Training for Backpacking

[Stephanie Jordan]

Companion forum thread to:

Training for Backpacking

[David Ure]

"Just because someone posts something assertively does not mean it is true."

Agreed. Jennifer who posts on these forums is a Physical Therapist so I am more intrigued with her perspective. Hopefully she will comment on stretching.

"A muscle at rest that is, all of a sudden, demanded to perform can easily strain, tear, and be prone to overuse injuries."

Correct, however this is precluded with a strong, warm muscle and not necessarily a stretched muscle.

[David Thomas]

>"I live in Houston, so it's impossible to find any sort of hike to replicate a mountain adventure. I typically build my base on a treadmill at 15-18% incline or a stairmill. "

Ben: I've been to Houston various times and there are multi-story buildings there. So you can at least go up and down stairs as part of your training. An treadmill or stair-climber only goes up. Mountain trails go up AND down. And for me, if I'm sore or tight afterwards, it was the downhill that did it. Unless I'm doing lots of hilly trails, I now include some training on actual stairs – the kind you have to descend between each ascent. Surprisingly little of that – 10 minutes a day) makes a huge difference for a 5,000-foot-up/5,000-foot-down day. But as Chenault's article stresses, doing that months in advance is the key.

[W I S N E R !]

Maybe we're talking about different things, but stretching and flexibility are synonymous to me. Perhaps some people are naturally highly supple, but for me, no stretching equals no flexibility. I can feel the difference immediately.

So I don't understand the logic behind the claim that stretching (and the resulting flexibility) can't prevent injury. Maybe it's not important for backpacking or some sports, but in other sports you're going to get worked if you're not flexible.

I'm really coming at this from a surfing/climbing perspective…For example, if you can't even open your legs (doing the splits) more than 90 degrees, you're begging for a groin tear if you step off the back of a board. Can't touch your toes? You're looking at increased risk of a leg/back/neck injury. I've been recovering from a pretty bad neck injury from a surfing wipeout two weeks ago that I'm positive could've been lessened or prevented by better back and neck flexibility (doing an arch/bridge). Try mixing jiu-jitsu with poor flexibility…As if it isn't painful enough.

I've never thought much of stretching as a way to warm up (I don't believe it does anything for you in this regard), but as a way to maintain flexibility and reduce potential strains/tears.

[Virginia Craft]

Dynamic stretching for warming up is much different than static stretching.
It helps in just the ways you described.

[David Ure]

Craig, as I indicated before, stretching increases flexibility. No debate there.

What I posted was a quote from Jennifer that indicated that recent studies show that stretching does not prevent injuries. This is what I want to understand better. Is it an inflexible muscle that can tear or a muscle that has imbalance in strength? I.e. Antagonistic weakness. I would think that a strong muscle has far less a chance to tear than a weak muscle even if the strong muscle is less flexible.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

"I suspect to increase flexibility, stretching is vital but it may not provide any other benefit."

Increased flexibility is definitely extremely important for just about any sport, IMO. I can speak to running and climbing from personal experience, and it was a critical factor for enhanced performance in both sports, primarily due to increased range of motion, but also, I suspect, decreased likelihood of injury. Hard to prove the latter, I admit.

Stretching was, and is, also considered extremely important for staying injury free or at least reducing the likelihood of getting injured, by every physical therapist, orthopedic physician, and physiatrist I have ever discussed the subject with. None of them pointed to its impact on muscle length, so I am left to speculate that it increases tendon length, at least temporarily. I remember the thread where Jennifer made the statement you quoted, and asked her at the time if the effect of stretching is on tendon, but received no reply. Perhaps she can address the question now. In any case, there is no doubt in my mind based on the advice I have received from other very competent medical professionals and my own experience that stretching does have observable benefits in terms of flexibility, and probably on reducing the likelihood of injury. For me it boils down to what is the mechanism by which these effects are achieved.

I have also found the foam roll extremely beneficial in this regard, particularly in my case, for my right IT band, which has been my nemesis for many years.

"How it improves backpacking may be questionable."

I regard backpacking as just one more physical activity where stretching confers benefits like flexibility and reduction of the likelihood of injury.

[Michael Gillenwater]

Laymen's summary of the science on stretching and athletics.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/to-stretch-or-not-to-stretch/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

[David Ure]

"I regard backpacking as just one more physical activity where stretching confers benefits like flexibility and reduction of the likelihood of injury."

I don't find ultralight backpacking very strenuous at all. At its minimum, it is just walking. At its maximum, it is just walking farther. The likelihood of injury from walking as an activity in and of itself with a light load is minimal and less dependent on flexibility in preventing any injury than a multitude of other recreational sports. Surfing or jujitsu are considerably different activities that require much higher levels of strength and high tension endurance (I.e. Strength endurance). Flexibility would be more important with these activities. Just my experience, of course (not the surfing, however. Taking Craig's word).

Thanks Michael for the link on static stretching.

[Greg Mihalik]

Thanks Michael.

You've just helped me reclaim a bit of "wasted" time.

[David Chenault]

With proper training 50+ k per day for multiple days should be very attainable. Even for weekend warriors.

When ya'll are talking about stretching, make sure you define your terms first. Stretching can mean many things.

[Dave Ayers]

I totally agree with DaveC's comment, "Stretching can mean many things.".

The article cited above primarily focused on *static* stretching *before* exercise. Hardy justification to drop stretching altogether!

I'll give one counter example. Repetitive positioning can result in tissue imbalances. A sitting job combined with cycling and speed skating exercise left me with tight hip flexors and loose extenders. These imbalances led to pelvic and low back alignment problems and periodic severe pain episodes for years. After much suffering and many Dr. visits over the years, I finally got a correct diagnosis. Some simple prescribed stretches eliminated the problem and prevent re-occurrence.

Every day I see people living with rounded shoulders, frozen hips, mild Kyphosis, and other body issues. I also see both my wife and my daughter in their jobs helping people with such problems through stretching and exercise.

So please don't generalize specific comments on stretching to mean that it has no value in total.

[Anonymous]

"I don't find ultralight backpacking very strenuous at all. At its minimum, it is just walking. At its maximum, it is just walking farther. The likelihood of injury from walking as an activity in and of itself with a light load is minimal and less dependent on flexibility in preventing any injury than a multitude of other recreational sports."

I can think of several reasons for our differing perceptions of the strenuousness of UL backpacking. My guess is that you are bigger, stronger, faster, probably more gifted physically, and most definitely younger than I. Therefore, what seems easy to you requires considerably more effort, and the requisite training to prepare for it, on my part. Another possibility is that we backpack and perhaps train, if you even need to for such an easy sport, in very different environments. In my case, I have learned with time and experience that, if I am to be able to achieve my backpacking goals, and not injure myself in the process, I need to both train and stretch regularly to maintain decent cardio vascular function, strength, and flexibility. The latter has proven effective in keeping my injuries to a minimum, both in number and seriousness, as well as improving my mobility in the field. Just my personal experience. YMMV, as always.

"Surfing or jujitsu are considerably different activities that require much higher levels of strength and high tension endurance (I.e. Strength endurance). Flexibility would be more important with these activities. Just my experience, of course (not the surfing, however. Taking Craig's word)."

More important, almost certainly, but that does not mean it is not important at all in UL backpacking, at least not IME.

[Bill Giles]

I live in the flatlands and have noticed that I have trouble with my feet when I go into the hills. I originally thought that this was related to my shoes, but now think that it is because my feet aren't used to walking up and down slopes. I don't think that walking up and down stairs would help me because my feet would be flat. The only thing that I think I could do around here is to walk up and down the roof. I have to travel an hour or more to get to any reasonably steep slopes and even those aren't that steep. I think that the most important thing for me is to know that I should take steep slopes slowly and carefully and not too much at one time.

[Jennifer Mitol]

Sorry I missed this guys…

Here is the scoop on stretching, from a physiological standpoint first:

You have sensors in your muscles (called muscle spindles) that are designed to respond to stretch – both the velocity and quantity of stretch. When the spindles are triggered, your muscle contracts to protect the neighboring joints. When you stretch, all you are doing is gradually habituating the sensor to the new length so that it doesn't send an alarm to trigger the reflexive muscle contraction. So…will you be more "flexible" if you stretch? Kind of, and maybe, but only in that your muscle sensors *may* be more tolerant to greater movement. But not everyone, actually. For many folks, that doesn't happen (and you know people who claim to stretch all the time and they still lack flexibility). Your muscles do not add length, they do not "soften," or anything like that. They simple will move through more range prior to sending the signal to contract back down. This has no known physiological or functional benefit.

In terms of athletic performance, there is no evidence anywhere that "stretching" specifically to be more flexible has any benefit in terms of power, endurance, etc. As a matter of fact, those who stretched (statically) prior to tasks requiring power performed worse than people who did not stretch. This is because many things you want to be able to do (jump across a stream, for example) actually USE that muscle spindle reflex to provide more muscle power during an action.

The new "in" thing seems to be "dynamic stretching," which really is simply a series of movements that move through your available range of motion in order to increase blood flow. It doesn't actually lengthen muscles either, nor does it actually condition the muscle spindles to allow for greater excursion.

As Dave mentioned – the common finding in terms of injury prevention throughout most of the stretching literature seems to be consistency: those who continued whatever "stretching" program they were on stayed the most injury free…and those who tried to change it up (adding stretching when they didn't before, or getting rid of it if they did it) were the ones who got hurt more frequently.

I can get more specific literature citations and quotes if you want them. There is actually quite a bit being published on this recently (as evidenced by the NYTimes article).

Hope that's helpful…

[Rex Sanders]

Jennifer,

Thanks for your post. Certainly seems like stretching before exercise has limited benefit. Warming up helps, but you can do that by taking it easy for a little while at the beginning.

For me, a few minutes of gently stretching major muscles after a long day of hiking dramatically reduces aches and pains the next day.

But I don't know why that works.

Any thoughts?

— Rex

[Jennifer Mitol]

Good point Rex, and I feel the same way personally. I love to stretch after a long day of doing anything – be it sitting still (need to open up those bent hips!) or hiking all day. There is an endorphin release that happens in these situations, and this is why many of us feel really good when we stretch after a difficult (or sustained) bout of (in)activity.

Anything that changes what has been happening repetitively will feel good – i.e. sitting all day then you want to go for a long walk or run (legs bent all day – now they are being pulled into extension), or static stretching for long slow holds if you have been walking or running for a long time. It's a change in activity and movement direction and this is always a good thing.

I don't want to come out against stretching by any means – as I said I do it myself and it feels great. But I think the important thing to come away with as a backpacker is to appreciate that you aren't really DOING anything to the physiology of your muscle, you don't HAVE to do it (but if you do and you like it…great!).

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