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Bowhunting's Physical Readiness

Dan Staton

6/06/2008

Now's the time to get in shape for your fall hunts

 
Lack of physical preparation may prevent you from earning that precious shot opportunity, hinder your shooting ability, or handicap your mental focus. So, what keeps you from hitting the snooze button, eating consistently, and keeping your bow out of its case year round?

Bowhunting is not a fall fling; rather, it’s a continuous pursuit of mastering our craft. Part of our craft equates to physical readiness, and tackling some pretty rough terrain – especially out West. We’re so fortunate to have found this sport, there aren’t too many other things on this earth that test, discipline, break and encourage us to be better like bowhunting does.

The following overview may be a resource to supplement your physical conditioning and should help enhance your bowhunting efforts, whether you’re after rutting whitetails or backcountry bulls.
Maneuvering through wilderness terrain requires significant aerobic endurance, anaerobic strength and coordination. Hanging multiple treestands requires relative body strength and flexibility in your hips, back and shoulders. Your goal is to traverse the unforgiving country and climb a tree with a stand on your back – all while avoiding injury and fatigue. The combination of altitude, heavy loads, steep country and exposure make it mandatory to modify your conditioning program.

Plan for 12 weeks of training for most fall or spring huts and stay free and clear of last- minute, panicked fitness programs or crash diets. Think of our sport as a year-long journey with multiple discipline check points along the way. Strong legs, core and balance will be your foundation.

The following is your guide to deer camp or backcountry nutrition, strength training fundamentals, and a 12-week cardio program.

The nutritional strategy of a bowhunter requires a systematic approach as cooking methods and food variety are limited in the outdoors. Here is my best recommendation for an efficient method that will sustain energy levels and keep you at peak performance.

Outdoor Nutrition
For breakfast and snacking every few hours, the bulk of my outdoor diet is meal replacement bars – from Wilderness Athlete, Zone, Fiber-One, and South Beach. I don’t usually pack bagels, cookies, crackers, and peanut butter because they don’t pack as well, they’re more difficult to ration, and they usually lack balanced macronutrient ratios. Macronutrients are simply proteins, carbohydrates and fats. In fact, the ratio of macronutrients in the meals you eat is the key to permanent weight control, optimal health and sustained energy. The bars are also more convenient because you can eat them on the go and their serving size of 200-300 calories per bar makes juggling peanut butter jars or 6-count bags gratuitous.

Meal Components
For dinner, I almost always cook a hot meal after sitting in the stand all evening or chasing backcountry bulls. I use the term "cooking" very loosely, as this entails foods that require 1-2 cups of boiling water – and that’s the extent of it. The reasoning behind this is simple: A long day of hunting will leave me feeling a little fatigued and any conservation of precious energy is important. Plus, I don’t have to pack as much cooking fuel around.
The following are recommended freeze-dried meals from Mountain House (www.mountainhouse.com); they're my top five for taste and ideal macronutrient ratios for ‘zone’ performance.
  1. grilled chicken breasts with mashed potatoes
  2. beef stew
  3. turkey tetrazzini
  4. spaghetti & meat sauce
  5. pre-cooked scrambled eggs


The key is finding your individual caloric need for the outdoors based upon your bodyweight, type of terrain, pack weight, miles hiked and your fitness level. I don’t have as much experience in the backcountry as some, but I will tell you that maintaining my body weight on the trail requires about four pounds of food per day, which isn’t realistic to carry on a multi-day hunt. Weight loss is fairly unavoidable and perhaps some bowhunters out there could afford to drop a few pounds, but this is not the time to starve your hungry muscles. Your intake should fuel your active muscles, encourage recovery and keep you satisfied throughout the hunt. Also, if you’re sitting the stand during a cold November day, you still need to eat every couple of hours to promote core body temperature maintenance.

Proper Caloric Intake
If you want to know how many calories you expend throughout a hike, the general rule of thumb is around 500 calories per hour trekked. Again, this number will vary depending on your conditioning, age, elevation, terrain, etc. I would soundly state that if your out West, it is not uncommon to expend 4,000 + calories daily. A 4,000-calorie per-day ration should help avoid being hungry or from hitting the wall, which to me is more important than maintaining my body weight. I only carry about two pounds of food per day, allowing me to be more comfortable and to hunt harder, faster and further than I could if I carried 8,000 calories worth of food. The choice is really up to the individual.20 – 25 kcal / 1 lbs body weight.

Example Caloric Calculation:
Body Weight
Kcal / LBS
Daily Caloric Minimum
125lbs
20 / 1
2,500 calories
150lbs
21 / 1
3150 calories
175lbs
22 / 1
3,850 calories
200lbs
23 / 1
4,600 calories
225lbs
24 / 1
5,400 calories
250+ lbs
25 / 1
6,250 calories

Specific Foods for the Outdoors
Energy bars and various nuts are my biggest source of calories. Generally speaking, energy bars and nuts are nutritious, taste great and satisfy. Many of the bars are fortified with vitamins and minerals, contain healthy ingredients, and come in a variety of palatable flavors and textures. Many breakfast bars and quick snacks often contain over-processed granola and sugars; they offer few vitamins/minerals and little fiber. Instead, look for bars with whole grains, nuts and berries and good sugars (e.g. honey, not corn syrup).

Particularly, avoid Pop-Tarts and cereal bars, which set you up to crash-and-burn. Fiber-One and South Beach bars are my top two choices for a granola bar with a decent arrangement of macronutrients. I also get asked about candy bars, and I know they end up at deer camp because they’re convenient, cheap, and taste pretty good; however, they almost always have minimal protein and maximum sugar content. If you’re looking for lesser of evils, then I suggest Baby Ruth's or Snickers.

I’ve read some great backpacking books and one of them is by our industry’s own Cameron Hanes, who knows a thing or two about backcountry bowhunting (Backcountry Bowhunting: A guide to the Wildside). All of the books seem to hammer this concept home so this should be review: You need to strive for a calories/ounce ratio of at least 125 calories to one ounce.

Calories-to-Ounce Ratio
For example, 4,000 calorie, 2-lb/day ration would mean 14 oz. of carbohydrates, 10 oz. of protein, and 8 oz. of fat. Be cognizant of foods that have a calories-to-ounce ratio of less than 100 (which means they usually contain water, which provides you with zero calories) and foods that come in heavy or bulky packaging (e.g., canned chicken or tuna), which sometimes can be easily solved by repackaging the contents. 

Proper hydration is at the forefront of bowhunting in the mountains or the backwoods. Water comprises 60-70% of our body mass. Water is also the main component of blood serum – the important transporter of oxygen and nutrients. In general, your body loses 80 ounces of water daily through sweat, urine, feces, and expired air. This water needs to be replaced by daily fluid consumption of 100 + fl oz. An easier, albeit much less scientific, way to determine daily fluid requirements is to evaluate your urine. Dark and concentrated urine is indicative of insufficient fluid intake. Urine should be clear, pale yellow, and copious.

Hydration
As you should already know, never drink water straight out of a stream, lake or pond. Microorganisms can easily be mixed into your drinking water and cause serous stomach distress and/or immediate illness. To avoid these potentially life-threatening aliments, always treat your water.

Although water is great for most sedentary activities, if you are active you should be hydrating with Wilderness Athlete’s hydration drink: Hydro2Max. I generally treat all my water with Iodine and then cover the taste with Hydro2Max, a healthy mix of carbohydrates, amino acids (recovery), mineral and electrolyte composition to replenish these vital elements and maintain peak muscle physiology. It also contains antioxidants, glucosamine, B Vitamins (energy), and helps support the oxygen demands of the active body in the outdoors.

Strength training is nothing more than providing a dose of "stress" to working muscle, You actually get your dividend once the broken down muscle has the opportunity to regenerate and come back stronger. Strength training remedies age-related muscle and strength loss and should positively affect your ability to shoot your bow by ensuring a smooth draw, provide more stability at full draw, and perhaps increase your ability pull more poundage back. Strength training will allow you to have complete confidence in your physical ability, which will give you the freedom to focus your full attention on the process of shooting.

Strength
The best bowhunting exercises are ones that strengthen many different muscles at the same time while mimicking some of the same attributes of our sport. This type of training is called functional strength training, which is about the only way to approach improving performance without spending countless hours in a gym. Incorporate the next exercises weekly with multiple repetitions and sets and you will slow down the sands of bowhunting time.
Perform the following weekly:
  1. Pull-ups
  2. Dips
  3. Front Squat

Heart Rate Zone Training is the only way to ensure you’re going to get the most bang for your buck during a cardio session. A heart rate monitor device gives you instant feedback on your heart’s beats per minute. If you hired me as your sports trainer, I would definitely require you to invest in a Polar Heart Rate monitor as a prerequisite to starting the program. So, let’s assume you’re a paying client and you’ve hired me to see to it that you enter 2008 fall in the best possible shape … check out www.polarusa.com for a low- to mid-range chest strap and watch monitor.

12-Week Cardio Program
Next, we need to do some basic math to calculate your individual heart rate zones, which will fast track your cardiovascular foundation. Perform the following: 220 – (your age) = approximate max heart rate (MHR). For example, I am 26 years old, so 220 – (26) = 194 projected MHR. Next find your heart rate ranges by multiplying your MHR by the following percentages: 95%, 85%, 75%, 65%, and 55%. Write those numbers down and plug them into the following templates over the 12 weeks.

As for the discussion on what specific exercises to perform during your cardio sessions, I’ll leave up to you. But please note, you’ll need to have the ability to manipulate your intensity to achieve your desired heart rate. I seem to get bored fairly fast, so here are a few of my favorite cardiovascular modes to get in shape for bowhunting:
  1. stadium running
  2. X-Vest hiking (40-lb. weighted vest; www.thexvest.com)
  3. mountain biking

PHASE # 1 – Backyard Treestand Hunter
2-4 weeks

Frequency = 3x per week
Intensity = 50-80% of max

Time = 60 minutes
Type = your choice
Interval Duration:
10 minutes
40 minutes
10 minutes
% of MHR:
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
 
PHASE # 2 – The Day Hunter
2-4 Weeks
Frequency = 4x per week
Intensity = 60-80% of max
Time = 60 minutes
Type = Your choice
Interval Duration:
20 minutes
20 minutes
20 minutes
% of MHR:
60-70%
70-80%
80 + % of MHR

 PHASE # 3 – DIY Backcountry Billy Goat
3-4 Weeks
Frequency = 4x per week
Intensity = 70-90% of max
Time = 30 minutes
Type = Your choice
Interval Duration:
10 minutes
10 minutes
10 minutes
% of MHR:
70-80%
80 + %
90 + %

Summing it up
I’ve seen many bowhunters overlook their conditioning and experience some agony in the mountains. In my mind, the fall only comes along once a year and I want to be at my best physically. I’m sure you do too! Routine tree-stand climbing requires physical readiness to a degree so regardless if you hunt the hardwoods or the backcountry, incorporate strength and conditioning into your daily routine, watch your food intake, stay hydrated, and your physical readiness will tip the odds into your favor.


About the Author
Dan Staton resides in Spokane, WA, where he owns and operates Fast Trac Performance and CrossFit North Spokane. He also is the archery and fitness editor for Sportsmans’ Warehouse News and enjoys writing and filming in the outdoors.

 

 

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