BMI For Hikers

In this episode, I explore an area of the hiking industry that I hate: BMI cut-offs for hiking expeditions.

Inside, I discuss why I dislike these and explore alternatives for hikers who might encounter cut-offs that hinder their dream adventures.

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right. Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, I'm going to be having a little bit of a rant and I'm going to be talking about

[0:08] one thing that I absolutely hate in the hiking industry. And one thing that when I run into, it just drives me nuts. I get a visceral reaction and it gets me so annoyed. And in all honesty, in the hiking industry, there are a lot of things that do annoy me a little bit and things that I see and I'm like, oh my gosh, I wish that wouldn't happen or I wish that would change. You know, it really, really annoys me when hiking guides set unnecessary speed requirements on certain trips and just run hikers into the ground. And they go out on an adventure and there's a group and everyone could go at a pace which would get them to the end fine. But the guide for some reason decides to absolutely power march and just leaves one poor, unfortunate soul feeling terrible. It annoys me so much, but that's not what we're talking about today.

[1:00] I also get really annoyed with companies that provide rubbish training advice. And when you look at their advice, you're like, oh my gosh, it is so clear someone who has no idea about training wrote this up. And this is the advice that is supposed to help people prepare for your adventures. I see that all the time and it does drive me mental, but that's not what we're talking about today. And I also get really annoyed when I see so many different situations of elitism in the hiking industry, and there's too many situations to name here. But for example, I hate it when people are made to feel bad about wanting to hike in certain places or in certain ways, or may feel bad if like.

[1:43] They're just hiking just for their own pleasure or their own sense of accomplishment as opposed to having some other reason. And there are a bunch of other reasons which are awesome and cool and people can go out and do that stuff, which is great. But I just hate when other people are made feel bad for not doing that. But again, that annoys me. Maybe I'll talk about that one day, but that's not what we're talking about today.

[2:03] What we are talking about today, and one thing that has genuinely kept me up at night a number of times, is BMI cutoffs for hiking tours. Now, if you don't know what this is, basically BMI stands for body mass index. It basically takes how much you weigh in kilos or in pounds and how tall you are in centimeters or inches or whatever you use in the other side of the world and takes that, puts into a formula and gives you a particular score. And then that score will just basically classify saying whether you are, let's say in quotation marks, underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.

[2:43] Now, before I go any further, I will be really clear. BMI as a whole is a very flawed system. And I could have talked about this for a good hour in that itself, just pointing out all the ways this is used wrong and why, you know, it really shouldn't be used in the fitness industry as a whole. But we're not going to get too deep there. Back to the specific point that I'm talking about. Companies, hiking companies specifically around the world, some of them use BMI as a cutoff for accepting people on certain trips. So by a certain date, if someone is under a certain BMI, they're like, okay, cool. You're good to go. You're allowed to go on this hiking trip. Alternatively, if by a certain date, someone is over a certain BMI, they're like, you know what? We have to cancel your booking. You're not allowed to hike with us.

[3:34] Now, this, if you haven't heard about this before, for some people, this may fill you with horror because PMI is a crazy system. And to use this as a hiking cutoff, it drives me mental because it really, really sucks. And it lets so many people down in so many different ways. Now, before I go into that and talk about why it lets people down, I will be clear.

[3:58] I do understand why certain hiking companies use this. And I do understand why it is something that is often used. Because realistically, hiking companies or tour companies, they ultimately have a responsibility for the hikes they are providing to ensure that everyone has a good and a safe time. And one of the issues that a lot of every single hiking company runs into is people who are under-prepared. And they step into these really significantly challenging adventures, quite often these adventures that are in the middle of nowhere. And they'll either be so underprepared to the situation where they hold people back. They'll be so underprepared that they're just in a terrible mood and they just ruin people's experience.

[4:41] Or at the far end of streams of things, potentially put people in danger if they can't be quick enough to make weather windows, if they're getting themselves into really dodgy situations and they have to take guides around from the group or whatever may be. And hiking companies around the world have this issue with underprepared people. Now, I'm not saying overweight. BMI is talking about weight, but I'm not saying overweight. I'm saying underprepared people who are just not ready for these trips and not ready for them. And to go further, people, tour companies have this responsibility here. And most companies, when people sign up, they will give them fitness recommendations and they'll say, look, if you're going on this type of trip, you need to be ready for a certain amount of hiking with this type of pack over this type of terrain or whatever it may be. And they'll say this. And the problem is, when it comes down to it, take 100 hikers. Of those 100 hikers, maybe 75% of them will take this seriously.

[5:34] And they'll follow the recommendations, they'll build things up, they'll get themselves into a good position for the trip. Maybe 25% of these people don't. Of those 25% of people who just turn up and just wing it, half of those may be okay. And then the other half are not so good. And the tricky thing here is when it comes down to the people who don't take this type of stuff seriously, the people who really do need to, they'll often say that they have done the requirements. They'll say, hey, yeah, I actually went out on a hike the other day, even though they haven't. They will be dishonest. Anyone who's worked in a public-facing role in any type of company will know. You know, the general public, they're not super honest when it comes down to certain things. And these people who do need the preparations, who don't do it, who ignore the recommendations, they get themselves into trouble.

[6:22] And as a hiking company, when they're looking at people booking on, in all honesty, there is no real physical way that they can prove someone can hike a certain amount of time. Unless they're a really local hiking company where everyone can get out on training hikes, there's no real physical way where they can say, hey, I know you've done this hike. And there's no physical way that they can really judge someone as a certain level of fitness. Even if you ask people to do a fitness assessment or whatever it may be, it's not accessible for a lot of people. It just doesn't make sense. And especially as companies do get bigger, there's less and less chance of companies actually being able to talk with each individual to connect and communicate with their hikers and actually get an understanding of where their hikers are at and have those conversations. And many of the bigger companies, the hikers are pretty much just faceless names until the actual hike day. It's a sad truth. And because of all these limitations here, I understand the hiking companies, they're looking for something simple, some simple measure of saying if someone is ready or not.

[7:22] Somewhere they can make sure that everyone does like it is a requirement and it's standardized so there's no lying there's no tricking or whatever it may be but it's just the same wherever you go and one thing everyone can make them do when there's a hiking company is say you need to get medical clearance you need to go to a doctor chat with the doctor go through a series of, very basic assessments and get medical clearance and every single doctor in this situation can take someone's bmi and then essentially you get a certificate saying they went through this medical clearance, they passed this and the BMI was a certain number. And this is a standardized thing which hiking companies can use to say yes or no.

[7:59] Like that, when you play it out logically, it makes sense. I get it. I understand it. But that is no denying that that system sucks because BMI is just so hit and miss. And yes, someone who has a very, very high BMI might well be out of shape and might not be fit to go on a certain hike. There is a possibility of that, but also someone who has a very, very low BMI or even an average BMI or whatever it may be, potentially not being any better. And on top of this, to take this a step further, it is very, very, very possible and it's super realistic and I see it every single day for someone who has a high BNI and even a very, very high BMI to be in an incredibly good position to hike. And these people might be getting punished for this arbitrary system. I've worked with so many hikers out there over the years who would technically be very high BMIs, but are absolute machines on the trail. They can go and go and go, do crazy things, carry full packs, whatever it may be, even though technically they're a high BMI. Realistically, BMI, it's not meant to be a measure of fitness. It's not meant to be a measure of your physical capabilities, but somehow it's morphed into this in this particular situation. Okay.

[9:13] So that's my first issue with it. My next issue with this is when it comes down to it, weight loss. It's not easy. Some people, the small percentage of people out there find weight loss piece of cake. If they want to lose weight, they can do a few things and happy days. That's probably 2% of the population. For the most part, if they want to lose weight, it can be tricky. And many people out there who do have a high BMI, it's not a shock to them. It's not a surprise to them. They're aware that maybe they have a little bit extra weight. And often they have a long history of attempted weight loss. And they have some really negative associations with it. So many people, like the fitness industry, the world industry, whatever it may be, has just this awful, awful, awful situation of pushing weight loss on people in unhealthy ways. And so many people have just been on this roller coaster of up and down, up and down, up and down their whole life. They have their self-worth tied around their weight. They feel guilty when they fail on weight loss journeys or whatever it may be. I've talked about this on the podcast before and weight loss is not easy and it can be really, really, really negative for some people. And BMI cutoffs, if someone's like, hey, I want to do this hike. I want to go do this thing I've dreamt of for years. I'm looking for adventure. I'm looking for physical challenge. I'm looking to explore, see different cultures or whatever it may be. It's such a positive thing. But then it gets morphed into this terrible cycle of weight loss. All this positive stuff gets overshadowed by this just another weight loss thing.

[10:42] And then they have to go and try and lose weight. And they have this terrible time because it's not enjoyable. They struggle. They hate it. It's whatever it may be. And they may feel a fallen situation where they might not make this cutoff. And they're like, I tried to lose weight, but I just couldn't. I didn't get to the point. I didn't reach the cutoff. They feel like a failure. And then they're having this head that because I'm a certain amount of weight, I can't hike.

[11:06] And the two and two don't go hand in hand, but it gets associated between. Or on the flip side, they may make the cutoff. They may hit that BMI. They might go and do this hike. And then they get home and they're like, cool, hike's behind me. I'll go back to my normal habits, go back to this. Most people will bounce back to whatever weight they were before. It's a very, very common thing. And then people associate thinking, oh my gosh, if I want to do any of these adventures again, then I have to lose all this weight again. And either they'll be like stuck in this cycle where every time they want to hike, they lose weight or they're like, I just can't bring myself to do that again. And they never hike again. All in all, every single one of these situations, it drives me mental and it sucks. And just to take this one step further, as I keep on ranting away, I've seen numerous situations of hikers that I have either had conversations with or worked with directly who have a big trip coming off. And to hit a BMI cutoff, they have to go on a really aggressive weight loss journey because they're like, I need to lose quite a bit of weight in a certain amount of months. And it's very aggressive. And it's so aggressive that it affects their energy to the point where they can't actually prepare properly. It affects their energy that they're putting so much focus into losing weight.

[12:17] And whether they're losing weight successfully or unsuccessfully, but they just don't have the energy to put the effort into their training, to put the effort into their hiking, to actually have the energy to recover, and it ends up going backwards. So this whole idea of BMI, it has the opposite effect. Instead of these people actually helping their readiness, it's pulling away from them because they have the opportunity to get in a good physical position, but they just don't have the energy to do it. Oh my gosh, it makes me so sad, and it makes me mad. It just drives me mental. And as you can probably hear in my voice talking about all this, I don't like it. I think it needs to change. I don't think it will change, but I think it needs to change.

[12:53] So with all this being said, you've heard me ranting, heard me complaining. You know, quite often people, when they listen to these things, are like, all right, Rowan, you've ranted enough. Why don't you offer any actually solutions? So today I'll try to talk through some alternatives.

[13:05] Ultimately, as an overarching thing as a whole, I really do believe that if you can shift the emphasis away from weight loss and actually just put the emphasis into good physical preparation, where you can encourage hikers or encourage yourself to improve your fitness and your strength and your hiking in simple but effective ways, this is going to be way more realistic, this is going to be way more effective, this is going to be way more relevant, and way more healthy, both physically and mentally.

[13:33] But I do get it. It is tricky. So I'll give my thoughts on what companies and individuals should do here and lay out a few thoughts. Now for companies, if you're, say you work for a hiking company or you run a hiking company or whatever it may be, and you're up to this point, you're like, all right, what's an alternative? I honestly don't have an easy alternative for you. I know I've been complaining, don't have an easy alternative because while BMI sucks, it is easy. It doesn't take much effort. It doesn't take any money, whatever it may be. And any alternative which is better is going to require significant more effort on the company's behalf. Some companies may be willing to do this. A lot of companies may not. And even though this will require significant more effort, it's still not perfect. It's still not going to completely fix the issue of those people who just don't want to prepare or do anything, but it is an option. What I've seen done well, and this is stuff that I've seen with other companies that either I've work with directly or just chat with, what I've seen quite well, done well, is initially when people do sign up, is just make it really, really, really crystal clear around the fitness requirements. And just make it really crystal clear that if you're signing up for this trip, we are going to need you to be able to do X amount of hiking with X amount of pack weight. Make it very, very, very clear that if this is not reached and we're not confident you can do this, we may refuse you and refund your booking.

[14:56] And also get them to sign something to the effect. Now, I know already listening to this, you'd be like, oh my gosh, this alternative sucks. Because it will create uncertainty in people. And a hiking company is a business. They need to make money. And any uncertainty when we're trying to sell someone on booking, it's going to cost people sales. I get it. Already this alternative sucks. But.

[15:21] It's an option, and I have seen people do it. And then beyond this, and beyond just saying this at the outset, because companies will often do this and say this initially, but then they just leave hikers to their own devices. They just leave hikers to this. Some people go out and do the right things. Some people just completely ignore it. We want to fill the gap between someone's booking and when they're actually going on, and basically provide information for them on what they could be doing, and do things to keep physical preparation and training top of mind. So when they sign up, give them a training plan for their particular trip that's not just created by someone in your company who is like maybe does a bit of fitness, but something that from someone who knows what they're doing.

[16:00] Someone who is actually qualified, who knows about hikers or whatever it may be, give them something there. And then on top of that, between the time when people sign up and then when they go on their actual hike, fill that gap with some information. Send out email newsletters with stories about hikers and the difference between those who prepared and those who didn't. Send out ideas around motivation tips to get moving. Send out hiking and training advice. Send out training tips and workouts and advice and all of this. This stuff keeps it top of mind, but not only that, it sounds like a lot, but so many hikers appreciate just extra information between their booking and when they go off. So many hikers just feel lost in those months in between. And if you can fill this out with good information, you're going to be really, really beneficial for your business as well. On top of this, it's very, very easy to host workshops to answer common questions. Get a professional on to come on and talk about training, talk about strength training, talk about hill climbing, talk about altitude, whatever it may be.

[16:56] And on top of that, check in with your hikers regularly and just see if they're on track. Don't treat them like a faceless number and don't treat them like just like they're sold and we'll see them on the trip. Check in with them. Have a conversation. I get it. I understand this is a lot of work. And I fully understand, you know, for bigger companies who are running hundreds and hundreds of trips a year or whatever may be, this may be completely impossible or sound completely impossible. But I have seen this done very, very well with many smaller and medium companies. Now, one company that I work very closely with does exactly this. What they do at the start of it, when someone signs up, they provide really clear guidelines on what people need to be ready for. And they get them to sign things saying, look, you need to be able to do this. And if not, we have the ability to cancel your booking.

[17:41] They provide training plans for their hikers, which they put together, but they have them reviewed by an expert. We sat down, they sent them over to me and I looked through and I was like, yep, this is all good. This is all good. Maybe I'll change this or whatever it may be. and they made sure everything's in line. On top of that, they host regular workshops on training to keep it top of mind. You know, for me, I hop on their calls once a month. I do a call with their people and we talk about different training topics. We get people in there. We get them excited. We get them going. And we do that once a month. And not on top of that is we have those workshops, but also over time, these workshops are recorded and they use these to build out resources for their future hikers. So over time, they're building this database of things that their hikers can reference to. And on top of that, probably the key as this particular company is in regular contact with their hikers.

[18:27] They're reaching out, they're emailing them, they're getting on phone calls or whatever it may be. They're making sure that journey goes smoothly. This is how it's done right.

[18:37] But I do get it because this is when it's done right. But having everyone do something like this, it's a lot of work. It's still not perfect. It's probably wishful thinking. And bigger companies probably aren't really going to change. Realistically, I think the most change out of this is going to come from you as the individual in regards to how you approach this.

[18:58] And if you're an individual who is in a similar situation this this is what i would recommend to you if you are a hiker who does have a bit of a higher bmi and weight loss is not something you particularly want to do or maybe you've had a negative experience in the past or whatever may be just be aware this is not the only way there are so many companies out there would do exactly the same trips all around the world find another option find a company who doesn't use bmi even better if you can find someone who's a little bit smaller, who you can have a conversation with, who they can sort you out with the training plan, and you can actually reach out to them and communicate with them and see, hey, I'm struggling with this. What can I do or whatever it may be? And also get with a company which doesn't focus on weight loss. That doesn't give a plan about that saying you have to lose all this weight, but a plan that will focus on pushing your strength and your hiking board. I promise you, if you can do this and get away from the whole weight loss thing associated with hiking, it can just be so, so, so liberating.

[19:58] Not only will it take that massive weight off your shoulders and all the negative connotations of weight loss and worrying about your BMI, but as your fitness and strength improves, if you're just pushing your fitness and pushing your strength forward and not even worrying about weight loss, it can feel amazing. You can feel completely different out on the trail. You can charge up the hills. You can cruise along with a heavy pack and feel great. And you'll be amazed at what you can do if you can just flip this mindset around and get away from the weight loss. And on top of that, once you actually do the trip and you're like, boom, I did this. I prepared. I felt strong. I felt fit. Then you might be thinking like, oh my gosh, all the cool things I can do. Instead of getting to the trip and like, oh my gosh, I got through that. But next time I got to lose weight again, you'll be like, cool, bring on the next one, whatever.

[20:44] If you're an individual and the trip's asking to lose weight and you have issues with that, find another company. Seriously.

[20:51] All in all, I really do feel like BMI, it just has no place in the hiking industry. I understand why it's used. I get it. But it's really just, it's not fit for purpose. And I really do hope things will change one day. With that little rant done, and I know I have gotten a little bit heated today, but it need to be said, I just want to finish up with a few final thoughts.

[21:12] If anyone's listening who is part of a hiking company who does weight loss or BMI or whatever may be, if you run one yourself, you're part of one or whatever, and if you're looking to explore slightly different ways, I'm open for the communication. Reach out to me. Send me an email. We can hop on a call, whatever it may be. We can have a conversation. Just see if we can come up with alternatives for you, which may work for your company and your business. As i said i can review training plans and help get that sorted i can run workshops you know it's totally fine i'm open to communicating collaborating to get away from this and for individuals if you are a high bmi hiker and you're like i want to get ready for adventure i don't want to think about weight loss it's not for me i hate it i just want to be a hiker then reach out to me i would love to help you know we've helped so many hikers over the years absolutely transform their hiking ability without spending a minute thinking or working on weight loss. It is entirely possible and it can be incredibly liberating just to go down this route and discover this for yourself. If you'd like to chat, if you're a hiker, go to summitstrength.com.au slash online. On that page, you can check out a little bit about our training and there's a link on that page where you can book a call with our team. Alternatively, if you're a company, if you want to reach out on our website, there should be a contact form or an email. You can reach out. We can have a bit of conversation as well. So with that being said, thank you for bearing with my ramp.

[22:31] I don't know if it's going to change much, but maybe it'll reach out to one or two companies or one or two hikers and kind of get them out of this route. Because BMI, my gosh, drives me mental. Really hope it can leave the hiking industry one day. But thank you for listening. Thank you for bearing with me. Hopefully next episode's a little bit more positive, a little bit more even headed and all of that. But thank you for listening. Have a lovely day and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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