September 4, 2010

Backpacking Training

Many backpackers pay a lot of attention to their gear but pay little or no attention to their own body. Properly training before going on a backpacking trip can greatly reduce the risk of injury, and help you enjoy your trip. Before beginning any training program should get approval, and a check up from your physician.

Good aerobic conditioning and a strong body are the keys to a safe and rewarding backpacking trip. Exercises should be performed to strengthen your feet, ankles, and back. If you have weak ankles you will still have problems even if you have good boots. Practice calf raises barefoot on a wood floor to strengthen your toes and entire foot. Perform exercises to strengthen your back since it will be under additional stress during your trip. Instead of just performing regular cardiovascular exercises, load up a backpack with the weight you expect to be carrying on the trail go for short training walks. Gradually increase the distance of your training walks. It is amazing how gradually your body gets accustomed to the added weight, until eventually you hardly notice it.

Visit Lightweight Backpacking 101 for additional training tips if you are new to backpacking.

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<img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/climbing/1/0/Z/B/-/-/OR-Show-2010-213_Sharma_2.jpg" alt="" hspace="5" align="center" /> I spent last week at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. The show, held in both summer and winter, offers over 1,000 exhibitors who sell their outdoor products to brick-and-mortar, catalog, and on-line retailers. Over 30,000 folks attended this summer's show. This massive orgy of goodies includes lots of climbing equipment from all the manufacturers, including Black Diamond, Petzl, Trango, Five Ten, La Sportiva, and Mammut. This show didn't feature a lot of brand new products but instead a lot of equipment with new tweaks and twists. Like the new <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/climbinggear/gr/PetzlGriGri.htm">Petzl GriGri</a>, which now accommodates ropes from 9mm to 11mm in diameter. I'll write more later about some of the products I saw at the show. <img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/climbing/1/0/_/B/-/-/OR-Show-2010-157_StephDavis_2.jpg" alt="" hspace="5" align="left" /> Besides looking at products, I spent most of my time at the Falcon Guides booth. I did a couple book signings for my new books <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://about.pricegrabber.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.pricegrabber.com%2Fsearch.php%3Fform_keyword%3DRock%2BClimbing%2BStewart%2BGreen&#38;mode=about_climbing">KNACK Rock Climbing</a> and <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://about.pricegrabber.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.pricegrabber.com%2Fsearch.php%3Fform_keyword%3DRock%2BClimbing%2B%2BColorado%2BStewart%2BGreen&#38;mode=about_climbing">Rock Climbing Colorado</a> and visited with retailers and other climbers who stopped by, including photographer Keith Ladzinski, Lauren Lee, Steph Davis, Chris Sharma, and John Long, who was signing copies of the new edition of <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://about.pricegrabber.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.pricegrabber.com%2Fsearch.php%3Fform_keyword%3Djohn%2Blong%2Bhow%2Bto%2Brock%2Bclimb&#38;mode=about_climbing">How to Rock Climb</a>, the best-selling climbing instructional book of all time, and Eric Horst, who signed and gave away his new book <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://about.pricegrabber.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.pricegrabber.com%2Fsearch.php%3Fform_keyword%3DMaximum%2BClimbing%2BEric%2BHorst&#38;mode=about_climbing">Maximum Climbing</a>. <img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/climbing/1/0/a/B/-/-/OR-Show-2010-270_LongGreenHorst_2.jpg" alt="" hspace="5" align="center" /> Photographs above: (Top) Chris Sharma, best rock climber in the world, and training guru Eric Horst. (Middle) Steph Davis, rock soloist and BASE jumper, signs the Women of Rock calendar at the climbing wall. (Bottom) Falcon Guide's best-selling team of climbing authors John Long, Stewart M. Green (your guide to Climbing at About.com), and Eric Horst. Photographs © Stewart M. Green <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/08/11/climbing-news-from-the-outdoor-retailer-summer-market-in-salt-lake-city.htm">Climbing News from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/">About.com Climbing</a> on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 00:27:10.<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/08/11/climbing-news-from-the-outdoor-retailer-summer-market-in-salt-lake-city.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/08/11/climbing-news-from-the-outdoor-retailer-summer-market-in-salt-lake-city.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://climbing.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/08/11/climbing-news-from-the-outdoor-retailer-summer-market-in-salt-lake-city.htm&#038;zItl=Climbing News from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City">Email this</a>

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