Growing up I spent a lot of my spare time in the scouts. Now my scout group wasn't the typical scout group, we still did all the usual things like learning how to tie knots and orienteering but we also went rifle shooting, quad biking, skiing in Switzerland, human bowling, ab-sailing down cliffs and one time we made our own beer. We would spend a lot of weekends /school holidays going camping and I completed my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver, so hiking and being outdoors is second nature to me.
I decided to recreate my younger days and went on a hike. I found a hiking trail online that appealed to me that wasn't that far and wouldn't take too long to get to.
When choosing a route be realistic about your level of fitness, don't push yourself too hard if you're not used to it. If you push too hard in a workout, you'll feel sore after and be disheartened about going again. Hiking is a great way of doing cardio, it will get your heart rate up without being too intense and its a good lower body workout at the same time. But as I said before, if you're not used to hiking take it easy.
Here are my tips for a good hike:
- Warm up before hand, dynamic stretches are great way to warm up your muscles before any hike. (An example of a dynamic stretch would be leg swings, arm circles etc... A movement that stretches the muscle while using momentum)
- Make sure you stretch properly. After your hike focus on your calves, quadriceps, and hamstrings, hold the stretch for around 30 seconds to make sure that you get the full benefit.
- Drink plenty of water. Try and drink around 0.5 - 1 litres of water every hour.
- Fuel your body. A long hike burns a lot of calories, stop and break every so often to have a snack. Cereal bars are a great way to get your energy levels up, and they're light so you wont be weighed down.
