I liked that article. It made a lot of sense with me. I'd be interested in your opinion of proper training for a flatlander heading to the mountains. I'm not trying to bait you into a trap, I'm seriously interested. Thanks in advance.
I will answer this as thoroughly as possible. I'm not interested in debating training and sports science on the internet. Inevitably there's always someone who's personal experience supersedes my education.
I've been training my cousin, who lives on the southeast coast of Florida, for the last year, for an elk hunt here in October.
There are some basic principles of physiology that need to be taken into account when training anyone for any event.
The body works on a series of continuums. Hunting is an endurance sport.
The Absolute Strength <-> Absolute Endurance Continuum is in effect when you're hunting
Absolute Strength<->Endurance/Strength<->Strength/Endurance<->Absolute Endurance
Everything that we do is based on a percentage of our absolute strength. The stronger you are the lower the percentage of absolute strength is necessary to achieve a particular task. FWIW - Absolute strength is the closet thing to what people call "general fitness". The body doesn't generally adapt to stress..
The first training variable that needs to be addressed is base strength. You need to be strong. Time under weights with the focus on lifting progressively heavier loads.
Squats, deadlifts, heavy presses, heavy kettlebell swings, pullups, pushups, loaded carries, etc...
Basic strength programs like Wendler's 5/3/1 and its' variations are perfect for this.
In this training you can also include endurance/strength training, i.e. Prowler pushes, tire drags, sled drags, etc..... for distance/time and load.
Next is the SAID principle - Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand - Hunting is essentially hiking with a fairly heavy pack. That's the next training variable that needs to be taken into account, base and specific endurance. Endurance on a physiological level is increasing the capillary density in your musculature. You need to build up your milage. Which has very little to do with lungs or as some like to call it "wind". You have to get out and hike/walk. If you plan on hiking/hunting for 10mi a day you need to increase your capillary density to sustain for more than 10mi. You need to put in overdistance training. You need to be putting in 12-15 or more miles in your training.
When I program for my ultra-endurance athletes I program for time out instead of milage. If they're going to run a century and it's going to take 22hrs. They/we plan on training up to 24-26hrs broken up over 3 days. So they would run 5-6hrs on day 1, 10-11hrs on day 2 and 7-8hrs on day 3. That's your base endurance (absolute endurance)
Your specific endurance (strength/endurance) is rucking. Training has to be as specific as possible. To be efficient at carrying a heavy pack you have to carry a heavy pack. Carrying increasingly heavier loads for a fixed distance has benefits to carrying a moderate to heavy load all day.
The only variable you can't train for is altitude gain. The only way to adapt to altitude is spending time at altitude. It's a chemical process.
