A few years back I was on a 3-day Outward Bound (OB) backpacking adventure in the mountains near Leadville, Colorado. It was late October and snow was already knee deep in some areas and just plain slick and wet in others.

The goal was a summit attempt on a local 13’er.  We were off trail and learning map and compass skills.  We had just started day two and were a little over 11,000 feet when a member of our team took a misstep and cranked his knee.  We were miles away from anywhere and connectivity on the satellite phone was shoddy so we were not getting through to base camp.

Although he was prior military, he had been out for a while and never really spent time in the wild.  He also mentioned he wasn’t sure what to expect and had probably not adequately trained for the OB trip.  While anyone can slip, proper training can go a long way toward building muscle resilience and stability when Murphy’s Law strikes.

In this post I’m going to provide some additional exercises that we will add into our Hiking Strength program.  These movements will supplement the squat learned in the previous post and help build strength, stability, coordination and flexibility.

In this post:  Deadlifts.  Lunges.  Step-ups.  Jump Rope.

 

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are another big compound movement like the squat and will probably get a dedicated post in the future, so we’ll just cover some of the basics here.  Deadlifts work the full posterior chain which include the following muscle groups: hamstrings, glutes, hips, and lower back.

With feet shoulder width apart, stand with the bar on the floor centered over the feet

Keeping a solid, tight back, kick your hips back and bend your knees reaching down to grab the bar

With your arms straight, grab the bar evenly outside of your knees, grip could be a double overhand or reversed with one hand over and the other under

 

 

 

 

Drive through your heels and a move the bar in a straight line keeping it close to your body and pull to the standing position

Without hyper-extending the back, pause briefly and return the bar in a controlled manner back to the floor

Tips:

Don’t let your back bend over

Keep your abs and core tight the entire movement

Maintain your head in a neutral position, don’t look up or down

Lower in a controlled fashion, don’t drop or bounce the weights

 

Lunges

Lunges are a great unilateral exercise.  They will develop balance, knee health and flexibility.  There are many variations here: walking, stepping in front, stepping back, or off to the side.  They could be weighted or with just bodyweight.  Below are a few examples of some of the different ways to add weight to the lunge.

Tips:

When stepping forward or backward, keep your upper body straight up and down, and try touching your knee back knee (gently) to the ground

Try not to let your front knee extend beyond your toes

Keep your feet about shoulder width to help with balance

When going to the side, gradually work to get more depth

All these are great for mobility and knee health, add bodyweight variations into warmup routines and continue to work depth and body positioning

 

Step Ups

This is another great single leg exercise and is highly applicable to hiking and backpacking for moving up and down hills or rocky terrain.  They can be performed at a gym on plyometric boxes, aerobic steps or weight benches or outside on curbs, stairs, benches, rocks, stumps…anywhere!  As with lunges these can be weighted or not, good ways to add weight are holding dumbbells or wearing a weighted vest or backpack.  The most important key is ensure what you are stepping on is stable!  Also, ensure your footing is well placed, slipping off a box is not fun for shins…

Jump Rope

Building ankle and calf strength will enhance your bulletproofness.  Rolling or spraining an ankle is probably one of the more common injuries on a trail.  Jump rope with help build resilience in the ankles and strengthen the calves.  Jumping rope also improve explosiveness, speed and coordination.  Some popular variations are single-unders, double-unders, skipping/running, and one-legged.   Maintain a good upright posture, keep your arms in tight spinning the rope by simply flicking the wrist.  Work on building timing and rhythm, work to goal for so many in a row without missing.  20, 50, 100 at a time with all the different variations.

Here is a great YouTube video from Buddy Lee on Jump Rope basics:

Programming

Full programming details to be published later but to give you a solid start use these guidelines throughout your week:

• Deadlifts will be similar to squats, 8-10 reps for skill and technique work and moving on to working 3-5 reps to build strength as soon as you feel your technique is solid
• Lunges should be performed before all workouts for mobility and flexibility work, then worked for reps and/or weighted after the primary movement (squat, deadlift)
• Step-ups will be worked as well as an accessory to a big lift, also useful outside on trails for side training work
• Jump rope should be performed 2-3+ times a week as part of a workout or as standalone work, continue to build skill and coordination

Conclusion

 Ultimately we made it safely back down the mountain.  Using some Crazy Creek camp chairs, a splint was fashioned and we helped our injured teammate off the mountain.  Fortunately, after a mile or so, he was able to manage a painful hobble and support was only needed over obstacles or crossing creeks.

We still had a great time out there!  We got to know each other pretty well and learned a ton about dealing with adversity in the wilderness.

Thanks for reading!

Hiking Strength Series

Introduction

Squats!

Bulletproof Your Legs

Build a Durable Core

Stronger Upper Body

The Program