I love to hike. It’s an activity I look forward to every weekend. I also have bad knees. And after a long hike, especially on trails that involve climbing up and down steep slopes, my knees are on fire and I am usually in pain for a few days. A couple of months ago, I started researching ways to reduce pain and that led me to functional training. I read countless articles about the benefits of strength training and specifically about functional exercises. So I put what a read to the test. I began a steady regimen of working out 4 days a week using kettlebells and dumbbells. I focused on performing exercises that target muscles that reduce strain on knees and movements that mimic those that are common when hiking to strengthen muscles that would help me during my hiking trips. It has been about 2 months since I began training and I feel considerably less pain after hiking. I find that I am able to climb up and down more easily and can walk for longer distances.

What are functional exercises?

The purpose of functional exercises is to get better at everyday activities. It focuses on exercises that strengthen muscles that make performing routine actions like walking, squatting to pick up something, climbing stairs, or hiking easier. Incorporating functional exercises focused on hiking will help you build muscles and improve the range of motion you will need to conquer the trails.

Functional exercises usually incorporate compound exercises like lunges, squats, and push-ups because they mimic everyday movement patterns like pushing, pulling, and rotation. They are usually performed with body weight or with free weights - dumbbells, barbells, or kettlebells - rather than machines. Machines often require you to move in a rigid way and have a limited range of movement. Functional exercises, on the other hand, force you to engage stabilizing muscles to perform the movements. Using free weights force your weaker muscles to engage and over time get stronger. Using free weights also forces you to engage your core and other stabilizing muscles when you perform exercises, leading to improved strength throughout your body.

Benefits of Functional Exercises

The more you perform functional exercises, the better your will be able to perform routine tasks. Compound movements improve coordination and stability. As you perform more functional exercises, you will also learn about how your body moves, and movements that you can perform comfortably or have difficulty with. This will help you focus on areas that need to be strengthened giving you more balance throughout your body.

Since functional exercises involve compound movements, it strengthens multiple muscle groups at the same time. For example, when you perform a squat, you are targeting your glutes, legs, and core. Since functional exercises strengthen your entire body, it makes your body better prepared for stress or impact which helps prevent injuries.

If you hike with a pack or carry around camera gear as I do, then your shoulders probably hurt after carrying around all that weight all day. You probably also have noticed that as your muscles tire throughout the hike, holding a camera, especially one with a large lens, becomes increasingly difficult. I have found that incorporating functional exercises has given me the strength I need to go on longer hikes, makes it easier to carry all my gear and improved the stability of holding a camera. It’s made me a better hiker and photographer. Win-win in my books. Here are some exercises that have helped me. Maybe they can help you as well.

5 Functional Exercises to Try

If you are looking to build muscle and condition your body for hiking, then here are five exercises you can try. As always, it’s best to consult a medical professional before you begin a new exercise routine.

Squats

I have bad knees and was reluctant to do squats at first. But since I started adding them to my workouts, I have completely changed my mind. There are different variations of squats that you can perform, each with a different degree. Squats blast your legs - calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps,- and engage your core, making it an excellent exercise. If you are just starting out, try doing regular squats with no weights and then work your way up. Other variations of the exercise include single-leg squats, jump squats, overhead squats, and goblet squats (with kettlebell), to name a few. Hiking involves walking up and down slopes, traversing uneven ground, and at times jumping over small cracks or across streams. Having strong legs makes this it so much easier.

Lunges

Ever walk up a steep slope with a backpack on? It’s difficult. Sometimes you have to get really low and slowly climb up. A heavy pack throws off your centre of gravity making it challenging for you to be stable. Lunges can be very helpful. Lunges activate your stabilizing muscles. Performing lunges also helps improve flexibility and increase your range of motion. Similar to squats, there are a ton of variations of lunges that you can perform, each with its benefits. Stationary lunges target your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings. Side lunges or lateral lunges help improve balance, stability, and strength by working your inner and outer thighs. The side lunges make you move your leg at a slightly different angle, forcing your muscles to work a little differently. Very helpful to practice as sometimes you will have to perform a side lunge type of movement as you navigate along hiking trails. In addition to these, there are also curtsy lunges, walking lunges, reverse lunges, twisting lunges, and many more.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts target the largest muscles in your legs - glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Performing a deadlift involves picking up a weight from the ground by bending at your waist and hips and standing back up while engaging your core to stabilize your spine to prevent your torso from arching, twisting, or rounding. You can use a barbell or kettlebell to perform the exercise.

Kettlebell Press

This exercise focuses on building shoulder and core strength. In addition to building strength, the exercise also helps to improve the range of motion in your shoulders and increase the endurance of the muscles. The movement also targets your triceps and your core. Similar to the exercises mentioned above, there are variations of this exercise, each with a different degree of difficulty. I suggest starting with a basic kettlebell press and then working on more complex variations. You can use dumbbells in place of kettlebells for this exercise.

Step Ups

This is a very simple exercise that will bring a lot of benefits to your hiking adventures. All you have to do is climb a step or a bench, then come back down. For added difficulty, trying holding a weight when you perform the movement or increase the height of the step or bench you are climbing. This exercise will help you build glute strength and blast your hamstrings. It will make it easier for you to climb stairs and in turn easier to make it up and down slopes on the hiking trails. Once you have mastered the basic step up, try the lateral step up to work other muscles and build more overall strength in your legs.