There’s nothing like fresh mountain air and beautiful terrain. But hiking can be hard on your body and knees if you’re not conditioned — especially with the challenging inclines around the Columbia River Gorge, Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood. So try some of the following exercises to get you in tip-top hiking shape. Dog Mountain will be a piece of cake for you this year!
You can see more photos demonstrating these exercises in this photo gallery.
Step Ups: Start by standing behind a step or bench with one foot on the bench. Slowly step up onto the bench, concentrating on pushing from the leg that’s on the step, standing tall, and keeping your abdominals contracted throughout the entire exercise. Control the lowering portion so that only your toes lightly touch the floor. Repeat on both sides for 13-20 reps. To increase or decrease intensity, change the bench height. Using weights for added resistance will also challenge the legs to a greater degree.
Lunge + Lift: Stand with one leg positioned in front of the other leg in a lunge position holding hand weights. Keep the front knee over the top of your front ankle and the back knee underneath or slightly behind your hips. Slowly lower the back knee toward the ground, keeping the front knee over the top of your ankle the entire time. Lower only as low as you feel comfortable — the lowest point should be when your knee is at a 90-degree angle or your upper thigh is parallel to the ground. Keep your body weight positioned over the front leg — this is the working leg. Return to the starting position, and then push right off the back foot and balance for 1-2 seconds on the supporting leg. Repeat 13-20 reps on each side.
