Re: [Philmont]: Conditioning and such

For those of us who have tired them and used them, hiking poles are the savior of the knee, and back, and feet and.....they are great, we have discussed them a bunch. Just practice with them and also realize you might need a bit of arm weights, they can get "heavy" after the day.But trust me, sore arms beat sore knees anyday!

For those of you going to Double H, PREPARE! It is a killer. There are no trails so the footing is very rocky, or very sandy, or very slippery, in short very treacherous. They daily pulled advisors off the trail from sprains, strains and bruises.

That being said, I cannot emphasise enough the value of good "core strength". I'm not talking about good old crunches or sit ups, but the stuff that gets the core, or inside abdominal and back muscles. Last year I had back surgury for a ruptured disc in March and hiked Double H in July. I was unable to to run or do alot of aerobic training, other than hard walking, and couldn't carry much weight until the last month, but I had a great physical therapist. We concentrated on the abs, gluts, legs and I felt the best I have ever felt on a long hike.

By having a strong core, you are more stable, especially with a load on your back. If you are stable you drastically decrease the stress on your knees, hips and lower back as you are not constantly trying to right the swaying caused by the heavy pack. Couple this with good hiking poles and the proper technique of walking, lifting and standing, and even us old guys can hike with the best of them.

Remember to keep your hike in perspective. We are on the trail 10 days. The first two days you hike between 1.5 and 3 miles. Most hikes are in the 3- 5 mile range, with a couple of potentially longer ones, towards the middle to end of 6-10. super strenuous hikes the exception. On days that you end in a trail camp, you don't have to hurry, there's nothing to do when you get there.

YIS
Fred Mussler, Scoutmaster
Troop 357 Raleigh, NC
Eagle Class of 75
Philmont 1990,98,00,02
Double H Ranch Charter Hiker 2004 -717-AA
Phil Trek 2006- 08-01I !!

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Received on Thu Jun 2 07:51:30 2005