If you are looking for an active adventure that combines outdoors, pleasure and a sense of accomplishment, mountain hiking is your man. An entertaining activity, to do alone or with your favorite friends, and which is not expensive not expensive!
Of course, it is difficult to enjoy the breathtaking views and the calm of nature when you spend half your trip folded in half trying to catch your breath, or even worse, kneeling in the middle of the woods because your legs have decided to abandon you.
Here are a few tips to avoid going out in the awkward mountains.
Hike a short hike
To improve your skills in any activity, you must perform this activity as much as possible. In other words, there is no better physical preparation to climb a mountain with a 15-pound bag on your back … than to climb a mountain with a 15-pound bag on your back. Hey!
Your action plan:
If your intention is to complete a hike of 5 to 10 hours or more than one day, prepare yourself by climbing smaller mountains with the same equipment as you count use for the big adventure.
In addition to practicing spending a lot of time on your feet and strengthening the muscles specifically used during the ascent, these preparatory mini-hikes will allow you to test your equipment. Realizing that your shoes give you awful blisters halfway through a 24-kilometer hike isn’t all that ideal. So try to avoid this kind of unpleasant situation to say the least by practicing over shorter distances.
Speaking of hiking gear, you cannot always rely on your mobile phone, because outdoor hiking is usually in some remote areas like forests and mountains, which may results in no signals at all. In such cases, you need a device to find your way and communicate with others without cell service. To do that, one device GoFindMe, a personal GPS tracker is the one to do exact that. It can also be used as a car GPS tracker, which is added value.
Cardio
Hiking in the mountains means a lot of walking, on significantly sloping terrain, which adds a bit of intensity to our traditional walk. Who says more intense activity, says more difficult work for the cardiovascular system (more breathless).
However, the first thing that will make your mountain hike more pleasant, is to have lungs and a small heart in shape and capable of supplying an adequate amount of oxygen to your body during the effort. For that, you have to train them a little. Any moderate cardio activity (running, swimming, cycling, aerobics) will do the trick, you can imagine. But, for better preparation, try to add intervals to your workouts. Intervals are short, intense efforts followed by a recovery period. It will prepare you for the slightly steeper parts of the trails or the effort required to run after the squirrel that stole your tender bar (lived story).
Your action plan:
1) Each week, try to perform a minimum of 3 cardio-type workouts of low to moderate intensity. Example: 2 X 30 minutes of running & 60 minutes of cycling.
2) Try to increase your total volume each week, but never more than 10% per week. Example: You did 120 minutes in total last week this week you can do between 120 and 132 minutes. So let’s say 2 X 35 minutes of running & 60 minutes of cycling.
3) Add 1 or 2 (or even 3!) Interval sessions per week to your training and make sure you have at least one day of rest between them.
Bodybuilding
To make sure your body is holding up the whole hike, it is recommended to train your muscles and prepare them for the effort required.
Functional movements such as squats, lunges & step ups imitate the movement you will perform on uphill trails. In addition to building your muscular endurance and reducing your chances of being terribly sniffed the day after your mountain getaway, these exercises will help you strengthen the muscles and tendons around your knees, ankles and other joints in order to stabilize them. , which will reduce your risk of injury.
Everything that goes up… must go down (I had to insert this sentence somewhere). Consequently, unless you have a helicopter AND a private pilot waiting for you at the top of each mountain that you undertake to climb, you will have to descend using your two legs! This part of the mountain hike is perceived by many as cake, the fastoche part. However, the descent is often the most difficult portion on the muscles and the one responsible for aches. The explanation is simple: Each step you take on a downward slope causes an eccentric contraction of your muscles, during which the muscle lengthens instead of shortening. This kind of contraction, produced when the muscle is called upon to slow down a movement, is very effective in increasing muscle mass,
Strong stabilizing muscles are also necessary for a long hike without a hitch. Including the muscles of the back, pelvis, abdomen and glutes, the stabilizers play an essential role in all your daily movements. When well trained and strong, these will help you maintain proper posture, help you carry your backpack and reduce your chances of injury such as a sprained ankle or knee pain.
Your action plan
Perform these movements 2 to 3 times a week, making sure to separate them for at least one day (during which it is allowed to do another type of training that does not use the same muscle groups).
Warm-up (10 minutes) – Light jogging will do
Do 2-3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions of the following exercises. Bonus: add a load (weight or hiking backpack)
- Squat
- Deadlift 1 leg
- “Step up” on a bench
- “Step down”
- Front plank (30 to 60 seconds)
- Side board (30 sec. On each side)
- superman
Conclusion
Mountain hiking is very cool, as long as you can do it without spitting your organs out. However, by preparing yourself with these little tricks, you ensure yourself an experience in nature. In addition, it is an additional motivation to stay active!