Tis’ the season for hiking! Are you looking to take on higher peaks or increase your pace with current favorites? Working on a training routine to optimize endurance, power, and stability can set you up for success with your challenges for the summer
Endurance is important for those of you looking to hike longer than 30-45 minutes. The muscles will need to utilize other fuel sources and be trained to sustain activity for prolonged periods.
- Take this opportunity to add variety to your aerobic regimen with walking, swimming, biking, and elliptical.
- The key is duration of exercise and gradually progressing your tolerance. Start with your current tolerance, whether that is 10, 20, or 30 minutes. Progress each type of aerobic exercise by 5-10 minutes until you reach your duration goal. You may also want to start with 1-2 days per week adding another day every 1-2 weeks since you will be training in other ways as well.
Power is your ability to use your strength with a speed component to help you tackle specific situations like scrambling up a steep incline or powering up high steps. Performing an exercise for 8-10 repetitions for 2-3 sets will help build a base for strength and allow you to focus on the power and quality of the movement. As you fatigue you may only be able to perform up to 6 repetitions increasing your strength for next time. You can train strength and power depending on your access to equipment or lifestyle without need to make drastic changes.
- Body weight exercises to consider: Step ups, Lateral step ups, split squats, lunges, squats, pistol squats, box jumps, long jumps, and burpees.
- Weighted/machine exercises to consider: Leg press, Quad/knee extension, Hamstring curls, deadlifts, Hip abduction, Hip external/internal rotations, and calf raises – seated and standing.
Stabilization allows you to control and utilize the training you gain in the first two categories. If you body is struggling to control your movements, you become less energy efficient and your muscles do not respond optimally when called upon. Core control and joint stabilization are the two areas you will want to train and incorporate into the exercises you perform for endurance and power/strength training.
- Core control exercises to consider: planks, side planks, bird dog, dead bug – add arm and leg movements in these positions for dynamic control and add increased weight as movements become easy to control.
- Joint stabilization exercises to consider: all variations of balance – double leg, tandem, single leg with changes in surfaces, limb or head movements, and tossing or catching objects for reaction stability.
- Jumping activities and reaching movements are great to integrate core and joint training i.e. double leg jump to single leg land and star drill with single leg balance control while reaching with the opposite foot or hand for cones.
If you need more information, have pain or discomfort with training, or need assistance in where to start to target your specific needs, please visit our website at www.mobilizept.com to set up an appointment or call us at (206)402-5483.
