I’ve been perfecting my hunting fitness routine for several years now, but I have to admit I go through phases where it’s hard to drag myself to the gym. It just gets so depressing hitting the treadmill, lifting weights and climbing the stairstepper day after day, and every day you just have to go back and do it all again.
As I’ve said before, I’m not going to the gym to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Let’s face it, I’m getting a little long in the tooth, and I just don’t think I’d be able to pull off the muscly old guy look. And I’m not doing it to have perfect health, either. Right now, I’m sure there’s some health nut feeling pretty stupid as he’s lying in a hospital, dying of nothing.
The only reason I go to the gym is to get in shape for hunting. I do only hunting-related exercises, so that when hunting season comes around again, I can hike miles into the woods, draw my bow, and carry out game quarters without having a coronary while I’m doing it. I’ve found the more cardio I do, the steadier I can hold my rifle, and the more strength training I do, the easier it is to draw my bow.
It’s just sometimes so hard to gather the necessary gumption to actually go to the gym and do those exercises. But then a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from KUIU, the company that makes the hunting clothes I recently became enamored with. I stayed warm, dry and invisible in my KUIU Verde camo outfit last fall on my elk and deer hunt, and that email announced that they’re now making fitness gear, too. It’s like the universe is telling me to get off the couch and get back to the gym.
I ordered a set of shorts and a T-shirt, so even my workout clothes will remind me why I’m there and keep me motivated. And since they’re camo, I’ll be less obvious to the people at the gym who actually are fit. It’s a win-win.
