one thing Ive found thats critical to getting in shape for elk season is exercise pre elk season,and no mater what shape you think your in, if you live near sea level like I do.
Youll soon find your in horrible condition once you get up in the 8000-11,000 elevation range.
Not only will you likely get altitude sickness the first few days , youll also find you just can,t do simple things until your body adjusts and that takes time.
Knowing that I purchased a tread mill exercise machine years ago to get into and try to stay in physical shape, and like most people that own one its used far too infrequently.
I do realize that not exercising, too get into at least marginal shape pre hunt, is really stupid, so starting several months prior to every elk season, I force myself into a routine, I know from 45 plus years of experience that no mater what I do Im going to be in pretty bad shape compared to what I would like to be, so I force myself to run the equivalent of 1 mile on the tread mill each day,when I start usually in june or in july, and trust me at my age thats a killer deal and I tend to do it in 4, 1/4 mile sessions so my heart doesn,t explode, once I can do that reasonably well, I add a 1/4 mile to the routine each week until I get up to 2 miles in 8 1/4 mile sprints on the tread mill, it helps to do it watching T.V. so you don,t get bored silly and it helps to keep a log and force your self mentally to do it,crossing off each 1/4 mile and not cheating or ignoring the routine as you pay for it in the long run if you do, once you reach Colorado, because theres a huge tendency to want to cheat and skip the routine. but by the time I drive out each year to Colorado Im in a bit better shape,than I would be other wise. now Im certainly not going to say in good shape as Im 64 and a bit over weight, but it sure helps.
so what do you guys do! pre hunt to get in shape?
many of my old geezer friends I used to hunt with don,t bother , and several have reached the point where they just gave up hunting.
and yeah! when I get a chance I take the stairs rather than an elevator and if I only need one item, and the weathers decent,I walk to local stores rather than drive.
Youll soon find your in horrible condition once you get up in the 8000-11,000 elevation range.
Not only will you likely get altitude sickness the first few days , youll also find you just can,t do simple things until your body adjusts and that takes time.
Knowing that I purchased a tread mill exercise machine years ago to get into and try to stay in physical shape, and like most people that own one its used far too infrequently.
I do realize that not exercising, too get into at least marginal shape pre hunt, is really stupid, so starting several months prior to every elk season, I force myself into a routine, I know from 45 plus years of experience that no mater what I do Im going to be in pretty bad shape compared to what I would like to be, so I force myself to run the equivalent of 1 mile on the tread mill each day,when I start usually in june or in july, and trust me at my age thats a killer deal and I tend to do it in 4, 1/4 mile sessions so my heart doesn,t explode, once I can do that reasonably well, I add a 1/4 mile to the routine each week until I get up to 2 miles in 8 1/4 mile sprints on the tread mill, it helps to do it watching T.V. so you don,t get bored silly and it helps to keep a log and force your self mentally to do it,crossing off each 1/4 mile and not cheating or ignoring the routine as you pay for it in the long run if you do, once you reach Colorado, because theres a huge tendency to want to cheat and skip the routine. but by the time I drive out each year to Colorado Im in a bit better shape,than I would be other wise. now Im certainly not going to say in good shape as Im 64 and a bit over weight, but it sure helps.
so what do you guys do! pre hunt to get in shape?
many of my old geezer friends I used to hunt with don,t bother , and several have reached the point where they just gave up hunting.
and yeah! when I get a chance I take the stairs rather than an elevator and if I only need one item, and the weathers decent,I walk to local stores rather than drive.