Work out routine sheep hunts?

[DXHI]

Guys my goal is to try and take a sheep in the next 5 years.
What exercises do ya'll do to get in shape...I'm really prone to elevation sickness. .
When I lived at elevation(elk hunt) , ran 5 miles per day, hiked the mountains 3 days a week and still almost had my *** kicked..
I'm thinking sqauts,lunges, calves, abs out the ***, and shoulders...

 

[JohnRP]

Asked your doctor about meds to help with elevation sickness. It does help.

 

[Chandalar]

I would try and focus on cardio strength/endurance training. Ridding bikes up hills for say 10 or 20 miles, and hiking with a pack up hills/mountains. Monitor your heart rate and try and exercise at 75% of your max out put.

 

[RH300UM]

I would try and focus on cardio strength/endurance training. Ridding bikes up hills for say 10 or 20 miles, and hiking with a pack up hills/mountains. Monitor your heart rate and try and exercise at 75% of your max out put.

+1....... Nothing beats hiking uphills with a loaded pack to prepare you for hiking uphills with a loaded pack.

 

[Ballfroguy]

Squats, lunges and push ups. Keep it simple and run/jog/ride a bike.

 

[feelinducky]

In my opinion people usually forget about balance exercises. If you train your balance first then strength second you should see a decrease in injury. To the guys with knee/hip arthritis it is very important to train balance first. I also think that one needs to start early in their training program. Don't wait until 2 months prior to your hunt. If you're serious about the hunt then you should be training year round.

Specific exercises for climbing are squats/lunges/calf raises. Try one legged squats off the side of an exercise platform no weights first, then add dumbells. Also try cross over step ups onto the exercise platform.

Try searching "proprioceptive exercises".

 

[rcowan]

+1....... Nothing beats hiking uphills with a loaded pack to prepare you for hiking uphills with a loaded pack.

+1
rc

 

[devins]

All of the above is sounding really good. I am 50 and will be taking my pacemaker up the mountain in August. I was released by my cardiologist last August to resume training and have been slowly getting back into condition. I consulted several long time sheep hunters and the most prevalent advice was right along with what you have heard for the most part. One great piece of advice I am following is getting my pack up to weight on a hill that I can go up and down 6 times in an hour and do as many pushups at the bottom as I can before starting back up. I am up to a little over 50 pounds now and in my boots getting them more broken in, I keep as hard of a pace as I can and with the pack on do 15-20 pushups, jump up and hit it again. I am also doing crossfit 3 days a week for strength and cardio and balance. The other bit of a different work out by a long time grand slammer is swimming until you can swim 30 minutes without having to take a break. He says to start off as best you can, early, and work up to this and you will handle the cardio well. So I am going to start working this in on my day off now that the lake is warming up.

 

[LaHunter]

great advice already given on training. As far as altitude sickness, staying hydrated can't be stressed enough. This makes a huge difference for me. I can't seem to stay hydrated enough with water alone, so I add Hydrate and Recovery by Wilderness Athlete and I believe that this helps alot. During my outside training during the summer I can really tell a difference. I also use the Altitude Advantage along with Ibuprofen which helps avoid the effects of altitude.

Good Luck

 

[Antonio m]

I live in a sheep area and can glass from home many times.Our mountains are very steep and just looking at them motivates me to run , inline skating or anything to keep strong.I do a lot of horse riding to.I am 58 and still climbing these mountains and if your not fit it is much less fun imo.I can out walk many younger hunters around here but fitness has been a lifetime commitment.

 

[Anschutz]

I live in a sheep area and can glass from home many times.Our mountains are very steep and just looking at them motivates me to run , inline skating or anything to keep strong.I do a lot of horse riding to.I am 58 and still climbing these mountains and if your not fit it is much less fun imo.I can out walk many younger hunters around here but fitness has been a lifetime commitment.

You are right. Fitness is a lifetime commitment. Right now I am doing a program called Bigger, Leaner, Stronger along with some form of Cardio every day. I'm stationed in Colorado so I have plenty of mountains that I can walk up to help but when I get back I want to be able to get into Elk Country and get further away from the road faster than the other hunters and cover more areas. Hunting is not easy and if you can make your easy hunt someone else's hardest hunt then you have the ability to go where they can't a see what they didn't.