Fitness for hiking, backpacking and hillwalking

Make every trip to the mountains easier, safer and more fun in less than 15 minutes a week….

Your most important piece of gear is not your boots or jacket but your fitness!

Hillfit: Strength outlines a step-by-step approach to developing  fitness for hiking and backpacking.

The 50 page ebook  explains how you can improve your conditioning for hiking, training at home with no special equipment.

It’s an easy read that will transform your days in the outdoors!  You don’t need to know anything about exercise and don’t need to go near a gym! (read more about the Hillfit philosophy on the Manifesto page)

Outdoors Magic reviewed the book and said:

…the nice thing is that 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.

 

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

What you will learn

From an experienced walker and fitness writer, this booklet looks at Strength: the missing element in your training and the most important thing that an average person needs for fitness in the mountains.  You will discover:

  • Why fitness is the ultimate piece of hillwalking kit
  • How getting stronger can give you more enjoyment from your time in the outdoors
  • How to train if you can’t get to a gym
  • Why simple training is the best option
  • How strength makes everything easier, even walking
  • Why stronger muscles are more efficient
  • Why being stronger makes you less likely to get injured, making each walk safer
  • How strength training can make you healthier: fight the effects of ageing & burn body fat
  • Why strength training will give you stronger bones
  • How flexibility is built on strong muscles rather than stretching
  • Why balance is vital to walking and how it relies on strength
  • How strength training can give you improved cardiovascular fitness without boring hours on the treadmill
  • The simple principles that make muscles stronger
  • The reasons why not every activity should qualify as exercise
  • Why you still need develop skills as a walker
  • How exercise in the outdoors can banish depression
  • Key techniques to make every exercise more effective, even the humble pushup
  • How to choose safe and effective moves that the minimise the injury risk of training, leaving you fit for the hills
  • A simple routine of exercise, with harder options to try as you get stronger, that you can start to apply right now
  • Why you should not stretch before exercise and what you should do to warm up instead.

Table of contents:

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

 

Science based exercise

This booklet is not just my “ideas” about backpacking fitness!   I include references to scientific studies where researchers have proved the principles on which the Hillfit: Strength Routine is based. When you own this book you will possess a programme built on solid science….it is  evidence based exercise, not on outdated old-fashioned tradition.

Simple moves, done properly...

Hillfit:Strength – Fitness for Hillwalking, Hiking and Backpacking is available for immediate download for only £9.95  (that is about $15 for the readers in the USA)

More Testimonials – Hillfit:Strength – Fitness for Hillwalking, Hiking and Backpacking

 

Here is what Doug McGuff MD author of Body by Science had to say after reading :

Chris has knocked it out of the ballpark with  Hillfit! Although the book is oriented to those who hike or climb, it is applicable to any sport, or even just activities of daily life.  In Hillfit Chris has effectively distilled physical conditioning and strength training down to its essential elements.  The “why” and hows” are presented more clearly and precisely than I have ever seen.  This book will not just be another conditioning book for a specific sport;  it will serve to demonstrate for all sports the appropriate separation between physical conditioning and skill conditioning.  Bravo Chris!

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

“Chris offers a no-nonsense introduction to applying proper strength training for hill walking. The techniques and tips within this book will allow you to walk farther, higher and with less effort then ever before. Use it to your advantage!”  Skyler Tanner of Efficient Exercise


Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

“Chris takes a holistic look at fitness for the hillwalker in this easy to read introductory guide to strength training. He develops a convincing framework, highlighting the benefits to the hillwalker of strength training and how it fits into larger picture of good health and positive exercise. I’m not a gym goer or major workout fanatic but I found the four exercises he highlights well described and easy to follow and even after just a couple of sets could start to feel some positive progress. Overall this is an excellent booklet to help you work towards better hillwalking strength without resorting to gym memberships or expensive equipment.” 

Nick Bramhall, lightweight backpacker and blogger at Oh Inverted World

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

“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. It considers many aspects of program design that are often glossed over when considering application such as its safety and convenience. The program is explained thoroughly with reference to the scientific literature and shows that effective exercise does not require fancy equipment to be scientific, just your own body and an understanding of how to apply the science to it. The book is written with the trainee fully in mind and I hope that this book spurs more walkers to undertake appropriate exercise to improve their strength.”  James Steele II Exercise Physiologist from Southampton Solent University

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

“Chris Highcock does a fine job of zeroing in on THE major component of health and fitness as he provides key elements of what it takes to become Hillfit“ Fred Fornicola author of Dumbbell Training for Strength and Fitness

 

“Chris has run the top fitness research blog on the net for close to 5 years now. If there is a new breakthrough study that has advanced knowledge in health and fitness Chris is typically one of the first to know about it. Instead of simply giving his opinions about what does and doesn’t work, he lets science dictate his training routines and diet strategies. His new HillFit program is a shining example of this. A simple effective program that can be done at home…100% backed by the most current research regarding strength and conditioning. HillFit will get you systematically and stronger for hiking…bottom line. If that is your goal, this is the right course for you”. Rusty Moore - of Fitness Black Book

 

“With Hillfit Chris has done a great job of laying out both how  and why you should include resistance training in your preparation for getting out on the hills.” Colin Gordon of Edinburgh Deep Tissue Massage

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

The Hillfit Strength training booklet is aimed at the average hillwalker/backpacker and provides a simple guide to getting stronger with a minimum of time commitment. For many walkers strength is the neglected aspect of their fitness program as it is seen as costly to develop. Not just financially but also in the amount of time we are lead to believe is required You dont need to buy any special equipment or pay gym membership fees to follow this program. The routine can be done at home and requires one or two 15 minute periods in your week allowing you to get on with other things in your life. The exercise routine can be scaled to each persons requirements and is based on the latest scientific research. Many of these sources can be found in the booklets appendix. Readers of Chris’s Conditioning Research blog will be familiar with some of these studies as it has become one of the “go to” sites for anyone requiring details of the latest research on a host of health and fitness related issues.

 

Even if you have never lifted a dumbbell in your life you can follow this program. A warning however. If you thought building strength was only possible by lifting barbells and dumbells and performing multiple sets of exercises for an hour several times a week then you may find your views challenged by this booklet! Chris Gray (hillwalker and fitness enthusiast)

 

Here is what Bill DeSimone commented on the book:

Chris gets it.

Many of us trainer types get so enamored of the process of working out, that we forget the point.  We study exercise, we blog exercise, we Google what everyone else says about exercise, we may even actually do the exercise…so much effort and time spent around the workout that we forget to enjoy the benefits of it.

Chris puts all that exercise information in the right context: train smart, then go live life.

Bill DeSimone (watch his video here)
Author of “Congruent Exercise: How to Make Weight Training Easier on Your Joints”

How to get  the book

The ebook is sold as a pdf file, that can be read on any PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad or Kindle and will be made available to you for  download straight away.  You can be reading it within the next 5 minutes.

Buy Now Click here to download the booklet.

Guarantee

If you buy Hillfit:Strength and do not think it is worth the price, or have any other complaint, I will refund 100% of your money.

Questions

If you have any questions about the ebook you can contact me by email:  chris@hillfit.com or leave a comment below.  Also have a look at the FAQs, someone might have already asked me the same thing.

Backpacking Fitness.  Hillwalking Fitness.  Hiking Fitness.   What you need most is strength!  Whether bagging Munros or tackling a long distance trail this booklet has something for you.

Make Money with Hillfit

And after you read it, if you think it’s worth sharing, check out how you can become an affiliate and make the book pay for itself (and more)!

Recent Posts

Should hikers stretch?

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Warm up for hiking: the best stretch is no stretch

This post begins to look at one of the key ideas in my book Hillfit:Strength

He’s there in the car park, suited and booted in the latest kit, ready for a day on in the mountains hill.  His shiny, clean fashions and serious demeanour make you feel slightly inadequate in your old, reliable clothes and familiar rucksack.  To emphasise his superiority he starts stretching: thighs, hamstrings, calves, looking like he really knows what he’s doing.  He is obviously much more serious and well prepared than you.  But is that true?

Stretching – magic movements?

People think that stretching before activity is good and hillwalkers and hikers are as prone to this assumption as other athletes.  Surely it prevents soreness, avoids injury and prepares muscles for the rigors of exercise? Strangely enough, while people are busy stretching, sports scientists have published studies showing that static stretching before exercise does not prevent injuries, will not reduce soreness and, in many cases, will actually make you slower and weaker!  (for example the latest one: Does pre-exercise static stretching inhibit maximal muscular performance?)

Injury, soreness and performance

 Static stretching is where you hold a position at the very edge of your muscles’ range of motion. There is evidence that this increases the muscle’s range of motion, but why is this good? Studies have found no proof that stretching prevents injury1.

Despite what you might read, there is also no evidence that stretching stops muscle pain after exercise.  One review found “very consistent” evidence that post-exercise stretching has “minimal or no effect on the muscle soreness experienced 1-3 days after [exercise]2.”  A recent article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine commented on an update of this research3 with a title that said it all: “Stretching before or after exercise does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness.”

Other studies have indicated that stretching before exercise may make you slower, weaker and less efficient4, not something that you want for a day on the hill!  This phenomenon is not yet fully understood, but there are possible explanations:

i) static stretching of the legs’ spring-like muscles and tendons makes them less able to store energy so that they get “loose” when you walk and so become less efficient;

ii) stretching may have a “neuromuscular” effect by disrupting the signal between brain and muscle.

It is probably a combination of these factors, but whatever the cause, stretched muscles tend to be weaker.  Interestingly, some studies have indicated that flexible runners are less efficient than those that are not as supple.

So how do you warm up?

 If stretching is not good, what should you do to warm up? Feel free to stretch at other times, but not before you exercise.

A good way to prepare for hillwalking and other activities is with “dynamic stretches”, moves that put your muscles through the range of motion required for walking, without the extreme reach-and-hold poses that can cause problems.

Begin to walk slowly, gradually getting to your pace and then introduce some dynamic drills:  march for 10 steps, lifting your knees high with each step; then kick your heels up behind you for a few steps so they almost touch your buttocks; swing your arms back and forth; finally take a some long, lunging steps.  These moves will prepare your muscles, increase heart rate, body temperature and blood flow, helping you walk efficiently without damaging your performance.

You can read more about preparation for hiking and backpacking in my book Hillfit: Strength  which gives a simple approach to developing the most important element of your fitness as a hiker, backpacker or hillwalker….strength

References

1. THACKER, S. B., J. GILCHRIST, D. F. STROUP, and C. D. KIMSEY, JR. The Impact of Stretching on Sports Injury Risk: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 371-378, 2004.

2. Herbert RD, de Noronha M, Kamper SJ. Stretching to prevent or reduce muscle soreness after exercise. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD004577. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004577.pub3
3. Stretching before or after exercise does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness Br J Sports Med bjsports-2011-090599Published Online First: 17 October 2011
4. Jason Winchester et al. Static Stretching Impairs Sprint Performance in Collegiate Track and Field Athletes Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: January 2008 – Volume 22 – Issue 1 – pp 13-19 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31815ef202

There is good commentary on all this at Sweat Science  or elsewhere on my other blog under stretching

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