Fall is the perfect hiking season and this is the guide to make sure you enjoy every moment of your outdoor adventures.
Hiking is an endurance sport and to do it well, you need to become an endurance athlete by developing your cardiovascular fitness and motor fitness. Cardiovascular fitness is your body’s ability to efficiently using oxygen. Motor fitness is a combination of strength, power, agility and balance.
When planning your training, you need to consider your current fitness level and what is required from the hikes that you are going to do. Based on your timeframe to train you need to begin with building a base.
Building a fitness base requires a combination of cardiovascular and motor fitness. This should be a majority of the training. When you are getting closer to your bigger hikes, you should start getting more specific.
Cardiovascular training range is 65-85% of max heart rate and should be 30+ min each training bout. Running, biking, hiking, swimming are great ways to get in your cardiovascular exercise.
Strength Exercises should be full body with an emphasis on leg and core strength. Here are just a few ideas:
- Single leg squats
- Lunge with rotation
- Deadlifts
- Squats – All variations
- Lateral lunges
Balance and Agility Drills for hikers
- Speed skaters
- Ankle matrix
- Single leg RDL
Last, but not least, don’t neglect your mobility, hydration and nutrition.
