If you’ve ever been bored stiff in the gym, you may have found yourself wondering: is hiking a good alternative to the gym? Between the physical exercise and joy of being outdoors, it can be a great choice for many. Both hiking as well as going to the gym are superb forms of exercise. While hiking does offer added benefits from being outside, determining which is better will depend on your goals.
Here’s what hiking has over going to the gym.
Vitamin D
You get tonnes of this when you go hiking. More like a hormone as opposed to a vitamin per se, this little guy plays an immediate role in over 2 000 functions in the human body. Pretty good to have around.
Interval Training
Interval training is demonstrated to be one of the most efficient forms of cardio as it burns more calories in far less time.
To put it quite simply, interval training involves rotating short periods of intense activity with lengthier periods of rest. As you hike with sporadic resting breaks, it serves as interval training as well as improving your fitness.
This kind of workout routine is beneficial even for those who are suffering from type 2 diabetes. As with every other form of cardio, this is good for your heart and assists in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
Long Aerobic Exercise
Low-level exercise for long periods of time gets the blood flowing, which in turn provides oxygen as well as nutrients to your cells. This aids in their repair and assists them grow stronger. In addition, for those ‘calendar types’, muscles working at a consistent – but low-level pace – burn fat, which helps you ‘shred up’.
Strong Legs
When you’re engaged in hiking, you move your legs in a number of different of ways not like repeating as with the same movement as on an elliptical or a treadmill. This works up nearly all muscles in your legs. Notice how it doesn’t concentrate only on the ‘major’ muscles?
With hiking, you’d build stronger legs. All your movements will get better. As your body weight falls on your legs, making them strong will make sure that you have a good posture while standing. In addition, strong legs are aesthetic and may boost your confidence to the next level.
A good pair of hiking pants will keep your legs comfortable throughout your journey.
Mental Exercise
Forget running mindlessly on a treadmill or stretching your mental capacity by counting to 12 (?), hiking frequently involves triangulating your position, calculating hours to next campsite based on average pace, following a bearing through forest, estimating needed water and food, predicting the weather as well as even calculating the time utilising the sun (if you’re keen).
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