When most people think about fitness and hunting, they picture hunters in the West. Chasing elk in the Uncompahgre Wilderness. Stalking pronghorns in the Tetons. Searching the Bob Marshall Wilderness for brown bear. The level of fitness requires to undertake these hunts is certainly not to be downplayed. Most Western hunters respect the difficulty of their pursuits and maintain a high level of fitness year-round to ensure they are ready to perform come fall. Eastern hunter, on the other hand, seem to take a more lackadaisical approach to their health.
While some of us take the time and effort to maintain a high level of fitness, I’m sure you can think of more than a few whose fitness level is…. sub-optimal. It should be no surprise heart attacks are one of the leading causes of death amongst hunters. As an EMT in my younger days it was common to respond to these incidents during hunting season in Pennsylvania. Now, as a physician assistant, I see the same patients in the hospital in late November and early December. Health risks aside, maintaining aerobic fitness is crucial to improve the quality of your hunts and maintain the ability to hunt far into old age. But where should you start?
If going for a run or getting a gym membership sound intimidating or burdensome, that’s okay. There is a type of training you can do with no cost and no special equipment that will drastically improve your fitness. This type of training is designed to be easy. It only needs to done 3 or 4 times a week to see drastic improvements in aerobic fitness and overall health. If you can commit to this, you will see weight loss, better blood pressure, lower glucose levels, higher quality sleep, and perhaps even more energy and a better mood. Sound to good to be true right? So, what is this magic bullet?
Zone 2 training, sometimes called base training or aerobic training, is the answer. Zone 2 training works by exercising the body just below it’s anaerobic threshold (the point at which muscle must break down glycogen for fuel and produce lactate at a higher rate than it can be cleared). If you want to dig deep into the weeks on the biochemistry of zone 2 training, check this out. Long story short, Zone 2 training improves aerobic fitness by programming your body to efficiently utilize aerobic metabolism at the cellular level.
Zone 2 training requires only a heart rate monitor which many people already have in the form of a smartwatch. It can be achieved with many activities such as walking, hiking, rucking, biking, or even running based on your fitness level. The goal is to keep your heart rate at the MAF heartrate (names after Phil Maffetone, an exercise and sports medicine expert who literally wrote the book on this training method). The MAF heart rate is 180 minus your age. In my case, 180 – 30 = target heart rate of 150. Chose an activity that gets your heart rate to this target and maintain it for 45 minutes to an hour. For me, a brisk and hilly hike or a gentle jog gets my heart rate to the right target. For you, it may simply be a walk through the neighborhood. The actual intensity of the exercise doesn’t matter as long as you can maintain the target heart rate for the duration. As your aerobic health improves, you will notice that it will take a higher intensity activity reach your goal heart rate.
By October, the walk to the deer stand should feel like a breeze. So should the drag out if you are lucky enough to harvest a deer. More important than the hunting benefits, you will improve your overall health and reduce your risk of a number of diseases like heart attack, stroke, and diabetes.