Trail Running: Hot on the Trail

Trail Running: Hot on the Trail

Reap the body-sculpting, stress-shedding benefits of an off-road trail run

By Michelle Hamilton, Photograph By Chris McPherson



If your idea of exercising in the great outdoors entails inhaling car fumes, bobbing and weaving through sidewalk traffic, or circling the same monotonous neighborhood loop, your workout needs a change of scenery.

Venture off the concrete and hit a trail and you'll get more than fresh air and a new view. Powering up hills tones your tush, descending them sculpts your quads, and sidestepping rocks and roots builds balance, agility, and core strength.

"You're going up, down, and sideways, so you're constantly surprising, and therefore challenging, your body," says San Francisco– based trainer Tina Vindum, author of Outdoor Fitness: Step Out of the Gym into the Best Shape of Your Life. "If you always use a treadmill or do the same neighborhood route, your body adapts, you stop seeing results, and you get bored."

Navigating varied terrain requires more energy and recruits more muscles than covering flat surfaces, so you'll burn more calories, shed fat faster, and fend off plateaus.

Trail workouts also provide a much-needed dose of Zen. "Being in green spaces calms us, mentally and physiologically," says William Sullivan, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who studies the impact of the environment on health. "It can reduce high blood pressure, which contributes to stress." Not to mention that leaping over logs and scurrying across creeks, amid trees and flowers and birds, makes a workout feel less like work and more like play. Ready to get a little dirty? Here's a plan for adventure-seeking trail rookies.

Wilderness Workouts
Blast calories with these three fun, fast-paced trail routines designed by Vindum and Nikki Kimball, three-time winner of the prestigious Western States 100-mile endurance race.

1. Circuit Play
Why: Mixing walking, running, sprinting, and strength work transforms a hike into a full-body workout.

How: As you move along the trail, vary your pace: Go easy for two minutes, pick it up a bit for five, then sprint or speed-walk hard for 15 to 60 seconds. Recover at a slow pace until your breathing returns to normal. Then launch into a strength move (pushups and triceps dips on a log, calf raises on a rock, squats with one foot propped up on a rock) for 60 to 90 seconds. That's one cycle. Do four to six cycles, switching up the strength moves and your speeds throughout your workout.

2. Cardio Hill Blast
Why: Running and hiking uphill increases your leg strength and improves your cardiovascular fitness while also torching fat—win, win, win! For each degree of incline, count on at least a 10 percent increase in calories burned, according to New York City nutrition and metabolism expert Jana Klauer, M.D., author of The Park Avenue Nutritionist's Plan: The No-Fail Prescription for Energy, Vitality & Weight Loss. So running up a 5 percent grade (a gentle hill) will burn 50 percent more calories than running on a totally flat surface for the same amount of time.

How: Run up gradual hills at a strong but comfortable pace (you're breathing hard, but you can still say a few words). Keep your chest lifted and your shoulders relaxed and down. On steep grades, switch to a quick walk, using medium to long strides. If the route you take has only one or two hills, do repeats: Run or walk the hill, jog back down, then take the climb again. Aim for four to eight total hill climbs.

3. Power Up, Race Down
Why: When you do squats, lunges, and other strength moves uphill, and then run downhill, you'll get a balanced lower-body workout. The uphill exercises target the glutes, calves, and inner and outer thighs, while downhill running works your quads. Bonus: Doing strength moves on an incline requires more energy, so you'll burn more calories, and managing uneven ground as you descend improves balance and coordination.

How: When you get to a hill, perform one of the following strength moves. Then run down the other side (or the same side). If the climb is long enough, perform 20 reps of each exercise on the way up.

Walking Hill Lunge
Facing the hill with your chest lifted and abdominals engaged, step forward into a lunge. Toe off with the back foot while pushing through the heel of the front foot to take the next step.

Lateral Sumo Squat
Face the hill sideways and step into a squat, keeping your core engaged, back straight, and chest lifted. Remain in this squat stance as you press through the arch of the lower foot to push off—this really works the adductors, or inner thighs—and take another step uphill laterally. That's one rep. Continue for 10 reps, then change sides so you're leading with the opposite foot.

Walking Heel Lift
Walking uphill naturally strengthens and tones your calves. To intensify the move, exaggerate the heel lift and push off with greater force.


Read more at Women's Health: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/trail-running#ixzz1w1Z72pZK