Staying Healthy on the Trail

Description

Some Tips & Tricks on How to Stay Healthy while on the Trail!

Music By: Thunder/Dreamer

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru-Hike,Thru-Hike,Hiking,Backpacking,Bikepacking,Touring,Staying Healthy,Trail,Trail Life,ZMA,Long Distance Hiking

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here today to share some tips and tricks on how to stay healthy while you're on the trail [Music]

all right so whether you're doing a thru-hike a section knife some sort of bike packing trip a bike tour anything like that it's really really important to make sure they take care of yourself as much as you possibly can with the circumstances so in 2015 and in 2016 there were a few things that snow than I did to make sure that we stayed healthy while we were hiking the Appalachian Trail so you're already putting your body through a lot of stress you're eating a lot of really crappy food to make sure you keep your calories in so it's really important to make sure that you can get nutrition in while you can when you can so one of the things that I tried to do pretty much every time that smuggles and I would go into a town to either resupply or stay at a hostel is as soon as I got to town and we hit a grocery store I would try to find some sort of nutrition so whether that was something like a Naked Juice drink or some sort of blended juice that has veggies and fruit in it finding something like a kombucha so I can get some probiotics back in my stomach or even just making sure that the first meal that I ate line came into a town had some sort of vegetable in it so even if I was getting a big juicy greasy burger which is amazing if you're on the trail but also making sure I get some salad maybe even if we go to our grocery store picking up an apple maybe a green pepper just something to munch on to get some sort of nutrition in my body again you're eating so much crap while you're out on the trail just to keep your calories up it is super important to eat some sort of good real Whole Foods whenever you get into a town so another thing that I've seen a lot of hikers both in 2015 and 2016 do and something that I did every once in a while was drink one of those emergency packs so emergency is a great little packet if you're not familiar it has a bunch of different vitamins really high doses of vitamin C it's really great to take at like the first sign of a cold but when you're out there again you can get as much

nutrition as possible so if you carry one of those it's just a small little packet doesn't take up a lot of room in your pack and it you know it gives you a little bit of nutrition that you're not going to get from all the crap food that you're eating in 2016 when I was out on the trail I actually carried some multivitamins so a good multivitamin is another great thing to have with you a lot of times I would actually go days without taking it it's just because you're you're in this kind of hustle and bustle of hiking and getting up camp and eating sometimes you kind of forget to do something as simple as taking a vitamin but super important to do try to keep on top of it as much as possible so definitely taking a vitamin or some sort of supplement while you're out there it's also a really great idea so obviously a full stomach and then some good sleep every night at the end of the day of hiking or riding is always really great for you too a lot of times I had a lot of trouble sleeping at night mainly because I had pains and aches in my legs so some good things to kind of help you get that good sleep you know obviously there's good old vitamin I IV broken which a lot of people take it's not exactly the best for your stomach you can definitely overdo it with ibuprofen but another supplement that snuggles and I took in 2015 was a product called zma it zinc magnesium and then theanine I think it's how you pronounce it theanine it helps you sleep every night so actually rest your legs and gives you a really good sleep it kind of puts you in a really deep sleep so either take some ibuprofen or take something like a VMA to help you get that really good rest that you need at night so you'll be fresh and good to go in the morning then is some small things that you can do to kind of keep your body healthy like stretching you know at the end of your day of hiking or even during while you're hiking taking little breaks stretch stretch your legs stretch your arms stretch your back make sure that your muscles aren't tight knotted up because at the end of the day whenever you go to sleep you don't want your muscles to be all tight all knotted so you get a really good night's sleep and then to make sure you're good and limber for the morning whenever you start hiking again and then this one should be pretty obvious to most people but again I kind of have a problem with it sometime but know your limits know whenever you're wore out you know know whenever you need to take a break every day stop and take a break know whenever you're kind of feeling dehydrated and you need to drink more water know whenever you are just wore out from a really hard week of hiking and take a zero you know there's a lot of people that kind of whenever you get out there there's a lot of people that kind of see zeros the negative obviously you want to get the trail done you want to get to that next state you want to get to that next mile marker but know your limits people know whenever you need to just get off the trail get a hotel for the night get a hospital for the night take care of yourself health is super important out there if you're not healthy you're off the trail in 2015 I got bit by a tick contracted a leaky OSIS which is a form of Lyme disease and that took me off the trail there was a whole lot I could have done about that I did go to a hospital I knew when I was feeling bad and I got off the trail I didn't push it but that did take me off the trail but then you know there's small things if you have a little bit of a pain in your foot and you feel like you might have certain fracture get off your foot if you have some sort of a hip pain day-in day-out get off your hip take a zero take a Nero take a couple zeros take some days because you got time give yourself time and give yourself time to rest because it's super super important again you know I have kind of a hard time with that because I feel like I can hike through the pain or bite through the pain and it's not that easy it's definitely much smarter to listen to your body take that break heal up you'll be good to go the next day so definitely take care of your body because your body will fight back and it will take you off of it you know your body doesn't want to be out there hiking or writing or doing any type of hardcore strenuous activity every day it wants to be taking it easy so take care of your body people most of these things it should be pretty obvious to people but I haven't really anybody make a video on being healthy and steps to take care of yourself on the trail

so I third I'd make this for you guys and just give you some of my tips and tricks on how I fail it if you haven't got to change it go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a lot of new photos throughout the week of some of the things that smells and I have going on plus other than posting pictures of our 1972 lark camper that snuggles and I are renovating and we'll be moving into at the end of the year so go check that out go ahead and like or dislike this video subscribe to my channel if you haven't already there's always guys thanks for watching you

[Music]

About the Author

Darwin Onthetrail

Darwin Onthetrail

At the end of 2014 my wife Snuggles & I decided to quit our jobs, sell 95% of the things we own, & leave our home town for good in search of adventure, culture, & the true meaning of happiness. We bought a van, traveled all over the country & hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (2189.2 miles). We are still seeking adventure in new places, meeting new people, trying new food & drink, & discovering all that we can.

This Channel has developed into a main hub for aspiring hikers & current hikers to gain info on a wide variety of Trail Topics. With a series of Trip Videos, Q&A, Tip Videos, & Gear Reviews, I aim to get you out on the trail and hiking more!

Hike On,
Darwin

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