You may be wondering if hiking is the right outdoor activity for you and if hikers are fit, which are good questions to ask if you’re looking to get started.

Sitting on your couch all day and not getting enough exercise daily can be a big problem if you seek to prioritize your health, especially as you’re getting older. You may find exercise boring and have a lot of resistance to going to the gym, which is why you’re probably looking for a fun activity that also burns calories and keeps you fit.

Hikers are exceptionally fit because they engage their muscles, including their legs and core, which helps them complete challenging trails and improves their cardiovascular system. You can expect your fitness to reach new and improved levels once you implement it into your lifestyle.

You should know many things before you decide to take up hiking, and these include many of the benefits you stand to receive if you take this venture seriously. If you’re a complete beginner, you should start with more accessible trails to build your confidence and fitness to tackle the more challenging terrains with ease. While hiking sounds fun due to being in the great outdoors, it requires a lot of mental fortitude, which allows you to push past mental limits and truly discover what you’re capable of.

We have compiled this article by doing a lot of research on the topic and relating our own hiking experiences with others to provide you with the best information possible. Prepare to learn about the effects of hiking and what it can do for your general fitness.

Does Hiking Make You Fit?

Although you can do many forms of exercise at the gym or at home, hiking is an excellent cardiovascular exercise because it connects you with the great outdoors.

Imagine traversing rugged terrains and exploring new and exciting areas that improve your fitness and connect you with the beauty of nature.

Hiking is also an excellent activity for strengthening your legs and core, which carries over to many other aspects of general life.

Let’s look at the most important form of hiking that builds your fitness: walking.

Walking is an ancient exercise that yields great results because it is a form of low-intensity steady state (LISS) exercise.

When you consider hiking, the terrain is never flat and requires you to walk up and down steep hills and avoid many of the obstacles on the path you’re taking.

This form of walking is more taxing on your central nervous system and actually challenges you more than a brisk walk around your neighborhood.

You will quickly find that your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes are heavily engaged during hiking and will become stronger and more muscular with time.

As you ascend the hills and trails, you will notice that you're working hard and keeping your heart rate elevated, which is an excellent cardiovascular workout for your heart.

As you descend down the hills, you will also notice that your lower body is forced to keep your body stable, and you’re engaging many muscles in your hips and legs to provide this stability.

Since there is a lot of walking involved in hiking, some of the fitness benefits you can expect include improved blood pressure, greater bone density, and engagement of many unused muscles.

Hiking can also prevent injuries in the future because it strengthens many muscles you do not use in daily life, which can fix any muscular imbalances and weaknesses you might have.

Although running is a superior form of cardio compared to hiking, it is very taxing on the nervous system and our joints, which is something to consider.

On average, hikers burn about half the calories as runners per hour, but this changes when hikers carry heavy packs on their hikes.

An hour of running can burn between 500-700 calories per hour, depending on your body weight and gender.

Hiking can burn over 700 calories if you carry heavy equipment on the trails.

Many prefer hiking to be a superior form of exercise because it does not place extra strain on the joints and is generally more fun than running, which requires a lot of effort.

You can make your hikes more challenging by carrying a backpack and seeking out hills on an incline.

If you really want to take things up a notch, you can decide to conquer a mountain summit and make that part of your plans.

It helps to build some confidence beforehand to build up the difficulty slowly instead of starting with the most challenging mountain peak on your first attempt.

Are Hikers Fit?

It is definitely the case that all serious hikers are in excellent fitness due to the element of cardio at play and the muscles that get worked out.

You may find it difficult to hold conversations as you make your way up a hill or mountain if you're a beginner.

This is because your fitness levels aren’t up to par, and there is a lack of oxygen available in the atmosphere the higher up you go.

Many hikers are well adapted to these conditions, and their bodies compensate by improving the capacity of red blood cells to carry oxygen.

This builds with time, and if you’re serious about hiking, you will quickly notice the same adaptations when comparing your first hike with your tenth.

Many hikers are also avid gym-goers who seek to maximize their aerobic fitness to be in the best position possible to complete challenging hikes.

Another element of hiking that is often overlooked is mental health fitness, which starts to carry over in daily life due to the rush of endorphins after a grueling hike, reducing painful symptoms and stress.

Hikers understand that consistency is the best way to build their fitness, and they may hike once a week or 2 to 3 times per week, depending on their motivation and discipline.

If you're just starting out, you may want to incorporate some general walking to improve your ability to hike great distances.

Hikers maintain excellent fitness and have fun by finding hiking buddies to join them on challenging treks.

Why You Should Consider Hiking For Fitness

It is a misconception that you need to hike the most challenging terrains with the heaviest backpacks to reap hiking benefits.

All this does is make it more difficult for you to begin hiking because you’ve made the task much greater than it needs to be.

You will start to notice improvements in your fitness if you begin hiking even the easiest of trails.

Hiking is basically a long walk in nature.

You do not have to worry about your pace, the hill’s elevation, or the hours that need to be put in.

Make it easy for yourself and just think of it as a long-distance walk that connects you with nature.

Even if the hike is really easy, there are many health benefits you can expect to receive.

But if you've been hiking for a while, it makes sense to make things a bit more difficult since you would take greater steps to improve your overall fitness.

The greater the elevation, the more calories you burn, and the more your muscles get worked out.

Progressively strenuous hikes can also put you in a flow state, which brings you deeper into the present moment to get out of your head and become one with your experience.

Hiking stands out as an excellent activity for fitness because you do not need much to get started.

You only need to get a good pair of hiking boots and a light backpack that carries your essentials.

If you download a hiking app like AllTrails App, you can expect to find all hiking trails near your location.

This will give you information on steepness, all trails in the vicinity, and other useful tips to help you get started and complete the trek.

It is in your best interest to download the route from the app to have GPS information in case you lose cellular reception.

Most people want to have strong and muscular legs, and hiking is a great way to challenge those leg muscles and make them grow.

Hiking is like doing a lot of lunges at the gym and climbing the stair climber, which are challenging exercises to do.

You can expect to have sore legs the day after your hikes, which reflects the many muscles used during stabilization and climbing.

When you’re pushing yourself during a hike, you’re incorporating eccentric contractions that are particularly useful in building muscle and strength.

Three of the most important aspects of general fitness are strength, muscular development, and cardiovascular capacity.

Each of these is improved during long and difficult hikes, allowing you to make the most of this enjoyable activity.

Hiking is also exceptionally well for balancing out your muscular imbalances, which is particularly important if you’re a cyclist.

Cyclists usually have developed quads but underdeveloped hamstrings and glutes, resulting in an imbalanced physique.

Taking up hiking ensures that all of your lower-body muscles are targeted, and you achieve a more balanced physique, preventing injuries and strengthening weak areas.

One of the major benefits of hiking on mountainous terrains is the lack of oxygen in the environment, which forces your body to adapt to using less oxygen.

This means that you can improve your aerobic fitness dramatically, which will translate really well to all aspects of your daily life.

Final Verdict

Hiking is an exceptional activity for building fitness levels and excellent for preventing injuries and keeping your heart in a healthy condition.

Since many people find it difficult to go to the gym, hiking is a great alternative that is fun and also a group activity.

You challenge your general physical preparedness (GPP) by attempting to complete challenging trails, which immensely affects longevity and cardiovascular capacity.