Reviews
Click here to download the booklet.
Links to reviews of the book on various blogs
Chris never loses sight of the fact that it’s about enjoying walking rather than training for its own sake. So it’s training smart, rather than just training. It could, we think, be the best tenner you’ll ever spend on the outdoors.
Martin Rye (lightweight backpacker and hillwalker) of the Summit and Valley Blog
Once you have the knowledge and the how, Chris then gets to the heart of why this book is so good. It’s free training. You need only to be at home. You only need you. That’s right. No need to buy anything else. No weights, no gym fee…...It’s an excellent read. Well-researched and simple. I recommend it; as the end goal is so well put by Chris: “Get stronger, then get into those hills and enjoy yourself”
Alan Sloman – backpacker and veteran of several TGO challenges
I cannot recommend this booklet more strongly. This is probably far more important than all the weight reducing tips you will ever have read in all the blogs put together. Chris’s simple exercise programme should have you fit and ready for the hill, so that your experience will be one of pleasure rather than one of pain!…… It will be the best tenner you will have spent in years.
Chris seems to know his stuff and his knowledge of sports physiology is as good as I’ve read, especially as he says it in a “it does what it says on the tin” kind of way. It’s easily understandable, even to someone like me who doesn’t know masses about the human body. The other great advantage of his simple strength-conditioning programme is that it fits into just two 15-minute slots per week.
The Hillfit Strength Routine focuses on building strength – the kind of strength that is beneficial to hillwalkers rather than bodybuilders – to reduce effort and increase stamina when out on the hills. I’ve been doing the exercises whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, whilst waiting for files to download and even whilst reading (doing the wall-sit, not the push-up – that’d be showing off). The results are apparent after just a few sessions; the exercises become easier and Chris offers alternatives that make sure your your body continues to strengthen.
Chris wonderfully explains the truth and simplicity of strength training and exercise. Exercise is a means to an end. It should help you do the things you want to do. It should enable your body to adapt and grow stronger so that you can engage in your chosen skill or activity. Exercise itself is not the point. Living and enjoying life are the point.
James Fisher – (Sports Scientist)
it’s one of the most encompassing guides to health and fitness that I’ve seen, ranging from hormones and their effects on your hunger and fat loss, to bone density, to evidence-based strength training.
The book is ‘focused on something that every walker, hiker and backpacker needs’ and certainly, if you’ve never considered training for strength before heading to the hills, I’d recommend you get your hands on a copy.
Robin Evans of Blogpackinglight
It’s not really a fitness book per se, it’s about a simple method for building core body strength. It is this approach that makes it different from other fitness books I’ve read……Chris’s book gives enough background on fitness and strength to help you understand what is going on, without overwhelming you. There’s plenty of references at the back if you want to delve deeper into the whys and wherefores. I found the explanation just enough to answer my questions. Chris makes the point that his strength routine does not take the place of walking, but compliments it. Walking is still the best training for walking!
The Perfect Health Diet (my recommended diet resource)
It is designed to help readers develop versatile and functional strength that enables them to excel at natural human movement. Chris breaks strength down into 5 basic functional patterns – two upper body patterns (pushing and pulling), two lower body (squatting and hip-hinging), and one whole body (running/hiking) – and shows exercises that can be done indoors without equipment to develop strength in all five patterns. Although this is marketed as a booklet to make you “Hillfit”, ie good at moving over mountains and hills, it could just as well have been titled “Lifefit.” Congratulations on an excellent book, Chris
Click here to download the booklet.
The 52 page Hillfit e-book is the most user friendly introduction I have seen on High Intensity Training. All the exercises in the Hillfit: Strength program can by done from home without purchasing any equipment. Although the book’s title and early pages suggest the audience is for hiking, the reality is that developing strength will benefit you no matter what your sport happens to be.
James Steele II (Sports Scientist)
I think it is a great book that achieves what it sets out to do; namely to provide a simple, safe and effective program of exercise to improve strength and apply that to the activities of Hillwalking, Hiking, and Backpacking. “Simply get yourself strong and enjoy your life and all this world has to offer!”
Click here to download the booklet.
Every now and then, someone in our ever bigger blog world, writes a book that gets attention for all the right reasons. Namely, it’s PERFECT!
Click here to download the booklet.
Richard Nikoley from Free the Animal
My point is that Chris Highcock is just one of those ever present guys who just does good things with his time to both learn and pass on what he’s learned…….What strikes me about the simple message is how it’s really a synergy. It’s not like you have to “get in shape” to do what your body evolved to do: walk & hike. Rather, it’s a simple process whereby you can enhance your experience over time and small effort, that experience, in turn, enhances your hiking experience, motivating and positioning you to do better in your simple conditioning exercises, and the process continues.
Frankly, everyone who gets out regularly into the hills will benefit from including some strength training in their routines. And Hillfit is the only product on the market that aims to persuade them to do just that.
Chris openly acknowledges that it is his strength training that helps get him up the hills considerably more easily than he would otherwise, and keeps him injury-free and enjoying his outdoor escapes. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Chris’ latest e-book Hillfit and I managed to sit down over the last weekend to give it a read. It is a superb book for anyone wanting the basic nuts and bolts of getting strong enough to enjoy their outdoor endeavours. Chris has written this relatively specifically for hiking, but it is easily applicable to many other areas. Go check it out.
If you’re ready to reap the benefits of resistance training, this jargon-free plan is an excellent starting point, and may be all you’ll ever need. Even if you never go hiking.
Robert Craig walker author and blogger at Love of Scotland
Hillfit is the book I’ve been needing, the missing piece of a jigsaw. I’ve been vaguely aware of the need to do something about strengthening my knee/core strength, without knowing exactly what. This seems to be the very book for me.
Jay Jay commenter on Free the Animal
For an Amazon type rating, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. It is short, well thought out, and well written. As Richard pointed out, it uses active hyperlinks through out, that lead you to some of the research behind the program. I think that is a wise approach, which no doubt helps keep the book so concise and to the point. And if you want to dig further, just click the link. I was a bit worried that it would just be a rehash of stuff already published at his blog, but it is more than that. As for the exercise routine itself, it is exactly what I was looking for. I am generally fit for 46 years old, (lots of walking, hiking, Nordic track, wood chopping, rock moving, etc), but I have only dabbled in strength training, and with little success. I bought the “Body by Science” book a few months ago, and I really like the sound of their approach. But unfortunately, it is based on gym equipment that I don’t own and have no desire to purchase (and I won’t be caught dead in a gym, but that’s another story…).
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