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#97168 - 06/01/08 07:22 PM Newb needs to get in shape
Nubster Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 8
Loc: West Virginia, eastern panhand...
I am a complete newb having never really hiked before other than short walks in the woods, but it has been a while since I have even done that. I am pretty out of shape but want to start hiking and was wondering what would be a good approach for getting in to hiking shape. Just something as simple as going out and hiking and increasing the distance/pace as I am able?

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#97169 - 06/01/08 08:51 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
aimless Offline
Moderator

Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3292
Loc: Portland, OR
Walking gets you in shape for walking.

A walking course that has some uphill inclines will help get you in shape for more uphill walking. Walking trails with a rough, broken surface will help strengthen your ankles and knees for walkiing on (you guessed it) trails with rough surfaces.

If you plan to carry a load on your hikes, then start carrying a load, too, if that is feasible.

Just do it as often as you can, and work your way up to doing as much walking as you have time and energy to do. I walk about 2.5 miles a day all year long, but it's easy and normal for me because I walk to work and back. Most people have to look a bit harder for their walking exercise than that.

Luckily walking is a very low impact workout, so your body can tolerate it very well even when you are out of shape. Good luck.

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#97170 - 06/01/08 09:06 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
Trailrunner Offline
member

Registered: 01/05/02
Posts: 1835
Loc: Los Angeles
Take your time. Build one step upon another. Rushing invites injury.

Variety is good. Walking, hiking, cycling, weights.

Most of all, keep it fun!!!!!

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#97171 - 06/02/08 01:45 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
MattnID Offline
member

Registered: 06/02/07
Posts: 317
Loc: Idaho
Well here's my two cents worth.

Do some long walks with a pack and 20 lbs in it. Don't haul butt but try to keep a steady and fairly quick pace to get your heatr rate going and up there. Make sure you've got a decent pair of shoes too so you don't have to worry about shin splints. Also add in some hills if you can after a few walks at least. Up the weight at your own pace. Pushing the pace and distance at your own leisure won't hurt either.

If you can't get out and walk, try and do some running. At least a few miles a day once you get your endurance up. If you have access to a gym or some sort of weights and other exercise equipment, take advantage of that. You'll want to work on core strength and leg strength too. Things like leg presses and squats will help the legs out. Nothing too heavy of course if you're just starting out. I would say at least a weight slightly exceeding your body weight at first and then upping it in time to try and simulate pack weight.

As far as the core strength goes for me, sit ups obviously are going to work abdominals. Also for the abdominal area, if the gym has it, there is a thing (no idea what it is called) where you hold yourself up with your forearms paralell with the ground and bring your legs up to a 90 degree angle with the knees bent. For back, try doing some rowing excersises and another thing (again another thing where I don't know the name), but it is an adjustable object that leans at a 45 degree angle and you stand in it. It allows you to bend over the pad facing the ground and then coming back up to the starting position. If you can find what it is I'm talking about, use that and just start out with your body weight at first, adding weight when you're comfortable. You'll get sore but after a while you'll up the weight and the soreness will pass. When you add weight, use free weights and hold them with your arms over your head with the weight resting at the top of your back at the base of your neck. Also try doing side crunches with this same thing as well, it helps. For me right now, I'm doing 35 lbs each way without soreness, which means my pack will not bother me on hikes at all. Some of this stuff is really hard for me to explain without some sort of visual, so I hope you get the idea or maybe see someone doing the same thing and realize it.

As for cardio at the gym, I love the hell out of the elliptical. No impact on the knees and if you get the speed going for 30 straight minutes or so you'll get a decent cardio workout from it.

Hopefully this stuff kind of gives you some help.
_________________________
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.-Aristotle

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#97172 - 06/02/08 08:12 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: MattnID]
Nubster Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 8
Loc: West Virginia, eastern panhand...
Yeah, I know what your talking about. I am a gym rat but never bothered with cardio. Always hit the weights and left it at that. That was always part of the problem. I have always only lifted and I got so big from doing that ( I am over 300 pounds) that once I decided to try doing some cardio it was very difficult.

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#97173 - 06/02/08 08:42 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
kbennett Offline
member

Registered: 10/27/03
Posts: 820
Loc: north carolina
All you really need to do is walk. Walk around the neighborhood in the evening. Walk for 30 minutes at lunch. Park your car at the far end of the lot when you run errands, and walk to the store.

If you already go to a gym, then walking on a treadmill is easy. Keep the pace down to around 2 or 2.5 mph, and crank the angle up a little to start, and all the way once you've been doing it awhile. (If you can listen to music while doing this, it helps -- treadmills are hellishly boring.)

After a month or so of walking around the neighborhood, you should be able to walk for an hour or more. Now it's time to add a pack -- just a regular "bookbag" type backpack would be enough. Add some weight -- about 15 pounds is good -- and keep walking.

If you can hit a real trail at a local park on weekends, by all means do so. Bring your pack with some water and snacks or lunch, and enjoy the walk.

Being out of shape definitely slows you down, but it doesn't keep you from walking and hiking. And the nice thing is that the walking gets you into shape.

Happy trails.
_________________________
--Ken B

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#97174 - 06/02/08 07:16 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
Tango61 Offline
member

Registered: 12/27/05
Posts: 931
Loc: East Texas Piney Woods
I love the ellipitical. My shins can't take the treadmill.

As others have said - walk, walk, and more walk....with a pack.

I also do the stair master when in the gym but enjoy doing the bleachers at the local middle school stadium much better. But soon it will be too hot unless I go early in the morning. I also climb 8 flights of stairs 2-3 times a day at work, but without a pack. I may have to start doing that too.

I also use a big exersise ball to do my stomach crunches. It helps the oblique muscles which is good for developing balance carrying a pack. It also stretches out my lower back.

I also do step lunges keeping my feet close along a center line rather than farther apart. This also helps develop balance and those obliques.

To top that all off, I do about 10-15 minutes of stretching after I'm done. I do a little before I start but usually the elipitical takes care of the warm up.

Hope this helps.

I have just 59 days left til my son and I take off on our 70 mile hike in New Mexico. The altitude I've been at the last week (7300 ft) tells me I am not near close enough to being ready to hike from 6,000 - 11,000 ft over a 12 day period. I'm normally at around 450 ft altitude.

I got some training to do!

Tango

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#97175 - 06/02/08 09:32 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Tango61]
kevonionia Offline
member

Registered: 04/17/06
Posts: 1322
Loc: Dallas, TX
Tango61:

off topic: What's the plan for the hike? I've read some interesting stuff in the last year on some long treks in the NM wilderness? (Don't know if you want to answer here or in Trip R&Es.)
_________________________
- kevon

(avatar: raptor, Lake Dillon)


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#97176 - 06/03/08 12:50 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
KingTut Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/03/08
Posts: 1
I'm an expert on this, though it's a pain since I only get about a week on the AT a year. I try to stay in decent shape year-round, but once I plan a hike, I totally change my training.

1. Walk in the shoes you'll take on the trail. If you can only go one mile, only go one mile. You'll pick up miles fast. I walk until I can get about five miles--no pack--without being footsore.

2. Load up a pack with the weight you projected you'll carry. I start around 30 lbs. I carry that until I'm not footsore at five miles.

3. Increase mileage and pack weight (mileage is way more important) until you can hike you're longest projected day at least once or twice. I end up training with about 20 lbs. more than I'll take to trick my body. Unfortunately, there's no real simulation for mountains except a mountain.

4. At the gym: any ab or core work. Supermans. Wrestler twists. Stairmaster once a week. Also, RDL's (Romanian Deadlifts) or hyperextensions really strenghten the back quickly. Also, do some shrugs so your traps don't get so sore. As previously stated, lunges rock. I tried training for a hike one time by running. Bad choice. Walk.

5. Find local trails, put on the pack, and go! If someone looks at you strangely, tell them you're training for a long hike. Almost always are they interested and will ask you where you're going. That makes you feel good about your training and that it has a purpose.

BTW, I'm 260 lbs., so getting in shape is quite an ordeal. For a 40-mile AT trip, I'll start training about 1.5 months prior. My philosophy: I get one shot a year to hike the AT: no way is conditioning going to stop me. Weather, perhaps, but not conditioning.

Hope this helps!


Edited by KingTut (06/03/08 12:53 PM)

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#97177 - 06/03/08 02:09 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: KingTut]
Nubster Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 8
Loc: West Virginia, eastern panhand...
Yeah, it does help as does everyone else responses here. I am going to check out the cross country course at the local high school. I believe it is around 3 1/2 miles for the entire course and has lots of ups and downs so that will be my best bet for training. Hopefully I can get some miles under the boots this summer then next summer spend some time on the AT.

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#97178 - 06/03/08 04:40 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
12Step Offline
member

Registered: 03/04/08
Posts: 89
Loc: Southwest Ohio
If the weather is nice, just simply take a walk. Nothing is better that just taking a walk. Tread mills and other exercise equipment is great for working different muscle groups, and when the weather is bad, but nothing beats the action of what your training for.

Walk around you neighborhood, go to a park, where I live there are rolling hills and plenty of trails and sidewalks where I live that have inclines and declines.

I read in a "How to" through hiker handbook where a through hiker was quoted as saying, "I did all my conditioning on the trail", meaning that he really didn't do any preconditioning, he just hiked at his own pace and as the miles went by his pace improved.

If you have or think you may have some health concerns, make sure to confide with your doctor.
_________________________
"Let's not miss the beauty of the forest by the ugliness of some of its trees." Bill W.

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#97179 - 06/03/08 05:49 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
ChrisA Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/03/08
Posts: 2
Loc: So. California
Quote:
I am pretty out of shape but want to start hiking and was wondering what would be a good approach for getting in to hiking shape. Just something as simple as going out and hiking and increasing the distance/pace as I am able?


That will work. Walking gets you in shape for walking. BUT,.... It takes a long time for that to work. If you want to speed it up you need to work out a little harder. You can walk for an hour or do something else that raises your heart rate up to a specific target and keep it there for about 20 minutes. Just work untill you are breathing hard but can still talk, maybe between puffs Maybe if you are really out of shape simply waling fast up hill will get you to that level. But being at that level for 20 minutes will do as much as walking easy for an hour.

I have bad knees so for me running is out. For me a bicycle or swimming is best. I can walk all day, no problem, running is different.

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#97180 - 06/04/08 12:55 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: ChrisA]
Nubster Offline
newbie

Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 8
Loc: West Virginia, eastern panhand...
Yeah, no running for me. At 300 pounds with a power lifter build it just does not work well. I am getting back on my diet and I am hoping to drop some major weight over the course of the next year. I have had a lot of troubles with having a gotta be big mentality that I guess I developed over the course of my lifting career that has been really hard to shake, but the toll it is taking on my body these days I HAVE to do soemthing.

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#97181 - 06/04/08 05:38 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: ChrisA]
chaz Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Tennessee
Start out walking. I agree that running will get your heart rate up but if your out of shape stick to walking. Before I go out on a 3 day hike, I'll start training for it a couple of months ahead of time. I put on a walkman with some tunes that have an uptempo beat that I can pace myself to. Also it makes walking way less boring. I can do about 3 miles on 1 cd starting out. I build to 7 or 8 miles non-stop. When I reach that point I kinda start over on the mileage only now with a 20 lb pack. Increase the weight and the distance until you are confident you won't bonk. When I do reach the trail. I pace myself, keep myself hydrated and enjoy the view. If your just starting out, don't burn yourself out trying to acheive the experience.
_________________________
Enjoy your next trip...

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#97182 - 06/06/08 10:12 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
Paul Offline
member

Registered: 09/30/02
Posts: 778
Loc: California
As everyone says, walking gets you in shape for walking, and gradual increases in intensity are the way to go for long term health and fitness. One more thing, once you get to where you have been walking consistently for a while, is to get in all the uphills you can. Goign uphill you'll get a much more intense cardio workout than on the lfats, and whn you are on the AT, uphills will be the standard fare.
To take it easy on the knees, I like to find a route that allows me to go up a steep hill and down a gentler one.

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#97183 - 06/10/08 10:00 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
Berserker Offline
member

Registered: 05/10/04
Posts: 493
Loc: Lynchburg, VA
Everyone else gave some good tips as far as doing some walking. I would also recommend cross training (running, cycling, inline skating or whatever other activity you are able to do). One thing no one else mentioned is doing some lighter "cardio" weight lifting. You mentioned that you are a weight lifter with a bulky build. One way to tone that down a little is to do a lot of reps with lighter weight. This will also bring up your heart rate, and build your cardio. I used to lift weights to gain mass (although I never really did...at 6'5" I found that it is tough to build mass), and after a while I decided to do lower weight and higher reps. This is a good way to do what you like (lift weights), and build your cardio at the same time. It should also help you lose some of that bulk that is going to be tough to carry on a long hike.

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#97184 - 06/10/08 07:24 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Berserker]
scottyb Offline
member

Registered: 05/28/08
Posts: 278
Loc: Texas Hill Country
I think cardio is very important but so is some type of load bearing exercise. If you can combine the two, all the better. I find a bicycle spin class benefits me more than any other. It's an incredible cardio workout plus every muscle in your legs screems and the rest of you body is working harder than you might expect. I try to do at least one organized class per week and then ride on my own two more times each week. I find that the organized class makes me push my limits more and sets the standard for my solo rides. By crossing your anaerobic threshold, you expand the window where you can stay aerobic.

I also like lap swimming and of course walking or hiking with a pack is a must.


Edited by scottyb (06/10/08 07:25 PM)
_________________________
Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.... Pericles (430 B.C)

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#97185 - 06/11/08 12:17 PM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
Mattress Offline
member

Registered: 05/14/07
Posts: 109
Loc: Victoria, BC, Canada
When training for my last Whitney hike, on top of lots of day hiking and free weights, I monopolized the Stairmaster at my gym. I did 45 minutes on progressively harder settings 3 times a week. Let me tell ya, I bounced up that trail! In fact, I summited twice, but that's another story (on my blog if you're interested).

It helps to tailor your training to the kind of hike you're doing. If you're going to drag a huge pack relatively short distances, then your weight training is probably going to help you a lot. If you want to go light and hike 30 miles a day, then you need endurance training.
_________________________
http://lighterload.blogspot.com/

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#97186 - 06/12/08 08:05 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: Nubster]
coyotemaster Offline
member

Registered: 03/07/06
Posts: 294
Loc: Arizona
There is no need to join a gym or spend money buying equipment.

Try these ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bodyweight_exercise

burpees are great for conditioning:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/rossboxing2.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M

a few of the gorilla strength exercise videos:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/833819/amazing_new_workout_1/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/834006/amazing_animal_workout_6_gain_gorilla_strength/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/834078/amazing_animal_workout_10_gain_gorilla_strength/


I do 2 or 3 burpees every once in awhile, about 10 sec. of panther crawl workout_6_gain_gorilla_strength and finish up with a deep squat into a chair.
Whew!

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#97187 - 06/12/08 08:31 AM Re: Newb needs to get in shape [Re: coyotemaster]
coyotemaster Offline
member

Registered: 03/07/06
Posts: 294
Loc: Arizona
Tire Drag: recycle an old tire

http://www.youtube.com/user/NoBullFit

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