When you are young, the anticipation of the next deer, turkey, or waterfowl season hits hard.

As a guy staring down the barrel of 48 years old, every season is just as exciting. Now, I appreciate each one a little more because with every ache, pain, and the sun setting on another season, I realize these experiences are finite. It is why I created Fit To Hunt; not just to help people go out and perform on the mountain, water, or woods, but to offer a pathway to extend the time you and I can pursue wild game and indulge in our hunting heritage.

Do you need to be Fit To Hunt to tag a whitetail or catch a trout on a fly rod? The answer is no, but there are some trends I have noticed in my 26 years as a personal trainer that are alarming. You do not need to do cross-fit, look like Cameron Hanes or run marathons to excel in the outdoors. You do need to adjust your mindset, think big picture, and take action if you wish to hunt, fish and enjoy creation well into your later years. Here is that blueprint.

There is a Pill for That

When you are young, you don’t think about diabetes, high cholesterol, or knee replacements and in college, I went hard. No 12-pack of Busch Light was safe and I ate my fair share of late-night pizza. Indulging in those lifestyle habits might work for a bit, but as we age, the body does not recover quite as quickly. Many of us slowly put on weight, get prescribed a low-dose blood pressure medication, or wear a knee brace when we work or play outdoors. I wish it would stop there but typically, it does not. Over time, high blood sugar will manifest into diabetes. That balky knee will hurt worse and the combo of weight gain and poor core strength will result in back pain that may prevent you from climbing a tree stand. Most can adapt but if these issues aren’t addressed and trends reversed, the outdoorsman will be faced with illness that could rob them of years afield.

I have watched many family, friends, and even clients shun lifestyle interventions such as exercise, stress management, and nutrition in favor of a physician-prescribed pill. Pills can work for a while, but without you changing your habits and how you live, no medication on earth will be able to stop the snowball effect that is brewing inside. What you do today will affect not only your health but your ability to hunt and fish tomorrow.

Multiple Dimensions of Wellness

Good health is much more than how many push-ups you can do and how many fruits & veggies you consume. Exercise and nutrition are certainly major players in our overall health, but there are many things that can derail us. As it is said, life happens but without looking at how the big picture intertwines, you may find your health deteriorating and your functional ability to do something like draw a bow lost. Here are some examples of how a lack of balance can cause for poor wellness.

·         Demanding jobs that require long hours limit your ability to exercise and eat healthy foods

·         Income levels may dictate if there is room in the budget for things like a gym membership

·         Kid’s sports schedules or other commitments can reduce free time to work on health habits

·         Poor relationships can cause stress eating, depression, and general unhappiness

·         Bad knees, hips, shoulders, and low back can cause so much pain, many give up without trying to solve the issue

·         And all of these combined can color our view of who and what we are becoming until we wake up 50 pounds overweight with budding or serious health issues

The trick here is to not fall asleep or let life get out of control. It is easier said than done and step one to developing a strategy to neutralize barriers is the awareness that there is a problem. Step two is to look at the things that are causing poor health and begin executing tactics to create a higher level of health, fitness, and overall wellness.

Creating a Personal Blueprint

I’m often asked how hard a person needs to work out to go elk hunting, chase whitetail, or fish for trout and my answer is always, “It depends.” There is no magic level of nutrition or exercise that will ensure each person who buys a tag will run up the side of a mountain like an NFL middle linebacker. Each person is different but here is the truth. Anything you do that will result in you being 10% better than you were will result in a better hunting experience today and may help you hunt a little longer throughout your lifetime.

My client Mark is 65 years old and came to us with bad shoulders, questionable balance, and poor strength. Mark is an avid fisherman who loves to catch trout with a fly rod. He also loves to fish out of his kayak. For Mark, working on better shoulder strength and mobility reduced his shoulder pain and allowed him to load his kayak in and out of his truck. The balance and agility drills we perform help him wade the trout stream without fear of falling.

Bill is a 59-year-old outdoorsman who loves to fish, chase ducks and has a brown bear hunt in Alaska next spring. He also has two artificial knees. As a former athlete, Bill felt if he was not destroying himself with every workout, he was not working out. We had to develop a routine that challenged Bill but also gave him guardrails so he would not over-train which could invite injury. The result has been a better range of motion in his knees, more balanced strength and endurance, and the feeling he could tackle a mountain tomorrow.

Dayton is a 48-year-old elk hunter who simply hikes with a weighted pack. Very little strength training and he excels in the backcountry every fall.

None of these gentlemen do the exact same workout, volume, or level of intensity but what is the exact same for each of them is the creation of a program that they enjoy, find value in, and fit their lifestyle.

I know that a program filled with core activation, athletic movements, power development, and targeted strength training will work for everybody but that level of complexity isn’t for everyone. Do you want to get more years to hunt? Walk 30 minutes every day. You may not be ready for an eight-day backcountry hunt in Colorado at the level of training, but you will perform better in the woods, have more energy and potentially ward off things like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and orthopedic issues.

The blueprint is similar for everyone but based on who you are, will look different. You just need to decide when you are ready to start creating your plan.

Our tagline is We can help train you for the hunt of a lifetime or just help you hunt for a lifetime. This is incredibly important to our team that we provide the best programs, services, support, and community to help outdoorsmen and women thrive and we would love to connect with you.

For more info, please email us at info@stayfittohunt.com or visit our website at www.stayfittohunt.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, GoWild and YouTube.

We wish you a great fall hunting season, and even better health and promise to provide you the support you need to get the most out of your outdoor adventures!

Thanks for reading and Stay #FitToHunt

Collective Contributor, Jeremy Koerber