Functional Backcountry Fitness is Truly do or die!
The Turning Feral Journal - Day 7
Day 7: I have always valued fitness. It’s something that was ingrained in me at a young age by my father. He never forced us to workout, but I remember waking up to him coming into our rooms drenched in sweat and smelling strongly after going for a run - a true lead by example approach. Then, as I got older, I watched one set of fit-focused grandparents age more gracefully than the other who took retirement as a means to spend more time on the couch. It made me realize that moving our bodies and taking (relatively) good care of them is important. So, for years I focused on martial arts and “functional” fitness through crossfit-esque regimes.
However, it wasn’t until I started living in the mountains that I really figured out what people meant by functional fitness. It turns out that no amount of crossfit can *perfectly* prepare you for the wide range of tasks required to be a backcountry homeowner, hunter, and trapper…
So, it took some adapting and task-specific training experimentation, but the 3 main movements for the kind of lifestyle I’m living around sustainability are definitely lunges, pull-ups, and weighted rucking. I’ve also found beauty in allowing some of my hobbies and chores to turn into actual workouts themselves and not beating myself up for missed “gym” days. Things like carrying rounds of wood to the truck from a far distance, hikes with the kids with extra weight, mounting trail cams on steep hillsides, carrying traps deep into the backcountry on snowshoes, and the list goes on.
I talk about my perspective on this topic in an interview with MTNTOUGH Fitness, which you can watch below:
Daily Prompt: Where are you on your current fitness journey? What movements can you start to incorporate into your daily routine to prepare you for the sustainability-related things you want to do in the future? Will you need to haul 5-gallon buckets of water (fitness translation: farmers carries)? Will you need to hike miles through the mountains (fitness translation: lunges)? Think about where you want to be and what you need to start training your body to do and write it down here:
Motivational Passage:
Your daughter needs the best of who you are: your strength, your courage, your intelligence, and your fearlessness. She needs your empathy, assertiveness, and self-confidence. She needs you.
Meg Meeker - “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters”
Rewilding Action: If you are struggling to find your fitness foothold for living a sustainability-friendly lifestyle there are plenty of resources. You can join MTNTOUGH fitness and follow their MGD program like I do, follow Michael Easter for rucking advice, follow Jason Khalipa for real functional “dad” crossfit, or simply get out and swing an axe. The options are endless, but it’s important to get out and find what movements and programs will help you achieve your goals.