Conditioning for your hunts?

What do you do?

My weekly schedule consists of the following.

3 spinning classes
2 basic fitness classes
1 advanced conditioning class
weight training 3 or 4 times (depends which week it is)
average 3-4 hours of elliptical/stairstepper
marathon training
also try to mix in some pool time, interval training, and boot camps when available
shooting at least bi-daily with my 6 year old son

I do all of my inside work at the YMCA. I find it too easy not to do anything if I stay at home

I do cardio every day (or so the plan is…it’s usually more like 4 – 5 times a week) with either stairmaster, eliptical or treadmill. Rotate lifting chest/arms/shoulder/back through out the week. This conditioning isn’t just for hunting…it’s for life! Hoping to grow very old but being able to hunt/fish with my kids and theirs kids!

Good point Mike. I enjoy the outdoors too much, to not want to get that extra 5, 10, 15 years that the workouts might give me.

Small steps….. got a workout on the Wii this weekend. Will start treadmill next week and lifting the following week. Have been watching my diet for about 1 month, do 50 sit-ups every other morning…. dropped 9 lbs, so far…. I also was encouraged, to put 50 lbs in my backpack and wear it when possible… Not sure when that will start, but for sure in July if I get drawn

big G

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Small steps….. got a workout on the Wii this weekend. Will start treadmill next week and lifting the following week. Have been watching my diet for about 1 month, do 50 sit-ups every other morning…. dropped 9 lbs, so far…. I also was encouraged, to put 50 lbs in my backpack and wear it when possible… Not sure when that will start, but for sure in July if I get drawn

big G

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Great start. As you stated, start off slow. For most people the easiest way to become more fit, is watching what and how much you eat. Remember portion control. Eat until you are not hungry, instead of eating until you are full.

Exercise is great, but don’t overdo it. If you haven’t been really active for awhile, and you start givin’ er, something has to give. Usually is isn’t good.

As stated above, make it a life change, not a fad or “diet”.

When I decided to make the change, I did, cold turkey. Went from 211.2# to the 150’s in 3 months. Diet change and exercise. I kept that weight for a few months, but then due to the weight training, I came back up to 165#, which is where I am at today. I fluctuate about 2-4# depending on the day, but usually between 163-164# @ 5’11”.

One thing I think for beginners is to know what they are eating. Use a good calorie counter, like fitday, sparkpeople, or whatever one you like. Consider it a normal day, and write down everything you eat and drink. At the end of the day, use the counter and see how many calories you consumed. I’ll use 2000, as an average number for the typical guy, that we should consume each day. Keep in mind that can and will vary a lot from person to person.

Now consider that a can of coke, has 140 calories. So 3 cans of coke a day would use 20% of your daily calories. Now lets add in 1.5 cups of ice cream with 3 tablespoons of choclate. There is 510 calories, total 930 calories or roughly 47% of your daily caloric intake total. Yikes

Good Luck, and holler if we can help!

I am not conditioning for any game hunts, but I am getting ready for morel season and fence mending season, all in the SE MN, NE IA bluffs.

I usually have 3-4 days per week on a treadmill when the weather is below 40 at variable incline and decline. Occasionally put in some stairstepping after the run.

Whenever the weather cooperates I run 3-7 miles per day, while throwing in some hills twice a week.

This time of year I normally stick to short lifting workouts and plenty of pushups and situps.

I was a 3 year captain on my college cross country team and a track coach, so the running comes naturally. I can’t wait to tackle some of the mountains out West…someday.

I lift weights 5 days a week and run for 30 minutes before each session. As we get closer to the season, I will wear a backpack with weight in it and increase the weight each week when I’m running. I also try to limit the amount of water I consume during my workouts as I get closer. I know I’ve emptied 100 ounce camelback more than once on a hunt and am left with a nalgene in my backpack, teaching my body to get by with a little less helps me stay out longer in CO.

The Wii is an excellent tool for those rainy, cold days. My wife has the Jillian Micheals workout (ya, ya I know), and that thing kicks my butt!

Thanks for the tips guys!