While I have elk hunted numerous times, I never have been able to get in good enough shape. I have been working out at the Y the last year and I am in better shape than I was prior to starting, but I was wondering if there are any specific excerises a person can do to get legs and lungs in adequate shape for 10,000 ft elevations?
I work out at the Y, use treadmills or start riding bikes. You could also get help from a trainer at the Y, and most of them help you get in shape enough to scale a mountain. Good Luck!
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The only way to get your lungs in shape is to be at altitude for a couple of weeks immediately before hunting. Your body needs time to produce the extra red blood cells that are needed to carry the limited oxygen more efficently and the only way to get those red blood cells is to be at altitude for a while.
Do a lot of walking up hill with a pack on your back.
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I can't say much on how to practice for the altitude difference. But I would find hills around and climb them. If you are a smoker you WILL have problems. Uphill can be a problem. But I am sure that all the other elk hunters would agree with me that the downhill with a loaded pack is the worse. My knees will start shaking with each step. I would work on strengthening the knees. If your muscles require less oxygen for you to operate, Then you will have more oxygen for productive breathing. I learned to control my breathing and sometimes have a breathing rythm to help keep me from hyperventilating. Have fun in your quest for the King of the Rockies.
When I went to Idaho a couple of years ago I hit the Pine Mountain Ski Jump steps. If you look it up on the web you will probably see what I mean. They are a killer. My goal was to run down and all the way up but I have yet to do it. I have gotten about 2/3 the way up after running all the way down. When I say running I don't mean fast but at an ok pace. These steps are steep so if you go too fast something tragic could happen. We have a lot of peple who walk them for exercise around here and when they saw me running by they gave me some funny looks. It got me in good shape and my lungs were excellent. Hit the stair stepper at the Y and do it on a steep incline to help. Good luck!!!
I don't know if you have done much jogging, but its a good way to build up your lungs. Start out say a quarter mile and work your way up to a few miles a week or so. Also jump roping is a good work out. When I was a wrestler, my coach had us jump rope for 15 min. straight and he said it was the equivalent of jogging 5 miles, don't know if its true but it really wears you down on the jump roping. Most of us would rather do the jogging. Good Luck in whatever you decide for shaping up on your elk hunt!!
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I don't know if swimming is an option, but that is probably the best overall workout for anyone. I would couple that with the stair master if you don't have any big hills around for yourself to start climbing. If you do have some hills or big ridges to climb, start out hiking up and down and then at an angle. When that starts to get a bit easier, put on a back pack and put something in it to weigh you down. Before you go on your trip you should be able to carry an equal amount or greater weight than you will when you have all your hunting gear on when your hunting. You may not be able to do anything about the altitude change, but atleast you'll be in shape. Heck....I bet the wife wouldn't mind seeing you toned up a bit. Keep in mind that with all this exercise, when your out there hunting....you won't feel like a truck just rolled over you cause you'll be ready for it. Good luck!!
kansas i'm studying this sort of thing in university right now. On your elk hunt you will probably only require 3 things. Strenth-Amount of force a muscle can generate when it contracts. To improve your strength you should perform and excercise that cannot be repeadted more than 5-7 times in a row. So 3 sets of 6 reps would be perfect but make sure by the 5th rep you cannot go any more but then push yourself to do it. You will not get any benefits from strength training unless your close to 80% of you repetition max. Endurance-ability to resist fatigue. Endurance may be muscular or cardio as well. To improve cardio endurance you need to work your aerobic energy system. This would require moderate exercise like jogging for 30 minutes a day for 4-5 days a week. To imporove your muscular endurance raise your number of sets and reps on the weights up a bit to say maybe 4 sets of 15 reps. Power-combines strength and speed and is the rate at which work is done. Power exercises are explosive and are done with great force. Reps are put down to maybe 3 sets of 3 repetitions. As for the altitude ya this can be a bit of a problem. The higher the altitude the sooner your aerobic power will fail you. Basically you will get fatigued faster by a lower level of intensity. Just a jog up there may have you panting while back home u can run for a mile. So to fully fix this problem you either have to train at this altitude all the time or else be at the place 10-20 days before the hunt. Most aclimitization takes a few weeks but maybe a year to fully aclimatize. But not too many people would bother with this for hunting. However I suggest doing a lot of cardio endurance exercise. If your cardio endurance is above average going into the hunt it will still decrease from the altitude but not to as low of a level.
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Its 35 below or its 98 above and he's workin through it all cause this is what he loves.
This is a novice answer as I have never been elk hunting. However, I have contemplated what I would need to do to get in shape for the hunt and along with jogging and the stair climber I would load up my pack about double what I would be carrying and then i would go walk bleachers for an hour every afternoon.
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As far as the legs go, use the stair climber on a stiff level (machines vary so I can't give you a particular lavel). Practice taking really large steps up. let one foot get to the bottom and try to step all the way to the top. Not only does this work the quads, but it will stretch and work the hamstrings as well. This will give you a burn and get the legs ready for the steep, long stride walking that we do when hunting in the mountains. I have done this and also I do supersets with weights for the legs. Get a weight that you can do about 12 times, then increase the weight and do it to failure. Each time with no rest inbetween. This is great conditioning for the legs. Good Luck.
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physical fitness and elk hunting
