gerardcarey
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- CFx2, CPx1
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Thanks so much for the exercise info. As I ramp up for my May/June camino this will really help keep me focused.We all get the message about walking to get fit in anticipation of our Camino right?
We get the stories designed to scare us, like, "It's not that bad really. Just consider it like doing a half marathon every day."
What!!!!!!!
If I needed motivation to get of my fat backside that worked.
But what about the strengthening of muscles other than those of our legs. I never did any.
I've found this website that details exercises for hikers.
I think I'll just try section 3 (of a 3 part series) to accompany my walking training.
The gear required looks minimal.
http://www.hiking-tips-for-you.com/backpacking-training.html
Anybody got any other tips? Don't ask me to lie down on the floor. I just won't do that!
Regds
Gerard
I did that. Not that I was seriously overweight. I dropped 4kilos and was proud of myself. Trouble was, at the end of the Camino I'd dropped another 4 Kilos. I had been wondering why I lost energy. I thought I'd been eating plenty, even more than I needed to to account for the extra exercise. I'll know better next time.The nicest thing you can do for you knees is to get the weight off.
That happened to me a few times. Couldn't get up off the ground once. So I should stretch before relaxing after finishing a section?you'll see a lot of pilgrims with "Camino legs" as in not being able to straighten up properly after sitting for awhile because they just walked for eight hours and did nothing to work out their muscles after.
Trouble was, at the end of the Camino I'd dropped another 4 Kilos. I had been wondering why I lost energy. I thought I'd been eating plenty, even more than I needed to to account for the extra exercise. I'll know better next time.
Regds
Gerard
That's what we (wife 63, me 66) did. Built up to 5.5k every morning before work with packs, longer walks on the weekends. Built up to our Camino pack weight. I also lost about my pack's weight in body weight over the year before we went. We were fine on the Camino (except for blisters - get boots that allow for the swelling your feet will experience with that kind of walking). SJPdP to Santiago in 35 days, 33 walking and one day off in each of Burgos and Leon to visit the Cathedrals. Next time we'll do some more hills, but we found our regimen was all we needed.Our training method has been, and continues to be, walking regularly with at least a light weight pack.
....I forgot to me mention....if it colder than -20C, I am at home, with the fire burning hot, a cafe con leche in hand (something else than takes a little practise) reading about the Camino (like right now).
b) bend the knees slightly, it takes stress off the knees and the hips too. Also makes it easier to walk slowly and not speed up.
Hi Gerard,....................
Anybody got any other tips? Don't ask me to lie down on the floor. I just won't do that!
Regds
Gerard
Laurie ,thanks for that link to Mundicamino!Like the threads on "carrying hiking poles onto airplanes", these threads on getting in shape for the camino are always timely, so I'll throw out maybe a slightly different perspective -- which I've done on multiple occasions, try here for instance: http://www.mundicamino.com/rutas.cfm?id=54
I think the real problem with many of us English speaking pilgrims is that we are in such bad physical shape that getting into good shape with our sedentary lifestyles becomes a real issue. Even if we're not overweight, we are just so inactive that it's unrealistic to think we can ramp it up for a month long walk of 20 miles a day. I really don't think wellness can be compartmentalized from the rest of your life, which is the way we approach it when we want to "get in shape for the Camino." I also think that a high level of regular daily physical activity is really all that you need to be in shape for the Camino. The Europeans I have met on the Camino rarely do any pre-camino training. I've told this anecdote a million times -- I asked some guy on my first camino, "How did you train for the camino," and he looked at me with a rather dumbfounded look on his face and asked me "How do you train to walk?"
I think it's hard to overestimate the toll that years and years of being sedentary and in cars has taken on our physical health. I'll go out on a limb here and say that if you are healthy and active and in good physical shape (and by this I mean not sculpted body parts but good cardiovascular and muscular systems), you don't need to train for a Camino. You just need to start slow, build up gradually, and listen to your body as you get acclimated to day after day of repeating the same routine. The one thing that I don't think you can protect yourself from, no matter how healthy and how strong, is injury that comes from repetitive stress -- be it on the foot, the knee, etc. That requires attention, too, but training isn't going to help you prevent that. Good footwear, hiking poles, ice, low pack weight, etc. is what you need.
I fear that I always sound preachy when I talk about this, and I am NOT a doctor or medical person, so I can't back any of this up with any hard facts or real science, but I think it is such a pity that people "get into shape" for a Camino, then come home again and promptly let their bodies http://www.mundicamino.com/rutas.cfm?id=54 back into its pre-Camino condition. There are tremendous lifelong benefits to being healthy, let's get moving as Michelle Obama would say! sorry to ramble, buen camino, Laurie
Hi Olivia Luna, well done!Currently on the Camino and have been wearing calf compression socks which I might have missed reading about in the forum, but have made a HUGE difference in my camino. No tired legs, no sore calves, and stretching is effortless
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