Summer endurance

This summer I’ve been taking liberties with my gym schedule in order to work on my endurance. Jogging? Hell no! Stairmaster? Oh, please. I’ve been taking advantage of the summer by hiking through beautiful parts of nature.

Trading in the squat rack for something more idyllic

If you’re looking to get into hiking, I only have one tip for you: get someone experienced to tell you about the best locations!

Walking through dense forests, climbing over roots, rocks and branches, a pretty good workout!

Rather than just walk out the door into a random direction, I asked a coworker of mine who is an avid hiker. He happily gave us maps to the most beautiful trails in the country, explained where to park and what route to follow.

After a few 12-14 mile hikes, we’re ready to round off the summer in style. We’re packing up this weekend on a four day trip, walking our way through the Ardennes, a very rural and pretty area of Belgium. About 40 miles in total. Not bad for a couple of gym monkeys, eh?

We’re going in style, though: every night we’ll arrive in a village hotel that has been booked for the night. This serves two purposes:

1. We get some comfort for our trouble
2. We’d better keep walking all the way to our destination, or we’ll have to sleep in the grass!

We booked the entire thing through an agent, so all we need to do is show up and walk. When we get more experienced, we can start on making our own (cheaper) trips. But for now, we’re not going to get our inexperience get in the way of our hikes!