Latest / Fit for Hiking / Ep. 86 Hiking & Strength Training: A Perfect Combo for Women’s Health
Transcript
- Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict and combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking. I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for Hiking podcast. Hello my friends, and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady, and today we are going to be talking about the combination of hiking and strength training and why it is the perfect combo for overall women's health. And we're going to look at what kind of the science is saying, and also my own personal experience and what we can gain from this amazing combination, um, in our lives and implementing this, what this looks like. Um, so how this combination of strength training and hiking personally changed my life? Um, I was I was living during a time when. I was just doing all of the cardio things, you know, like early to mid 20s. I was very much of the mindset that more was better, more intensity was even better than that. The more I could be burning calories. Um, I needed to just be doing as many cardio type activities as I possibly could. I was doing some like weight lifting type of things, but always in a fast paced setting, right? Always in like a class or something where I was not really giving myself ample rest. My heart rate was always jacked up. Stress was always jacked up. Um, and this type of approach really, really backfired on me. And after doing this for several years, I found myself heavier than I had ever been, as well as extremely inflamed. I was super puffy. You could see, literally see, the inflammation in my face on my neck. I hardly even had a neck. Um, I was just puffy everywhere. I was having gut issues. I was having a hard time digesting my food. I was bloated all the time. Um, I just was not in a great place in my health despite working out more than almost anyone I knew. A lot of times I was working out twice a day because I was working as a instructor at the time, a workout instructor and personal trainer. So I was literally on my feet all day. I was working out myself at least once or twice a day and leading group classes. So talk about as active as you could possibly be. And I was still like steadily gaining weight and felt and looked my worst. So at this point, I'm just kind of like, what the heck is going on? Because I really did feel like I was doing all of the right things. However, my estrogen was down the drain. I literally had the estrogen of a 80 year old woman after getting testing done and all that the tests really concluded was that there was something going on that was causing my brain to assume that I had some sort of eating disorder, or that I was not meeting my body's needs. Basically, I was extremely stressed out and my body and brain interpreted that as. You need to shut down hormone processes. And that's why my estrogen was so low. I didn't have a cycle for several years in my mid 20s, which is not normal. Even though I was not underweight, I was not under eating. My body was still processing it as if I was. It was the combination of all the stress in my life, because I was going through a very stressful relationship situation. At the time, I was working in a job where I was on my feet all day. I was very physically active, so I was emotionally stressed out, mentally stressed out, and then also physically just piling it on with all of these hit workouts and running and all the cardio and dieting. And so really, it was kind of this combination of everything that I was doing that was signaling to my nervous system that I was not safe, that I was in danger, that I was stressed out and my body was responding appropriately. So it was kind of a defense mechanism. It's a good thing that our body has these defenses in place. The goal ultimately, a long time ago, was to keep us from starving to death. So if you know, we were underfed or in danger. Our body systems would start to shut down. Reproductive systems would shut down and basal metabolic rate would lower to accommodate for the fact that our basic needs weren't being met. But nowadays, this shows up for us in all of these cascading effects because we're not actually potentially, you know, some some people are dealing with these issues, whether it's out of their control or it's an eating disorder. But for me, in my case, I was not starving to death. I was not in physical danger, but my body was still interpreting that as such. So this is where we get to this combination of hiking and strength training, and why it was so transformational for me, because at the time I was doing way too much and my brain was so stressed out, my nervous system was so dysregulated that I was holding on to tons of inflammation. I was holding on to weight. I wasn't feeling good. I wasn't digesting my food well because I wasn't in a rest and digest nervous system state. So there was all these cascading effects that affected my hormones, my cycle, how I felt, how I looked, all of these things. So let's talk about the science of why weightlifting offers so many benefits for women, what those look like, and some of those key benefits. So number one, increased muscle mass and strength. Obviously when you think of lifting, that's what you think of. And this is a big a huge benefit. Muscle hypertrophy. So this is kind of like weightlifting with the goal of stimulating muscle growth by creating small tears in the muscle fibers, which then grow and repair and grow stronger basically. Um, this is particularly beneficial for women as they naturally have less muscle mass than men due to lower testosterone levels. And over time, regular strength training is going to help increase muscle size and strength. Um, you might be thinking, oh my gosh, I don't want that. I don't want to get bigger. I want to get smaller. Well, here's why this is important. Number two boost metabolism and fat loss by strength training and increasing muscle mass. You are also increasing your basal metabolic rate. This means you burn more calories at rest due to the increased muscle mass, which requires more energy just to maintain than fat tissue. So fat tissue is inflammatory. Muscle tissue is metabolic. That's why having more muscle you're just able to stay leaner, at rest, doing literally nothing than someone who has less muscle and more body fat. So this contributes to fat loss. The higher our basal metabolic rate is, the easier it will be for us to lose fat. So while weight lifting alone might not burn as many calories as cardiovascular exercise, it can help reduce body fat over time by increasing muscle mass. More muscle mass again just means a higher calorie burn at rest, even after the workout is over. So this is a phenomenon called the afterburn effect or post-exercise oxygen consumption epoch. You might have heard it called. So this is a huge, huge benefit, especially if you do have body composition goals. Don't rely so heavily on cardio. It's kind of like um, just burning manual calories versus investing in burn more calories at rest. But while doing nothing like a passive income versus having to go put in your time and punch the clock sort of thing. Um, number three improved bone health. This helps prevent osteoporosis. Weight bearing activities like strength training stimulate bone growth and help maintain bone density. This is particularly important for women who are at higher risk for osteoporosis after menopause due to reduced estrogen levels. Um, so don't sleep on your bone density importance. This matters a lot, especially as we get older. Number four, it actually does enhance cardiovascular health. Does this by reducing blood pressure. Regular strength training has been shown to help lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which contributes to improved cardiovascular health, and it improves heart function. There's evidence that that resistance training can improve heart health by increasing circulation, promoting better cholesterol profiles, and reducing markers of inflammation. Number five improves insulin sensitivity. This helps lower the risk of type two diabetes. This is a big one, especially for women. Um, we are at risk for developing type two diabetes as we age, especially after menopause. So if this is something where you're kind of already on the cusp, maybe you're pre-diabetic or it runs in your family, having more muscle doing weight training is going to be really, really helpful. And it doesn't require you to take a medication, right? It's something you can just do for free in your home, at the gym, whatever it is. Number six enhances mental health and mood. Um, weight training has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression by releasing endorphins, aka the feel good hormones, which can improve your mood, reduce anxiety, and alleviate symptoms of depression. I think a lot of people think that only like running or cardio type things are going to give off those endorphins, and that's not true. We can also get a good endorphin hit from weightlifting. It also is going to boost confidence when you're achieving strength goals and noticing physical progress, maybe you're lifting heavier than you ever have or seeing more muscle tone. This is going to help boost your self-esteem, improve body image, and that's just overall healthier for your body or for your mental health. Um. Cognitive function. Some research suggests that weightlifting, particularly when combined with some sort of aerobic exercise such as hiking, may improve cognitive function and slow the onset of age related cognitive decline. Lots of mental benefits. In addition to the physical benefits, um, we also have um, number eight here. It helps manage menopause symptoms. Weight lifting can help women management of symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disturbances, mood swings by promoting the release of endorphins and balancing hormone levels. Um, which is also in turn going to help with weight management during perimenopause and menopause. The more lean muscle we have. Again, it's just going to help maintain a higher basal metabolic rate. This is crucial as we age because the more we're dropping muscle, the lower our basal metabolic rate gets. That's why you often hear people say like, oh, as I've gotten older, I just have the worst metabolism ever. Well, it oftentimes is as a result of not just having enough muscle to keep your basal metabolic rate high. And ultimately promotes long term health and longevity by reducing risk of chronic disease. So regular resistance training has been linked to reduced risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and certain cancers, and it increases longevity. So studies have suggested that women who engage in strength training may enjoy a longer life expectancy, partly due to reduction in chronic disease risk, but better overall health and improved physical function. So, as you can see, there are so many benefits, especially for women in strength training. These are all studies that are done for women in strength training. Okay, so we're not just looking at men. I think a lot of times we think strength training is great for men. Cardio is great for women. That is so not the case. Both genders can benefit from both types of training. So now let's talk about hiking benefits and pairing the two together. So hiking provides a unique combination of physical exercise, mental well-being and connection to nature, all of which can really contribute to overall health for for women and just for everybody in general. Right. So whether it's reducing stress, boosting your heart health, or preventing chronic diseases. Hiking has significantly and scientifically proven benefits that have that can enhance a woman's quality of life. Um, so let's talk about some of these benefits. And a lot of these are kind of overlap. We're going to see some of the same things in strength training um, for different reasons. But cardiovascular health is a big one. Um, hiking is an aerobic activity. Typically when you're hiking, especially on any sort of consistent incline, you are keeping your heart rate slightly elevated, not in a super intense manner, but where it's just moderately elevated for long periods of time. So this is going to increase your cardiovascular health. And this can in turn reduce the risk of heart disease by improving circulation, reducing blood pressure, all of those things. Um, mental health and stress reduction. This is a big one because not only are you getting physical activity which releases endorphins, but you're also doing it outside. And that's a really big key component because our nervous system loves to hear nature sounds. We can reduce stress and anxiety simply by hearing like birds chirping, hearing, running water. Nature sounds just naturally are very calming to us and are amazing for mental health. Same with just getting in sunlight, being outside fresh air. The benefits are just never ending. So reducing stress and anxiety. Spending time in nature has been shown to lower cortisol, which is our stress hormone. Um, this is going to help reduce overall stress and anxiety in your life. Um, and research has also demonstrated that spending time outdoors, particularly in green spaces, can have a calming effect on the nervous system, leading to lower levels of stress and anxiety on an ongoing basis. Um, improved mood and mental wellbeing regular hiking can combat depression. A study in environmental science and technology found that walking in nature settings can boost mood and improve mental health, while reducing feelings of anxiety and depression and boosts cognitive function. Nature walks have been linked to enhanced problem solving skills and sharper cognitive performance in women. That's pretty cool. Lots of awesome mental health benefits of hiking. And then weight management and physical fitness. You're obviously when you are doing a long duration cardiovascular activity, you are going to increase your daily energy expenditure and calorie burn. Um, research shows that moderate to intense, uh, activities like hiking can burn between 400 and 700 calories per hour. And the awesome part is, you're not standing on a treadmill staring at a screen that's calculating a potential calorie burn and just obsessing over the numbers. You're out in nature. You're calming your nervous system. You're doing something that feels good physically and mentally. Maybe you're with friends or with family and it's a fun activity. It doesn't feel like exercise, right? Um, you're also going to build your core in leg strength. Those inclines are amazing for strengthening your quads, your glutes, your hamstrings, and also your core musculature, especially when you're off balance quite a bit in hiking settings, like if you're doing a lot of like big hikes over rocks or having to really hike your leg over items like big boulders and things like that makes a big difference in your core stability. And hormone balance. So like we were talking about with the stress component. Uh, physical activities like hiking can actually regulate hormones, particularly in women, by balancing cortisol, which is the opposite of what can happen when you're doing two high intensity types of cardio activities. Okay. So it's going to be more supportive in reproductive health. There's actually research that has indicated that moderate exercise, like hiking, can support reproductive health by reducing the risk of certain cancers, such as breast and ovarian cancer. And it's not going to affect your hormone levels negatively, the same way that some really high intensity exercise, when done consistently, can do. So the combo why is this ideal for changing our body composition and for seeing the results that we want to see when we pair the weight training, which is going to change your physique, you're going to have more muscle, which is going to help minimize fat, especially when paired with a diet where you're mindful of portion sizes. You're eating very high, nutrient dense foods and minimizing just the really high calorie things that can kind of add up and put you in it in a calorie surplus, whether you know it or not. Um, you're going to set yourself up for an awesome body composition, more muscle, less fat overall. They're also able to then improve your cardio endurance without the elevated stress response due to the hiking. So not only are you able to improve your body composition and improve cardiovascular health, but you're doing all of that without elevating cortisol to an extreme and without improving or without increasing inflammation ultimately. So that is the secret sauce. Doing enough of the stimuli that's going to change your body without doing so much that it causes negative effects. And this can definitely happen. Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing when we overdo it with the stress, and we'll talk about that in a second. It becomes kind of negligible as far as the benefits. You're no longer experiencing the benefits and you're kind of going towards this is now harmful instead of helpful. So why is this? Women are more stressed, sensitive as reproductive beings. Meaning that our brain senses. If our brain does sense like a stress overload in any form, right? This could be emotional. Mental. You're stressed out because you're sitting in traffic all the time. Your work stress, relationship stress, physical stress like exercise, dieting, all of these things are stressors, right? So if our brain senses stress overload, it will shut down first in the reproductive department to keep us from reproducing. This shows up in hormone imbalance with symptoms like brittle hair and nails being cold all the time. Losing your cycle or having an irregular cycle. Mood swings. Inflammation or bloating. On a chronic basis, poor digestion, lower body temperature, and ultimately a lower basal metabolic rate. So let's talk about the link between inflammation and hit. Workouts like hit can lead to temporary inflammation as a part of the body's repair process. Um, and that's not always bad. Inflammation is not always bad. It's necessary. But when we are chronically inflamed instead of acutely inflamed, that's when we have issues. So acute inflammation would be kind of like just after a particular cardio or hit session. Your muscle fibers are experiencing micro tears and your body responds with inflammation to promote the repair and adaptation necessary for you to repair and move on. Right. This is normal. However, when we are chronically inflamed, if it is done too frequently or intensely without enough rest, it can lead to chronic inflammation, which has been linked to lots of various health issues like increased risk of injury, immune system dysfunction, and systemic inflammation, which can be associated with things like cardiovascular disease or metabolic disorders, as well as hormone dysregulation like we have talked about. So it kind of all comes full circle here. When we are chronically inflamed or stressed out, when our nervous system thinks that we are constantly under attack, that's when our hormones are greatly affected, our gut is affected, and it can lead to things like weight loss resistance, thyroid issues, adrenal issues, and gut dysregulation. So that's why not everyone benefits from adding high stress workouts into their already stressed out life. So while it can be fine for a while, you know maybe you're younger and you're able to just do all the things. Like for me, that was absolutely the case. I was able to run a ton, do a ton of classes, do a ton of hit, and I felt fine. It wasn't until I got a little bit older and the responsibilities of life piled on, and I was dealing with a lot of different stressors that it became too much for me. So it could be that you're fine for a while, or maybe even in certain seasons of life when other areas of stress are low. Um, but there might be times when your stress bucket is too full, and adding cardio or high intensity classes is just going to ultimately add fuel to the fire. Okay. So again, just thinking about your total stress bucket, think about all the different components of your life and the things that could be adding stress. And this could also just be like the stimuli in your life. If you are constantly having to be like on your phone or on call and you never have a break, you are always getting notifications. You're always having people reach out to you. Maybe you're a mom and you always have kids needing something from you and you're working, so you also have your phone blowing up, whatever it is. Um, that can really affect your nervous system and your total overall stress. So you have to be real with yourself about. Yes, I know I'm strong, I know I can handle a lot, but is this benefiting me right now? Or maybe could I benefit from scaling back in my intensity, just at least for a while, to really regulate my nervous system and support my body with the exercise that I'm doing? So what does this look like in everyday life? Um, I recommend strength training or some sort of resistance training does not have to be what you think of of like going to the gym and lifting barbells as heavy as humanly possible. This can look like dumbbells, barbells, bands, TRX straps, cable resistance. We're giving body weight training 3 to 4 times a week, something where you are doing weight bearing activity to stimulate your muscles, ideally in a progressive form or manner, meaning that you are increasingly changing the resistance or difficulty in one way or another. So you shouldn't really be using the exact same weights right now as you are at the end of the year. If you are, then you're probably not really feeling that challenge anymore, right? Because your body adapts. Our bodies are super adaptive. Your muscles are going to adapt to that stimuli, and it's no longer going to feel challenging. And therefore your body is no longer going to really change or adapt to compensate for that. So make sure that you are following some sort of plan, or progressively overloading your resistance training for the best, most optimal results. Um, so 3 to 4 times a week if you can. Even three is great. Um, and then incline walking or hiking 1 to 2 times a week. This is going to help you get that cardiovascular endurance. Um, if you're not able to get out and hike for whatever reason, maybe it's seasonally, you know, you're somewhere really cold and snowy, and that's just not an option for you. Or maybe you don't live somewhere where you're near hiking trails. So you're only able to get out and hike once a month or or something like that. Then you can do some incline walking. It's going to have a similar effect. Obviously, you're not going to get quite as many of the nervous system benefits because you're not in nature. Um, however, you're still going to get the cardiovascular benefits and get that heart rate to where it needs to be to improve cardiovascular endurance without stressing yourself out like crazy. Um, and then just keeping fit and long and intense cardio sessions to a minimum, especially if you think you may be experiencing some of these negative side effects that I mentioned. Or if you're particularly stressed out. So think minimal effective dose of exercise. More is not always better. And oftentimes we can actually benefit from doing a little bit less and focusing on other components of our health, such as stress management and nervous system regulation. Um, getting our nutrient intake up quite a bit. Getting better quality sleep. Removing stimuli and blue light in the evening will really help with that. Um, getting more neat which is your non exercise activity thermogenesis. So more steps and just movement throughout the day. That is not exercise. Not stressful. Um getting enough protein that's going to be huge for maintaining or gaining muscle. So a lot of different areas that we can focus on that will improve our health and body composition without exercising. Right. So it's not all about just doing more and more and more exercise. Um, and if you are very stressed out during a certain season, I recommend doing maybe a little bit less. And again, going back to that minimal effective dose of, um, getting the stimuli that your body needs to maintain muscle to experience the benefits for your health, but not overdoing it. All right, you guys, I hope that this has been a helpful perspective as to why hiking and strength training is such an amazing combination for women's health. For me personally, once I switch to this style of working out and minimized the high intensity, I cut back on classes I was no longer running. That was when my inflammation came down. That was when I got my cycle back. That was when I was able to drop and maintain a £25 weight loss. Um, obviously there's so much to it, right? It's different for everybody. But that was my story. And I really believe that the stress and inflammation component was a huge, huge part of this equation and that this style of training was so beneficial to my body, to my nervous system, to my mental and physical health. And it is continuously what I pursue with my workout schedule. I've been able to add back in some activities like running. I did a half marathon, um, a couple summers ago and felt great. Was able to keep my body where I wanted it and not bring up stress too much. But for a long while I did have to minimize the intense activities and my body really benefited from it. So if you're someone who always gravitates towards more is better, more is better, then hopefully this will challenge you. If you're not seeing the results that you want to see or you're experiencing some negative outcomes to maybe try a different approach. This is the approach that we take in our Mountain Metabolic program, and our clients see amazing benefits from this, both in body composition and what they're able to accomplish on the trail, how they feel. Um, so if you're interested in learning more about this approach and having someone just lay it all out for you in a way that's customized to you, what you've had going on symptomatically, other hormonal and gut considerations, metabolic considerations. Then I strongly encourage you to check out our Mountain Metabolic Coaching. Um, you can start off the process by applying at the link in our show notes. That will just kind of get the ball rolling. We will reach out. I'll schedule a call with you. Um, no strings attached. I just want to chat with you about your goals and go over what the program looks like so you can see if it's a good fit for you. Um, and we'll go from there. So I hope that this has been helpful. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail. Com happy and healthy trails.