We think that hiking is different from climbing but no, hiking is a part of climbing. Here we are going to learn top 10 exercise for hiking.
First of all you should be walking preferably on incline. At least 120 minutes in a week. If you are looking to improve your fitness for hiking once you get there you can start doing more intensive cardio workout like sprint's and stairs. So let's talk about the top 10 strength exercises for hiking.
1. The Squats:- Form is more important than adding any weight at all, so just do your best. After you've mastered the form building to being able to do 3 sets of 15 to 30 reps with your bodyweight is your next step. Finally you're gonna add weight in the form of dumbbells, kettlebells or barbells. Each type of weight will hit the body differently which is good thing because hiking is going to stress your core a lot of different ways. When loading the movement progresses slowly strength is built over time and you want to avoid in injuring yourself.
2. The walking lunge:- As a single leg movement this exercise will help strengthen your legs for the hills on your hike. As well as improve your balance, because the last thing you want to do during a hike is fall we want to start with 3 sets of 10 to 30 on each side. This exercise can also be loaded by carrying dumbbells in each hand or in front of you over the bar held on the back or in the front.
3. The deadlift:- The deadlift is a very important exercise and is one that people frequently hurt themselves on so when you practicing deadlift form is absolutely the most important thing. 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps are a good place to start. Start light get the form down and build slowly. Your glutes hamstrings and back will get nice and strong for dealing with those trails. Carrying a pack or possibly having to move something out of the way on the trail.
4. The step up to knee raise:- The step up to knee raise is a pretty simple exercise step up on a small step or a box and when you get to the top of the movement lift the knee on the other leg without settings it down on the box. Returned to the bottom position and do the other side this exercise is great for training your balanced cardio and the ability to raise your leg up high enough to step on or over things for this put 1 to 3 minutes in the clock and just alternate legs in a nice steady pace untill the the time is up. 3 sets of 1 to 3 minutes. Well get you started pretty nicely.
5. Planks:- There are a lot of variations of them but we're gonna focus on just the standard inside plank. You can do them supported by your hands or by your forearms. You'll do both the standard and the side planks untill failure for 3 sets each.
6. Push-ups:- Push- ups are great because you want to be able to strong enough to pick yourself up off the ground. If you do happen to fall or if you need to push something out of your way on the trail. If you can't do push-ups you can do them in an incline to make it a little bit easier and then move to a harder variation later. 3 sets of 15 to 30 on this one too. When you get to thirty try a harder variation.
7. One arm bent over rows:- These are important because like the deadlift it train's you to pick things up, specially because you're doing it from a bit over position you can do with a kettlebells or a dumbbells. Do 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps on each side.
8. Burpees:- Burpees are a killer cardio workout and are great for building overall conditioning it, doesn't take too many burpees to get your heart pounding in your lungs breathing hards. For this one try to do as many burpees as you can in 3 minutes. Rest as needed but try to fill that time block with as many burpees as you reasonably can.
9. Calf raises:- your calves are going to take a beating on your hikes, specially if you're carrying a pack. So do yourself a favour and knock out some calf raises. You can very easily load this movement with dumbbells or a bar or even your hiking bag. You can even do them one one leg at a time if you don't have access to much weights. Try for 3 sets of 30 to 50 reps.
10. Get out there and just practice carrying weights or bricks or small logs or your pack in your arms and just walk. This is going to tax your core and help to build your postural muscles for the hike. Try lots of different things. 3 sets of 100 meter carries should be sufficient. Now you don't want to do all of these exercises in one day as that's quite a bit for single workout.
But you can very easily split this into lower and upper body days for 2 to 4 days week week of training with a hard hike on the weekend to round it all out.
First of all you should be walking preferably on incline. At least 120 minutes in a week. If you are looking to improve your fitness for hiking once you get there you can start doing more intensive cardio workout like sprint's and stairs. So let's talk about the top 10 strength exercises for hiking.
1. The Squats:- Form is more important than adding any weight at all, so just do your best. After you've mastered the form building to being able to do 3 sets of 15 to 30 reps with your bodyweight is your next step. Finally you're gonna add weight in the form of dumbbells, kettlebells or barbells. Each type of weight will hit the body differently which is good thing because hiking is going to stress your core a lot of different ways. When loading the movement progresses slowly strength is built over time and you want to avoid in injuring yourself.
2. The walking lunge:- As a single leg movement this exercise will help strengthen your legs for the hills on your hike. As well as improve your balance, because the last thing you want to do during a hike is fall we want to start with 3 sets of 10 to 30 on each side. This exercise can also be loaded by carrying dumbbells in each hand or in front of you over the bar held on the back or in the front.
3. The deadlift:- The deadlift is a very important exercise and is one that people frequently hurt themselves on so when you practicing deadlift form is absolutely the most important thing. 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps are a good place to start. Start light get the form down and build slowly. Your glutes hamstrings and back will get nice and strong for dealing with those trails. Carrying a pack or possibly having to move something out of the way on the trail.
4. The step up to knee raise:- The step up to knee raise is a pretty simple exercise step up on a small step or a box and when you get to the top of the movement lift the knee on the other leg without settings it down on the box. Returned to the bottom position and do the other side this exercise is great for training your balanced cardio and the ability to raise your leg up high enough to step on or over things for this put 1 to 3 minutes in the clock and just alternate legs in a nice steady pace untill the the time is up. 3 sets of 1 to 3 minutes. Well get you started pretty nicely.
5. Planks:- There are a lot of variations of them but we're gonna focus on just the standard inside plank. You can do them supported by your hands or by your forearms. You'll do both the standard and the side planks untill failure for 3 sets each.
6. Push-ups:- Push- ups are great because you want to be able to strong enough to pick yourself up off the ground. If you do happen to fall or if you need to push something out of your way on the trail. If you can't do push-ups you can do them in an incline to make it a little bit easier and then move to a harder variation later. 3 sets of 15 to 30 on this one too. When you get to thirty try a harder variation.
7. One arm bent over rows:- These are important because like the deadlift it train's you to pick things up, specially because you're doing it from a bit over position you can do with a kettlebells or a dumbbells. Do 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps on each side.
8. Burpees:- Burpees are a killer cardio workout and are great for building overall conditioning it, doesn't take too many burpees to get your heart pounding in your lungs breathing hards. For this one try to do as many burpees as you can in 3 minutes. Rest as needed but try to fill that time block with as many burpees as you reasonably can.
9. Calf raises:- your calves are going to take a beating on your hikes, specially if you're carrying a pack. So do yourself a favour and knock out some calf raises. You can very easily load this movement with dumbbells or a bar or even your hiking bag. You can even do them one one leg at a time if you don't have access to much weights. Try for 3 sets of 30 to 50 reps.
10. Get out there and just practice carrying weights or bricks or small logs or your pack in your arms and just walk. This is going to tax your core and help to build your postural muscles for the hike. Try lots of different things. 3 sets of 100 meter carries should be sufficient. Now you don't want to do all of these exercises in one day as that's quite a bit for single workout.
But you can very easily split this into lower and upper body days for 2 to 4 days week week of training with a hard hike on the weekend to round it all out.
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