[Philmont]: RE: Bears and conditioning

RE: Bears. Didn't see a one, nor sign. Darn. And no Mountain Lion
either. Double Darn.

Remember the purpose behind Philmont Bear Procedures is NOT to protect
your food, or your camera, or your toothpaste from being eaten. The
purpose of Bear Procedures is a great natural-environment demonstration
of animal conditioning, like teaching a dolphin to do a flip. Every
group that adheres to Bear Procedures is training the bears they see and
the bears they do not see to adhere to a behavior pattern.

We are training the bears to DIS-ASSOCIATE the bear's perception that
the wavy nylon thingies on the ground, and the colorful nylon/aluminum
thingies against the tree, and especially the smelly two-legged
thingies, are a potential food source. It's why Philmont doesn't do the
bear canister thing. They don't care that your food doesn't get eaten.
They care that the bear has no CONCEPT that you are even a source of
food.

Re Conditioning. Our motto: "Train for Day 11, not Day 1."

I did use a treadmill for conditioning during the winter. Put it up at
max angle and put bricks under it to get it to about 10 degrees of
angle. Borrowed a real good stair climber. Got yelled at by Mrs. P For
filling the little spare room in the garage with "junk". My son and I
spent 40 minutes each night, 4 nights a week. 20 on the treadmill,
switch, 20 on the climber. Both of us wore day packs stuffed with Glad
bags filled with playground sand (5 pounds per bag - started with a set
weight and added to it over the weeks.) Goal was to keep increasing
weight and speed of the events a little at a time to avoid plateauing.
No substitute for actual hiking, which started in the spring, but it
really toughened up the hamstrings and strengthened the knees. Added
benefit, got the shoulders more conditioned as well. Wear the boots you
are going to wear on the trail to help speed the breaking in process.
HINT: Set the weight on the treadmill to your weight without the pack.
Makes the workout much harder as you increase the weight. Down side:
No training on the effects of going DOWNHILL, which is why hiking is the
best training. One way to still keep a conditioning regime with uphill
and downhill is using a local stadium with a track: Hike a mile, do 5
sets of stadium steps, hike another mile, do 6 sets, etc. etc.

Stearns water sacks are a good alternative to sand and you can precisely
add the weight in water.

Of course, consult with a physician before beginning any stressful
exercise program.

It's a technique. RLTW!

Dave Parmly
Knoxville, TN
IWTGBTP...Waaaah!
..and a good old BobWhite too.

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Received on Wed Jun 1 18:24:09 2005