For the last 25 years, Dr. Marcus Stewart has started his day with the same 45-minute exercise:
Eight-to-10 lung expansions; 50 leg raises; 50 sit-ups; 50 body stretches each on his back, stomach and side; 25 push-ups; 20 standing arm stretches using two or three variations; 30 finger stretches using a rubber band;
lifting 10-pound weights on each foot 50 times and 30 additional body stretches.
Stewart, a noted orthopedic surgeon and former team physician for Mississippi`s football team, is 81. He credits daily exercise with helping him remain active as a hunter long after many his age would have put away their waders, unloaded their shotgun and headed for the couch.
Whether it`s a year-round exercise routine, such as the one used by Stewart, or a six-week crash program, the key is to head into the woods in the best possible physical condition.
Being in shape won`t guarantee survival, but a person`s chances for an injury-free experience are greatly improved through exercise.
”A person who isn`t physically fit trying to pull a 200-pound deer out of the woods or sloshing through knee-deep water on the way to the duck blind could end up in big trouble,” said Kurt Lenser, fitness coordinator for the Baptist Healthplex in Memphis. ”A lot of things could happen-all of them bad.”
Lenser means things like heart attacks, sprained ankles, broken bones and aching muscles, common occurrences for out-of-shape hunters. Most don`t have the desire or fortitude to put their bodies through the punishment of an exercise program for a week, a month or a year.
”Some people are just playing a deadly game when they head into the woods,” Lenser says. ”They`re just asking for trouble.”
Trouble usually comes from carelessness, whether a person has been lax in getting into top physical condition or failed to follow proper safety procedures. Often, the two go together.
To be fit for the outdoors requires a regular exercise program. For some, this might be an aerobics class, a sure-fire way to improve blood circulation and strengthen leg muscles. For others, it might be lifting weights or climbing stairs.
Dr. Bill Russo, a Memphis cardiologist and avid duck hunter, says people with little or no exercise program are ”much more susceptible” to heart attacks while in the woods or duck blind.
To get ready for an extended hiking trip, Russo recommends 30- to 60-minute walks three times a week carrying books that weigh as much as a fully loaded backpack. For the duck hunter who must slosh through a swamp on the way to the blind, Russo recommends short walks with leg weights tied to each foot.
Norman Bates, education supervisor for the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, acknowledges that countless hundreds of injuries and illnesses in the woods go unreported each year.
Bates recalls an incident when he was squirrel hunting in Middle Tennessee. He was met by a frantic hunter asking for help for an ill companion who was propped against a nearby tree. When Bates got closer he realized the man, who had a history of heart problems, had died from a heart attack.
For Bates, that scene remains vivid almost 25 years later.
”That`s something you don`t easily forget,” he says. ”It makes a person appreciate being healthy.”
The older a person gets, the harder it is to prepare for hunting. Most physicians say between the ages of 45 and 50 is when the muscles start to show deterioration.
”If possible, I tell anyone over 45 years of age to get on some sort of exercise program,” says Dr. Ed Cocke, 73, a Memphis ear, nose and throat physician. ”If they don`t, they`re asking for it. The next day after a hunt could be real painful.
”And it`s all so silly. All it takes is a regular exercise program and a person should never have to hunt, fish or whatever in pain. Of course, there`s some pain to go through in the workout, but in the end it`s definitely worth the effort.”
Cocke, an avid hunter and fisherman, stays in shape by playing an hour of ”aggressive” badminton three or four times a week.
Blisters, one of hunting`s most-painful side effects, don`t have anything to do with a person`s condition, yet they are common.
Many hunters wear a new pair of boots into the woods. Their feet are going to hurt, says Dr. Phillip Dirmeyer of Memphis, who advises that people wear their new boots several days before heading to the woods.
”I`ve never been able to figure out why people don`t break in their new boots,” Dirmeyer says. ”You don`t buy a car without driving it first. You don`t buy a new suit without trying it on.”
A person doesn`t become an iron man in six weeks. The key is to find an exercise program suited for you and stick with it beyond the hunting season. And don`t forget to take a medical kit that includes such things as Molefoam for blisters, bandages, gauze pads, adhesive tape and soap, needle and tweezers, and a snake-bite kit.
”All the hunter thinks about is the thrill of the hunt,” Russo says.
”They don`t think about all the bad things that can happen. And before you know it, you`re in trouble.”
