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How do you guys get into shape for an upcoming safari? Assume it will be a walking intensive safari for DG. | ||
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Here is my routine: I walk 1 1/2 hours each day - almost always in the evenings after work. I carry a heavy musclewood walking stick and a bottle of water. We are rather informal in our work dress where I live so I usually just wear my hunting clothes and shoes at work. I seek out hills for my walk. We have an abundance of them here in southwest Missouri. I walk off the pavement as much as possible. A 10 minute drive from the office is a state forest which has a lot of trails in it. On the weekends I walk on a trail where I can carry a double rifle. Where I walk on weekends there are some cows that I can practice aiming at. The rifle is not loaded and I already discussed it with the owner of the cows. He didn't have much of a reply so I took that as a "yes". Later in the walk I load the rifle and try just two off hand shots from different angles and distances at a target (some stick-on dots on a 50 gal. barrel laying flat on the ground) that I leave set up all the time. I also have a 5 lb. bar bell weight at the office. When talking on the phone (especially when the conversation is boring) I lift it or hold it out straight a few times to strengthen my muscles that hold up the rifle. ALLEN W. JOHNSON - DRSS Into my heart on air that kills From yon far country blows: What are those blue remembered hills, What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again. A. E. Housman | |||
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Palmer's is as good as any... I prefer a combination of walking and running. I try to do 5 miles on the treadmill in under 65 minutes and work up to breaking 55 minutes. For general strength, I start at 3 sets of 10 for push ups, sit ups and /or crunches, and curls with a 25lb dumbell. I add one a day up to 33. So buy then end of a 45-60 day period...I am doing 5 miles a day in 55 minutes and doing 99 push ups, 99 crunches, 99 curls w/25 lb dumbell. I also limit myself to 1 portion of starch a day and 1 potion of alcohol twice a week and really watch the fat intake. The above routine should allow you to drop 2 lbs a week. So if you start 3-4 months in advance you can drop usually around 25-30 lbs. No I don't practice what i preach...although I have done that routine several times and dropped the 25-30 lbs Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I switch from single malt to a blend. Eat twice the amount I normally do. Last but not least do nightly rub downs with DEET. | |||
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I ride a bike for at least 7 miles a day from my home along the Susquehanna River trail and back home in the morning..I also walk in the heat for a few miles..I carry one of those grip strenghteners in my truck and workd each hand while driving...I am planning carrying the DR this summer for walks.. Mike | |||
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its impossible to be in too good of shape sorry about the spelling, I missed that class. | |||
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I trained to take my son to Philmont Scout Ranch for a 80 mile hike in 10 days. I started 3 months ahead of time walking at least 1.5 to 2 miles per day in the evenings and 5 mile hikes on the weekend gradually ramping up to 3 miles on weekdays and 6 or 7 on weekends than adding a pack of up to 60 lbs. It worked for me and I dropped 20 lbs getting ready. | |||
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I worked up to a fast paced, medium-high effort level 30 minutes on the stairmaster as a warm up then I worked out with machine weights alternating "heavy" upper/lower body days but doing a light workout on the "off" day of the upper or lower to avoid and overcome stiffness. Did curls and lat pulls. Lots of crunches. Not looking for bulk but doing good weight with lots of reps. Did this four days a week. Hiked at least one day a weekend and a couple of evenings during the week as the weather improved. Did some cycling. Three things I will try to change for this year are to add more than occasional biking, try to get my kids, who I hike with on weekends, to pick up the pace, but they are 5 and 8, and find some rougher (not more hilly but less worn smooth, with poorer footing) trails to hike. I will also watch my diet more carefully and get 10 to 15lbs lighter than I was this Oct. You are planning for elephant so you need to be fit. You are young so it shouldn't be too hard. JPK  Free 500grains | |||
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Along with the walking you can climb the stairs in your house. (If you have stairs to an upstairs or downstairs) Get in the routine of climbing them 10 times a night and then progress to more each night. Climbing stairs takes a considerable amount of work, especially after you have done it 25 times in a short amount of time. The biggest issue with starting any excercise routine is starting with less weight or less walking or running and then work up to larger quantities. I have seen people hurt themselves more trying to get "in shape" for a hunt, than on the hunt itself. Do not try to kill yourself by running 5 miles the first day of your exercise. Push yourself just enough to improve your time or repetitions a little each day. Mink and Wall Tents don't go together. Especially when you are sleeping in the Wall Tent. DRSS .470 & .500 | |||
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Work your way up! Don't try to get up to pace in the first few weeks (if you are badly out of shape). Last year, when I started training for my DG safari, I started out by walking two miles a day. Two weeks later, I was walking three miles, then later, four. All the while, I was upping my pace until I got to 4 mph. I stayed with this routine until three weeks before leaving, then I upped the distance to 5 miles, then 6 at the same pace. In the mean time, I lost 38 pounds. I had absolutely no problem keeping up when the time actually came. One thing, however; as good as I was at walking, I looked like a beached walrus when it came time to crawl. Unfortunately, crawling is an important part of buffalo hunting in the long grass. Next time, I am going to come up with some excercise that improves my crawling technique. You would think that after being married 30 years, I would have crawling down to a science!  | |||
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I just go shopping with my wife  | |||
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go find a dirt road climb into the back of your buddy's Pickup an stand there while he drives all the while dodgeing brush and keeping your eyes clear of grit. Then practice jumping out of the truck. 90% of most safaris other than ele treks or buff hikes are done like this to locate game or at least get you onto some tracks. Even though most posters will not admit it. | |||
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Cats, You described the typical plains game safari. Elephant and buffalo are a horse of a different color. I walked my ass off tracking buffalo. Then when we go up on them, I crawled my ass off. That said, nothing I have ever done in Africa can compare to a moose/woodland caribou hunt I did in Newfoundland. I thought I was going to die! Also, I wasn't prepared for the amount of climbing I would do this last September when I went on a red stag hunt in Scotland. At least in Africa, most of the walking is on flat ground. | |||
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GAHUNTER, my son best described the walking on the hills of Scotland "It is like walking on thick soaked sponges". | |||
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**** GA Hunter little wonder readers get into arguements..they read only what they want to read BTW the tundra up along the Artic Ocean around Deception Bay was the worst I've ever dealt with hunting anything. | |||
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Yes, I read that part. I just didn't think you differentiated between the two hunts enough. I just wanted to add emphasis. In other words, we have agreed to agree!  | |||
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