The nature and intensity of a conditioning program varies from individual to individual. Your optimal program depends upon your present physical condition, time and facilities available, and the level of commitment you have to improving your condition.
Choosing an Aerobic Exercise
You should choose aerobic activities to strengthen your heart and lungs and to condition the same muscles that you use in hiking. To be aerobic, you must use your muscles uninterrupted for over a 12 minute period. Suggested aerobic activities include: bicycling, running, swimming, jogging, walking, and rowing. Racquet sports, played vigorously, are good for strengthening the heart and lungs and are especially good during spells of bad weather. Most importantly, choose an activity you enjoy so that your workouts are fun, not tedious. Of course, the best way to get in shape for hiking is to hike! Throw on a pack and do some "training" hikes before venturing out with a group.
Beginning Conditioning
If you haven't been physically active for a while, consult your physician before beginning conditioning. Your physician may specify some exercises to include or avoid if you have a particular health concern. Start at an easy pace. As you become better conditioned and more experienced, you'll be able to sense when your body can take more stress without injury. Listen to what your body tells you. It's very easy to be overly enthusiastic in the beginning, only to become discouraged or injured during the first or second workout. It takes time to discover what your body is capable of handling and to improve your endurance. Please be patient. Start your conditioning program at least three weeks before the season in which you want to venture out.
Stretching
It is hard to stretch too much, and most people never stretch enough. Stretch your legs, arms, shoulders, back, neck, and fingers before and after each workout. Stretching helps prevent injury in any sport, but is particularly essential if you include weightlifting in your workouts. Stretching before and after hikes can reduce your stiffness.
Working Out
Ideally, you should work out at least every other day. However, keep in mind that programs requiring much travel or preparation time may be difficult to fit into a busy schedule.
Set realistic goals for yourself. A number of moderate workouts will give better results than several extreme workouts that might result in injury. If you're in a hurry to get in shape, exercise longer, not harder.
Pay attention to whether your chosen activity is injuring or overstressing you. People often have certain body parts that are prone to injury more than others. If this occurs, change your equipment, technique, or activity.
Scrutinize your activities and your attitude toward training. If you're not enjoying it or getting satisfaction from it, you may have to change what you're doing.
Don't let the competitive nature of others, particularly those in better shape, intimidate you and make you lose your initiative for training. Remember that elite athletes aren't born that way. They get there by training. You too have the potential to be as good an athlete as you want to be.
The better your condition becomes, the more you'll enjoy hiking.
PRACTICING HEAT MANAGEMENT ON THE TRAIL
How it Works
So there you are at the trail head, a beginner, fully bundled up against the 15 [[ring]]F weather, with a ton of extra clothes, food, water, snowshoes, and other gear in your backpack. Perhaps, you're thinking "Wow! This is going to be fun!" or perhaps it's "What the @#!%& am I doing here! I'm going to freeze my butt off!" Either way, here's what's likely to happen:
You'll put on your boots and snowshoes, get together with the group, and head off. Within 10 minutes, on average, you'll be getting awfully warm and someone (hopefully, but not always, the leader) will ask "Gee, isn't it time for a strip stop?" The group will stop and everyone will take off a layer: maybe an insulating layer, or perhaps a shell (if it's not too windy). You should eat some more food, to get a quick burst of energy, and drink some water, and before you start to cool off too much, head back up the trail.
And so it goes, you may do it again in another 10 minutes, and then again in another 10, etc. Frequent but short stops are used to keep you fully loaded with energy, hydrated, and to adjust your clothing system. Short stops also give you a chance to cool down a little and catch a quick break without getting too cold.
Keep Dry and Don't Overheat
Remember how important it is to keep from sweating - you are best off if you can keep your microenvironment (that is, the air inside your clothes) something like it would be on a brisk fall day, so that you are hiking just a little bit cool, and not pushing so hard or fast that you overheat. This both keeps your metabolism up, for energy and warmth, and keeps you from sweating too much.
Some people regulate their body temperature by just zipping and unzipping their jacket and taking their hat on and off. (Remember the old adage: If your feet are too cold put on a hat!) With experience, a system like this becomes quite a boon. Remember to handle your food similarly. Lunch on a winter hike is an ongoing experience, and with each stop you should give yourself a little blood sugar boost and hydrate. This also keeps your metabolism up, so you stay warm and energetic. Lunch stops as such don't happen, so plan accordingly.
Pay Attention
Pay attention to what your body is telling you. If you're feeling too cold, don't just keep hiking, do something about it! Eat some high calorie, quick burning food, drink water to metabolize the food, adjust your clothes (cover your extremities, like your hands and head), and then start exercising immediately. You will warm right up. If you're feeling tired or sluggish, take a quick breather, adjust your clothes, and most importantly, eat and drink. If you're feeling too warm, stop, take off a layer, ventilate, have a drink of water, and eat a little.
There is always a danger of people becoming cold, over tired, and "goal driven", i.e., pushing too hard and driving themselves to get to a summit or other landmark. Obviously, this can be dangerous in extreme conditions. You should pay attention to the other participants, as well as yourself (and your leaders). Make sure everyone takes breaks, eats and drinks a lot, and is otherwise doing OK. You're in it as a group, and there definitely is safety in numbers.
A final set of tips for those people who frequently get cold hands, feet, and ears: It may be important that you take very good care to keep your extremities warm, whatever else you are doing for heat management. Using inner gloves or light wool gloves so that you can work with your fingers without exposing them completely is very important. Customizing your clothing and equipment with large zipper pulls, Velcro, and the like so that you can do some things with your mittens on is also helpful. When you strip down, keep your extremities covered, but strip at the torso and legs.
For Those with Chronic Cold Hands or Feet...
Many people would characterize themselves as having problems with chronic cold feet and/or cold hands. The symptoms usually not only involve becoming too cold, but often these people have trouble rewarming quickly after becoming too cold. If you have a problem with this, you can still hike in the winter, but you need to be a bit more careful than other hikers.
Generally, the problem usually has to do with vasoconstriction, the process your body goes through to reduce blood flow to the extremities in order to conserve core heat. While this is a healthy response, some people's bodies take it a little too far and they cut off too much blood flow to the hands and feet without periodically reopening it the way they should. Women are more often affected by this condition than men, for reasons having to do to with otherwise unimportant differences in the regulation of peripheral circulatory physiology between males and females. Older people also have more such troubles than younger people, and anyone who has suffered frostbite or hypothermia in the past is at much greater risk.
People who have chronic cold extremities and who have trouble rewarming should contact a doctor, as these symptoms may be caused by a condition called Raynaud's Syndrome. Beyond frostbite risk, Raynaud's syndrome has few other consequences, although Raynaud's is sometimes associated with other conditions which do have more important medical consequences which you should know about. Unfortunately, at this point, Raynaud's is still a topic of medical research, and not all doctors have been thoroughly trained in handling the disease