I am a big fan of using strength training equipment and I truly believe that strength training is the best way to exercise for weight loss.
I have written in-depth articles about this approach.
However, today’s article is about the best way to exercise for weight loss: a unique approach.
The type of approach which feeds the soul.
You see sometimes, you just need to take a step away from the gym for a day and get outside to exercise.
Being in the outdoors is immensely beneficial for your mental health and your physical body.
Arguably two facets of the same entity.
This September, I embarked on a journey to try something I have never done before: dove hunting. I wanted to get outdoors and shake up my exercise routine and most importantly of all – I wanted to feel connected to the local landscape.
Hunting Doves: My Recent Exercise Endeavor
Now at first glance, the idea of hunting Doves may seem particularly morbid and one can’t help but conjure up images of the dove’s iconic symbolic representation: that of love.
However, this particular bird is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds with more than 70 million in some years hunted annually in the United States.
The Mourning dove is a member of the pigeon family, Columbidae.
Its large population in the US is attributed to its prolific breeding.
This game species is incredibly delicious with tasting notes reminiscent of duck, with the exception of its breast meat being particularly lean.
Although yielding only about 4-6oz of meat per bird, I find the flavor of the meat to be exquisitely worth my time.
Hunting: Outdoor Exercise
Hunting is not an activity that one often categorizes as exercise.
I find it to have a dual purpose with respect to its benefits.
Being outside as an active participant of the landscape not only allows you to reap the benefit of its physicality but also reminds you of your mammalian place on this planet.
We often forget that we too as humans are part of the ecosystem.
Although our technological advances have left us more or less divorced from the immediate landscape on a day-to-day basis – our biology is still tied to the landscape.
I find hunting to be a perfect humbling reminder of my existence on this earth.
Weight Loss: An Anthropological Perspective
There was a time believe it or not when our species did not think of ‘exercise’ in its formal sense.
In fact, our ancestors would likely laugh at our mechanistic approach to exercise.
We live in a world by which exercise needs to be scheduled whereas our ancestors lived a life intertwined with exercise – all the time.
They were always challenging their physical bodies through the day-to-day tasks of living.
Outdoor Exercise: The Benefits
I consider outdoor activites – hiking, hunting, etc, as a primal form of exercise.
Ones that allows us to use all of our senses and become present.
The benefit of being outside from a biological perspective is of course multifaceted.
Navigating the landscape on your two feet.
Covering distance.
Getting the blood to circulate.
Stabilizing your body as you take each step.
You are calling upon your circulatory system, your vestibular system, and your skeletal system while you take in all of the sights and smells around you.
You are practicing holistic exercise if you will – whether you realize it or not.
Hunting for a Healthy Diet
The food element of hunting is another big one for me.
Wild game provides some of the healthiest meat you will ever find.
The animals spend their entire lives in their natural ecosystem consuming native plants and insects as sustenance – a far cry from the feedlot cattle or chicken chomping down on corn and soybeans.
If you have ever doubted the superior taste of wild game meat, you simply have not had it cooked correctly.
The stereotypes of ‘gaminess’ originate from amateur cooks whose standards are no better than airplane dining.
From Field to Plate
I prepared delicious jalapeno poppers with the beautiful meat harvested from my dove hunt this September.
Each bite of dove breast enveloped by a slice of jalapeno, a dab of cream cheese, and wrapped in bacon.
These are typically fired on the grill but since I don’t have a grill currently, I broiled them in the oven to perfection.
Not only was each bite beyond delicious – each bite was an ancestral memory of what it means to be human.
The memories created on a hunt are simply too challenging to put into words. You’ll just have to try it out to see what I mean.
Outdoor Exercise: Weight Loss by Proxy
Any outdoor activity that gets you moving will be immensely beneficial to your weight loss process and overall health.
I find outdoor exercise to be particularly beneficial to your mental health as well.
There is nothing more satisfying than feeling your blood pumping as you take in all of the rich smells and sounds of nature.
I encourage you to change up your typical fitness routine from time to time and do something outdoors, anything!
For myself, I really enjoy hunting but for you, maybe it is kayaking or climbing.
Whatever strikes your fancy, get out there and get into the moment.
There is no better place to improve your health than the outdoors.