Waterfalls, Wet Rocks, and What Terrain Actually Does to Your Body

How can a hike hurt that much more than just

a walk? What's up you guys? Famous Ashley Grant

here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast

where I hope to inspire you to move your body

more. Today I want to talk about terrain, because

terrain is everything. I just got back from a

seven -day trip. I went from Richmond, Kentucky

down to Florida and back, and my husband and

I, we went off -highway. And we basically stopped

at a bunch of waterfalls along the way home.

And the goal was to find all these different

waterfalls. And most of them required a little

bit of a hike. And so I this time last year,

I couldn't have made this trip. I couldn't have

done this because I was so out of shape. But

this year I was determined. I was like, I am

going to do these hikes and I'm going to see

these waterfalls. And damn it, I'm going to have

a good time. And I did. It was amazing. But y

'all, I got to tell you. You don't realize just

how much terrain impacts things until you're

on a hike. Because walking, it assumes a flat,

even surface. And your muscles, they fall into

a rhythm that almost makes them go on autopilot.

But when you're hiking, it means constant micro

-adjustments for things like blocks and roots

and inclines and uneven ground. And I really

had to focus with every single step I took. I

had to be very intentional with every step I

took because so many of those steps required

intense balance. And so I really feel like I

got more of a workout than I would have if I

just took a regular walk. And I'm sure some of

you that are listening to this, you're like,

duh, of course. But the thing is, when you're

not a person who's used to movement or you're

not used to that type of movement, it's still

somewhat shocking. Because you think, OK, well,

it's only 0 .6 miles to such and such overlook.

And then you start walking on it and you're like,

well, this should have only taken me like 12

minutes. But it took like an hour because you

had to be so intentional with every single step

you took. And of course, one of the days that

we went, the terrain was just a little bit muddy.

And so that made us be that much more intentional

with every single step we took. though it was

worth it to have those beautiful views, it was

definitely strenuous. And by the end of it, by

the end of that seven days, I could feel just

how much I was moving. And here's the thing.

I wasn't just doing these hikes. I was also doing

the exercises that my instructor had given me

before I left. I was doing stretch classes every

single day. And thank God I was doing these stretch

classes because y 'all, if I wasn't doing the

stretch classes, I don't know how it would have

gone. Like it might've been, it might've been

just fine, but. It might not have been. And the

truth is that even though we were doing stretch

classes every morning, we found ourselves taking

extra breaks every single day to do lots and

lots of stretching. And I'm so glad we did because

I don't know if the exact amount of mileage we

did was in fact 12 miles or if it was more than

that. But I mean, I counted it up as best I could

everywhere we went. I was like tracking and on

my. tracking papers it was a little bit more

than 12 miles but I'm pretty sure we did more

than that because we did additional walking like

whenever we got to each location and I know we

added extra steps and so the whole the whole

point of me telling y 'all this is that you know

if you aren't getting as many steps it doesn't

necessarily mean you're not getting a workout

so you got to think about the terrain that you're

on because every step it forces you to use muscles

that barely activate on a sidewalk. And that

elevation gain, like some of the places that

we went, the elevation gain, it was brutal. I

remember when we went to Anna Ruby Falls, there

were these steep inclines that it was just like,

holy hell, it was a lot of pain to get up them.

And of course, it didn't help that we got there

kind of late. And so we knew that the park was

going to be closing. So we had to hurry. And

hurrying up an incline, y 'all, that was extra

painful. It was worth it, but it was painful.

The thing is, a steep climb, it can feel, you

know, three to four times harder than a flat

surface. And here's the funny thing that, you

know, I didn't really think about. Downhill,

it's deceptively punishing because your quads,

they're working eccentrically, you know, like

they're lengthening under your load. And the

whole way, which is what causes, you know, that

my legs are jello feeling, it... just it hurts

like trying to keep yourself balanced and I was

cracking up because towards the end of trying

to walk downhill in most of these areas we were

leaning back pretty far trying to stay upright

to be able to get down these hills without falling

without slipping and it was intense like it was

it was a lot of pain it was so fun but it was

a lot of pain but it was good And the thing is,

we were also carrying, you know, water and snacks

and all the things. And and we were trying to

keep our hands empty because we knew if at any

point we fell, we would have to make sure that,

you know, our hands were free. And I did have

one little fall whenever we were at Tallulah

Gorge. There was a step where I was not like

completely solid. I thought I was solid, but

I wasn't. And I sliced my pinky on something

awful. But that was the only real injury I incurred.

So I'm actually really grateful. And I think

the only reason I was able to handle this without

significant injury is the fact that I've been

working out as much as I have. And, you know,

we talk about non -scale victories. I talked

about that on several of these episodes. But

one of the non -scale victories I really enjoyed

was the fact that my husband was actually asking

me to slow down. And normally, you know, in the

past, I was the one asking him to slow down.

And so that was really lovely to be. you know,

moving faster than I normally would. I really

got a kick out of that. So that was a lot of

fun. And, um, you know, the other thing that

you don't really think about whenever you're

doing trails is that your footing, it never fully

relaxes when you're, when you're on a trail,

your brain, it's constantly like scanning the

area. It's, it's trying to figure out where to

step, how to balance what's slippery and that,

that low level, like. brain function, it's causing

a constant muscle engagement and it's exhausting.

I mean, it really is. And then there's also,

you know, adding the fact that we're in the sun

and the hikes often mean heat and wind and altitude

and all that jazz. And the funny thing is like

some of the areas we were hiking, they were kind

of cold, but by the end of the hikes, we were

sweating like bad. And so whenever you're hiking

like 12 miles, it's... sort of similar to doing

20 miles walking on flat ground. At least that's

what I'm told by some of the internet gurus that

are smarter than I am when it comes to fitness.

So my suffering, they say, is completely justified.

But I just wanted to share a little bit about

what it was that we did on our trip and kind

of just tell you like every single day that we

were out there, we were still moving. And I think

that's important because just because you go

on vacation doesn't mean you have to stop moving.

And that was really important to me. OK, so that's

the physical movement aspect of things. And so

I said to y 'all before I left that I was going

to do a recap of everything that we consumed

on the trip. And so I guess I'll just go through

that now. So every day we consumed more calories

than we probably normally would if we were at

home and not moving. We did reach for water more

than we ever have. I mean, we consumed so much

water like we kept having to buy more water.

It was pretty amusing to me just how much water

we went through in seven days. But I guess that's

normal whenever you're hiking, especially whenever

some of it is warm, warm hiking, warm conditions.

So that, I guess, you know, is the good thing

about all this movement is that we were reaching

for water a lot. And we did also have like some

juices and there were a couple of sodas involved,

but we mainly stuck to water like that was our

biggest drink that we consumed. Every day, like,

breakfast usually consisted of either, you know,

what the hotel was serving. I mean, we had different

hotels that we stayed at. Our plan was to car

camp, but that didn't actually work out on this

trip. And so, you know, we had things, various

different things, like from fruit to eggs to

waffles and yogurt. You know, all the different

things you could possibly imagine were different

breakfast options. And there were a couple mornings

where we did actually go out to breakfast. with

family because we were in Florida for my sister

-in -law's graduation. So we did go to a couple

of local places and tried the fare. And then

for lunches, we mainly focused on things that

we could pack. Like we had ramen noodles with

chicken one day. We had tuna salad one day. You

know, that kind of stuff. We were very careful

to not just eat out as much as possible. But

then for dinners, we did go out to eat pretty

much every night. And that wasn't planned, but

it is how it happens. But the one thing we did

do that I'm really glad about is we pretty much

split meals everywhere we went. And that not

only saves money, but it also saves on calories.

And the first night we actually did dinner in

the car, I made a meal before I left and or before

we left. And that was, you know, really beneficial

to save money that day. So that is actually one

thing that I would recommend is if you're going

out of town and you have the ability to, you

know, make at least one meal that you can bring

with you that you can heat and eat at like a

gas station in the microwave or something like

that. So I'm really glad we did that. And like

I said, we. Initially had planned not to eat

out nearly as much as we did, but circumstances

happened and we tried to be healthy in our choices.

We tried to be conscious of what we were consuming.

But I've told you guys before that we don't really

subscribe to diets. We were very intentional

with all the decisions that we made. And and

so we had a great time. And we were, you know,

by by splitting these meals, it saved a lot of

money because I can't believe how big the portions

are, y 'all. Like, I mean. they're so huge and

we couldn't exactly save anything. We couldn't,

you know, save leftovers or whatever. So choosing

to split meals was the smartest option for us.

So that's kind of the Reader's Digest version

of everything that went down on our trip. And

I will be sharing more of this on my website,

famousashleygrant .com. If y 'all want to see

all of the information, I'll be dripping it out

over the next few weeks. I'm going to share like

where we went, where we hiked, how long, how...

much distance it was between every area, all

the things. So I'm excited that we went on this

trip. I can't wait to go again somewhere else.

We've already got a list of a bunch of hikes

that we want to do, a bunch of places that we

want to see that we haven't seen yet. And yeah,

I'm excited to do more. And that's all I've got

for now. So onwards and upwards, my friends.

Have you worked out today?