You can be a more successful hunter if you’re in shape? That shouldn’t be a newsflash, but for some it’s an easy step in the successful hunter plan to overlook. Do you want to push past the overweight crowd panting at the trailhead? Do you want to place your treestand in the most remote corner of your hunting club property? Do you want to have walk-in access program land all to yourself? Do you want to enjoy venison and fowl all winter long? For these rewards and more you’ll need to get in shape.
I know, I know: Finding time to work out is about as difficult as landing a tag to hunt bighorn sheep or from keeping the government from wasting your taxpayer dollars. Motivation aside, it takes a minimum of an hour’s time, if not longer, to get in a good workout, and that doesn’t even include travel to and from the gym if you don’t have a home-based equipment.
So should you supersize your next soft drink order and forget about it (don’t pull that stunt in New York)? No! Get your workouts in by taking the everyday and turning it into a calorie-burning workout. I may sound like Oprah or Dr. Oz (I don’t look like either though), but you can burn calories and build muscle via home chores. You just have to take those chores to a more extreme level. Do you want some ideas? Get your pen and paper ready and put on your workout clothes.
- Mow your lawn using a push mower or, better yet, a non-motorized version. Unless you’re mowing acres of land, put the riding lawn mower away and push your way to a more fit you.
- Clean the house (go for the brownie points). Lots of folks clean the house in a piecemeal effort. Try cleaning the whole house in one session. Get on your knees and scrub the floors, stretch to dust and wipe down the walls. Bend, reach and clean like Rocky sparring with bloody carcasses.
- Hand-wash your truck. Sure, it’s easy to run your truck through an automatic car wash, but try hand-washing it, wiping it off and then waxing it. Be the “Karate Kid.” “Wax on, wax off.”
- Trim your trees in treestand style. That’s right. Put on your treestand safety harness and climb a tree like a monkey. Now get to trimming, but don’t drop a limb on your truck or your house.
- Cut a load of firewood with all your tree trimmings. Cutting firewood is hard work, especially with all the stacking involved. If you really want to get your arms in shape, switch to a manual saw every few cuts and feel the burn!
Before you do any of these or start a traditional workout routine, please see your doctor. You need to be in shape, but I don’t need your injury or death hanging on my conscience. Now get busy and then go hunting!