The Elk Hunter's Fitness Plan: Train for September Success

You can't do a few high-intensity workouts, pile on the will power, and have your body ready for elk season. Friend, it just doesn't work that way. To chase bugles up and down ridges at high-elevation, you need a training program that builds endurance, carrying capacity, strength, and stamina. This guide gives you a 12-week, easy-to-follow elk hunting fitness plan so that your body is ready for September success.

Why Elk Hunts Demand a Different Level of Fitness

The elk ain't low in September. They're mostly hanging between 8,000 and 11,000 feet --- you'll be doing some high-elevation elk hunting. That means you have to be prepared to cover a lot of ground, day in and day out, where the air is thinner and oxygen isn't as available. And, you're covering that ground with your day pack, not just having yourself a leisurely hike with a water bottle. After covering all of that ground, you find yourself a bull. There's a solid chance you'll have to run (possibly uphill) to get into position, calm your heart rate and breathing, and settle into make a good shot.

Elk hunting fitness training must prepare you for all of that without beating up your body in the process. It requires an intelligent approach. And it requires truly understanding the demands your body will face in September. Let's talk about them in detail.

Understanding the Demands of High-Elevation Elk Hunts

Throughout the years, I've trained quite a few Eastern and Mid-Western hunters who travel west to elk hunt Colorado. It's something my buddies from Pennsylvania have done since we were kids. I know quite a few guys that didn't train consistently enough, and intelligently enough, to handle the elevation change. Some ended up dealing with so much fatigue that they were basically out of the game as soon as it started. They just couldn't move fast enough and they just didn't have enough endurance to keep going with the elk up that high. Others ended up with gnarly cases of altitude sickness. They had to pack it in and head back to town. Not only do we all want success after slinging an arrow at a big bull, we want to enjoy ourselves in the process. To have our best chance at success and enjoyment, we have to prepare for high-elevation. And to do that, we have to be real dang clear on the demands it puts on our bodies.

Oxygen is the big issue. It's not that there's less of it, it's that the change in pressure gives us less access to it. We just don't breathe in as much of it with each breath. Taking in less oxygen stresses the entire body, especially the cardiovascular system. Since there's less oxygen to go around, the heart beats faster and works harder to distribute blood around the body. This raises your heart rate, which in turn raises your body temperature. Your bigger blood vessels also dilate to increase blood flow to make up for the lack of oxygen. All of this compounds to make your aerobic system work harder just to do its job.

Not only do your heart, lungs, and blood vessels have a harder time delivering oxygen to working muscles, the muscles have a harder time using it. There's less oxygen in the blood, and the muscles have a harder time pulling in the oxygen that is available. This decreases your V02max, or your body's ability to utilize oxygen.

As if it can't get any worse, the hard work of hunting with less access to oxygen isn't your only problem. Your aerobic system is your recovery system. That means it goes to work when you take breaks during hikes or while you're sitting around camp to restore muscles by delivering oxygen and nutrients. Well, since it's working harder just to keep you upright, it doesn't have the same amount of resources to help you recover at rest.

Altitude saps your ability to work and your ability to recover. It's a real double whammy.

While you can't make the mountain smaller (why would you want to?), and while you can't totally defeat the effects of altitude without spending a lot of time there, the good news is, you can combat all that with smart training.

Your 12-Week Elk Hunt Workout Plan

The main goals of your 12-week elk hunt workout plan are to:

• Train your body to use oxygen as efficiently as possible

• Improve your strength endurance for uphill climbs and descents with your pack

• Increase your resilience so the mountain doesn't beat the absolute hell out of you

The plan is broken into three phases. Before we get into the plan breakdown, it's important to note that this 12-week plan is a great lead up to elk season. However, it's best that you train year-round to build and maintain your aerobic system, strength, mobility, and endurance. If you have, great. This plan will help you peak before elk season. If you haven't, don't freak out. This plan will still prepare you for the elk woods while giving you a good head start on maintaining year-round fitness --- which you're going to commit to now, right?

Phase 1 (Weeks 1 - 4): Aerobic Efficiency + Strength Endurance

During Phase 1, we combine a lot of low-intensity aerobic training, some very high-intensity aerobic training, and strength endurance training to prime your body to use oxygen as efficiently as possible.

You're looking at some long rucks and hikes that keep your heart rate in Zones 1 and 2 for 60 minutes to several hours. And one V02max workout per week. You'll do your V02max work by completing 3-minute work intervals at a 9 out of 10 intensity, and 3-minute rest intervals at a 3 out of 10 intensity. Do 3 to 4 sets, and it's best to do this workout on a cardio machine like an air bike if you haven't been running. If you do run, you can run for this workout.

You'll also do two days per week of strength endurance work using eustress training (a heart-rate based strength training method) and high-intensity continuous training. Let's give you an example of each.

Eustress Training Example:

Complete 40 total reps of front barbell front squats, 1 to 3 reps at a time, while always keeping your heart rate under 150 beats per minute. You choose the most challenging weight you can while still maintaining your heart rate under 150bpm.

It looks like this:

3 front squat reps, let your heart rate come down, 2 or 3 more reps, let your heart rate come down...and so on.

You pay attention to the rhythm that allows you to keep working while keeping your heart rate under 150bpm. You keep working at that rhythm until you complete all of the reps.

It's okay to go up or down in weight throughout the workout.

Once you've completed the front squats, use the same set up with an upper-body exercise.

High-Intensity Continuous Training (HICT) Example:

HICT is endurance training for your fast-twitch muscle fibers. It trains them aerobically to be efficient at utilizing oxygen --- which is pretty gaht dang important when you're heading to elevation.

In the lead up to elk season, we often use a HICT pack workout that improves strength endurance while also safely preparing for heavy pack ins and heavy pack outs.

Here's what to do:

Get a 12-inch box and load your pack with about 30% of your body weight. Strap on your pack and do one step every 4- to 5-seconds, alternating legs each time. Make each step as fast and aggressive as possible. The combo of the heavy weight plus the aggressive steps recruits your fast-twitch muscle fibers. So, each is necessary.

Go for 8 to 12 minutes. Take a few minute break. Then go for another 8 to 12 minutes.

Phase 2 (Weeks 5 - 8): Fuel Efficiency + Strength Endurance

You'll keep up the Zone 1 and 2 work in Phase 2, but instead of V02max training, you'll do steady state intervals in Zone 3. These train your body to efficiently burn carbs so you save energy on the mountain. You do them in 15- to 25-minute intervals with a few-minute recovery back in Zones 1 and 2 before starting the second interval. It's a good idea to do these while rucking on terrain or while simulating rucking on an incline treadmill or stair climber.

Your strength work is similar. Keep working eustress training and HICT, but vary up the exercises. It's important to use squatting and lunging variations to train for uphill drive and downhill control.

Phase 3 (Weeks 9 - 12): Field Readiness

Now, we get to the more specific work. You'll keep the Zone 1 and 2 work, but cut it back a bit in favor of getting on terrain (or simulating terrain) and just moving at a sustainable pace, regardless of what your heart rate does. Since you're moving at a sustainable pace, it likely won't get too high. But we want to simulate the long pack hikes and breaks of hunting elk in the mountains. It's important to do a long simulation session over the weekend to train prep your body to move all day in the elk woods.

It's still important to use eustress training and HICT for strength work, but now you should shift to more single-limb movements by pressing and rowing with only one arm at a time and doing more lunges, step-ups, and single-leg deadlifts. The shift prepares you to be strong and stable on one leg.

Sample Weekly Training Split

Here's a sample weekly training split you can apply to all of the training phases. In Phase 3, however, you'll flip-flop the intense conditioning with the second Zone 1/2 session. Remember, your "intense" conditioning during Phase 3 is the terrain hunting simulation.

Monday: 60-minute Zone 1/2 Hike/Ruck, Zone 1/2 Incline Treadmill Ruck, or Zone 1/2 Stair Climber Ruck

Tuesday: Eustress Strength Training (Options: Front squats, Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats, Kettlebell Presses, Bent Over Rows)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Intense Conditioning

Friday: HICT (Step-ups with pack, Push-ups and Rows for upper body work)

Saturday: 90-minute+ Zone 1/2 Hike/Ruck, Zone 1/2 Incline Treadmill Ruck, or Zone 1/2 Stair Climber Ruck

Sunday: Rest

Building Packout Strength for the Long Haul

If you stick yourself an elk, there's a good chance you'll be carrying quarters and back straps for a long damn way. You'll need packout strength to haul the meat and the head over rough terrain and back to camp or the truck. But there are a lot of misconceptions about how to build packout strength, and there are a lot of myths to go along with those misconceptions. I'm going to make it all simple and clear for you.

If you strength train consistently twice per week (eustress training and HICT), and if you ruck twice per week with about 20% of your body weight in your pack (Zone 1 and 2 sessions), you will build the packout strength you need to haul critters a long way on your back.

Now, that might seem too easy. I'm sure you've seen other folks talk about super heavy ruck training to prepare for packing out. But super heavy ruck training truly just beats up your body while making you work at rucking and packing. The consistent heavy weight trains you to move and breathe inefficiently, decreasing your packing skill and fitness.

It also helps to add in exercises like farmers carry and sled drags to your training. These build packing muscles while also simulating some aspects of packing out. Core training exercises like ab wheel rollouts are also great for helping you maintain your posture under your pack while also protecting your back.

If you get strong, build your strength endurance, and ruck consistently with reasonable weight, you will have the necessary packout strength for the long haul.

Don't Forget Recovery and Mobility

The mountain won't treat you well if your joints are beat to hell.

Also, poor-moving joints are inefficient joints. And inefficient joints cost you energy. If you're not moving well, you will compensate with poor movement to climb uphill and downhill. You'll swing your legs in a funny way, or you'll lean forward more than you should. In each case, you're stealing energy from your body that depletes your endurance.

So, focus daily on training your ankle mobility, hip mobility, spinal mobility, and shoulder mobility. These are the joints in your body that have the most mobility but also require the most work to keep it. The light movement of mobility work also increases blood flow and calms the nervous system in a way that promotes recovery.

However, your biggest recovery tool is sleep. If you want to get the most out of your training, and train as hard and consistently as necessary to be ready for the mountain, you have to take care of your sleep. Aim for 7 to 9 hours per night, and create an evening wind down routine that preps you to rest.

Mistakes to Avoid

One of the biggest mistakes elk hunters make is hyper focusing on the packout and the uphill climbs while forgetting about preparing for steep descents. That, amigo, is how you piss your knees right off at you. It's also how you might set yourself up for a tumble down the mountain. Tumbling is faster than a controlled descent. But I'd bet you'd like the results of the controlled descent better.

One of the best ways to prep for downhills is to train your quads with things like step-downs and single-leg squats to a box. These have a controlled lowering portion of the lift which builds the strength necessary to control your descent.

Another big mistake is overtraining. There's unfortunately a lot of elk hunters that neglect staying in shape year-round, then they try to pile all of their prep in during the 12 weeks leading up to the season. Then they end up overtraining, which kills their fitness while setting them up to get hurt. That's why it's important to follow a sane and sensible plan like the one I've outlined for you here. It'll keep you from overtraining, even if you are getting a late start.

Then there's a real big one. A lot of elk hunters never get out of the gym before the hunt to do any kind of field simulation. The gym is great. We need it because it builds the foundation for the field. But if we want to be fully prepared, we have to do the specific work, too. Now, you Mid-Western flatlanders might be asking how in the hell you're supposed to simulate the hunt when you don't even have hills. Unfortunately, you're "out of the gym" is using the incline treadmill and the stair climber to simulate terrain. But if you set the incline treadmill above 15 degrees, and you get on the stair climber for sessions as well, you can simulate a lot of varied terrain. It ain't perfect, but it works.

Final Thoughts: Are you Elk Hunt Ready?

If you want to set yourself up for the best possible chance at success in elk season, while also giving yourself the best possible chance to enjoy yourself, you need a dialed-in training plan that builds your aerobic system to use oxygen as efficiently as possible, builds the strength you need for uphills and downhills with your pack on, and makes you resilient and efficient so you recover without wasting energy.

Need a detailed full 12-week training plan? Sign up for our DIY program today and we'll have you dialed for elk season.