We’re in the meat of hunting season. Western archery seasons are winding down and rifle seasons are about to kick off. Upland seasons have been in full swing for about a month and will go on for months more. Knowing all of this, the question is: What kind of training do we need right now to keep our bodies resilient and conditioned for the long haul of hunting season? Here’s how we’ll build that bridge in October.

Hell, I never thought I’d write an article like this. I dislike running. I’ve run one half-marathon in my life, and I didn’t enjoy a stride of it. Since then, friends have tried to talk me into running more races, including ultramarathons. My response is always the same, “The only way I’m covering that much ground is if I kill something at the end.” So, until someone develops a mountain hunting ultramarathon, there are no more races in my future. Still, I run, and I program running for Packmule members.

Yes, fitness, especially aerobic fitness, improves your ability to recover. That’s important. However, you have to manage stress, fatigue, fueling, and sleep well. Otherwise, your fitness won’t matter. Anything that causes psychological or physiological stress affects your recovery. So, you need guidelines to manage it all. Here they are.

Now, most people give up on weight loss when they can't workout. You are not going to do that. Because in the YouTube video below, I walk you through a case study from my work with one of my Packmule Apex clients.

It’s about time to launch, kids. September gives us a whole lot of hunting opportunities. So, we need to make the most of August with our training. (We technically still treat September as preseason training, but that’s an article for next month.) Being that this month is so important, let’s have us a good chew of the fat on how hunters should train in August. We’ll begin with strength training.

Hunters don’t often think of themselves as athletes. They should. Especially if they are preparing for a big, hard hunt. Athletes approach their training differently in the weeks leading up to a big event. Hunters need to adopt that approach. So, we’re going to talk about it. That approach is called a taper. And it could be the best thing you do for yourself before hunting season.