Pre-Hiking Conditioning
by Jarred Behrendt
If you are anything like me there are several things to consider when planning that next hiking, hunting or fishing trip. One of the most important things to consider is your conditioning. Conditioning can turn a beautiful alpine hike into a drudgery stricken with pain.
Taking steps to ensure you are in good shape before a trip can turn the tide on whether you go through the trip complaining about how out of shape you are or savoring the beautiful surroundings. This article will go over several of the things associated with conditioning for that next trip including; how much, how often, how intensely, and how long you should condition. If at any point you have questions about what something means or how to do it feel free to drop me a PM and I will be happy to help you on your way!
I am a certified personal trainer who has been working in the industry for over ten years, I have worked with a variety of clients ranging from those seeking weight loss to professional athletes. I have a strong background in nutrition science and the culinary arts. Being an  outdoorsman I understand the physical and mental strain of backpacking in the wild.
First things first, you need to evaluate where you are going and what you will be doing. Things to consider include: distance of hikes, altitude, weight you will be carrying, water supply (do you need to carry your own?), and temperatures you will be encountering. For example, if you are going to a lake and sitting in a boat, then you probably will not need much conditioning. On the other hand if you  plan to get off of the trail and get somewhere remote you need to consider several factors.
The next step is to evaluate your condition. Are you overweight? If so, then losing some weight would ease the trip. Have you been working out? The amount of time and intensity will be important as these factors will indicate your ability. Do you have any physical ailments? What I'm referring to here is joint pains, back problems, asthma, hypertension, etc. If you have any of these problems then you need to consult your physician prior to embarking on the conditioning program or the trip.
Once you have established what your outdoor adventure and current physical conditioning is the next step is to formulate a conditioning program based upon the timeframe you have before your trip.
For example, let's say you plan on going to the Rockies and hiking and fishing for three to four days, the trip will require you to carry your gear and you will be ascending in altitude to 8000 feet. You have two months to prepare for the trip, you are in poor physical condition, and are 15 lbs overweight.
Conditioning Plan:
- Reduce weight by 15 lbs
- Increase strength to account for the gear you are carrying
- Increase cardiovascular capacity- To account for hiking at higher altitudes than usual.
Plan of attack:
- Reducing bodyweight
- You want to lose bodyfat and not lose the muscle you are going to need.
- Some of this will be taken care of with resistance training and the additional calorie expenditure during exercise bouts.
- Making better food choices like fruits and veggies over processed foods like pasta and French fries.
- You will need to monitor your food intake, including making better food choices and counting calories.
- I would recommend using a journal to record everything you eat, this may sound like a daunting task but it will greatly help you keep yourself on track by simply knowing what you are putting into your body.
- Make better food choices. Most of us already know that eating a salad is better for our waistlines than a burger, but this is not to say that you cannot have these things you just need to consume them in lower quantities.
 - Increasing your strength
- This will be accomplished through some form of resistance training; the best approach to this is a combination of lifting with rucking (using a backpack weighted down while performing cardiovascular exercise).
- You will need to allow time for at least three short lifting workouts per week.
- Increasing cardio capacity
- Walking, hiking, running, biking or whatever method you prefer. You will need to change it up as you go, this will ensure you attain the conditioning required.
- A multiple stage plan works best. Since you are not currently working out, you will need to build up to the level that is required for the trip.
Tips for reducing bodyfat:
When it comes to weight loss, there are literally hundreds of fad diets out there today, most of which will produce marginal success at best. The majority of us already know what to do: eat less junk and more wholesome foods. It's pretty simple. Eating better food doesn't have to mean eating bland food. In fact, the majority of the recipes that I use are completely made up of all-natural unprocessed foods.
Cooking at home allows you to know what is going into the food that you eat and is an easy way to control the kinds of foods that you are putting into your body. Restaurant eating makes it difficult to know exactly what you are getting in terms of quality and nutrients.
Another useful tool is to start recording what you eat and make more nutrient-conscious food decisions. This will ensure that you will be on the right track in relation to how much and what you should be eating. This not only will help aide you in counting calories but it will help you to keep yourself honest with how you are doing.
A simple dieting trick to follow is dividing your plate into three sections; one for meat, one for vegetable and one for starch. I would take it a step further and say that one-third of the plate should be meat and the remaining two-thirds should consist of  veggies with some starch. If you are not sure what each of these categories are comprised of (starches, veggies), go to the FDA website here: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-top.html. Staying on track will ensure that you are not carrying more than need be when the trip finally comes! A good website to assist you in tracking your food intake is http://www.sparkpeople.com, to use it is free and the website has a very comprehensive food database.
When it comes to increasing strength, you have several options: weight training, rubber-band training, and basically anything that adds resistance to an exercise. If you choose to do any of these things you would be wise to get some sound advice from a coach or trainer who can teach you the correct form so that you can do these things properly.
Setting reasonable goals for your resistance exercise will be key, you don't want to be too ambitious and hurt yourself in the process. Time constraints will dictate how much time that you can put into your resistance training. One other thing that I will point out is if you are working out hard enough you will experience soreness. Soreness is normal; the no-pain no-gain mantra is somewhat true. Just don't try to kill yourself. If you experience joint pain you need to see your physician immediately.
One of the most useful exercises in relation to hiking is rucking. Rucking actually combines resistance training with cardio exercise! To go rucking just get a backpack, add weight to it and start walking. A more structured approach to rucking would be to start with a backpack with 20lbs in it. Wear this for every walk that you take. Start small with a quarter mile and work up until you can do at least one mile, then add more weight. Work your way up in this manner until you are able to carry the required weight (40-65lbs for an average pack) for one mile without feeling overly taxed.
The next step is to add some hills and stairs into your routine, thereby upping the intensity. Start with one smaller hill or a couple of flights of stairs and work your way up to doing hills or stairs for the entire one mile hike. At this point, some of you are thinking that one mile is a pretty short distance for a hike. You are absolutely right; the reason behind only doing a mile is time constraints.  One mile at a walking pace will take roughly twenty minutes, so adding a lot more distance will add a lot more time.
On the weekends, I would suggest that you try to do a much farther distance, up to three or more miles each time. This would be a great time to get out to a local park and do some actual hiking. On these weekend hikes, do the same as you did with the weekday hikes and start with a small amount of weight with little grade and work your way up. If you do not have to pack your workouts into less than an hour, then by all means do longer hikes, just make sure you work your way up to them!
One way to help you deal with the altitude difference is by swimming, the resistance and the fact that you need to control your breathing will help you acclimate to higher altitudes more quickly. I would recommend starting small and working your way up. Start by doing just a couple laps with the breast stroke, then work up to more difficult strokes and many more laps. Again this all comes down to how much time you can reasonably put into it. Swimming greatly increases your stamina in higher altitudes; it literally makes your body more efficient by increasing your red-blood cell count. The action of holding your breath while doing these swimming exercises trains your body to use the oxygen that it receives more efficiently so when you start going up in altitude your body has already had the chance to make some of the adjustments!
Resistance Exercise
As both rucking and swimming can be considered cardio work as well as resistive you will still want to ensure that you are working your entire body evenly. For this I would recommend some kind of weight training. Weight training will do several things for you: it will make you stronger, improve joint mobility (flexibility), increase your agility, build bone density, improve cardiovascular health, and a whole host of other things! Even when you are not engaged in training for your next trip you would be wise to do some lifting.
 The different kinds of weight training are as varied as the people who do them; rubber bands, free weights, machines, isometrics, etc, etc. The type you pick is up to you and what you have access to.
The reason so many organizations have motto's about always being prepared is because being prepared is important. Unfortunately we spend so much time on prepping all of our gear and making plans that we don't prep ourselves, the most important part! So the next time that you are on that trip of a lifetime taking in a great breath of all the beauty Mother Nature has provided, you'll be comforted to know that all your preparation has enabled you to breathe it in rather than gasp it in.
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