Prepare For Peeping! Prevent Foliage Falls
Yes, I know, summer isn’t over yet! While we enjoy the tapering warmth and sun, we simultaneously anticipate leaf-peeping.
Autumn in Vermont paints the Green Mountains in a breathtaking tapestry of crimson, gold, and amber, where every trail becomes a journey through nature’s most vivid masterpiece. The rolling hills and forested paths invite you to immerse yourself in the tranquil beauty that can best be enjoyed from the trail. The fastest way to miss out? Get injured. Injuries sustained while hiking can quickly turn a scenic adventure into a painful ordeal, sidelining you from the trail and possibly your upcoming plans. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and through proprioceptive training we can minimize our risk of injury.
Proprioception, often referred to as the body’s “sixth sense” is the ability to sense the position, movement, and orientation of your body parts in space.
This sensory feedback plays a crucial role in maintaining balance, as it allows the body to make subtle adjustments to posture and movement in response to changes in the environment. When proprioception is well-developed, it enhances your ability to stay stable on uneven surfaces, recover quickly from a misstep, and maintain proper alignment during dynamic activities. Improved proprioception not only helps prevent falls and injuries but also enhances overall coordination and athletic performance by fine-tuning the body’s responses to various physical challenges.
Work on these 5 functional stability exercises to step securely into fall, giving yourself a better chance to prevent injury amongst leaf-laden singletrack.
Aim for 2-3x/week, both barefoot and wearing your hiking gear, over the next 2 months and reap the benefits of better stability on the trails!
1. Standing on one leg: stand near a counter for support as needed, and stand on one leg for 60-90 seconds on each foot. Really try to ‘catch’ your balance without your hands; this is when your body fine-tunes proprioception.
2. Standing on one leg on a pillow: up your flamingo-game by standing on something soft. Again, aim for 60-90 seconds on each foot, 2-3 sets.
3. Forward Step Up: stand at the bottom of a set of stairs and step onto the 1st /2nd /3rd step, lean forward and rise up trying not to use momentum. Control the position of your knee by squeezing your glutes and keeping the kneecap aimed at the 4th toe. Aim for 15 reps, 2-3 sets per leg.
4. Lateral Step Down: Start standing sideways on the bottom stair step and control lowering your down-stair foot to the floor, then stand back up. Be sure to push your hips back, keep the weight on the up-stair foot, and keep the knee aiming to the 4th toe. Aim for 15 reps, 2-3 sets per leg.
5. Cup Pick-ups: Stand on one leg holding a paper/plastic cup in one hand, bend down and place it on the floor to the inside or outside of your foot, stand up without the cup, then bend down and pick it back up with the other hand. Add water to increase the challenge! Aim for 10 pick-ups on each foot, 2-3 sets.