How to Get in Shape for Hiking Season: 11 Top Tips
Are you ready to take your hiking game to the next level? Whether you're an experienced hiker or just starting out on the trails, getting in shape is key to enjoying those epic adventures to the fullest. In this blog post, we're dishing out 11 top tips to whip your body into peak hiking condition. From mastering practical movements to hitting the weights and boosting your aerobic fitness, we've got you covered. Stick around till the end, and we'll give you a custom workout plan for hikers, ensuring you're primed and ready to tackle any trail that comes your way. So let's get started on this fitness journey!
Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash
Weight training can really help bring your hiking body to the next level.
1. Weight Train
Weight training has traditionally been associated with bodybuilders resembling Arnold Schwartzenager, but things have started to change as new research has been done on strength training. Weight training has been proven to provide some key benefits:
Muscle strength, endurance and power
Bone, muscle and connective tissue growth and durability
Communication between brain and muscle
Growth hormones
Blood glucose regulation
Aerobic fitness
Per the American College of Sports Medicine. To read the full brochure: Resistance Training for Health
Weight training, or resistance training, is a great way to build the kind of muscles that you’ll need for a long day or even multiple long days of hiking. You’re going to need strong quad muscles of course, but you’ll also need strong arms to support your weight on hiking poles and good core strength to support your back. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests weight training 2-3 times per week, and performing 8-10 different exercises focusing on a major muscle group, with 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions.
There are a few ways to break down muscle groups. You can go broad, dividing the body into upper and lower half, or you can get detailed and separate the calf from the quad muscle. We like to keep things simple here, so we break down muscle groups like this:
Back & bi’s
Chest, tricep, and shoulders
Legs
Glutes
Core
You can get as detailed or simple as you’d like, and there are many resources for weight training exercises. Here’s an example of how you could include weight training into your week if you have a goal of 3 times a week.
Monday:
Back and bi’s
Tuesday:
Chest, tricep, and shoulders
Thursday:
Legs and glutes
For ideas on exercises to perform, we really like to watch Youtube videos so that you can watch the strength exercises as form is important.
Russian Twists with weights is a great practical core exercise.
2. Prioritize your core muscles
While you may tend to think of your major leg muscles as the primary group carrying you up the mountain, but an important sidekick is your core muscles. This is especially true when you start backpacking and going for more multi-day hike.
It's your core muscles that keep you balanced while bearing the weight of the backpack, stabilizing it as you navigate rocks and trees on the trail. Crucially, they provide support to your back, which bears the brunt of the weight.
Knowing that you’ll need your body to perform a motion like hiking, we suggest focusing on practical core exercises that mimic what you’ll be doing on the trail. Here are some examples of practical core exercises:
Side Planks
Russian Twists
Wood chops
Marching leg lifts
Hollow Body Hold
Whenever I go to the gym I like to spend the last 10 minutes or so doing a circuit with these exercises, that way I know I get my core in 3 days a week, but I don’t have to kill myself by making it the center of attention. Also, when you weight train you’ll be engaging your core for proper form, further emphasizing the necessity of a strong core.
Your core supports your back and the weight it carries in your backpack, these muscles also help with balance and body stabilization.
Photo by Jozsef Hocza on Unsplash
3. Go for long distance runs or bike rides
Long distance running is generally considered anything more than 5K in distance, or 3.1 miles. I used to resist long distance running as I thought it was pointless for hiking, but after talking to rock climbers and long-distance hikers I started to understand the importance of building up your aerobic tolerance.
Aerobic exercise is anything that gets your heart rate up and sustains that over a longer period of time. This trains your body to build stamina for hiking, where you’ll be going for longer distances with an elevated heart rate. The best way to build up this stamina is to start incorporating at least 1 long run or bike ride a week, or even every other week.
If you are sensitive to the impact of running you could try the same distance, at least 4 miles, on a bike. That way you get the aerobic exercise without the knee pain- a win-win!
4. Create a daily active lifestyle
One of the biggest game changers for my fitness was realizing that the easiest way to become fit is to focus on leading an active lifestyle. Go for daily walks, play sports with friends or join a team, pick up surfing or rock climbing, take the stairs, or walk to places instead of driving. By creating a lifestyle that focuses on daily activity outdoors you’re training your mind and body to focus on daily activities that get you moving.
And if you walk briskly and uphill, I think you’ll be surprised just how quickly you’ll be out of breath. This will keep you in prime shape for your main activity; HIKING! Which really is just walking uphill! So get out there and go for a walk- after you’ve finished reading these tips ;)
5. Go for short hikes & slowly increase the length & difficulty
Perhaps the easiest way to get in shape for hiking is to actually go out and hike, even if it’s only a mile hike outdoors. Getting your muscles familiar with the movements as soon as possible is the best thing you can do, and it’s a great opportunity to test new gear like hiking boots, trekking poles or a backpack.
If you need a new pair of boots this year, I have a blog post to help you out here.
And if you want to incorporate a short hike into your daily routine, I’ve had really good luck finding local land reserve areas just by looking around on Google Maps. By starting to go on daily or weekly short hikes you will create an active lifestyle, and staying in shape for hiking will come naturally.
If you’re unsure of what to pack for a day hike, we’ve covered all the basics in this post.
And if you’d like to get your free hiking packing list, sign up to our exclusive newsletter below and join a growing community of like minded adventurers.
6. Focus on practical body movements
When getting in shape for hiking you should focus on practical movements that replicate walking up uneven terrain with a backpack on. At the gym, this would like doing squats with a barbell, planks and their many variations, deadlifts, and shoulder presses. For cardio, it would look like spending time on the stair-stepper, going for brisk uphill walks, or long slow jogs.
By focusing on simple, practical body movements that mimic what you’ll be doing on the trail, you can train your body for your next multi-day hike.
7. Take rest days
Whenever you lift weights or go for a long run, you’re tearing the muscles in your body. As your body repairs those tears, you build back stronger muscle so that your body can perform the same exercise with more ease. And while your body is repairing those tears, the best thing that you can do is give it time and space to do the healing.
To truly take care of your body you need to have days of rest between workouts. So if you focus on upper body Monday, focus on lower body Tuesday. And maybe Wednesday you do yin yoga rather than go to the gym or for a hike. It may seem counter intuitive to take days off, but it’s actually really important to give your body the time and space it needs to heal from working out.
8. Use the stair stepper
In tip #6 we suggested focusing on practical body movements and mentioned the importance of the stairbstepper, so let’s dig into that equipment a little bit more. A stair stepper mimics walking up a flight of stairs. There are a few different ways to use this equipment, such as:
Skipping every other step; targeting the glutes
Going up sideways; targeting the outside of legs and the glutes
Adding a backwards leg kick at the top of every step; targeting the glutes and hamstrings
Taking wider steps; targeting the inner thighs
However you decide to use the stair stepper or modify this piece of equipment, it's a great workout that replicates the hiking experience. It’s a great way to get your body familiar with the mechanics of stepping over rocks and going up mountains, so try getting on this guy a few times a week.
And if you get bored, try out one of the modifiers listed above!
9. Incorporate HIIT workouts
The quickest way to get in shape is high intensity interval training, HIIT for short. This is a form of exercise that focuses on short burst of high intensity activity followed by a short rest, and you repeat the activity and period of rest for a number of circuits. This is also a great way to get a good mix of workout types completed in a single session.
For example, you could do 30 seconds of mountain climbers, 30 seconds of jump squats, 30 seconds of sit ups followed by a 1 minute rest. You would repeat that circuit 3 times, and that would be one set. HIIT workouts are a great way to see results fast as you push your body to its limits, with intervals of complete rest.
This trains your body to acclimate to anaerobic exercise, which helps you push through that last section of a tough hike, and mentally prepares you to do hard things at you get a good strength workout.
Running or walking up hills is a great way to get in shape for your next hike.
10. Incorporate steep inclines
Walking or running hills or steep inclines is so important when training for hiking. Back to tip #6, focusing on practical body movements, this is a great way to prepare for hiking up a mountain. If you live in a flat area, you could do an incline on a treadmill and set a brisk pace, or if you’re feeling brave set it to a jogging pace.
Or if you’re lucky enough to live in a hilly area, then the world is your oyster. We like to run hills in circuits; jog up a big hill, jog down a hill section, and job back up another hill. Repeat as many times as you can- have fun!
11. Make a workout plan
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. - Benjamin Franklin- Taylor Swift
Planning and organizing your workouts are important for a couple reasons:
You always know what you should be working on that day: no more aimlessly wandering the gym, using a few pieces of equipment at random. When you have a plan of what to do everyday you can keep sessions shorter and more focused, leading to quicker results.
You can track your progress: nothing is more frustrating then spending hours a week on something only to feel like you’re not going anywhere. When you have a workout plan you can easily track how far you’ve come, making you come back for more everyday.
You can better prepare for a long distance hike: if you’re planning a multi-day hike, it’s even more important to be in good shape. If you give yourself a few weeks ahead of your next big hike to make a targeted workout plan, you can increase the fun and minimize the pain.
If you’ve never made a workout plan before or you’re not sure what that would even look like, we’ve created an example of a workout plan tailored to hiking.
Work Out Plan
Here’s a one-hour, five-day workout plan with two days dedicated to weight training:
Monday & Thursday - Weight Training:
Warm-up: 10 minutes of brisk walking or jogging.
Squats: 3 sets of 12 reps.
Deadlifts: 3 sets of 12 reps.
Lunges: 3 sets of 12 reps per leg.
Calf Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps.
Plank: 3 sets of 45 seconds.
Cool-down: 10 minutes of stretching focusing on legs and lower back.
Tuesday - Cardio & Core:
Warm-up: 10 minutes of brisk walking or jogging.
Incline Walking: 30 minutes on a treadmill with an incline, or outdoor hill walking.
Core Circuit: (Repeat 3 times)
Plank: 45 seconds
Russian Twists: 15 reps per side
Bicycle Crunches: 20 reps
Cool-down: 10 minutes of full-body stretching.
Wednesday - Interval Training:
Warm-up: 10 minutes of light jogging.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): 20 minutes of alternating between 1 minute of sprinting and 1 minute of walking.
Cool-down: 10 minutes of stretching, focusing on the legs and core.
Friday - Endurance & Stability:
Warm-up: 10 minutes of brisk walking or jogging.
Long-Distance Jogging: 30 minutes at a steady pace.
Balance Exercises: (Repeat 2 times)
Single-leg stands: 30 seconds per leg
Bosu ball squats: 12 reps
Cool-down: 10 minutes of stretching, focusing on balance and stability muscles.
Saturday & Sunday:
Rest day or go for a gentle walk.
Remember to stay hydrated, listen to your body, and adjust the intensity as needed. It’s also important to have proper hiking footwear and gear for your outdoor activities. Enjoy your workouts and happy hiking!
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