Daily Mountain Pursuit

$15.00

  • Year-round, day-to-day strength and conditioning programming for committed, backcountry big game mountain hunters
  • Build and maintain a high level of Backcountry Hunting specific fitness
  • Full Gym Training
  • Tested and verified by MTI staff.
  • Includes two monthly training mesocycles – current and previous month
  • $15/Month, Cancel Anytime

Description

The Mountain Pursuit stream is year-round, day-to-day strength and conditioning programming for committed, backcountry big game mountain hunters.

This programming is specifically designed for hunters and hunting guides who endeavor on multi-week, self-supported or guided backcountry big game hunting trips in the Rocky Mountain West, Canada, New Zealand, Alaska, Russia, Mongolia and similar hunting grounds – hunters who pursue game in steep, rocky terrain, covering long distances, and carrying heavy loads.

Big game, backcountry mountain hunting is a unique activity with a hybrid mix of specific fitness demands:

1) Mountain Endurance: Legs and Lungs for uphill hiking under load
Backcountry big game hunters carry their weapon and camp on their back. Some establish spike camps, and day trip from there. Others carry their camp with them at all times and often camp high on mountain ridges. Pack weights range from ultra-light 30 pounds to 60 pounds. Often travel is off-trail, and it always includes vertical gain.

The fitness demands of this “Mountain Endurance” involve leg and mid-section strength, and mode-specific aerobic conditioning (lungs).

2) Eccentric Leg Strength for Downhill Hiking Under Load
Hiking downhill under load is significantly more intense on an athlete’s leg musculature than hiking uphill. Downhill movement demands “eccentric” leg strength as gravity tries to force the athlete into the mountain and he/she must absorb this impact with each downhill step.

3) Load Carriage Strength and Endurance for the Pack Out
The work really begins when the animal is down. Often loads for the pack out can reach beyond 100 pounds and distances extend past 5 miles.

4) Chassis Integrity: Functional Mid-Section Strength and Strength Endurance
Loaded movement, and long, heavy rucks demand functional mid-section strength and strength endurance. On top of the loaded step ups and heavy rucks you’ll complete, this training plan deploys MTI’s Chassis Integrity mid-section strength programming methodology via extended mid-section strength training circuits with target total mid-section strength, rotational strength, anti-rotational strength, and extension/low back strength.

5) Mountain Stamina: Fitness for long days, and multiple long days over a multi-day trip
Stamina and mental fitness are a key characteristic of successful backcountry hunting trips. This is the physical and mental fitness to not only go long and hard for one day, but to do this multiple days in a row.

6) High Relative Strength.
Relative strength is strength per bodyweight. Backcountry Hunters are not competing power lifters or olympic lifters. Strength is key to performance and durability, but too much strength at the expense of endurance negatively effects mountain performance. Likewise, backcountry hunters are not bodybuilders. Excess upper body mass slows mountain movement because it is unused dead weight the hunter has to carry. This programming has a significant strength component, but it’s focus is always on outide performance, not gym numbers or appearance.

7) Short, Multi-Modal Work Capacty
Backcountry hunting is a dynamic activity, often with unpredictible fitness demands. Mulit-modal and shuttle-sprint emphasis, short, work capacity conditioning can fill in the gaps between strength and endurance programming and prepare hunters for the unpredictible.

This Daily Stream is designed to intensly prepare backcounty big game hunters for the specific in-season fitness demands of the September-November mountain hunting season, build back strength and fitness after the season, maintain and build base fitness in the off seasion, and start the cycle again in the late Spring and Summer with an intense train up for the September 1 opening day.

Required Equipment

    • Fully Equipped Functional Fitness Gym including squat rack, barbell, bumper plates, plyo box (20×24″), dumbbells and/or kettlebells, open space (can be outside) for shuttle sprints.
    • Backpack with loading up to 100# for rucking
    • Sandbag (40/60# females, 60/80# maless’
    • Pull-up bar
    • 16-18″ box or bench (for step-ups)

Common Questions

Who is this plan appropriate for?
This plan is not appropriate for severely de-conditioned athletes. If you’re out of shape or fitness is suspect, email rob@mtntactical.com for guidance.

How many days of week is the programming?
5 days/week most months, but some months this pushes to 6 days/week to add an endurance day. In the direct pre-season (July, August) training is usually 6 days/week.

How long should the training sessions take?
45-90 minutes for the Monday-Friday. Saturday’s endurance programming can push to 4 hours in the pre-season months (July-August)

What does “4/8x” mean? How about “15/25#”?
First number is for women, second is for men, both for reps, and loading. Examples:

4/8x Push Ups = Women do 4x, Men do 8x
15/25# = Women us 15#, Men us 25#.

What about nutrition?
See our Nutritional Guidelines HERE.

What if I can’t keep up the Monday to Saturday Training Schedule?
This program is “progressive” – difficulty increases as you work through the plan. Don’t skip ahead. Start again where you left off.

If I use trekking poles while hunting, may I use them for the rucking in this plan?
Yes.

Can I substitute a stair master for the step ups?
No. Please do step ups as prescribed.

Step ups suck! They are boring! Pure Drudgery! Can’t I do something else?
Nope.

I don’t have a 16” bench or box for step ups. Can I use a 12” box?
Nope. Be resourceful.

Can I see sample training?
Yes. Click the “Sample Training” tab to see the entire first week of programming.

How do I access the plan?
Access is online, via username and password. You can log in either through our website or through our app (Mtn Tactical Fitness) available for IOS and Android.

Can I print out sessions to take to the gym?
Yes – you can print a week of programming at a time.

More Questions? Email: rob@mtntactical.com

Required Equipment

A fully equipped gym, or a standard gym that also has the following equipment will work:

  • Barbell (with enough weight to find 1RM)

  • Dumbells or kettlebells (A range of weights)

  • 25# dumbbells

  • Space to run (25m minimum)

  • Sandbag

  • Pull-up bar

  • 16" box or bench (for step-ups)


See our recommendation for a garage gym here. Questions? Email coach@mtntactical.com

Sample Training

Session 1

OBJ: Strength, Work Capacity

Warm Up:

  • 4 Rounds:
    • 8x Back Squat - start light and increase load each warm up round
    • 3x Scotty Bob - 25#
    • 2x Prone To Sprint
    • Instep Stretch
    • Lat + Pec Stretch

Training:

  1. 6 Rounds:
    • 3x Back Squat - Increase load rapidly until 3x is hard, but doable (HBD). Aim to reach your HBD load by round 4 and use your HBD load across rounds 4-6.
    • 3rd World Squat Stretch
  2. 5 Rounds:
    • 5x Bench Press - Increase load rapidly each round until 6x is hard, but doable (HBD). Aim to reach your HBD load by round 4.
    • 5x Walking Lunge - Increase load rapidly each round until 6x is hard, but doable (HBD).
    • Hip Flexor Stretch
  3. 20 Rounds, Every 30-Seconds:
    • Suicide Sprint
  4. 2 Rounds:
    • Pigeon Stretch
    • 5x Shoulder Dislocates

Session 2

OBJ: Work Capacity, Chassis Integrity

Warm Up:

  • 3 Rounds:
    • 8x Hinge Lift - 65/95#
    • 5x Hand Release Push-Ups
    • 10x Step-Ups - 16-18” Box
    • Hip Flexor Stretch
    • Instep Stretch

Training:

  1. 20 Minute Grind:
    • 8x Hinge Lift - 90/135#
    • 40x Step-Ups - 16-18” Bench

    Note: “Grind” = work steadily not frantically for the prescribed time or rounds. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest.

  2. 4 Round Grind:
    • 5x Sandbag Clean + Press - 40/60#
    • 50 Second Sandbag Bear Hug Carry - Start at 45/55# and increase load rapidly each round until 60 seconds is hard, but doable.
  3. 2 Rounds:
    • HUG - Hip Mobility Drill
    • 5x Shoulder Dislocates

Session 3

OBJ: Endurance - Recovery Run

Warm Up:

  • None

Training:

  1. Recovery Run:
    • Run 40 minutes, Easy Pace

    Note: “Easy” = You can speak in full sentences while moving.

  2. 1 Round:
    • Foam Roll Quads, Hamstrings and Low Back

Session 4

OBJ: Strength, Chassis Integrity

Warm Up:

  • 4 Rounds:
    • 8x Bench Press - start light and increase load each warm-up round
    • Lat + Pec Stretch
    • 8x Hinge Lift - Dumbbell/Kettlebell - start light and increase load each warm-up round
    • Hip Flexor Stretch

Training:

  1. 6 Rounds:
    • 3x Bench Press - Increase load rapidly until 3x is hard, but doable (HBD). Aim to reach your HBD load by round 4 and use your HBD load across rounds 4-6.
    • 3rd World Squat Stretch
  2. 5 Rounds:
    • 5x Hinge Lift - Increase load rapidly until 6x is hard, but doable (HBD).
    • 3/5x Pull Up
    • Pigeon Stretch
  3. 4 Round Grind:
    • 5x Sandbag Getup - 40/60# (Alternate shoulders each round)
    • 5x Sandbag Keg Lift - 40/60#
    • 50 Second Sandbag Bear Hug Walk - 40/60#

    Note: “Grind” = work steadily not frantically through the exercises in this circuit for the prescribed rounds or time. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest.

  4. 2 Rounds:
    • Pigeon Stretch
    • 5x Shoulder Dislocates

Session 5

OBJ: Endurance - Heavy Ruck

Warm Up:

  • None

Training:

  • Heavy Ruck:
    • Ruck 30 Minutes @ 75# - Moderate Pace

    Note: Moderate = comfortable, but not easy. Fast walk.

1)  Mission Direct

Gym numbers mean nothing. All that matters is mission performance. 

To this end, MTI’s fitness solutions and programming are not boxed in by convention, tradition, orthodoxy, public opinion or any other artificial constraint driven by inside or outside forces.

We begin with the raw fitness demands of the mission and build a fitness solution which directly prepares the athlete for those demands.

 

2) Fitness Solutions Built from the Ground Up

MTI’s programming is not “re-tread” bodybuilding, football, CrossFit, kettlebell, strength or general fitness programming. We’ve built our fitness programming for mountain and tactical athletes from the ground up.

The Fluid Periodization methodology we deploy to concurrently train multiple fitness attributes is completely original and has continued to evolve and improve over the years.

Our mid-section training methodology, Chassis Integrity, is also original, as is our endurance programming, 7 strength training progressions, tactical agility, and work capacity programming.

Our mountain sports pre-season training plans, tactical PFT, selection, school, course, and fitness improvement training plans across military, LE and Fire Rescue are MTI-developed, tested and athlete-proven.

Over the years hundreds of athletes and coaches have taken our advanced programming and unit fitness leader programming courses and MTI is widely recognized within the mountain and tactical professions and fitness media as a thought leader in fitness programming for military and tactical athletes.

 

3) The MTI Method

→ Research: MTI begins program design with extensive research of the fitness demands of the mission, sport or event, identifies the exercises and progressions which sport-specifically meet those demands, chose end-of-cycle goals, and program backward to design the training plan.

→ Deploy & Assess: We deploy the training plan “Lab Rats” at our Wyoming facility. Training session and cycle issues are identified and fixed as we work through the training plan. Post cycle we assess the programming’s effectiveness and efficiency. We keep the stuff that works, and fix or toss the stuff that doesn’t.

→ Publish & Assess Again: Plan is published for purchase as an individual training plan and made available to our subscribers. Feedback/results are assessed.

→ Iterate: We take what we learn from lab rats and athletes, re-visit, update and improve already published training plans. Several of our individual training plans are on their 4th or 5th version.

 

4) Mission-Direct Research

MTI exists to “Improve Mountain and Tactical Athletes mission performance and keep them safe.” To that end, we have developed a unique research methodology aimed at identifying real world areas of improvement and identifying immediately deployable mission-direct solutions. Click HERE to learn more about MTI’s Mission-Direct Research methodology, and Here to read about just few of our research efforts.

5) Field Proven

Our stuff works. Weekly we receive unsolicited reviews of our programming and testimonials to its effectiveness.

 

6) Programming Breadth

MTI’s library of 200+ sport-specific fitness plans for mountain and tactical athletes is unmatched. Resources range from specific programming for tactical special forces selections, to specific plans for climbing Rainier and Denali, to general fitness solutions such as running improvement, to post-rehab from injury.

Over the past decade, MTI has partnered with hundreds of athletes throughout their individual mountain and tactical careers, and provided fitness solutions as they face new mountain objectives, tactical schools, selections, PFTs and deployments, and came back from injury.

 

7) Worldwide Influence

Our work is not limited to US Athletes.

We’ve developed selection-specific training plans for Canadian, UK, Australian and German Special Forces Selections and worked with individual military personnel from Scandinavia, South, and Central America.

Canadian, Australian, UK and western European law enforcement and fire/rescue athletes have used MTI programming for mission-direct fitness.

On the mountain side, Alpinists from Japan to Slovakia have consulted with MTI and used MTI’s programming to prepare for mountain objectives.

 

8) Mission Performance beyond Fitness

MTI’s exists is to improve Mission Performance for mountain and tactical athletes and keep them safe. 

This focus on “mission direct” solutions, enhancements and improvements drives our work and research and extends beyond fitness solutions to include training, leadership, gear, team culture, and safety. 

Fitness is just one area of our work.

Our non-fitness research has included tactical cultures, combat uniforms, and gore-tex performance, and effect of stress on marksmanship.

Our work on defining what it means to be a Quiet Professional has had penetrating influence and driven healthy conversations with both mountain and tactical professionals.

 

9) Direct, Honest, Clear Answers

Since 2007 we’ve taken and answered dozens of questions weekly from mountain and tactical athletes. We’ve saved these individual Q&A’s and now thousands are archived on our site.

We’re not salesmen, and our answers are noted for their directness, honesty, and clarity. Our stuff isn’t for everyone. If we can help, we’ll let you know. If we can’t, we’ll let you know that, too.

– Rob Shaul, Founder

 


All of the Above is Backed Up By Our Promise: Our Stuff Works. Guaranteed.

Our Stuff Works. Guaranteed.

By Rob Shaul

I received notes frequently from athletes hesitant to purchase a subscription or training plans asking me to sell them on why they should make the purchase.

While I understand the question, I’m not a salesman – so I can’t put a hard sale on anyone for our programming.

I can tell them the process we go through to design our programming.

We begin with extensive research on the fitness demands of the event, identify the exercises and progressions which sport specifically meet those demands, chose end-of-cycle goals, and program backward to design the plan.

Then we test the cycle on ourselves and our lab rats here in Wyoming. We document, note what works and doesn’t work, re-assess, and make changes and modifications.

Then we publish the programming in the form of one of our plans or as part of our subscription daily training sessions for tactical and mountain athletes.
We don’t stop there – our daily programming is the “tip of the spear” for our programming evolution. We use these sessions to learn and make continuous improvement.

As we learn more and improve, we go back, and update the sport-specific training plans on the website. For example, we’re currently on Version 5 of our Ruck Based Selection Training Plan and Version 3 of our Dryland Ski Training Plan and Version 4 of our Big Game Back Country Hunting Training Plan.

We understand our programing isn’t cheap, but we believe it’s a great value. The $79 for the Ruck Based Selection Training Plan, and $39 for the Dryland Ski Training Plan reflect the, research, work, innovative theory, iteration, testing and feedback we’ve put in and received to make these plans effective.

All that matters for us is outside performance, and we feel strongly that Our Stuff Works in the real world.

Here’s our guarantee:

1) Individual Training Plan Purchase:
If you purchase an individual training plan, follow it as prescribed before your season/event/pft/selection, and if you don’t feel you were physically ready for your season/event/pft/selection, and/or didn’t see dramatic improvements in your early season performance, we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

2) Athlete’s Subscription
If you purchase an Athletes’ Subscription, follow the training sessions as prescribed, and are not satisfied with the quality of the programming, notify us within 30 days of purchase, and we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

Questions?
Email: rob@mtntactical.com

COMMON QUESTIONS:

Do you have any reviews or testimonials from athletes who have used your Athlete’s Subscription
Yes. Click HERE.

Is it true you guarantee your stuff works?
Yes. If you purchase an Athletes’ Subscription, follow the training sessions as prescribed, and are not satisfied with the quality of the programming, notify us within 30 days of purchase, and we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

How is MTI programming different than CrossFit?
This is a common question. Read our answer HERE.

You have a lot of competitors. Why should I choose MTI?
MTI is driven to improve mountain and tactical athletes’ mission performance and keep them safe. This emphasis and focus on mission performance sets us apart. Read about more that sets us apart HERE.

If I purchase a plan or subscription, how do I access the programming?
All of our plans are online, accessible via username and password.
You can log in through our →Website  or Mobile App →IOS and Android.

Do you have downloadable .pdf’s of the training plans?
No. But you can print the programming, by week, from your browser. You access individual training plans online via a username and password.

Do you have a mobile app?
Yes, we do. Available for IOS and Android.

What is the difference between purchasing an individual training plan, packet of plans or an Athlete’s Subscription?

  • Plan – Like purchasing the DVD of the first Star Wars movie. You own it forever, including any updates we make to the plan.
  • Packet – Like purchasing the DVD’s of all the Star Wars movies. You own them forever, including any updates we make to the plans.
  • Athlete’s Subscription – Like subscribing to Netflix. You get access to all 200+ plan in our library, but lose access if you unsubscribe.

If I purchase an Athletes Subscription Can I cancel on my own, anytime?
Yes.

Do I have to contact MTI to cancel or can I do it myself?
You can do it yourself. Instructions HERE.

If I purchase a subscription and have questions about where to start or what plans(s) to use for my goals, will you help?
Yes. We answer dozens of training questions from athletes weekly. Email coach@mtntactical.com.

If you add new plans or update existing plans after I subscribe will I have access to them?
Yes. We are continuously adding training plans and packets (2-5/month) and updating plans. With your subscription you’ll have access to all new plans, new courses and plan updates.

What Equipment is Required?
Click the “Required Equipment” tab to find out what equipment is required for the specific plan you are interested in.

Where do I find unfamiliar exercises?
See our Exercise Library HERE. The Run and Ruck Calculators are listed as exercises.

What about nutrition?
See our Nutritional Guidelines HERE.

Can I see sample training?
Click the “Sample Training” tab to see the entire first week of programming.
You are encouraged to do it before purchasing.

What if I have more questions?
Email rob@mtntactical.com

Athlete's Subscription Package

Need all access programming? The Athlete Subscription gives you 450+ Plans and 4 Daily Programming Streams.