I'm training for a very different goal. I suffered a pretty bad stroke last year, primarily affecting my right leg from mid-thigh down. The leg lost a lot of muscle, as the nerves that run it aren't exactly hooked up right. I'm wheelchair bound most of the time, and I have a specific bow just for wheelchair shooting. I am planning to hunt the disabled areas this year, but I'm forcing myself up for longer and longer to get ready to hunt my land this year.
I took my first unaided hike late last month, and the past two weeks has been spent in intensive blackberry picking. That might not sound hard to you, but try it with a dead leg some time. I got a cake when I could get the mail again. I went from bedridden in December to wheeling myself everywhere and taking short hikes in July. I will never be able to walk normally again, as my hips are shot and unreplaceable, but I'm walking every day, and I finally have enough strength to go back to doing it all barefoot.
These may not seem like heavy workouts. I do shoot about five days a week, I load and unload my chair (including breakdown/assembly) and I push my own chair everywhere I go. When home I force myself to walk as best I can, and I've made short forays into the woods with my bow to go stumping.
I don't expect to ever do a multiday elk hunt. I own five acres against the Bankhead National Forest, and I take more coyotes than deer in an average year. But I will keep my legs as long as I can, and pushing that chair is directly translating into draw weight. It's no impressive regime, but it's hard enough.
Topic: 2014 Physical Training for elk, moose, anything (Read 1749 times)
