Getting Ready for Hiking
Friday May 26, 2006
If you're looking for an exercise that will work your hips, glutes and thighs while burning lots of calories, go take a hike. Hiking is one of those all-inclusive activities that works everything - your body, your heart and your mind. Plus, it burns major calories, especially if you're carrying some weight in your backpack (a 160-lb person can burn 500 calories per hour carrying a 10-lb load).
The key to hiking is to, first, try to prepare your body for it. Sure, hiking up a mountain is a lot like walking, but adding any kind of incline will challenge your leg muscles in a whole new way - a way you'll feel the next day if you're not ready for it. Below you'll find some resources to help you get ready for hiking this summer. The treadmill workout is just one way to start conditioning your body for hiking up steeper inclines than you may find in your own neighborhood. You'll also find some articles for being safe out there in the wild. Happy trails!
Comments
this tip is great to know.i’m going to move to oregan on the 1st of july and this is great for me to know.the trails are great up there and to know that more weight in hiking dose make a big differents is one of the best thing to know thank you for the hikeing tips.
This is really a great tip. I usually hike every summer… but I had no clue how many muscles I was working or how many calories I was burning— I just thought I was tiring myself out. It’s good to know that it was purposeful. Now I don’t feel so bad about buying a huge ice cream saying it ‘cools me off’.