Transcript
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?