As a hunter, you’re a strength-endurance athlete. That means you need to eat and fuel more like an endurance athlete than a regular person who likes to go to the gym and workout. You’re training, not working out. Training requires a sound nutritional strategy.

April and May are transitional months in the world of hunting fitness. They bridge the gap between early offseason training done January through March, and preseason training done June through August or September. Planning these transitional months well, especially when it comes to strength training, makes a huge difference in your preparation for hunting season.

If you live at sea level, or close to it, and plan to hunt above 8,000 feet of elevation, you need to understand how altitude affects your body. And you need a plan that preps you for altitude before you even get to the mountains. That’s what this guide provides.

Muscular endurance is the main dish we build our mountain training meal around. It’s what keeps our legs pumping on uphills; and without it, our legs turn to goo on downhills. Forget about carrying heavy loads or hunting back to back to back days without it. You will have no stamina; you will bonk; you will have a very bad time.

Many whitetail hunters spend the late winter and spring traversing the woods to learn about deer movement and find antler sheds. It's a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone — learning about the animals we love and love to hunt, and building fitness in the process.

What I'm about to offer you is the process I use for improving my hunting skills...and everything else I want to get better at. I've honed this practice over the course of 20 years, and as with everything else, I'm always working to improve it. (So, you can expect an update somewhere down the road.)