With hunting season still months away and the temperatures and bug swarms rising, you may not feel motivated to get in shape, shoot your bow or go to the range. This post by Ron Spomer on the Sporting Classics Daily website is the perfect prescription. You don’t need a gym membership or personal trainer to simulate the kinds of physical activity you’ll need during hunting season.
Begin with the End in Mind
Fall hunting trips are my motivation to practice and get in shape during the summer. I often look through pictures from previous years to help me get psyched about the hunt and maintain a practice regimen. If one look won’t do it, hang a picture on your wall or place a hunting image where you’ll see it daily. Once you feel that internal drive, practicing on a regular basis will be much easier.
Develop a Habit
Once established, habits are easier to maintain than break, even if they involve strenuous exercise or challenge. In other words, if you can begin each day with an early morning hike, after time it’s easier to continue that habit than to sleep in. You will feel that internal motivation swell inside you.
Practice Shooting
Spomer speaks to internalizing muscle memory in this post. If you are a rifle hunter, you’ll benefit from his advice. For bowhunters, practicing is easier since you won’t need a range and you can “fire” your bow in a back yard or basement. Archers can enhance their accuracy indoors by shooting without aiming. Bowhunters must master the release of the arrow and by closing your eyes and shooting at a target point-blank, you focus on the feel of the release. Do this safely, of course, yet the launch of the arrow will quickly become instinctive, just like aiming and firing a rifle. Spomer makes some very helpful points that are bound to be motivating:
Feeling like a dog? The dog days of summer are upon us, but this doesn’t mean we should allow ourselves to slip into the summer doldrums. Instead of dreaming and pining for those crisp mornings with elk bugling and ducks quacking, work so that you can enjoy them when they do arrive.
The summer doldrums should be your summer recharge season. Plug in and fill your physical reserves so you have plenty with which to milk every minute of “on-line” time outdoors this fall.
Exercise? I’m afraid so. But being in great shape is your single best advantage afield. The man or woman who can hike the extra mile, run to cut off the herd, and sit another half-hour in the cold is the one who will be there when the game arrives. Strength is important, but endurance is essential. That’s what keeps you in the game
http://sportingclassicsdaily.com/summer-doldrums/
