Rising Stars: Meet Joel Raether

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Raether. They and their team shared their story with us below:

As a twenty-year veteran strength and conditioning coach who has trained Olympians, World Champions, All-Pros, Super Bowl Champions, and over 10 NCAA National Champions Joel Raether has worked with some of the best athletes in the country. One thing that has always been a passion for him though throughout his life has been a love for the outdoors.

As an avid hunter and fisherman who spends a lot of his free time in the mountains and training for western big game hunts, he married his passion for the outdoors with his profession in strength and conditioning and created Hunt Hike Harvest Outdoors (H3O). H3O was created in conjunction with Joel’s business partner Jason Hirsh (former MLB pitcher) with the intent of bringing science-based training and physical preparation for western big game hunts.

The physical demands of these endeavors often require miles of hiking daily that span over 5-7 days and even weeks at a time where these individuals may burn 4-7,000 calories a day and often occur at altitudes that exceed 10,000 feet. With Raether’s expertise, H3O was designed to help better prepare and withstand the rigors of these types of adventures.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The challenges with building Hunt Hike Harvest have been to build a brand and awareness around what sound training principles and programming should be for hunters who plan to embark upon these lofty endeavors. H3O uses research and data collected from the scientific community, oftentimes gleaning research and methodologies derived from the military and translating them into high-altitude big game hunts.

We have worked for nearly 5 years now to develop a better understanding and how we can deliver and disseminate this information to the average person looking to enhance their ability, those who often times travel 100’s miles from lower elevations, and also some individuals who see these types of hunts as a bucket list item that they want to achieve.

Through this time we have created online training opportunities, in personal training within our current training facility at FAST Performance in Denver Colorado, and also created multiple outlets to share this information via social media, our webpage, and generating podcasts and YouTube content to reach a broader audience and share our message and methodology.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My professional career has spanned over 20 years in the strength and conditioning world. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in exercise science, I started my career and spent nearly 10 years working in an athletic department at the collegiate level. I then spent some time working for the National Strength and Conditioning Association working in education for our governing body in the field.

From there I slowly worked in the private sector and now am a managing partner at FAST Performance in Denver Colorado. Concurrently through much of my career, I have also been the head of performance for the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), which is a professional league that features the best lacrosse players in the world. The Mammoth recently reached the NLL finals in 2022 and 2023 winning the NLL Championship in 2022.

Joel and Jason created Hunt Hike Harvest in 2019 and continually have grown and built this platform since its onset now we are proudly a partner with a 5 event series called Western Huntfest which is a premiere archery, elk calling, and simulated pack-out challenge that spans over 3 western states.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Some of the outlets that I tend to enjoy both professionally and personally include The Hunt League App which is something the H3O partners with to generate more interest and community within the hunting world and fitness.

I like to listen to and keep up on some podcasts like the Andrew Huberman podcast which continually brings science and training research. From a literature standpoint, I like to read human interest pieces like David Goggins’s book “Can’t Hurt Me” and intriguing books like Sports Gene, Outliers, and Talent Code.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hunthikeharvest.com
• Instagram: @hunthikeharvest
• Facebook: @hunthikeharvest
• Twitter: @hunthikeharvest
• Youtube: @hunthikeharvest
• Other: www.fastcolorado.com

Image Credits
H3O