[pct-l] Leg Exercises, etc.

[Stephen]

Got a bike?  Seriously.  Ride up some long hills slow but steady.  Start 
somewhat easy, and then start pushing a harder gear.  You want to workup a 
sweat but not blow up either. Once you get stronger start pushing it more 
but keep the heart rate below max.  Then start doing twice a week, shorter 
steeper hills.  These would be called interval training.  For these one goes 
all out on a half to one mile hill.  Almost to the point of barfing which is 
running at or just above max heart rate.  Youdon't really needto go that 
hard, but when I was racing I needed to be able to chase down or attack 
andcreate a big enough gap to get away and recover before anyone could catch 
me, preferably out of sight!  OK we're not racing bikes here, but it is a 
great way to build strong legs with endurance.  For a basic cross training 
ride go out for two hours over mixed terrain.   I used to hike down mule 
packers and set incredible paces going over Sierra Passes when I was riding 
competitively and taking hiking trips inbetween.   Weight lifting shocks the 
muscles and creates a lot of stiffness. Yeah you'll get stronger, but not 
necesarrily create anymore endurance.  That's why I suggest the bike three 
times a week for two hours if possible.  Another thing I dobefore going out 
into the backcountry, and will start doing a lot longer before this years 
adventures is load up a pack with about thirty pounds and go up and down a 
long section of stairs.  Up and down; up and down, up and down.  This should 
get some burn going.  There used to be the idea in the wieght lift gyms that 
more weight and less reps build muscle mass and thus size and strength. 
Common number of reps for curling bars and dumb bells would be 8-10 max with 
a spotter helping the last one or two.  On the other hand, doing more reps 
with less weight is suggested to define the muscles more, being "cut", and 
also leans more towards endurance.  Does that make sense?  But I'll tell ya, 
when I was really going at it on the bike I had to get a set of two size 
larger pants and carried an average 15 more pounds around in them.  I know, 
do a buch of lunges and then see if you can walk up staris the next day, hee 
hee !
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com" <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:49 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Leg Exercises, etc.


>
> On Feb 4, 2009, at 2:51 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>> On Wed, 4 Feb 2009 10:12:48 +0000 (GMT) Richard Bazley wrote:
>>
>> My trainer told me that too many leg exercises is not good for
>> hiking and running
>
> I don't know anything about weight training. I'm curious why leg
> exercises would be bad? How much is too much?
>
> I think I could have benefitted from something to strengthen my
> quads. I still could benefit from that. Any leg exercises that don't
> require me signing up for a gym membership but also will actually
> work my quads (without allowing me to fake my way out of working my
> quads)?
>
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