At 76, Judy Fog is one of the fittest people her daughter knows. Take for example her VO2 max – a general fitness measure that measures how much oxygen one can absorb while exercising.
“She has a VO2 maximum that is not too far from a Nordic skier, and they are considered the peak of the peak,” said Robyn Fog-Wiltse, a physiologist and physical trainer. Her mother’s secret? Daily hikes.
Over the past few years, the world has changed its relationship to walking significantly, with millions of people walking on their sidewalks in the neighborhood or local trails in hopes of boosting their fitness, sense of community and mental health. Studies have shown that walking at least 30 minutes a day is enough to reap significant physical and emotional benefits.
But turning thousands of feet around the same blunt sidewalk can quickly turn from a daily treat into a repetitive task. There are dozens of ways to change that and put the sis back in your stride, if you are willing to think outside the box.
Try Nordic step.
Nordic hikers, originally developed in Finland as a way to train cross-country skiers during the off-season, use specially designed poles with rubber tips to grip the sidewalk and help engage the arms and core muscles, making it an easy walk turned into a full body. workout.
Tractors that can endure the dumbness of walking around town with sticks will see, on average, a 22 percent increase in calorie expenditure and will consume 23 percent more oxygen. The more oxygen your body can consume, the more effectively it can generate energy during workouts.
Companies like Leki and Black Diamond sell several expensive, high-tech poles for prospective hikers, but proper technique is more important than the label. “Whether you use a pole with a handle and strap, or two sticks, the focus of ‘Nordic’ must really be on the fact that you use any thing to engage your upper body, ”said Kirk Shave, who trains Nordic hikers at Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa in British Columbia.
He said you should keep the poles with your elbows bent at a 90 degree angle and your forearms parallel to the ground. Next, you need to use your triceps to push and push down the pole points in the trail behind you, propelling your body forward.
“The No. 1 problem for hikers, runners, hikers is ultimately knees and ankles,” said Mr. Shave explains. Removing the tension from the lower body by using poles while walking on flat terrain and hills can help avoid compression problems in these joints, I added.
Enjoy a little.
“Playing is critical,” says Bill Burnett, executive director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University and co-author of the book “Designing Your Life.” From an early age, he said, our brain learns and develops habits through fun. “When you were a kid, the way you learned things was to play with them,” he said.
After two years of wandering the same streets in San Francisco during the coronavirus pandemic, he became hungry for novelty, and sometimes took himself on scavenger hunts for secret stairs, orange flowers or birdsong. For mr. Burnett, the way our modern exercise frames, burns people out after a while because it’s easy to get caught up in a mind-numbing habit of counting steps on a smartwatch. Bringing a sense of curiosity to a walk can be a powerful antidote to the mundane.
Alastair Humphreys, adventurer and author of “Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes,” said you can fuel your adventurous side in your own neighborhood. In 2020, he pushed himself to run, walk or cycle in every street in his London suburb and discover places he never knew existed. “The challenge is to try to see things with fresh and open eyes, as if for the very first time,” he said.
Climb a tree, go for a full moon hike without a flashlight, drink your morning cup of coffee in a new place every day or explore your local disc golf course. Keep it stupid, not serious.
Install the props.
Some hikers may have lofty long-term goals. Maybe you want to cover more distance or try a backpacking trip. The best way to prepare your muscles for higher-intensity activity is to increase resistance, perhaps by exercising with a weighted day suit, Ms Fog-Wiltse said.
She suggested starting with no more than 15 pounds in a backpack with a full hip belt, which, when fastened tightly near the navel, carries the weight into your legs as you walk. It helps exercisers to avoid neck and back pain caused when a heavy load compresses the spine.
Me. Fog-Wiltse, who trained clients to climb Mount Everest and take part in the American Ninja Warrior final, added that putting a set of elastic training straps in your pack and a series of sumo (or monster) hikes do while you are out. helps to strengthen important muscles such as the gluteus medius, which are important for dynamic stability.
In a half-squat position, place the strap just below your knees and then step from side to side to your right side, keeping your knees parallel and hip distance apart. Then walk laterally to your left, repeating the movement for a few steps, keeping your weight in your heels by holding a deep squat. Make sure your feet are parallel throughout, aiming to do two sets of 10 at one time or another during each step.
Lastly, a good set of insoles will help prevent something called overpronation, said Dr. Michael Fredericson, a professor of orthopedics at Stanford University, said. Pronation is when the foot rolls inward, usually caused by an arch that is not strong enough to properly support the body’s weight. Those with flatter feet are more likely to experience this.
Products from brands such as Superfeet and SOLE can counteract the most common forms of pronation by supporting the middle of a foot’s arch, said dr. Fredericson said. But if you have a more complex problem, I added, a custom orthotic may be needed.
Multitask like a pro.
One of the hardest parts of a daily hiking routine is to fit it into an already tight schedule, said Jennifer Pharr Davis, a writer and owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Company. But, she said, you can take extra steps in a surprising number of places. For example, when you pick up your kids at school, park six blocks away and walk the rest. Having 10 or 15 minutes to decompress while walking to the car can also help kids relax and get some energy out, she said, adding that “it helps me have some focused time together. with my children. “
Ms Pharr Davis also likes to swap her Zoom meetings for walking meetings where possible, especially with local staff. “When your body moves, your brain is stimulated in different ways and you are more creative,” she said, noting that these moving encounters often lead to better conversations between her colleagues.
Turn the tunes up.
Listening to music during a walk or an intense workout has been shown to reduce perceived effort and increase physical performance, according to a recent meta-analysis. In other words, exercising harder does not feel so strenuous when we turn on our favorite playlists.
Ms Fog-Wiltse added that she had seen similar results when her clients were involved in any type of “preferred listening” while exercising. “If music is not your thing, podcasts can do the same,” she said.
Embrace the fart.
Swedish for “speed play,” fartlek workouts use a type of interval training that involves a series of high-intensity bursts with recovery periods between them. The beauty of the fart lick is that, unlike in traditional high-intensity interval workouts, hikers or runners do not have to stick themselves to a watch or a fitness tracker to boost their muscle endurance. Just strengthen your gait to a light jog or a power walk for a short distance to get your heart rate up, slowly back until you feel recovery and repeat.
If you prefer a more structured approach, “start with a 10-minute walk warm-up, then do six to 10 one-minute, faster intervals, each followed by two minutes of easy walking,” says Matt Fitzgerald, author of ” 80/20 Running ” and co-founder of a training company called 80/20 Endurance. “And then cool down with a five to 10 minute walk.” By dividing your weekly exercise so that 80 percent of your time is spent at low intensity and 20 percent is spent at moderate to high intensity, much like the exercise regimes of competitive marathon runners, she said, everyday athletes can get fitter faster. .
Emily Pennington is a freelance writer, photographer and columnist for Outside Magazine who is currently writing a book about visiting every American national park.