Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 510 is my conversation with Todd Bumgardner, a strength and conditioning coach of fifteen years and the creator of the Human Predator Pack Mule training program for backcountry hunters. Todd argues that most hunt-fitness training is built backward — all fast lifting and no practice at the slow, still, controlled movement a real stalk demands. We get into how to actually prepare your body for an archery elk hunt and the brutal pack-out that follows.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Todd Bumgardner is a strength and conditioning coach with fifteen years of experience and the creator of the Human Predator Pack Mule, a training program designed specifically for backcountry hunters. He holds a graduate degree in exercise science and began his career coaching collegiate athletes before focusing on preparing hunters for the physical demands of the backcountry.
The Human Predator Pack Mule is Todd Bumgardner's training program built around everything a hunter needs to be physically prepared for a backcountry hunt. The name captures its three pillars: the human element of mindset and preparation, moving like a predator during a slow stalk, and the pack-mule reality of carrying heavy loads on the pack-in and pack-out.
Todd argues that most hunt fitness is what he calls stormtrooper training — fast lifting and explosive movement, which has its place but ignores what a hunt actually requires. Stalking demands moving slowly, holding awkward positions, and staying still, which is genuinely difficult and rarely practiced. If you only train to move fast, he says, you will struggle to execute when the moment requires control and patience.
Todd emphasizes training the ability to move slowly and quietly, hold positions without making noise, and remain still under tension — skills that determine success on a stalk. He pairs that with strength work for the pack-in and pack-out, where you carry heavy loads over rough terrain. The goal is a body that can both creep into range and haul an animal out, not just lift fast in the gym.
Todd was in school to become a teacher but kept gravitating to the library to read strength and conditioning research. Realizing he was fighting his real interest, he took the classes he needed for graduate school, earned a degree in exercise science, and started coaching — beginning with two female athletic teams at the college he attended. He has now been a strength and conditioning coach for fifteen years.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 510 with Todd Bumgardner is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
I train hard, and I have my own ideas about fitness, but the idea that you could be in great shape and still fail a backcountry hunt because you cannot hold still got my attention. Todd makes the case that stalking is a physical skill most people never practice — moving slow, staying quiet, holding a position under tension. I wanted him to walk me through how he actually trains hunters to move like predators and to survive the pack-out, because it is a side of fitness I had not thought about this way.
Todd's central insight is that one of the hardest things to do on a hunt is stand still and move slowly — and almost nobody trains for it. He explains why holding positions under tension is a trainable skill, and why ignoring it can wreck a stalk no matter how strong you are. It reframed fitness for me. Press play to hear his argument.
Todd has a name for the usual approach — stormtrooper training, all fast lifting and explosive work. He explains where that has its place and where it fails the hunter who needs control, patience, and slow movement. The critique is sharp and specific. Watch the YouTube player above for the breakdown.
This is the part everybody dreads — hauling a heavy load over rough country. Todd breaks down what the pack-mule side of his program builds, and why it is as much mindset as muscle. He gets specific about preparing the body to carry weight. Hear it in the episode.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Todd was in school to teach but kept sneaking off to read strength research, until he finally stopped fighting it. He talks about earning his exercise science degree and starting with two college teams. It is a good story about following the thing you actually care about. Watch the player above for it.
The day after talking to Todd, the line I kept repeating to myself was that you have to train to move slow, not just fast. It sounds obvious until you realize how little anyone actually practices it.
Todd's whole approach is a reminder that fitness is specific. Being strong in the gym is not the same as being ready for the mountain, and the gap between them is exactly the work most people skip.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Todd Bumgardner is a strength and conditioning coach with fifteen years of experience and the creator of the Human Predator Pack Mule, a training program built specifically for backcountry hunters. He holds a graduate degree in exercise science and began his coaching career working with collegiate athletes before specializing in preparing hunters for the physical demands of stalking, shooting, and packing out animals in rugged terrain.
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