Is hiking cardio?

[Rob del Desierto]

I was talking with my wife about how I am trying to get in better shape by hiking more and doing sit ups, etc.
She said that those things basically don't matter - you have to do "cardio" on an elliptical machine to burn fat. I left it at that because I was on my way out the door to work, but I am curious for both facts and opinions: Does hiking help you lose weight and get in shape? Is it "cardio"?

[BobP]

I personally wouldn't call it cardio unless you're trail running. Can hiking help you lose weight? yes... And get in shape? yes. Will it depends on the person and a bunch of other factors like diet,genetics,etc.

[chumley]

Depends on the person, trail, and how they do it.

Let's face facts. An obese person who goes for a simple walk around the neighborhood could be getting a needed cardio workout. It really depends on what your heart is used to doing.

For some people, bench pressing 20 pounds is exercise. With repetition over time, slowly their muscles build and they can add weight. Soon they need to bench 200 pounds to get the same results. The heart isn't that different.

[joe bartels]

If you're raising your heart rate it would seem to be cardio, no?

Tell her to come hike Squaw with me (no running) and then decide

[Alston Neal]

Hiking the Peaks, yes.
Spur Cross, sometimes.
PV Mall, not so much.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Rob, it counts as long as you don't stop at McDonalds on the way out and Wendy"s on the way back....

[imike]

when in doubt, strap on a heart rate monitor! If you are hitting 60% of your maximal heart rate...low cardio. If you drift over 80% of your maximal heart rate, you're scoring impressive cardio... throw in a bit harder effort and enjoy the benefits inherent to high cardio, including a shot of natural human growth harmone!!

[Darth Stiller]

If you think of it as comparing cardio vs. muscle building, absolutely. If you want to argue the its merits in terms of conditioning, you might have a point, but it's still essentially a calorie burning activity for the most part, which I think most people think of as cardio.

I would say as a general rule, the amount of AEG on any hike determines how intense of a cardio exercise that hike is.

[Al_HikesAZ]

As others have mentioned, hiking can be "cardio" under the traditional definition as long as you elevate your heartrate appropriately.
One of the big things now in cardio is HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training (goes by various other names such as Tabata) . With short high intensity blasts at max then a recovery period. Sprint then rest. Very big with the running and bicycling crowds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten ... l_training

Studies by Tabata[2], Tremblay[5] and others have explored the effectiveness of this method compared to traditional endurance training methods. A study by Gibala et al.[6] demonstrated 2.5 hours of sprint interval training produced similar biochemical muscle changes to 10.5 hours of endurance training and similar endurance performance benefits. According to a study by King [7] , HIIT increases the resting metabolic rate (RMR) for the following 24 hours due to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and may improve maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) more effectively than doing only traditional, long aerobic workouts.[8][9][10][11]

Long aerobic workouts have been promoted as the best method to reduce fat, as fatty acid utilization usually occurs after at least 30 minutes of training.[citation needed] HIIT is somewhat counterintuitive in this regard, but has nonetheless been shown to burn fat more effectively.[citation needed] There may be a number of factors that contribute to this, including an increase in RMR, and possibly other physiological effects.[citation needed]

The Tabata advocates that I know would not say that hiking isn't "cardio" they would (likely) say that it's just not the best and most efficient cardio.

[big_load]

Al_HikesAZ summed it up pretty well for me.

[Sun Ray]

Lots and lots of various schools of thought on this but generally this is published the most. Low intensity exercise burns more fat calories that high intensity. Take 220 minus your age and multiply by 60-65% for your low intensity range and 80-85% for your high intensity range. Lets use my age as an example: age 62, 220-62=158 my maximum heart rate (this is a quick and dirty formula there are others based on your early AM resting HR). 60% of 158 is 95 HR, 65% is 103 HR. So.... the most effective way for me to burn fat is to do long slow exercise in this 95 to 103 range. For cardio (best for the heart muscle) you'd need to be in the higher range of 80-85%. BUT go faster at a higher heart rate and you burn more overall calories. The short, fast cardio first burns the sugar/simple starch you have in your system....then when that's gone it has to burn fat for the fuel your body needs. For me I do both....hikes or elliptical in a high heart rate range and those long, slow, oh so enjoyable, hikes.

[tibber]

I believe, as we were sitting at the bottom of the Siphon Draw basin, one of the guys I was with had a monitor and he said he had burned 3500 calories (after Flatiron and Peak 5024). I know I was hungry for days afterward .

[Jim_H]

When I do Humphrey in winter I like to take my HR. In the Dutchman Glade, my rate is usually running about 140 to 150 BPM, if that isn't cardio, I don't know what is. I avoid gyms like the plague. They stink, they're boring, and I don't want to pay for that, plus you might have a lot of annoying rats there. Not so on the trail, unless you do Squaw Peak or some of the other popular urban hikes where I have seen that. When I moved to Flagstaff from NJ back in 2006 I was doing Elden a lot. In the 3 months or so after moving out here, I dropped 15 pounds and really improved my cardio and leg strength. I can't think of any reason hiking at a sufficient pace wouldn't be cardio.

This graphic may help determine if you are excercising at an acceptable cardio level, which would improve your overall fitness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exercise_zones.png

[joe bartels]

They stink, they're boring, and

yeah and basically a staph infection incubator

[BobP]

Everyone has deferring views on what they think cardio is or isn't. One of the top ten cardio workouts is walking which can elevate your heart rate. Do I think walking is a cardio workout....no. Can it be? yes Can hiking be? yes Do I think it is in most cases? no.

[Jim_H]

They stink, they're boring, and

yeah and basically a staph infection incubator

and when the equipment gets old and dirty it's real pleasure to use.

[VVebb]

Hmmm, I wrote a somewhat lengthy response to this question a bit ago when I was supposed to be working, and it disappeared for some reason. Karma, I guess.

The simplest rule I've heard is that you're at your "Target Heart Rate" if you can carry on a conversation but cannot sing a tune while exercising. The idea is that if you can sing a tune while exercising, you're not pushing your heart hard enough to gain any real benefit, but if you are exercising so intensely that you can't carry on a conversation, then you're ABOVE your Target Heart Rate and risking heart failure or the like. This rule probably requires the least investment in equipment (e.g. heart rate monitor) and the least amount of math (e.g. Target Heart Rate formula).

[joe bartels]

So if you get pissed off and your heart rate increases is that cardio?

[juliachaos]

And what about adrenaline rushes? I've been in some spots where my heart rate's through the roof but I'm not moving.

[BobP]

The idea is that if you can sing a tune while exercising, you're not pushing your heart hard enough to gain any real benefit

Joe Bartels sings while hiking...therefore hiking is not cardio