Health & Fitness for Hunters

BritChaser

BritChaser

Well-known member
Upland bird hunting is a physically challenging sport. Do any forum members feel that a sub-forum on Hunter Health & Fitness is a good idea?
 
Britchaser, you raise a very interesting question. I am under the care of a doctor and I do a health & fitness regiment every day. I have suggested some of the exercises I do to other hunters. I am told and I quote: "You are motivated by your doctor, I have no such motivation so heck with it." I say this wondering if that would be the overall response from the other members.---Bob
 
I think too many hunters take to the field unprepared physically. And as we get older it is even more important. I'll turn 63 in a month and I feel I'm in better condition than 99% of my peers. Of course I could lose 10-15 lbs but we won't go there! A full day in the field is still quite taxing and the old bones and muscles just don't recover like they use to. I think it would be interesting to see what everyone is doing (if anything) to condition themselves, not only prior and during the hunting season but in the off season. I feel it should be a 12 month routine.

I have an eliptical machine and a BowFlex in my basement. I'd like to tell you that I do cardio and weights at least 3 times a week but I can't. I know I should. Just don't seem to get it done.
 
My daily regiment is; I walk about 3 miles usually around noon. That is when Tony get his daily run also. Then at 9:00PM. I go in my room and do therapy exercises, that condition my back, arms and legs. Most are really stretches, but there are some that build up muscle for the long haul. I feel neither Tony or I get much out of shape from one season to the next----Bob
 
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I think it can be hard to get motivated to do exercise for several people, I remember about 6 years ago on a hot opener I forgot to bring myself water and we walked for a few hours and I started to get leg cramps and even decided it was so bad I had to cut straight accross a bean field to get to the truck when I was about 100 yards away I could not lift a leg. It hurt so bad. It took an hour and a half to go that 100 yards. From then on I will never let myself get dehydrated again. Now during the summer I can stay ready because of all the training for trials. And the dogs.
 
Hmmm, I pretty much live for the outdoors, hunting or not, so I am quite active year-round. It's helpful that the wife is a very keen hiker/walker, so it's easy to get away on weekends and Nova Scotia is FULL of great scenic rugged hikes. Since the close of the pheasant season on December 15th I have been humping decoys around and grouse hunting until New Years, then rabbit hunting until the end of February. March I've been hiking most weekends. Winter was pretty up and down out here so we only got out cross-coutnry skiing three times. This Wednesday trout season opens, so I'll be hiking around a lot and carrying my canoe and packs into the backwoods after brook trout until after the blackflies drive us out, then onto some of the bigger lakes where any kind of wind makes paddling quite a workout. Summer will be full of canoeing and camping trips to the woods and mountain biking, swimming etc... Coming back on towards fall I'll switch back over to the hiking as much as I can, because I find this as good a preparation for pheasant hunting as I can get. At the end of next month I'm doing a 24-hour endurance orienteering event, where we usually cover 35-40 miles through the woods, but I only do one of those per year (take me 12 months to forget how much it hurt last time!). Most of this stuff is on weekends, but my daily exercise regimen is at least a bike ride. I commute to work on a bicycle every day (20 minutes each way - just enough to get the blood flowing and a minor sweat-on), even thorughout the Canadian winters (I have steel spiked tires on my bike an a slight death wish to make this possible!). Until a few years ago I would go to the gym for moderate weight lifting every day, but in the past two years I was starting to have problems with my neck and knees as a result of poor flexibility, so I've been trying to do more cardio type exercises because the last thing that I need is MORE bulk to haul around in the field (220 lbs is plenty!). Problem is that I don't LIKE the cardio stuff as much, at least at the gym, so I'm not as strict with keeping up with it.
-Croc
 
bobeyerite said:
My daily regiment is; I walk about 3 miles usually around noon. That is when Tony get his daily run also. Then at 9:00PM. I go in my room and do therapy exercises, that condition my back, arms and legs. Most are really stretches, but there are some that build up muscle for the long haul. I feel neither Tony or I get much out of shape from one season to the next----Bob
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Bob,

Sounds like you have a good program. I need to get into stretching. Do you have any good recommendations(books, videos, internet links)?

Usually I rush to get into shape in the Fall ahead of elk camp by walking the hills at the Ponderosa. This year I am getting ready to start right now getting rid of some extra winter baggage and getting the cardio system in better shape. My motitivation being a spring bear hunt in Alaska.
 
My daily exercise regimen consist of weightlifting four days a week in the morning, then as soon as our weather here in the Midwest cooperates I'll take one of our dog named HEMI (CCR) and start walking 2-3 miles three times a week. to get us both back in shape for upcoming golf / hunting seasons
 
M.R.Byrd., I got all of mine from a real Therapist. I have had a few back strains and I tore up a leg muscle hunting and things like that. I took the exercises he gave me and took the ones I liked the best. After I was cured, I put them in the regiment that I now do daily. The Therapist thinks that is a good idea it helps to keep me lose and in shape.
I have seen a lot of the exercise I do on some of the Websites. Just type in Back and Leg Exercises on Google, Yahoo or Dogpile Search Engines. You can see a bunch of them and pick the ones you like. You may have to do 2 searches one for back and then leg. If you know a Pro or Semi Pro Football Player, I have seen them doing some of my exercises before a game in their warm-ups.---Bob
 
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If anyone wants to get in shape for free they can come workout with me. Daily routine goes something like this. Scoop and wheelbarrel 20 ton of rock, dig or tamp 15 ton of dirt, and lift and place 10 ton of boulders. Somedays additional working out will be required. If you do this for 6-7 days a week, you will be high kneeing through cattails, walking 10 mi without breaking a sweat, and thanking God its pheasant season and not landscaping season!
 
Crockett raises a good point "220 pound is a lot of weight to be packing around." A few years ago I was having leg and back problems and my Doctor put on a 20 carbohydrates a day diet. I weighed 217. A year or so later I was down to 167. My doctor loved it and so did I, no more pain.

What are you people doing with your diets? I still live on 20 carbs a day. But my weight is where it should be also.---Bob
 
I eat a very healthy diet. My ideal weight is probably about 190 if I was ripped (which I could never manage for long - it's just not in my metabolism) or about 200 if I was just slim. A few years ago I cut carbs way back and dropped almost immediately from 240 to 202 in a shockingly short amount of time, the lightest that I've been since high-school. Problem was that I just couldn't keep up with carbs that low (surprise surprise!) and as soon as the wife fell off the wagon so did I. Now I focus more on moderating my overal caloric intake, with less focus on exactly what KINDS of calories I limit. It certainly does not produce the immediate and drastic results that the carb-cutting did, but the changes that I make are easier to maintain in the long run I think. I oscillate between 213 and 220. If I can get to 210 I'll be happy, but I seem stuck where I am now. One thing that I've been trying to do is to shift the time of day that I take on most of my calories - the goal being to wake up hungry every morning. If I know that I want to have a piece of cake or whatever I try to do it early in the day, when I will still be on the go for while as opposed to after supper. Trying to limit supper to one moderate serving and then that's it for eating for the day. It's a struggle - I grew up in a "dessert after supper every day" family - old habits die hard!

BTW - thanks for starting this thread. After reading it yesterday afternoon I was inspired to make time at the end of the day to stop in at the gym on the way home - did moderate weights for a half hour and then the cross-training machine for another half-hour. Felt great!

-Croc
 
I'm 45 and do a reasonably serious weight training program to improve overall strength and maintain or increase my lean body mass. Lean body mass is a pretty good indicator of overall health. My cardio is pretty much moderate walking (w/dogs) only but by hunting season I'm up to 5-6 miles a day.

As mentioned above diet is a huge part of the equation. I like to keep lean protein intake relatively high (fuels muscle building), healthy fats moderate & carb intake relatively low.

DB
 
First thing every morning, rain or shine, I put in three miles with my wife and dog. Some mornings I'd lay in bed, but they make me go.

Wish I were 20...or 30...or 40 again. These days I poop out before the dog does, however I can still manage 6-7 hours in the field. But I can't manage the Kongo Club after. Maybe that's a good thing.
 
pheasantaddict said:
If anyone wants to get in shape for free they can come workout with me. Daily routine goes something like this. Scoop and wheelbarrel 20 ton of rock, dig or tamp 15 ton of dirt, and lift and place 10 ton of boulders. Somedays additional working out will be required. If you do this for 6-7 days a week, you will be high kneeing through cattails, walking 10 mi without breaking a sweat, and thanking God its pheasant season and not landscaping season!
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PheasantAddict, you have a good idea.....work out and get paid for it. Imagine that!

I prefer your style. I call it farming or cutting wood. I'm still amazed at how much a day of farming totally kicks my butt. And when I am in gym I try to workout 5 days a week. 50% wieghts and 50% cardio which consists of 60 minutes a day on elliptical. I like the cross training aspect of cutting down trees and splitting wood or wnatever hard labor needs doing.

Regarless of what walks, crosstraining, hard labor you do I have found that an hour a day at gym in both cardio and strength program increase ones ability to enjoy active lifestyle the most. Oh yeah, 15 minutes of stretching per day is key. 21 days to build a habit. Go For it guys!!

God said we are to have life and have it abundantly. I don't think that is possible by conformaing to the worlds touted sedentary lifestyle which we are led to believe is an entitlement for a goal of hards work.
 
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