Off-season training

[DhD]

Time to start preparing for next season, one hole I can definitely plug is to improve my off season conditioning program. Starting with a week of yoga and cardio. I tend to get bored easily and try to vary my workouts. What's your off-season training program? The thought of Dan in a cat t-shirt doing yoga made me legit laugh out loud.

[Racks&Beards]

Shed hunting is a good cardio workout. Just being out in the woods putting miles on the boots. You could make it even better by carrying a weighted pack.

[headgear]

Hiking/scouting, yoga, pushups, pullups and that is about it. Eat super healthy and fasting are also huge.

[brancher147]

I just keep hiking the mountains. Post season scouting leads to shed hunting and turkey scouting, then turkey season. In the summer it’s hiking and backpacking then back into pre season scouting. Push ups sit ups pull ups or hit the gym for anything else plus yoga a few times a week

[MNarrow]

Balance is key in keeping a workout program going long-term. Long, intense workouts don't last very long for me before I just quit them all together.

Yoga has been a life changer for me.

For me, I do 10 minutes of yoga every day when I wake up. When I get home from work in the evening I do about 10 minutes of strength training......push-ups, pull-ups, squats (IMO, these three bodyweight exercises are the absolute best you can do for strength).

Lastly, once a week (usually on the weekend) go for a long run 30-60 minutes. And not on pavement or concrete........trail run......ground is a lot better on the joints and the changes in elevation are great. In the winter I will move to a treadmill. Maybe do some sprints once in awhile.

[NorthStar]

This is going to sound silly to some but hunting is what keeps me in the gym 3 days a week. I do mostly weights but will do jogging on a sharp incline to help with hill country. Beast Hunting is a full body workout so each workout I hit upper body, lower body, and core. This all year program definitely makes getting to those hard to reach spots easier.

I have the workout down. Now I just need to shoot my bow more often!

[CChunter2]

Same as Northstar may sound odd but I train just like an athlete for sports. I hit the gym 3-4 sometimes 5 days a week. Weight training and cardio. Plus hit the mountains scouting.

[raisins]

A great low impact cardio and strength training exercise is to walk a treadmill at the highest incline setting and as fast as you can still walk (not jog) but with weight on your back. My gym has a 40 lbs sand vest which distributes the weight well. They also have a short escalator and I walk it with the weight vest doing a few minutes single steps and a few minutes 2 steps at a time alternating.

Sometimes I think doing this makes more sense than going to extreme lengths to shave weight off your pack.

[NorthStar]

A great low impact cardio and strength training exercise is to walk a treadmill at the highest incline setting and as fast as you can still walk (not jog) but with weight on your back. My gym has a 40 lbs sand vest which distributes the weight well. They also have a short escalator and I walk it with the weight vest doing a few minutes single steps and a few minutes 2 steps at a time alternating.

Sometimes I think doing this makes more sense than going to extreme lengths to shave weight off your pack.

X2

Sometimes I will walk with a steep incline and carry a 20 lbs kettle bell in one hand. Switching hands every couple of minutes.

When working out, I think of accessing and exiting my hunting spots for to motivate me for lower body. Core and upper body exercise like pull ups for getting up in a tree. All exercises assist with the drag!

[gsquared23]

I normally switch over to Busch LIGHT. Only 3.2 carbs!

[DhD]

This is going to sound silly to some but hunting is what keeps me in the gym 3 days a week. I do mostly weights but will do jogging on a sharp incline to help with hill country. Beast Hunting is a full body workout so each workout I hit upper body, lower body, and core. This all year program definitely makes getting to those hard to reach spots easier.

I have the workout down. Now I just need to shoot my bow more often!

Doesn't sound silly to me at all. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. After being put on medication for severe untreated asthma I lost fifty pounds. Last year I found the beast and lost another fifty training for deer season. It's been a huge motivator. I still have another sixty to go to get to healthy goal weight, which I WILL do this off season.

[Jackson Marsh]

Pushups, pullups, reverse lunges, overhead press, and other various exercises with weughts. I like tabata too, usually burpees. I've switched my cardio to almost exclusively to HIT type stuff and little to no rest between the above listed exercises. I've virtually quit running other than the occasional hill sprint workout in the summer.

[NorthStar]

This is going to sound silly to some but hunting is what keeps me in the gym 3 days a week. I do mostly weights but will do jogging on a sharp incline to help with hill country. Beast Hunting is a full body workout so each workout I hit upper body, lower body, and core. This all year program definitely makes getting to those hard to reach spots easier.

I have the workout down. Now I just need to shoot my bow more often!

Doesn't sound silly to me at all. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. After being put on medication for severe untreated asthma I lost fifty pounds. Last year I found the beast and lost another fifty training for deer season. It's been a huge motivator. I still have another sixty to go to get to healthy goal weight, which I WILL do this off season.

Good for you, man! Sounds like you are on the right track.

I remember joining my work gym and I was asked by the trainer what my motivation for working out was. I told him it was hunting and he looked at me like a was crazy. He was probably expecting the normal responses like to look good naked or something like that.

[vtbuck]

I’ll be going through pt after knee surgery on January 9th. After the doc gives me the all clear I’ll start training for Colorado Elk in September.
Having never had surgery I’m hoping recovery is quick but there are no guarantees.

[greenhorndave]

Lot of really good stuff in here. I’d say mine most resembles MNarrow with the addition of kettlebell swings and shoulder and other hip flexor activation and strengthening. For me, the hip flexors are everything. My hips and low back are usually trashed after 10 miles of carrying a mobile setup and crawling/crouching under brush. Stretching them is paramount.

Admittedly I fell off the wagon about a month and a half ago after I hit a stretch where I couldn’t get out hunting because of other commitments. But that’s the kind of stuff I’ll be doing for the sole purpose of being smoother, faster and with better recovery for hunting, just like NorthStar said sounded silly. Not to me.