I’m Never Going to Stop Harping on the Criticalness of Strength Training for Outdoor Recreation
In the wilderness, fitness is survival.
I hike alone often. Usually, I hike alone on backcountry trails that are wildly remote, challenging, and, generally, not enjoyable for the vast majority of people. Which is why I hike alone. It can be tough to find hiking partners for such expeditions, especially when you’re nomadic. I like the solitude, anyway. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss.
I’m here to share why I’ll never (ever, not sorry) stop harping on the importance of strength training for outdoor recreationalists, particularly those of us who love to venture off into the wilderness alone for hours on end with no reliable way to get help if needed.
For backcountry explorers, fitness is survival.
It’s not just a nice-to-have attribute. Yes, being stronger and fitter means you can get to more places and spend more time enjoying the views and less time cursing your muscles for their lackluster lactate threshold. And yes, this is a substantial part of the reason I prioritize my strength and mobility and encourage other recreationalists to do the same — we all want to explore more nooks and crannies of this earth, preferably ones that give us the notion we are alone, small, and insignificant. (Oh, just me? OK.)
However, the real reason that every hiker, mountain biker, cyclist, climber, skier, diver, and runner should make strength training a priority is because your strength — your fitness — is the number one asset you can possibly have in a survival situation.
Material preparation, nutrition, and hydration are the other obvious parts of this equation: You do need to have (and know how to operate) safety tools relevant to your pursuits, as well as understand how much food, water, and electrolytes you should be bringing with you. But that’s for another post.
Muscular strength is what’s going to allow you to pull yourself out of a rift should you fall. Muscular endurance is what’s going to allow you to keep walking many more miles than intended should you get lost. Mobility is what’s going to allow you to quickly navigate a slot canyon when you need to get out stat.
It’s not just a physical thing, either. Strength training teaches you to push past your comfort zone. It teaches you to get comfortable with pain. It builds a strong mindset and a sound headspace, and all of these things will come in handy should you ever find yourself in a dangerous wilderness situation.
Can we argue that people should train mountains with mountains? Train trail with trail? Yes, absolutely. The №1 way to get better at something is to do more of that something, and that’s true for outdoor activities.
However, the reality is that most people don’t have constant, easy access to trails or the type of terrain they need to train on in order to prepare for a specific pursuit. Someone who wants to backpack the Colorado Trail and lives in Florida is going to have to train some other way — that being a mix of anaerobic (heavy, low-rep) strength training and muscular endurance (lighter, higher-rep) training.
Plus, as mentioned earlier, even in non-survival situations, there are a lot of benefits to prioritizing strength training.
Namely, everything is more fun when you don’t feel like your legs are going to give out or your shoulders can’t support the weight of your pack. Strength training increases your muscles’ ability to generate force, which is what allows you to propel your body up onto a boulder without needing to crawl and what keeps your legs from crumpling beneath you on a big step down.
Stronger shoulders make heavy packs easier to carry; a strong chest stays upright and open after miles of slogging; a strong core protects your spine under the duress of your pack when you get off-balance. Strong muscles protect and stabilize your joints, and I think all outdoor adventurers can agree that healthy joints are essential for fruitful pursuits. Strength training is a known injury preventative in almost all sports; I think it goes without saying that getting injured on trail is not what anyone wants.
Additionally, a regular strength training habit reduces your risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis, or bone density loss, which becomes very important as you age. This is especially true for women. Strength training improves proprioception, or how well you can perceive your body in the space around it, thus improves balance and coordination. Strength training also reduces fall risk in older adults. This is to say, if you want to keep adventuring well into old age, strength training should be a priority.
Finally, building a foundation of strength and muscular endurance provides you with the requisite fitness needed for just about every outdoor activity. Obviously no resistance training protocol will prepare you for the specific skill set required to master downhill skiing. But it will provide you with a foundation of balance, coordination, strength, stamina, core stability, and unilateral movement skills that transfer over to the act of skiing. This is true for hiking, mountain biking, road cycling, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, climbing, and canyoneering, too.
To quickly address the inevitable counter-argument that building muscle makes you slow on the trail: Yes, it can, but no, it doesn’t, if programmed properly. Strength training for outdoor sports minimizes excessive mass-building while maximizing strength gain potential, which I’ll cover in more detail in an upcoming post.
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Are you interested in strength training programs designed to help you climb bigger mountains and cover more miles? Contact Amanda at smartersweat.com to inquire about outdoor fitness coaching. Amanda is a performance coach who specializes in preparing individuals for outdoor pursuits including hikes, backpacking trips, bike-packing trips, mountain biking expeditions, and more.
