Training for alpine hunting 2024

[ShootyBang]

Thanks for the advice. This is all helpful stuff.
I bought a cheap rucksack yesterday from the local market stall military surplus guy just to get me started (my last rucksack was in tatters) I’ll upgrade at some point.
I started out with 6k “walk” of pretty much all hills yesterday in the rain and another 5k this morning with 15KG to get started. Worked up a great sweat and this was all off road coast path, mostly up decent inclines or zig zagging downhill. There’s no way I am running any of this route until it dries up a bit. I’d just end up in hospital.
I’m going to do some easier but faster and flatter terrain stuff during the week and then concentrate on marching up hills with increased weight each weekend.
Today I found myself putting my hands behind my back to lift the metal plate up and take the weight off my shoulders. This helped immensely, so I need to get a rucksack figured out that naturally shifts the weight.

Weighted-walking beats running in terms of avoiding injury....running not so good for you.

Get a good stable rucksack and the weight won't... weigh so heavy.

 

[Rasputin]

Solomon trail shoes are good I have a few pairs. Adidas terrex were also good. Currently rocking some grisport ones which are solid.

If you’re worried about altitude take a few viagra to alleviate the sickness.

 

[Mick9abf]

Thanks for the advice. This is all helpful stuff.
I bought a cheap rucksack yesterday from the local market stall military surplus guy just to get me started (my last rucksack was in tatters) I’ll upgrade at some point.
I started out with 6k “walk” of pretty much all hills yesterday in the rain and another 5k this morning with 15KG to get started. Worked up a great sweat and this was all off road coast path, mostly up decent inclines or zig zagging downhill. There’s no way I am running any of this route until it dries up a bit. I’d just end up in hospital.
I’m going to do some easier but faster and flatter terrain stuff during the week and then concentrate on marching up hills with increased weight each weekend.
Today I found myself putting my hands behind my back to lift the metal plate up and take the weight off my shoulders. This helped immensely, so I need to get a rucksack figured out that naturally shifts the weight.

My advice is don’t use weights like metal plates, the weight will ultimately work its way down and you will end up injuring your back. If you are insistent on carrying weight and tabbing the gaff up a sensibly packed rucksack with useful stuff will make whatever weight you think you should be carrying.

 

[Siggy]

My advice is don’t use weights like metal plates, the weight will ultimately work its way down and you will end up injuring your back. If you are insistent on carrying weight and tabbing the gaff up a sensibly packed rucksack with useful stuff will make whatever weight you think you should be carrying.

I second the above, carry what you need. I you do need to carry more weight by a bag of sharp sand, it's dirt cheap and you can decant it into a rubble sack. Tied up loosely the bag will mould to your back.

 

[Jamouk]

Solomon trail shoes are good I have a few pairs. Adidas terrex were also good. Currently rocking some grisport ones which are solid.

If you’re worried about altitude take a few viagra to alleviate the sickness.

Will also save u having to carry your shooting sticks !

 

[HonestJohn]

Find a steep set of stairs, ex decommissioned fire drill tower. Work it with a pack like a teenager and their first pornomag

 

[Ali]

Keep it simple. and ask yourself who are fittest athletes in the world ?
In my humble opinion its either biathletes or cyclists.

I do all my weekly training on the road bike which will set your legs up for packing out, either gear, chamois or in my cases sika.
Of course diet,recovery and sleep play a major part.

Train hard then the race is easy.

Have a good Alpine hunt.

 

[User00047]

Keep it simple. and ask yourself who are fittest athletes in the world ?
In my humble opinion its either biathletes or cyclists.

I do all my weekly training on the road bike which will set your legs up for packing out, either gear, chamois or in my cases sika.
Of course diet,recovery and sleep play a major part.

Train hard then the race is easy.

Have a good Alpine hunt.

That’s a good call about the cycling. Must be better for the knees than running?

 

[Ali]

That’s a good call about the cycling. Must be better for the knees than running?

Absolutley.

 

[KimE]

Thanks for the advice. This is all helpful stuff.
I bought a cheap rucksack yesterday from the local market stall military surplus guy just to get me started (my last rucksack was in tatters) I’ll upgrade at some point.
I started out with 6k “walk” of pretty much all hills yesterday in the rain and another 5k this morning with 15KG to get started. Worked up a great sweat and this was all off road coast path, mostly up decent inclines or zig zagging downhill. There’s no way I am running any of this route until it dries up a bit. I’d just end up in hospital.
I’m going to do some easier but faster and flatter terrain stuff during the week and then concentrate on marching up hills with increased weight each weekend.
Today I found myself putting my hands behind my back to lift the metal plate up and take the weight off my shoulders. This helped immensely, so I need to get a rucksack figured out that naturally shifts the weight.

For hiking I use a Haglöf Nejd65 with the frame on the inside or a Haglöf Skarja with the frame o the outside. On both sacks I can adjust the belt to alternate to carry most weight on my hip or both hip and shoulder, its easy to strap my shotgun or rifle on the Nejd then we are hunting. For just hunting on skiis with only daypack I have a Vorn deerhunter with easy access of my rifle.

 

[OllieRiordanDeer]

There are 3 facets of fitness that I focus on to help me perform in the mountains.

Muscular strength/endurance 3 x sessions per week

Use a mixture of resistance exercises to strengthen your body. You need to be increasing both strength (Low reps 1-3 high weight 80% of max+) and muscular endurance (High reps 16+ low weight 50%> of max)
- Lunges
- Squats
-Deadlifts
- Rows
- Bench press
- Cleans
- Shoulder press


Cardio 2x sessions per week

Easy and hard cardio 4-8 Rate of perceived exertion.

- Interval training with cardio exercises
- Running
- Rowing
-Swimming
- Cycling


Conditioning 2x sessions per week

- Weighted walks: both across natural terrain and on the stairmaster. Begin with very low mileage and work up. Use footwear that you hunt in.
- Weighted Runs: 1 per week maximum to avoid injury
- Mobility: to avoid injury ( every day)

For the weighted movements ensure you have a decent, fit-for-purpose daysack. I recommend the below brands as I have experience with them but these are by no means exhaustive. Don't buy on brand alone get something that fits. Ensure you're packing the heavy items higher in the daysack for comfort.
- Berghaus Munro
-Camelbak
- Karrimor SF
- Mystery Ranch
- Hill People Gear


Hope this helps





I recommend lower body ad core strengthening exercises to go with the cardio:

-

 

[Siggy]

Absolutley.

Not strictly true, what stuffs up knees is football with the twists, turns and tackles or running with weight (usually in the military). Running has advantages over cycling in that it strengthens the bone structure and stimulates cartilage growth on the knees. Where it goes wrong is bad form or sudden increases in mileage

 

[User00047]

There are 3 facets of fitness that I focus on to help me perform in the mountains.

Muscular strength/endurance 3 x sessions per week

Use a mixture of resistance exercises to strengthen your body. You need to be increasing both strength (Low reps 1-3 high weight 80% of max+) and muscular endurance (High reps 16+ low weight 50%> of max)
- Lunges
- Squats
-Deadlifts
- Rows
- Bench press
- Cleans
- Shoulder press


Cardio 2x sessions per week

Easy and hard cardio 4-8 Rate of perceived exertion.

- Interval training with cardio exercises
- Running
- Rowing
-Swimming
- Cycling


Conditioning 2x sessions per week

- Weighted walks: both across natural terrain and on the stairmaster. Begin with very low mileage and work up. Use footwear that you hunt in.
- Weighted Runs: 1 per week maximum to avoid injury
- Mobility: to avoid injury ( every day)

For the weighted movements ensure you have a decent, fit-for-purpose daysack. I recommend the below brands as I have experience with them but these are by no means exhaustive. Don't buy on brand alone get something that fits. Ensure you're packing the heavy items higher in the daysack for comfort.
- Berghaus Munro
-Camelbak
- Karrimor SF
- Mystery Ranch
- Hill People Gear


Hope this helps





I recommend lower body ad core strengthening exercises to go with the cardio:

-

That’s quite an intense regimen.
Not sure I’d have time to go to work if I did that much training!
I can certainly take a few ideas from all this and weigh up what I’m missing out.
My job is actually very active anyway so it turns out I’m already covering much of what I need during the weekdays.
All going well so far. Done a few more miles this weekend and looking forward to some more training this week

 

[Alan_Hayes]

There are 3 facets of fitness that I focus on to help me perform in the mountains.

Muscular strength/endurance 3 x sessions per week

Use a mixture of resistance exercises to strengthen your body. You need to be increasing both strength (Low reps 1-3 high weight 80% of max+) and muscular endurance (High reps 16+ low weight 50%> of max)
- Lunges
- Squats
-Deadlifts
- Rows
- Bench press
- Cleans
- Shoulder press


Cardio 2x sessions per week

Easy and hard cardio 4-8 Rate of perceived exertion.

- Interval training with cardio exercises
- Running
- Rowing
-Swimming
- Cycling


Conditioning 2x sessions per week

- Weighted walks: both across natural terrain and on the stairmaster. Begin with very low mileage and work up. Use footwear that you hunt in.
- Weighted Runs: 1 per week maximum to avoid injury
- Mobility: to avoid injury ( every day)

For the weighted movements ensure you have a decent, fit-for-purpose daysack. I recommend the below brands as I have experience with them but these are by no means exhaustive. Don't buy on brand alone get something that fits. Ensure you're packing the heavy items higher in the daysack for comfort.
- Berghaus Munro
-Camelbak
- Karrimor SF
- Mystery Ranch
- Hill People Gear


Hope this helps





I recommend lower body ad core strengthening exercises to go with the cardio:

That’s quite an intense regimen.
Not sure I’d have time to go to work if I did that much training!
I can certainly take a few ideas from all this and weigh up what I’m missing out.
My job is actually very active anyway so it turns out I’m already covering much of what I need during the weekdays.
All going well so far. Done a few more miles this weekend and looking forward to some more training this week

This the most sensible comment on the whole post. Similar position but NZ on the cards. Got to remember paying a lot of cash to do the hunt you want be in a position to be able to enjoy it, fit enough to climb, drag your arse up a mountain you want to be in a position to be able to control your breathing etc to maximise opportunities when the present or not screw up. So making the extra time to train hard is a small sacrifice which would lead nicely to my only further comment to add would be mental relisance, comfortable with been uncomfortable, mind over matter or what ever the go to terminology is these days. But enjoy

 

[dogone]

Go cross country if possible. Uneven terrain will give you twice the workout a trail or sidewalk will. I also often Carry a crowbar when walking for exercise. It weighs 16 lbs so builds arms for carrying a rifle and adds general weight.

 

[Rutland lad]

Enjoy it whatever you do. I love the idea and the history of Mountain stalking, but at 62 and relatively fit still, I’ve seen enough older people get caught out and injured to be very wary of it.
My annual trip to Scotland is helped by the fact I do ‘pump’ classes three times a week which gives me enough fitness/strength/cardio to enjoy the three days, but I know from Alpine trips in my 40’s that I don’t do altitude well.
I hope you find the right fitness regime for yourself and thoroughly enjoy your trip.

 

[User00047]

Enjoy it whatever you do. I love the idea and the history of Mountain stalking, but at 62 and relatively fit still, I’ve seen enough older people get caught out and injured to be very wary of it.
My annual trip to Scotland is helped by the fact I do ‘pump’ classes three times a week which gives me enough fitness/strength/cardio to enjoy the three days, but I know from Alpine trips in my 40’s that I don’t do altitude well.
I hope you find the right fitness regime for yourself and thoroughly enjoy your trip.

Thanks very much

 

[User00047]

I’m a few weeks in to the training now. I think I’m nearly back to Pre-plandemic fitness. Still on tarmac runs.
All is going well….except that I can’t run slowly.
I naturally have a very fast running pace but I’m trying to increase endurance and I struggle to slow down enough to run for longer. I’ve tried to slow down but it just feels incredibly inefficient and it messes up my breathing pattern. Years ago I could run at the same pace forever but now I’m struggling
Anyone else had this problem?

 

[devon deer stalker]

I’m a few weeks in to the training now. I think I’m nearly back to Pre-plandemic fitness. Still on tarmac runs.
All is going well….except that I can’t run slowly.
I naturally have a very fast running pace but I’m trying to increase endurance and I struggle to slow down enough to run for longer. I’ve tried to slow down but it just feels incredibly inefficient and it messes up my breathing pattern. Years ago I could run at the same pace forever but now I’m struggling
Anyone else had this problem?

I can relate, I could run a lot faster than I do, but I have been advised to keep my pulse rate at 150 max, but I do at times go to 160 ish, the problem I have by running slower I start to get 'niggles' especially in my achilles tendon. Damned if you do damned if you don't comes to mind.

Anyway, well done you

 

[Heym SR20]

I’m a few weeks in to the training now. I think I’m nearly back to Pre-plandemic fitness. Still on tarmac runs.
All is going well….except that I can’t run slowly.
I naturally have a very fast running pace but I’m trying to increase endurance and I struggle to slow down enough to run for longer. I’ve tried to slow down but it just feels incredibly inefficient and it messes up my breathing pattern. Years ago I could run at the same pace forever but now I’m struggling
Anyone else had this problem?

Just do interval training. I was always a fastish runner more sprinter than long endurance. Just add uphill and run, then walk, then run again.

If you can I would try and get to the mountains for a few days before you hunt. Do some walks and a couple of runs. It does take a few days to get used to altitude.

And do yourself a favour. Do note a thermal imaging device. If your guide has one, have a close look at it and then drop it so it doesn’t work.

When hunting you will now have to stop regularly and glass properly. A young guide with a thermal will stop, do a quick scan and then carry on. Those guys are acclimatised and used to the altitude. You are not. Glassing stops allow you to recover and pace yourself. A sharp knife to their achilles can also slow them down a little, but that’s not very friendly.