When you get wrecked by someone in the hills that looks like they are just floating along, this stuff is the reason. If you are clumping about with poor balance stumbling about, heavy foot falls and breathing all over the place, that is where all your energy is going. Some people just seem to float, even under a heavy pack.

As we get older the fluid in the onboard spirit level in the inner ear thickens and it is important to do balance exercises to keep it moving. Worst case is when the fluid gets so thick a person gets vertigo. Dance with spins and quick turns, hopscotch, touch rugby, in fact the same sort of movements as when we were small kids learning our balance skills all keep those balance skills. I posted a link to the 'Double Dutch' skipping comps earlier in this thread, don't know if anyone looked at it from the point of the balance skills learnt through skipping. Boxers don't skip just for fitness

Originally Posted by Chur Bay

So what do you all do for hunting fitness?
I realise there is no substitute for actual hunting but some of us don't have the luxury of getting into the hills every other day.
I've always enjoyed getting into the gym and smashing a few weight over but in the past I have been guilty of being too strength focussed. The old "too much weights not enough speed work"
These days I try for more of a HIIT approach. High intensity done in an hour.
This is my typical training week.
Monday 4.5 km run in the morning before work. I always walk the dog in the mornings before work but this year Ive started running 3 mornings a week and waking him on the other days.

Tuesday 4.5 km run and a raiders Blitz later in the day. A raiders Blitz is 1000m row, 10 burpees, 10 press ups, 800 metre row, 12 burpees, 12 squats, 600 row, 15 burpees, 15 press ups, 500 metres, 18 burpees, 18 squats, 400 metre row 20 burpees, 20 pressups and a 300 metre row to finish.
You can substitute running for rowing if you wish.
This should take you 20-25 minutes.

Wednesday Raiders Blitz

Thurday Upper body workout.This is a circuit. I start with Chins, then Pulldowns, Benchpress, Power cleans, Dumbell press, Dumbbell rows with deadlifts to finish. I lift as havy as I can going for about 5-6 reps per exercise. This way I'm keeping my strength up and doing a circuit with minimal rest between sets keeps my cardio up. I usually do about 1 warm up set and 4 "loaded" sets. Takes about 45 minutes and at the end Im pretty tired.

Friday 4.5 km run in the morning. Legs in the afternoon. This is another circuit. start with lunges , step ups (both 10 on each leg), box jumps (10) squats (10) ,Single leg leg press 10 on each leg, Calf raises 15 on each leg. Thats my warm up. My loaded sets are the same except I have a 15 kg weight in each hand. I'll do about 3 or 4 loaded sets. This takes about 45 minutes as well.

Weekends I'm hopefully hunting.
The only problem with what I'm doing is the short duration of my workouts isnt condusive to build up endurance but that can really be helped.
I've got a walk in trip on Friday to Sunday so it will be interesting to see how I go.

Hmmm, thinking of quitting before I even start.

I'm as fit as Jabba the Hutt.

Anything more than a walk along a footpath damn near fucks me.

It destroyed my chance of a deer on a trip a while ago, obviously / understandably why I wasn't asked back on future shoots with that group.

I would like to be fit but I work pretty hard as it is and I am not prepared to spend my "spare" time working even harder to get fit just to work in the first place.

In fact the only difference between work and hunting for me ( albeit hunting is a passion that working helps pay for ) is I don't get covered in grease hunting and I generally lift a lot more weight working than hunting.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

one burbon ,one scotch and one beer....Im in shape...round is a shape.
I predominately bush stalk so a slow plod is better than a fast walk.in the worst condition ever sitting 115-120kgs at present but still tipped over a deer yesterday and left not a scrap of meat behind...

Very nice Micky Duckie

Originally Posted by Paddy79

mix it up by having sex 10 times a week

What do you class as sex?
My hand hurts after just five times

I trust you have all seen this and got plenty under your belts before the roar ...

Thanks again @Philipo

https://youtu.be/nhyzctPfJFo

If you are not a fitness nut, don't take your advice from fitness nuts. These people are masochists. They are addicted to the "runners high" of endorphins from pain/exertion. If you are not a lifetime fitness person you have a ways to go to get that buzz. The buzz can't initially overcome the bodies physical trauma.

Set your exercise regime as something you will actually do. If it is jogging 100m, and that is all you can guarantee you will be motivated to do, every day, then jog 100m. Most hunters will be a lot fitter than that, but never make your fitness more than you have casual motivation for.

This approach in my opinion, is the right way to gradually transition someone into a fitness nut. You go from dreading exercise, to enjoying it, to craving it. Those who enjoy it or crave it can't understand why people dread it and refer to is as "soft", which might be accurate.

At the end of the day, people who think they are soft go out to prove they are not, succeed by blowing themselves out, then secretly think "fuck that". Hardening is a gradual process and frequency is more important than intensity. Intensity will come.

Here's the web site of the best paleo guru.
https://www.primalblueprint.com/collections/books
It's explained in the book "Primal Blueprint" covering exercise and diet. If you like what you read, the next one is "Primal Connection" which covers lifestyle, spiritual and emotional aspects. Hunters will find this all instinctive, just need to be reminded of it all and have the physiological basis laid out.
Unfortunately, simply telling people how to live long and well doesn't create a long term cashflow so Mark Sissons has had to write a whole stream of books, podcasts, blogs and sell supplements which I'm sure he doesn't believe you need.

Here's a 21st century paleo style meal:


As you can see its mostly vegetables but in far greater variety than early humans wild have available. I don't suppose our cro magnon ancestors in Europe had deep sea fish like this terahiki either but polynesians might have.

I thought legumes (such as beans) were a no-no for the Paleo diet?

The whole paleo thing is not really founded in sound thinking. Meaning, it does work and it is a good way to eat, but all the mumbo jumbo about ancient ancestors is make believe.

The selection pressure on diet is very very intense. People did not eat a varied diet. You ate what grew in your region and people did not move around much. Prior to modern medicine, people who struggled to digest what was available locally, died. The died early and the did not pass on their genes. Prior to modern medicine, food was medicine.

Peoples guts are generally quite specialized and as unique as peoples outward appearance.

"Paleo" just goes way too far back. Its a tad silly. Slow evolution is an old, debunked concept. If selection pressure is intense enough, specialization can happen in a just a few generations.

The "paleo" diet is better than a modern Western diet, but can't compare to a tuned diet.

Originally Posted by muzza

Age is wot ruins fitness , or more correctly your ability to get hill fit after a lay-off.

I walk all day on concrete , climb industrial ladders , clamber over pipework etc but as soon as I come to a hill I run out of steam. Turning 60 did that to me , I'm convinced of it . I was fit as a buck rat when I was 50, but now I really struggle to get fitter than my current residual level. Dont drink , dont smoke , hardly ever get a shag - really dont have much to live for now , eh ?

theres ya problem, you need a shag on a regular basis its good for cardio stamina core pleasure and sleep that's 5 things and if your able to flexibility