Do These 3 Things to Hike 20 Miles EASY // Training Tips for Hiking & Backpacking

What about hip pain?

Very helpful information!

1. Train barefoot (indoor & outdoor)
2. Glute exercises (squats, hip thrusters, band exercises like side stepping)
3. Stretching (calf stretch, standing bend, glute stretch)
Extra - low back weight

Great videos, helpful tips. Many thanks!

My feet is what gets me. The bottoms of my feet are not used to being on them as much yet. Lost 141lbs. Im getting there. But 10mi takes me around 3hrs. 20 mi would take me 6-7hrs if I could make it

Great tip for exercising glutes! I did my first long day hike last Sept in the ADK (18mi). My left hurt for days after that! I've been including for glute exercises since!

As someone who has IT Band issues, this is helpful information. Thanks and keep up the good work.

I recognize those stairs…

Hey Justin, will you do a review of the Gregory Focal?

so helpful :) thanks!

Very helpful video, thanks! I see you enjoy Catan 🌲🐑🧱

I have ITB with multiple PT sessions and definitely think people under estimate the importance of simple body weight movement exercises and stretching. I definitely stretch after every long hike.

Your logic and compassionate bar none!

Awesome video. It's great to go ultralight. I seen a few people advocate to just get stronger as well. You need to strengthen your body as well and just lighten your pack. Thank you

I've got a weak right knee, sciatica pain running down my left leg, and ligament damage in both ankles, so....I love camping but hate hiking 😂

Tall boots.
"Protecting" the angles at the cost of 100% chance is knee pain.
When going down, human foot should become straight. It is impossible in high boots that restrict full range of motion of the feet. So the knees have to take the load that the the ancle (calf muscles to be precise) are design to handle.

I can’t recommend enough Chase Mountains exercises and programs for pain free hiking. I’m a 74 yr old hiker who follows his suggestions religiously to keep me going. Check him out!

You’re right about the stretching. Lot of people don’t realize this but tight calves contribute significantly to plantar fasciitis. One thing I discovered is doing one long deep stretch, 2 minutes on each side, several times throughout the day produced a lot of improvement.

The best ultralight tip for pain is to bring a couple ounces of cannabis and some rolling papers. It’s not only lightweight but it loses weight as the bag dwindles.

I love that you wear a hat at the gym. Lol. You must not like being bald like me...at least that's why I ALWAYS wear a hat.

Strengthen the glutes eh, let me guess you have a copy of buns of steel laying around somewhere's lol

Really awesome tips! It's great you highlight that prepping for backpacking is more than just gear.
Also what barefoot shoes do you recommend?

Great tips! However can we talk about how there is Settlers in the background? Lol

The glutes are everything for what we do. Most people are quad dominant which seems like the intuitive muscle group you’d want for hiking. But au contraire. A good resource for a range of glute strengthening workouts at different skill and difficulty levels is Bret Contreras, I recommend looking him up.

Men - don’t be afraid to thrust with the barbell. It’s not just for the ladies lol

I like to do yoga before a hike, its basically hardcore stretching. haha

Thanks Justin, Great tips I definitely will put some of these into practice.

Great that you're promoting barefoot training to strengthen the feet, it's very rare in hiking circles. Many/most people already have short/tight lateral rotator muscles (glutes, quad fem, obt int etc) which often leads to lateral rotation of the feet aka duck feet (which also increases pronation and decreases gait efficiency). If you're doing lateral banded walks with feet rotated outward, you're strengthening the non-optimal pattern. If you focus on walking, even normal hiking with feet pointing straight forward, you reduce injury risk, improve arch movement, calcaneus movement, lower and upper leg rotation & torque thus increasing kinetic energy transfer which reduces muscle usage on trail and improves your endurance.

Great tips!

Curious as to whether you use/ recommend the rest step technique

It can be a god send when walking over rough/ steep terrain and the benefit is noticeable the more weight you carry

Knee and foot pain is soooo underrated!

Great video🖖

First