Exercise/Nutrition routines for Backpacking ?

[Chip]

While backpacking is probably the best exercise for backpacking, I can't hike as often as I should to stay in "expedition" shape.
But I do have about an hour every morning to exercise. Does anyone have a regular routine geared towards the mountains ?
I don't run but I can bike, swim, walk, do weights, stairs, aerobics, etc.
Also, if anyone regularly uses protein supplements like whey or egg I'd like to know your intake and mix recipes. thanks.

 

[Adk_dib]

My biggest problem with backpacking was getting used to the straps digging into my shoulders, I was not used to it. So what I would suggest would be to load up the pack with weight and exercise withit on.

 

[Tom Rankin]

While backpacking is probably the best exercise for backpacking, I can't hike as often as I should to stay in "expedition" shape.
But I do have about an hour every morning to exercise. Does anyone have a regular routine geared towards the mountains ?
I don't run but I can bike, swim, walk, do weights, stairs, aerobics, etc.
Also, if anyone regularly uses protein supplements like whey or egg I'd like to know your intake and mix recipes. thanks.

To me, stairs, climbing machines, treadmill, etc. are the best way to stay in hiking shape. If you need a little more challenge, strap your pack on with several 2 liter bottles of water in it. They're about 4 pounds each.

I try to do some upper body workouts too, and sit ups.

 

[weatherman]

Hike downhill too!

It's relatively easy to find things that work the uphill muscles, like a stairmaster with a pack, but downhill is tougher. You really need to find a hill to hike down, preferably with rocks. Otherwise, I've done "killer wall sits" (sit against a wall with thighs parallel to the floor for as long as you can, repeat 2-3 times till you cry, don't do it again till the next day or the day after) that can be helpful too. And young people with healthy knees do this crouch-jump thing that is good, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're already in good shape and don't have creaky knees.

 

[DougPaul]

My favorite hiking exercise is to put a 30-45 lb pack on my back and walk up and down a nearby hill--about 200ft vertical. (It's all sidewalk, but that is good enough.) Trains both the uphill and downhill muscles. Makes a big difference when I hike the real mountains.

Many (most?) exercises emphasize the uphill (concentric muscle contractions) and neglect the downhill (eccentric contractions). It is important to get them both.

Doug

 

[JohnL]

A couple of different ways to work the downhill leg muscles is to walk backwards on the treadmill or the stairmaster, depending upon the type of stairmaster to which you have access. By backwards, I mean that you face in the opposite direction. I also go backwards on the elliptical machine but here, you just change the direction of the cycle; like pedaling a bike backwards. Walking backwards uphills will work also.

JohnL

 

[hockeycrew]

My favorite training for hiking... Harvard Stadium. Basically running up the extra large steps (the seats) is quite comparable to striding up a steep section of the mountain. Then run down the small steps. It's great conditioning for any sport.

When I can't spend time in Boston (well Allston actually but who's counting), I like to use the stair master and the ellipticals.

 

[jfb]

Does anyone have a regular routine geared towards the mountains ?

I prefer biking, outside in good weather and inside on a resistance trainer during the winter. I'll ride about 10 minutes in low gear to warm up, increase the pace for another 10 minutes, then do several intervals of 2 minutes maximum effort followed by 3 minutes lighter effort, and finish with a 10 minute cooldown.

 

[Artex]

Exercise: Hill running. Lot's and lots of hill running.

Diet: I think that's also dependent on your lifestyle. I run 40-50 miles a week (and am increasing that amount each week), so I need lots of carbs and protein. I eat 3000-5000 calories a day, but it all gets burned up. The trimmer you are though, the less stress there is on the knees.

 

[una_dogger]

I'll do stairs or a local five mile trail with a backpack loaded at 25 pounds once a week. I try to mountain bike a five mile circuit of single track every day and I really try to focus on my upper back and abs while biking, concentrating on really good pedal form, tight knee tucks and and squeeze my pecks while steering and abs while pedaling. I also try to trail run 3 to 5 miles 3 or 4 times a week. Basically this is what I've built up to and I'm going to try my damndest to keep it up. I save the weekends for hikes and try to get in a ten to twenty mile weekend everyweekend; depending on life and those nagging little responsibilities that keep getting in the way.
I stretch every morning and every night religiously. Its five minutes each time and it really helps!
I also drink electrolytes, take EFAs and CLA daily, a multivit mutimin supp per day, try to eat well, and get at least seven hours of sleep each night.
Granted, I'm spending more than an hour a day and I have it easy because I do it all from my backdoor.
In the winter I do hit the gym a couple days a week and do a full wieght circuit and I like either a stairmaster or an arc trainer. I don't like going to the gym and would rather be cold and wear a headlamp and do night exercising to avoid the gym in winter.

Good luck with your pursuits. Oh, and I always still manage to feel like I'm out of shape the first day with a full pack, but it comes back.

Sabrina

 

[DougPaul]

A couple of different ways to work the downhill leg muscles is to walk backwards on the treadmill or the stairmaster, depending upon the type of stairmaster to which you have access. By backwards, I mean that you face in the opposite direction. I also go backwards on the elliptical machine but here, you just change the direction of the cycle; like pedaling a bike backwards. Walking backwards uphills will work also.

Not sure about the elliptical machine, but the other exercises are not the equivalent of walking downhill. The key point is that the muscles must be ABSORBING energy (ie lengthening under tension=eccentric contractions). (The muscles are PRODUCING energy when going uphill no matter what direction you are facing--ie they are shortening under tension=concentric contractions.)

Running a tredmill backwards and facing downhill (equivalent of walking downhill normally) would do it, but not running the treadmill forwards (normal direction) and facing downhill (which is the equivalent of walking uphill backwards). Facing the wrong way on a climbing machine trains the system to climb backwards, not descend.

As I understand it, eccentric and concentric contractions use different mechanisms and therefore both need to be trained separately. Exercises using eccentric contractions are also reported to be very useful for curing tendonitis.

Doug

 

[PhillyGeo]

Uhmmm, yeah ....

I switched to filtered smokes and limit myself to a fifth of Chivas.

No, really.

 

[Chip]

well, I never smoked and alcohol makes me lazy , so I think I'll increase my yard laps on the mountain bike and hit the local up and downs with my pack full.

 

[mediclimber]

For diet info try http://www.champion-nutrition.com/champion/ They have an excellent endurance suppliment system and tons of info about loosing weight and staying in shape. There products are tasty too and don't seem to have the same hazmat type of effect on the GI system. I have a similar time problem since I work 12s so I rely on excersize biles and treadmils during the week.

 

[skidoc22]

One exercise which may be useful is leg extensions and leg presses. While extending the knees you are in the concentric phase and during the "let down" you are in the eccentric phase. Unlike the stair climber (which is good for the uphill) you can focus on the eccentric phase or "absorbing" energy part of the cycle. I do think the reverse cycle (pedaling backward) on the elliptical has some element of eccentric training.

 

[Oldsmores]

In the summer I mostly just get out on the bike as much as possible. In the winter, I'm lucky enough to work in an 8 story building. At lunch I can do real stairs (much better than a stairmaster, IMHO): Up 8 flights (street to roof level), then back down. I can get in about 1000 vertical feet up and 1000' down in about 1/2 hour. It hurts, but there's nothing like it for the legs.
That said, there's nothing that really gets you in shape for hiking except hiking - anything else is just an approximation of the way you use your muscles while tramping uphill and downhill on rough trails with a pack on.

 

[JohnL]

I was hoping to get away from having to write a scientific paper but like OldSmores says, everything is an approximation of hiking except hiking. What I was suggesting were different biomechanical exercises, while not wholly eccentric in nature, provide a different biomechanical movement while incorporating some eccentric nature in them. It is, afterall, the eccentric contractions which provide you with the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and the more you can train your muscles in an eccentric fashion, however minor, will help in the long run.

Facing the wrong way on a climbing machine trains the system to climb backwards, not descend.

Yeh, right, like performing leg extensions only trains you to do leg extensions.

JohnL

 

[hockeycrew]

The one thing I wish we could simulate in a gym cardiovascular machine is ankle and knee stability when stepping on a rock that wasn't as solidly placed as one thought. Due to weak ankles I have to strengthen that area of my body by doing balance excercises prescribed by previous physiotherapists, and even then, I rarely do them enough to get the results I need.

 

[jfb]

The one thing I wish we could simulate in a gym cardiovascular machine is ankle and knee stability when stepping on a rock that wasn't as solidly placed as one thought. Due to weak ankles I have to strengthen that area of my body by doing balance excercises prescribed by previous physiotherapists, and even then, I rarely do them enough to get the results I need.

One of the best ways I've found to strengthen ankles is to put on a pair of rock climbing shoes and traverse back and forth along the bottom of the main cliff at Hammond Pond.

 

[Chip]

The one thing I wish we could simulate in a gym cardiovascular machine is ankle and knee stability when stepping on a rock that wasn't as solidly placed as one thought. Due to weak ankles I have to strengthen that area of my body by doing balance excercises prescribed by previous physiotherapists, and even then, I rarely do them enough to get the results I need.

I've got a circular "wobble board", similar to this one with the "bungy cord option". These are good for balance and ankle strength as your muscles and tendons are constantly trying to correct for the "wobble".