Get Into Elk Hunting Shape: Phase 2

__

Photo By: Mark Raycroft

Last month, fitness expert and Under Armour pro staffer Cameron Hanes got you started with some low-impact exercises and a shooting regimen. This month, it’s all about building endurance and honing your accuracy. All you need is your hunting pack, a couple of gallon jugs of water, and your bow.

“Forget the gym for now,” Hanes says. “Just get outside.”

Pick Up the Pace
Weeks 1-2: Gradually bump up last month’s 30-minute cardio sessions to one hour. Run–don’t walk–every other day, increasing the time by 10 minutes until you can go for a full hour.

Weeks 3-4: Load your hunting pack with a gallon jug of water, then find some elevation and “get hiking,” Hanes says. When you get to the top of the hill, dump the water to save your knees on the downhill. Hike every day you don’t run, adding more water until you hit 4 gallons.

Carry Your Weight
Weeks 1-2: Keep up your planks, push-ups, and squats from last month, but add four sets of 20 lunges. To do a proper lunge, keep your upper body straight, then step forward with one leg, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Alternate legs, and do this every other day.

Weeks 3-4: Continue the routine of the past two weeks, but add your pack, loaded with a gallon of water in week 3, and 2 gallons in week 4.
**
Go Long**
Weeks 1-2: Keep up your 100-arrow, five-shot rounds, but push the target back to 30 yards. After a week of steady practice, stretch out to 40.

Weeks 3-4: Cut down to 50 arrows a day and focus on accuracy, all the while pushing the target back 5 yards every three or four days. Your goal this month, Hanes says, is to shoot accurately at twice the distance you plan to hunt, so work to shoot groups from as far as 80 yards.