letuggle

Awesome that you are doing this! I loved Bill Bryson's book too....he just kind of went for it and you can learn a lot from him. Also I suggest Wild by Cheryl Strayed...she did a big part of the PCT and had almost no backpacking experience. It made me want to do a multi-day epic backpacking trip! I hope you keep posting and let us know how the training is going and how it ends up!

I tried to go to your blog but it says it was removed. Just a guess from the title - do you do a lot of walking in Kentucky? Any recommended hikes / walks?

Has anyone done any trekking in Nepal before? I'm doing a two week trip with REI in March in the Himalayas around the Lukla area and I was hoping I could find someone whose done it before! I need training and packing tips! And I also I need someone to talk me off of the ledge about flying into Lukla.....it has been called the "World's Most Dangerous Airport" after all! Yikessssss.

I live in LA and there are SO many good hikes in the area! It is by far my favorite form of exercise. Inspiration Point and Echo Mountain might be my favorite so far, mainly because its a good 10 mile loop and the views are awesome, especially if you go around sunrise. http://anadventureaweek.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/echo-mountain-and-inspiration-point-hike/

First off, I'm new to the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, so hi everyone! I have been an on-again, off-again exerciser my whole life but in the past few months I've really started to gain consistency in my routines. I've been training for a two month trip to Asia where I'm doing several really active adventures, including a two week trek in the Himalayas and a lot other hiking, biking, and kayaking all over Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Nerd Fitness has been a great resource for me, especially the posts on body weight exercises and the information in this forum. I've constructed a workout plan that I've actually been able to follow, and it consists of different types of cardio (longer jogs, interval training and climbing/hiking workouts) mixed with strength training in the form of bodyweight exercises and yoga. I travel for my job consistently and I've been on the road now for a month with another month to go. I've been taking advantage of the fitness centers in the various hotels I stay in but only the treadmills. This is mainly because I'm not all that crazy about gyms and I find I work harder on my bodyweight workouts in my actual hotel room. Plus I played high school basketball and while I loved the sport, I hated lifting weights in the gym because of the constant presence and smell of high school boys....and my aversion has stuck with me ever since. Here's the problem - yesterday morning I was in my hotel's fitness center and after my 3 mile jog, I planned to do some arm exercises in my room (those good ole push ups, dips and luggage rows!) when I saw a huge machine contraption that I recognized from my high school training days. And then I thought to myself, maybe my arms could use something a bit different today... So, I went ahead and did some lat pull downs and used the chest press. I only did 3 sets of 15 on each at weights that felt challenging but not extreme. While I'm not entirely sure this was right, I am somewhat confident that is how we used these machines in high school (granted, that was 10+ years ago) and I think my form was decent. Since I'd been training with push ups, dips, arm circles, and luggage rows, I didn't struggle too much with the workout and it didn't feel like I was going beyond my limits. And then I woke up this morning, and my arms are incredibly sore, especially the area between my shoulders and chest. Ouch ouch ouch! I've never had this happen to this extent from a body weight exercise. Soreness happens, but I never imagined such a quick workout on a machine with weights would leave me in this much pain. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any advice for bodyweight workout lovers who want to switch it up but maaaaybe are now terrified of using weight machines? Should I stick with bodyweight exercises consistently or take this as a sign that I need to start challenging myself a bit more? Or did I do something wrong?