Hiking is an adventurous and enjoyable activity. Many people hike because they love to go on adventures, which keeps them active. But, some people look for an activity that serves as an exercise for their weight loss or fitness goals. Hiking pushes people to walk and jump where necessary and doesn’t let you stop until you reach the final destination.
Hiking lets you connect with nature. So, it also provides food for the soul and body. If you are not a person who loves going to the gym but want an alternative way to get a hobby plus fitness, hiking is your best option, especially if you want to lose lower body weight or fat.
Why is hiking such a complete lower body workout? It is so because hiking involves almost all muscle groups, especially the glutes, hamstrings, calves, and thigh muscles. You can also perform light other exercises to target the muscles more.
For instance, you can use weights to exert extra pressure on the muscles to tone them up. You can do sit-ups or crunches between the laps as a break and get that tummy toned.
Why Is Hiking Such A Complete Lower Body Workout?
There are many other activities that you can do while hiking, but the most important is that you do not exhaust yourself before reaching the final destination, so keep it simple in the beginning. Why is hiking such a complete lower body workout? How does it work? We are going to answer these questions below:
Walking Techniques While Hiking
When hiking terrains, the first thing is to find the pair of perfect hiking boots or running shoes for yourself. Your boots will keep you running for longer periods and won’t damage the feet or ankles. You might be wondering if hiking is walking on the trails.
Indeed, you do not need to master walking techniques if you are hiking on the smooth and small trails, but if you are going for the hiking trails that will take 2 hours to finish, then you need to know how to walk on these terrains to sustain yourself and be fit.
While hiking, you need to adjust the walking speed. For example, if you are hiking uphill, your speed will automatically be slowed down, and you need to take small steps to avoid slipping and keep moving for a longer time.
And for the steep downhills, the process is the same: taking the smaller steps and keeping breathing to the fullest. You can also take a thick stick with you to support you while hiking.
Engagement Of Lower Body Muscles While Hiking
Hiking is not considered a sport, but it is a great exercise for both mind and body. Climbing uphill or downhills and enduring the scorching heat or chilly winds of winter is a task that makes you in control of yourself. So it means that you can achieve self-discipline along with fitness goals.
Being a hiker is not all about hiking and reaching the destination. It is more about knowing nature and admiring the beauty of life. Hiking also optimizes the lower body by engaging the muscles and providing strength to them. With that being said, we will discuss how the muscle groups work during the hiking:
Glute Muscles
You may have observed that the hikers have the best glutes muscles, all toned up beautifully. The feet exert pressure on the ankles, which further turns on the calves and thigh or glute muscles. So, hiking will prove beneficial for those with little to no glutes shape.
You can gain maximum results by adding weights to your regime. For this, hold the small weights in your hands while hiking. You will feel extra pressure in the glutes area. Keep adding on the weights according to your needs and fitness requirements.
Also, it would help if you were hiking on inclined surfaces to activate the glutes muscles. If you are walking on the smooth straight terrain, it will not activate the glutes, and you may do cardio.
Quad Muscles
The quadriceps are the muscle group that starts from the hips and extend to cover the knees and thighs. These are the most used muscle group in hiking. If you’re hiking for the first time, you may feel discomfort and strain in the quads. But, this saying, “No pain, No Gain.” You cannot achieve the tight and toned quads unless you endure the pain and finally get the results.
If you are a beginner, before hitting the hiking terrain, try going on short walks or walking on short steep paths. These tips are for preparing your body for the harder workouts. Just as you won’t start your first gym day by lifting 20 Lbs. weights, you cannot just start with climbing the difficult inclined terrain.
The same goes for the quads; the more inclined the terrain, the more toned the quad’s muscles become. Another tip that we will add here is not to stress your muscles too much, especially the quads. Because more tension in these muscles can lead to severe back pain or leg pains, you’ll not be able to cope with the after-effects and, in some cases, may not even be able to complete the hiking terrain.
Calves And Hamstring Muscles
Calves are present on the back of your lower legs. Calves are also very engaged during the hiking. The amount of their engagement depends on your weight while climbing the trails. It doesn’t mean that you will not feel any effect on the calves if you are hiking on inclined surfaces without the backpacks or extra weight.
But to maximize the toning of the calves muscles, you should keep in mind that the extra weight won’t hurt. It will hurt if you’re just a beginner, but your motivation levels are levitated so high that you decide to damage your claves muscles.
Hamstring muscles cover the backside of the thighs. They are important for the stability of the legs and carry the body’s weight. Since they carry the weight, your shoes will play an important role in providing comfort to the feet, which will, in turn, support the hamstring muscles.
To avoid the hamstring injuries, take smaller steps and keep your speed slow during the hiking. You can strengthen your muscles by doing stretching and cardio exercises that would help you get your hammier ready for the hike.
Thigh Muscles
Walking downhills or uphill exerts pressure on almost all of the lower body. The thigh muscles do not refrain from this treatment. These muscles are heavily involved, like the hamstring muscles, because they are near each other and work together to provide the stability and support you need while hiking.
Thigh muscles should be strong to protect the hip muscles and lower back muscles. Carrying extra weight may increase the workload of the thighs. That is why do some simple cardio exercises while you are at home. Warm-up your body and lower muscles to get the maximum results.
Abs And Core Muscles
Abs and core muscles are also engaged when climbing or doing anything while hiking. Abs are also called core muscles, and the core provides all the energy that the other muscle group needs to fulfill what you have started. You can see many hikers who have toned 11 abs or even rugged packs on the abs.
It is because the muscles are highly engaged. To maximize the toning, you can do sit-ups, crunches, and other brutal core exercises like planks. If you are an athlete and want some more agility on the track, you can try jumping the rope on smooth terrain. The main key factor is that the terrain should be inkling or declining.
Stretching Lower Body After Hike
After a long hour hike, it is important to relax the muscles of the body so that you can wake up the next morning without crying for help or at least be less stressed about it. If you do not do stretching exercises, you may have to deal with swollen muscles and excruciating pain.
- The foremost thing is to hydrate your body after the hike. Although you would be sipping water throughout the journey, your body’s amount of exertion is more than that, and it needs water to replenish itself.
- Try rubbing the feet against the roller designed for relieving the foot pain. If you do not have any, rub your feet with your hands to bring out any strain that the feet are experiencing.
- Place your feet in hot water or take a hot shower to relax all the muscles. You will feel relaxed and then go straight to bed.
- You can also engage in relaxing yoga or Pilates moves.
Final Thoughts
Why is hiking a complete lower body workout? Because it involves all the lower body muscle groups. You can achieve your fat loss or fitness goals by hiking if you are not a gym person.
We advise that you do proper exercises to engage the lower muscles before hopping on to the hiking venture. Also, do relax stretching poses after a long hike. While we admire the benefits of hiking for fitness goals, you must take care of your muscles.