Body ready to hike with a backpack

Strong feet: Many first-time athletes are afraid they will roll an ankle or have some other sort of injury on the trails. This may be true if you are a newbie and tackle a gnarly course at top speed. You may wish to start by hiking on the trails to start with. Start by hiking on slightly easier and less technical trails and take them at a little slower pace. After a few weeks on the trails, you will notice that your legs and feet will have become a lot stronger. Tackling more technical terrain with a heavy backpack requires neuromuscular coordination that comes with time and practice.

Legs: Your leg muscles will respond to hiking like nothing else! Hiking with a backpack on various types of terrain over rocks, roots, rolling corners, up and down hills makes demands on a wider range of muscles than road hiking/running, without the repetition injuries of pounding the pavement. Ankles, hips, inner and outer thighs, and core muscles are engaged for balance. Trails more fully engage the quads, increasing leg strength.

The core: Strong core muscles are a good thing and they will be engaged while hiking with a backpack. But there’s a caveat. Your core muscles should be strong to help you maneuver over rocks and twisting, winding trails. However, you should keep the core relaxed while engaged (i.e. not holding tension). Holding tension in your body through your shoulders, back and through your core muscles will wear you down in a long hike.

Arms and shoulders: Relaxed, loose, but not “hunched forward.” Think of “walking proud” with your shoulders in a neutral position (not forward or back). We encourage athletes to use trekking poles as it helps to partially unload their legs and back and it helps with the balance (hiking with a heavy backpack through technical terrain can be tricky!) If you decide not to use trekking poles, your arms should swing relaxed beside your body – not crossing over the center line.

Hiking technique and tips

Body position: Find a neutral body position with your backpack on. The neutral position is the body position where your body will naturally fall forward if you lean forward from the ankles.

Fast & light: Maintain a quick cadence. The quicker your cadence, the faster and lighter (i.e. less impact on the ground) you will go, in other words, it’s worth making two small and light steps instead of one massive stride. Think quick-light-feet, quick-light-feet.

Uphill: Keep your spine tall and lengthened and head in a neutral position. Do not slump back into your pelvis or dump forward. One of the worst (and most natural) things you can do is slump forward with your nose pointed down towards your feet. This forces your diaphragm up and effectively reduces your lung capacity. Shorten your stride – think like a mountain biker, increase your leg cadence and maintain a slight lean into the hill. Keep your head in a neutral position to prevent slumping forward.  If you use trekking poles, push on them without shyness, with good technics your triceps should be working almost as hard as your legs! Some hills are horrendously long and tough, you do not need to speed the entire thing if you begin to feel exhausted. Back off and walk at a slower but steady pace uphill.  To find your sustainable pace, record the time when you hit the trail and the time when you came back and make an assessment of how your body handled that sustained level of effort. Make sure you walk those hills with a purpose. It’s not supposed to be a Sunday stroll, you’re here to push yourself!

Downhill: You may not think about it (‘I’ll always fly down!’) but hiking down can happen if the weather changes or something unpredictable happens. Proper downhill hiking with a heavy backpack can be excruciatingly difficult without preparation. Trekking poles are extremely useful as they help to unload your knees. If you can change their length, make them longer than for hiking uphill.  Hike light and think that you should always be walking over your feet rather than having your feet stretched out in front of you.