How To Prevent Foot Pain While Hiking

​Foot pain (in all its shapes and forms) is a pressing issue many hikers struggle with.
 
Unfortunately, the usual solutions many hikers try for this (such as trying a different shoe and/or doing some rolling with the ball) will only get you so far...
 
Foot pain is a multi-faceted issue. And if you are not taking a comprehensive approach, you will likely not see the change you want (and it will continue to plague your hiking adventures!)
 
To help here, this video details a few areas of training that can often make a significant difference for a hiker's feet.

Preventing Plantar Pain While Hiking

​Inside, we cover:

•  Why foot pain is so common in the hiking and backpacking community
• Why the typical solutions to foot pain for hikers will often fall short
•  Two crucial types of strengthening for any hikers who struggle with foot pain
•  How to build foot strength for hiking 
•  A simple way to 'fill the gap' between general training and the specific demands of hiking
•  Theory and examples of how mobility can help the feet for hikers 
•  An overview of load management and why this is crucial for the feet 

 
These are not 'quick fix' solutions. But, if you work through them consistently and diligently, they can almost always make a positive change to a hiker's feet (and enjoyment) on the trail.

Video Chapters:
0:09 Introduction to Foot Pain
0:16 
Understanding Foot Pain Causes
3:22 
Strategies for Strengthening Feet For Hiking
7:12 
General Foot Pain Approach For Hikers
8:39 
Why Foot Pain is Common For Hikers
10:46 
Typical Solutions for Foot Pain
12:30 
Comprehensive Approach to Foot Pain
13:07 
Direct Strengthening for the Feet While Hiking
21:33 
The Role of Foot Exercises
23:33 
General Leg Strengthening For Hiking 
27:31 
Avoiding Foot-Specific Exercises
28:09 
Benefits of Mobility For Foot Pain While Hiking
39:08 
Exploring Mobility Techniques
46:16 
Importance of Load Management
55:04 
Conclusion and Support Options

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You can access it here: https://summitstrength.com.au/strength-mini-course

Need some personalised help with your training for hiking?

Check out the Online Summit Program here: https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online.html

Episode Transript:

​[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's presentation,

[0:04] we are diving into the topic of preventing foot pain for hikers.

[0:10] And foot pain in all its different shapes and forms is such a big issue in the hiking community. So today we're going to be getting into a little bit of detail around a range of different ideas and strategies you can use with your training to make a little bit of a difference with this. So before we get into things, I just do want to do a quick little overview of kind of who I am and where I'm coming from today, in case you haven't come across my stuff before. Basically, my name is Rowan Smith. I'm the founder of Summit Strength, which is an online personal training service which specializes in working with hikers. Now, essentially, we typically help hikers in one of three different situations. Number one, they have a big trip coming up, and they want to be doing everything they can to make sure they not only get through the trip, but have a good time throughout. We also work with a lot of hikers who do struggle with some type of ache, pain or injury in one shape or another. And that's kind of the context we're talking through today. And we also work with a lot of hikers who may not have a big trip coming up, may not have an ache or pain, but they do feel like their physical condition, their physical fitness is holding them back a little bit. And essentially over the years, I've been doing this for years and years and years now, I personally trained and prepared over 400 hikers from every type of trip imaginable. These days, it's not just me working through Summit Strength. We do You have a bit of a team around us and we help hikers every single day prepare for their adventures.

[1:26] Now, important to note before I get into things in the context that we're talking through on this today is my role. And my profession i'm not a physiotherapist i'm not a physical therapist i'm not a podiatrist i do not try to fill that role i do not try to replace those types of people i do not try to do the things that they are there for um essentially my role when it comes down to pain for hiking or other aches and pains is i'm what we call a return to performance specialist.

[1:56] In the sense that when it comes down to to the typical traditional rehab through a physio physical therapist, podiatrist, we have an issue, we have a pain, we have an injury, we go see this specialist. We'll work with a specialist, get some ideas, get some help and they're pretty good typically at getting us ready for everyday life in the sense that they'll help reduce the initial stages of pain, help us work through these early stages of injury and get us ready to this stage where we're kind of cleared to go out and live our everyday life and cleared the normal exercise. And for a lot of people this works out pretty well. However, when we're talking about hikers, obviously hiking has some pretty challenging demands compared to just every day. We've got long days on the trail, we've got rough terrain, we've got packed cattle, we've got all these different bits and pieces that make hiking pretty challenging. And sometimes there can be a little bit of a gap between what we get ready for through the traditional rehab model of being ready for everyday life and actually being ready for the trail. And a lot of hikers tend to find themselves in this reoccurring issue where they'll get an injury, get a pain, they'll go through their specialist, work up to the point where they're released for exercise, but then they'll go out hiking again and they'll get into pain again. And it just ends this recurring thing. So essentially my role is I kind of fill this gap and I take people who are out of their initial stages of rehab, out of that initial stage of the things, and I help build them up so they are ready to get out on these challenging adventures and have a good time. So that's what the context we're talking through things today.

[3:23] So, basically what we are going to be covering on this video today is a few bits and pieces. Number one, we're going to be going through some ideas around strengthening and supporting muscles of the feet. Very, very important. We're going to talk through a simple way in which you can sort of fill the gap between the sort of general training that we're going to talk about in a moment and also the specific demands of hiking. We're going to go through some theory and examples of how mobility and stretching can help the hip feet potentially and also an overview of load management and why this is crucial for your feet and it's a really important subject. Now, a few things that we're not going to be covering today, just to be clear from the outset, is we're not going to be going into full training plans or workouts because, you know, that's well beyond the scope of this video. We're not going to be giving advice around specific diagnoses. As I said, I'm not a physio. I'm not looking to diagnose people's feet or anything like that. So, we're not going to be talking about, hey, if you have tendonitis or, hey, if you have plantar fasciitis or anything like that. We're going to be talking about the feet as a whole in a little bit more general terms.

[4:21] We're not going to be getting into footwear, orthotics and gear because that's a whole different topic a little bit beyond today. And we're not going to be talking about pain relief strategies. So just make sure you know what we're talking about today before we go any further. So, next thing I want to cover, again, before we get in this, let's just define foot pain and kind of what I'm talking through in the context today, because it is very important that, again, we're going through with the right set of eyes, the right context, and you know what I'm sort of talking about here. Now, ultimately, when it comes down to it, the feet are pretty complicated. There's lots going on, lots of muscles, lots of joints, lots of things going on the feet. They're not a very complicated, not a very simple part of your body. Now, quite often when people are dealing with different types of foot pain.

[5:03] And they'll be like, hey, I've got sore feet, I've got this and that. They'll go online, they'll go to blog articles, YouTube, and they'll go on Facebook, whatever it may be, and say, I have this type of pain, what should I do? And this is really a big losing battle. Because ultimately, anyone trying to diagnose or give specific recommendations around one person's foot pain online is honestly finding a really, really big losing battle. Because when we often sort of like you know the feet are very very complicated and one of the most common things and that often gets talked about is what's called plantar heel pain so that you know that type of pain um in your heels when you're walking what I mean but now a common trend in the world of hiking in the world of online is someone will say hey I get pain in the heels and automatically everyone will start talking about plantar fasciitis they'll say you have plantar fasciitis I had plantar fasciitis in the past I did these exercises you should be fixed or someone will be like oh i've got pain here i and i just assume i have plantar fasciitis or whatever it may be but when it comes down to plantar fasciitis or this type of plantar heel pain is if we really really look at it there are up to 30 different reasons why someone may be getting this type of plantar heel pain not just plantar fasciitis that is one reason but there's a broad other things that look very very similar and feel very very similar but they're different diagnosis so essentially when we're looking at feet they're very very complicated and trying to self-diagnose or diagnose someone else online. It's just an absolute losing battle. You need to be aware of this.

[6:31] Today, we are not talking about specific foot diagnoses. We're not talking about tendinitis, flasciitis, this and that. We're talking about foot pain in a more generalized sense. And we're talking about you get pain somewhere in your feet. The ideas that we're going to be talking about today will probably help that. Now, this is typically how I approach my hikers because again, you know, I do online personal training. I'm not a physiotherapist. I'm not a podiatrist. It's not my role to diagnose issues, but someone can come to me and say, hey, I get foot pain when I'm hiking this is kind of where it hurts I can say all right I don't have a particular diagnosis unless someone goes to see their specialist but I can give you a range of strategies a range of ideas and help build certain things up which is probably going to help. So we're taking a little bit more of a generalized context today.

[7:13] Now the information we're going to be presenting today is probably going to be beneficial for the majority of hikers who struggle with different types of foot pain and struggle with their feet. Now best case scenario me not knowing your particular issue. Best case scenario, the information that we talked through today, if you put into action, apply, absolute best case scenario, it'll be exactly what you need to get on top of your foot pain. You do it, you apply it, you stick with it, and all of a sudden you're feeling.

[7:36] Worst case scenario on the flip side of things when it comes to your specific situation there may be some pieces missing from your context in your particular situation some of the thing your particular diagnosis may need a few extra bits and pieces to help but the information and ideas that we're going to present today is probably still going to be beneficial in one way or another for your feet and also for your hiking as a whole so that's the context we're looking at today we're looking a bit more of a generalized sense which it's going to be beneficial for 99% of hikers regardless of what particular issue you have. However, there may be some people who need to work with a specialist, get a little bit more honed in beyond what we're talking about. Now, if you do want to get a little bit more specific on this type of stuff and really be aware, what you do need to do is just go and talk to someone about your thing. See a physiotherapist, a physical therapist, or a podiatrist. Have a chat with them, get them to poke around, get them to look at your stuff, and get them to give you a specific diagnosis and a specific action plan of attack if you need to get a little bit more honed in it.

[8:35] So, with that being said, let's go into why foot pain is so common for hikers. Like, you know, it's pretty common sense, but, you know, foot pain, massive, massive issue in the hiking community. It really comes down to a few reasons. You know, obviously long periods of walking, hours and hours and days and weeks or whatever it may be of walking puts a fair amount of pressure on the feet. We've got the added external load. So, pack carrying, day pack, full pack for every extra kilo we carry on our back it does put quite a bit of a disproportionate amount of extra force through our feet so that's a big factor we've got the uneven nature of the trail obviously we're sort of you know it's not smooth surface we've got rocks potholes roots um our feet are doing weird and wonderful things and sometimes that can contribute um fatigue you know fatigue and exhaustion are big risk factors when it comes down to the presentation of pain and injury on the trail and we do get a lot of that on the trail.

[9:24] Footwear changes hikers love to change what um what they're wearing um boots um trail runners zero drop shoes um hiking shoes whatever it may be and one of the things when it comes down to your feet is there's pros and cons for every different type of footwear but when we change from one thing to another the the feet do take a bit of an adjustment period which a lot of hikers don't really respect enough and that can be a risk factor um and hiking speed sometimes like one of the big risk factors for foot pain flaring up on the trail is when we have to hike or walk at a speed that we're not quite used to. We can get through it, we can survive, but our feet end up taking a fair amount of extra pressure that it's not used to. And quite often with hiking, we get thrown out on adventures where we're with a group, which is just quicker than we're used to, or maybe a friend who's a little bit speedy. This is something not a lot of people don't really think about, but it is a factor. Now, by themselves, each of these, if you put them in isolation, they're usually not that big a deal, like, you know, or even two or three of these are not a big deal. But if you put them all together or put a bunch of these together, it can create a bit of a perfect storm for foot pain. So we need to respect this. We need to think about this. Now, as I usually say in these types of presentations, a lot of this stuff we cannot really control. We can't control the external loads. We do have to carry water and food on our back. We can't really control what the trail is going to look like to a degree. But we can control how we prepare for this type of thing and how we approach them. So that's what we're looking through today.

[10:46] Now, the typical solution for hikers with foot pain, and this is something I see over and over and over again from people online, people I speak to, people I work with, is ultimately when it comes down to foot pain. Someone's like, I've got foot pain, I'm looking for advice. And someone tells them to do one thing in the sense that someone will say, hey, I had pain here, then I did rolling with a ball on the bottom of my foot and that fixed me. Or calf raises or fancy foot exercises or brand new shoes or a certain type of orthotics or whatever it may be. And many hikers fall into this trap of thinking, okay, I have an issue. I'm going to do this one thing. And if I just do enough of this, or I do the right thing, or I find the right type of pair of shoes, that's going to fix my issue. But unfortunately, it's very, very, very rarely as simple as this. Foot pain in all different shapes and forms are what we call multifaceted issues, meaning it's not just one thing that leads to your pain or in 99% of situations, not just one thing, one muscle that's tight, one muscle that's weak or whatever it may be, but it's a range of different things coming together. And the one thing causing pain is a very, very old school approach, which still does get pushed quite a bit today, but.

[12:00] It's a little bit, it does fall short. And that's what's something that I see so many hikers fall into, but we need to change. It is very, very, very rare that focusing on one or even two things will make a dramatic difference in itself. If anyone is saying this, and you see this all the time on videos or on people on commenting on posts, and they say, just do this one thing, it clicks me, really, really comment online. You just need to consider, does this person really know what they're talking about? And if someone is saying, just do this one exercise or this one thing, they probably don't really know what they're talking about, to be honest.

[12:30] Instead, to really give yourself a good chance of overcoming this type of thing, because foot pain can just be so pervasive and just so annoying and just so frustrating, you need to take a bit more of a comprehensive approach. And you need to look at it a bit of a bigger picture and make sure you are targeting a bunch of different areas to give yourself the best chance. So ultimately, what we're covering today is building up strength for the feet, mobility, load management, and they are three big things that can make a big difference. Now, by no means are these the whole picture, because if I was talking about the whole picture, we'd be here for 10 hours on a video, and even more. These are three areas that are going to be really, really valuable for you to look into.

[13:07] So let's start with this strength. Strength, building up strength for the feet, very, very, very valuable. Now, first place we want to look at is what we call direct strengthening for the feet. And essentially what this is, it involves strengthening the structures and muscles which directly support the feet. It's pretty straightforward, pretty sensible. So we think about what's actually connecting to the feet, what's actually directly working the feet, how can we strengthen them up? Now, ultimately, if we can build up strength, tolerance, and resilience in these muscles and these structures as well, we can reduce the risk of both pain and injury. Pretty straightforward, pretty simple. Now, the main areas typically when it comes to just talking about general foot pain as a whole are the calves. Essentially, the calves, lower limbs like these muscles here on the video, lower limbs here at the back of the legs, essentially these particular muscles, they directly support the feet. So, they directly will do quite a bit in regard to supporting the feet.

[14:00] And also, when we're doing exercises which build up the calves. They will also help them strengthen up not just the calves, but other things. They'll help strengthen up like the Achilles tendon. They'll help strengthen up the feet muscles. And they're a really, really good bang for your buck exercise because it just covers pretty much the majority of the bases we need for direct strengthening. They're very, very simple. Most hikers will have come across them before, but they're very, very effective. And there's a big body of evidence to show calf raises can be so beneficial for such a variety of different things. On top of that outside of the context of foot pain just as a general hiking building up your calves goes a long long long way. Now when it comes down to your calves a lot of people just kind of throw them and say hey I'm just strengthening up my calves. If we can take that a little bit deeper ultimately we want to look at, The calves have two muscles. We have what we call the soleus, which is a little bit lower on the calf, a little bit deeper. We have the gastrocnemius, which is a little bit higher up on the calf. And ultimately, when we're looking at building up the calves and directly strengthening to help best support the feet, we want to make sure we're covering both of these areas and putting emphasis into both of those areas. It can go a long way.

[15:04] Now, a few examples of this, really, really straightforward. This is stuff a lot of people have seen already, but we'll cover a few examples. This is a bent leg calf raise. So, this particular exercise is great for a strengthening up the soleus that lower part of the calf now really really simple what we're doing here is basically knees bent and then we're just pushing up and down onto the toes and essentially the knees bent is what's putting this emphasis into the soleus now as you can see here pretty straightforward just push up little pause at the top come down now if you do feel like this exercise is a little bit difficult and you do it and you're like oh my gosh you know this is really tough just do a few reps at a time just do you know two or three or four or five until you fatigue and to do whatever you can feel like you can do. If you do this and you're like, ah, this is a little bit too easy, then you can basically just do this off one leg at a time if you want. You can do it off a step. So as opposed to being on the floor, you can have a little bit of a rise, so you get a bit extra range of motion, or you can even add weight. So you can wear a backpack, you can hold a dumbbell or whatever it may be. Very, very simple, but basically it targets that soleus, first place to look. Now, this is another example of targeting that sort of lower bit of the calf, that's the latest.

[16:10] Because some people do find the bent leg calf raise is a little bit tricky in the sense of the bent leg calf raise, sometimes people would do it and they're like, ah, that's actually a bit difficult. Or, you know what, I only really feel my quads. Or the worst case scenario, like, you know, this hurts my knees. So this is another exercise you can do with this, which is a seated calf raise. The only thing you really need to think about with this is you will need to load this up with a surprising amount of weight. This muscle is actually pretty strong and if you only have like a kilo or two or three kilos or even five kilo dumbbells hanging around at home probably not going to be enough so you do need to load this up with a surprising amount of weight um so it's probably just for the people who do have gym access or at least have a little bit more of a spread of weights or resistances but it can be pretty beneficial it's basically just sitting on a on a bench and pushing up and down and again you can see the knees bent similar car similar thing to what we were doing before and this can work out pretty well now next example is a straight leg calf raise so this is one's working what's called the gastrocnemia so that's slightly upper half part of the calf this is something that most people have seen at one stage or another really really straightforward you're basically just standing on or in this version we're on a little bit of box on one leg um i've got a pack on my back in this version and we're literally just pushing straight up little pause and then come down.

[17:24] With this particular exercise, you can start off with body weight, and then if that feels a little bit easy, you can add weight. If you feel this is a bit too hard, then you can do this from the floor. So as opposed to being on this bench, you can just do it on this rise, you can just do it off the floor, or you can do two legs at a time. So there's lots of different ways you can adjust this to kind of find the right area for you. Now, for these exercises, when we're looking at both the bent leg calf raise and the straight leg calf raise, is if you can do these barefoot and you can do them comfortably and it doesn't flare up the feet, doesn't feel too uncomfortable on the feet, that can be a nice addition because it can just sort of get the feet working just a little bit extra and this and that.

[18:01] Alternatively, if you try this barefoot and you're like, oh, that's super uncomfortable, just do it in your feet, do it in your shoes. So again, you can kind of adjust around there. And essentially, we want to take these pretty slow and controlled, so we don't want to be jumping all over the place, but keep them nice and slow and controlled and they can go a long way so they're three really really simple examples in regards to direct feet strengthening now a lot of people at this stage will be like okay ron i've seen calf races before i know i know this but when you're talking about direct foot strengthening why are you not showing me exercises which will strengthen up the arches themselves why are we not looking at foot exercises there's a lot is really really common online now ultimately when it comes down to foot pain it is really really really common for people to recommend some very very interesting to say the least foot exercises so doing things like you know moving marbles with your toes so you're barefoot and you've got a bunch of marbles and you pick up your marbles with your toes and put them over here um or scrunching towels with your feet so you've got a towel and you scrunch with your feet and scrunch with your feet and scrunch with your feet um or doing little toe dances so like you're intentionally moving your toes up and down and moving them together and this and that um or using balance beams like you know there's these products out there we spend lots of money getting a balance beam and you walk up and down barefoot and this and that now all of this stuff is super super common online and if you've come across this video and you're looking at foot pain more than likely you probably get bombarded with videos with these types of stuff now.

[19:24] This type of stuff, it can be beneficial for some people. I'm not saying these things are useless. I'm not saying these things are just not worth thinking about at all. But it is not something I typically put a huge amount of focus into. Purely for the fact that when it comes down to these things, I like to recommend, again, through the context that I'm looking at, through basic exercises, if you do these right, they will likely help pretty much everyone to one degree or another. Regardless of your foot thing these basic exercises will probably help 99% of people now best case scenario was just sort of said before these exercises that i've showed before will target exactly what you need and will help your feet worst case scenario and again as we said before these won't be exactly what you need maybe there'll be a few other bits and pieces you know other muscles that need to be worked for your specific situation but even so these will greatly benefit the hiking and indirectly help your foot either way. You're going to get benefits from doing these regardless.

[20:23] Now, with the specific foot exercises, when we're looking at these really finicky, really, really detailed foot exercises, the best case scenario is if we know this is exactly what you need, this will target exactly what you need. It will give you really good benefit, which is fantastic. But ultimately, worst case scenario, if it's not exactly what you need, if your diagnosis doesn't ask for these types of things, if your feet don't particularly need these things, you're ultimately going to waste a huge amount of time and mental effort from doing something which is not really going to do anything from you. The calf raises, regardless, is going to give great benefits for any type of hiker, whether it's just for your general hiking or just for your feet. But these foot exercises, they can be very hit and miss if you don't really know exactly what you need. And I've actually talked to lots and lots and lots of people who...

[21:07] When it comes down to a longer-term training process, you know, they've just purely, they've gotten really frustrated with these finicky exercises. They got really impatient. They got really annoyed because either it takes a lot of mental effort because they're like, oh, this is really boring, or they've just been doing it for ages and haven't seen any effort. And that has significantly impacted their ability to stick to an actual training program. Some people might be like, well, it's not that hard just moving a few marbles

[21:31] or doing this and that, like it's just a few minutes here and there. But let me tell you, I've talked to so many people that this has been one of the key reasons why they've just fallen out of stuff, because they've just been really finicky and really frustrated. So what I want to say here is when it comes down to it, if you've had these types of things recommended by a physio, podiatrist, or physical therapist who has actually looked at and assessed your feet and prescribed you these exercises for your particular recommendation, so this type of balance beam stuff or crunch scrunching, then absolutely do them as recommended, because these people have looked and obsessed at your feet and really, really I've done the right thing. But if you haven't had these prescribed to you, then probably just stick to your basics. Or if you're curious about this stuff, go and get looked at by a specialist. Go and book in with a podiatrist. Go and book in with a physio. Go and say, hey, I've got this issue. I'm curious about these exercises. What is my actual issue? Can you diagnose it? And do you think I should be doing these types of things? Because that's really the only way you're going to know if you're going to be spending your time to the best use or not.

[22:32] And I'll also say as well, and I specifically mentioned physiopodiatrist and physical therapist who has looked and assessed your feet. If someone's just giving you a massage and like, oh, you should do these exercises, or if someone hasn't actually looked at your feet and they're like, oh, you should do these exercises, there's a big question mark on that. And you may, again, people may think that's silly, like, why are you saying that? But again, I've talked to so many hikers who their chiro has done a few adjustments and then said, hey, you need to do this. Or their masseuse has done this. Or Now the Pilates teacher has said, hey, you know what, you've got this issue, I haven't actually looked at your feet, but you should do this.

[23:06] You need to get assessed because feet are not simple. Ultimately, when it comes down to my hikers and how I help hikers in this context is for my hikers, if they have gone out to a podiatrist or physio or whatever it may be and got a specific diagnosis from their specialist, and they're like, hey, I've got this particular issue. My podiatrist has recommended I'd sort of do X, Y, and Z. And then we can sort of say, look, we're going to use that information. We can actually build on this. We can add extra bits and pieces that can work on these areas and we can do

[23:32] some of this specific stuff or whatever it may be. But if we're working with a hiker who doesn't have a particular diagnosis and they're like i just get foot pain then we stick to the basics and you know if we can stick with it we can progress it and work with it it will work so a little bit of a little bit of a rant there but uh but i know people will send me messages about this stuff none does need to be covered so next up we talk about direct foot strengthening very very straightforward now next one we want to talk about in regards to strength is general leg strengthening because beyond actually strengthening the things that directly support the feet it is important to build up the muscles further up the legs. Because ultimately, if the supporting muscles further up the legs are weak and unstable, they can have a bit of a cascade effect down towards the feet in one way or another. And ultimately, if they are strong, then they can keep the feet stable and provide a little bit of what we call shock absorption. I mean, just take a little bit of pressure away from the feet. Very, very straightforward.

[24:25] Now main areas when we want to cover here there are lots and lots of different muscles in the legs but the main areas we definitely want to be hitting are your quadriceps which are the front of the thighs your glutes which are your bum muscles and your hamstrings which are the back of the thighs if you can cover those areas you're doing pretty well now a few exercise examples here really really straightforward and this is a one of my favorite exercises pretty much any hiker and this is called the step down really good exercise for strengthening up the quads a little bit of the glutes as well so essentially what you're doing there is just standing on a step or a box or something like that and just slowly lowering down and coming up. Very, very straightforward but very, very effective. Now, if you do this exercise and you find it's a little bit too hard wobbling all over the shop, then you can just basically use like a couple of trekking poles to balance and help yourself there. If you do this and you're like, this is super easy, then you can just use a higher step and you can keep on going higher and higher and higher to give yourself the appropriate amount of challenge. Now, alternately, you could even add a bit of weight. Some people wear backpacks on this or hold dumbbells, whatever it may be. Very, very effective. And the reason I love this for hikers is you know it is a really really relevant one just for general hiking as well so it's a nice bang for your buck exercise now on top of this you may not be able to see in the video but if you are doing this barefoot you'll notice the feet are kind of wobbling around quite a bit as well so this can also be a nice exercise and which can just help strengthen up some of those intrinsic foot muscles if you concentrate on keeping the feet nice and stable it can help on that front as well now one thing i will say is if you do this exercise and it hurts if they then do it with shoes on. Simple rule of thumb. But very, very basic, but very, very effective.

[25:54] Now, another example here is single-legged deadlifts. So this one will work kind of the opposite. It'll work the hamstrings, the back of the thighs, and a little bit more of the glutes. Now, this is really, really straightforward. You're basically just on one leg at a time, knees relatively straight, and we're just tipping over at the hips.

[26:09] If you do find this, again, too high and you're wobbling all over the shop, you can use a couple of trekking poles for balance. If you find this a little bit too easy, you can hold a dumbbell in one or two hands, hold a loaded pack, and load it up a little bit more. Very, very simple, but very effective. it now again same thing in regards to the feet um if you're doing this barefoot the feet will be kind of doing this and you need to kind of stabilize it can add a little bit extra there um or if it's a bit uncomfortable on the feet or if you just can't stabilize at all just do it in shoes absolutely fine so two simple simple exercises now when it comes down to this and when it comes down to strength training for hiking there's a big big trend in the hiking world about making exercises foot specific. So, what that involves is basically taking a normal strength exercise like a step down, a single leg deadlift, a squat, a lunge, a split squat, any of these sort of normal strength exercises and trying to make it a little bit more specific in regards to strengthening up the feet and really put a focus on that. That's a really, really trend. Now, this may involve doing things like what's called like floating heel exercises. So, this is an example here this picture where we're basically doing like a lunge or a split squat and what we're doing is we've got half our foot on like a rise or a plate and the other half of the foot is in the air. So this is a floating heel exercise and the idea behind this is it'll make sure the feet work quite a bit more to kind of stabilize yourself and end up putting

[27:30] more stress through the feet.

[27:32] Or another example is doing exercises again like a split squat or a lunge of small or.

[27:41] An angled box or something, which is like there, which is supposed to simulate like being on a traverse or doing off like a really small platform where you're basically just on a really, really small thing and you've kind of got a balance as well. Or maybe even doing things like these types of exercises off like a stability disc or a BOSU ball, those wobbly balls or whatever it may be. You'll see this stuff all the time. And again, if you are looking at this video, your internet probably knows you're looking to help your feet. You probably get bombarded with these videos and these posts all the time.

[28:09] Now, in all honesty, when it comes down to things, this type of training, when we're applying this to our general strength exercises, our sort of upper leg exercise or any may be, it can be a little bit counterproductive. And I'll tell you why. Now, basically, when it comes down to strength training, in general, we will see the best benefits to strength training when we apply a challenging load to the muscles, meaning if we're trying to develop the quadriceps, we will see the best benefits for her quadriceps if we apply a resistance or a load or a weight or a difficulty to those quadriceps which will force it to be challenged, force it to adapt and force it to get stronger. And over time as we get stronger and stronger and stronger we progressively add more and more and more and more challenge. That's strength training in a nutshell.

[28:53] Now basically when it comes down to this foot specific stuff or hiking specific stuff as it's often termed If you're taking these more general strength exercises and we're trying to use a floating heel or we're trying to use unstable surface or something like that.

[29:06] Yes, it will probably put more pressure through the feet. Yes, it'll probably challenge certain things of this and that. But what it will do also, it'll reduce the amount of challenge you can effectively apply to the main muscles. If you're doing a split squat or a lunge with a floating heel, you're not actually going to be able to apply as much challenge to the quadriceps. So you're not going to be getting the main benefits out of that exercise. And it's all going to be, well, not all, but it's going to be a little bit more aimed towards feet, which is a little bit counterproductive. Ultimately my best recommendation with this stuff is when we're looking at exercises um keep the more general exercises things like step downs and lunges and squats and glute bridges and deadlifts and all of that and keep them normal and just challenge yourself challenge those working muscles the primary muscles that are working on and really try to progress that and build that up because it's going to be super beneficial for you in a vast variety of ways and then when we're looking at the feet and the calves think about challenging them through their own exercises, the calf raises, all the specific stuff that you're doing. But think separating the two. Don't try to make everything a foot exercise because it ends up just being a bit of a, you kind of miss the forest for the trees, as that's saying, as everyone always says, in the sense you're missing the best benefits of these exercises and really honing in towards other things, which you can develop through other ways. So very, very, very, very important.

[30:25] Now, a few keys in regards to strength training for foot pain. Most hikers who have experienced for pain in the past have probably already done these exercises in all honesty they probably already explored exercises like half phrases before this is the first thing every physio or physical therapist will give people um because it's very very effective but a lot of people have done it um and they'll be like hey i didn't really see any benefits from it um you know i've tried this and it didn't really work for me like you know i did it for ages and it didn't work and that's why people are getting like you know down these rabbit holes are trying all these finicky thing than these other bits and pieces. But ultimately.

[30:59] Most people, at least most people that I talk to and they said, I've done this in the past, I didn't see results. They've really been lacking on a couple of things. Ultimately, to get the best benefits of these types of exercises, you need two things. Number one, you need consistency because realistically, you're not going to see if you consistently apply training and strength training two or three times a week, you are not going to really see significant changes to your strength before six to eight weeks of consistently doing it every single week. Yes, you will see some changes early on and this and that, but ultimately it's really around the six to eight, sometimes 10 week work where things begin to really kick into effect. And then ultimately at that point, it's not a case of, hey, I've done six to eight weeks and that's it, but we want to continue after that because there's kind of like a snowball with our strength stuff. It starts off slow, but it keeps on building and building and building and building. And ultimately most people that I speak to at least, they don't end up stringing this together. They get bored and they're like, oh, I've done a few weeks of this and I'm bored of it. Or they never get in a routine. I do a couple of weeks here, then I have a week off, and then a couple of weeks here, or they skip sessions all the time. And this is just a really, really common thing. And honestly, if you sit down and ask yourself, hey.

[32:08] I was doing these exercises. Honestly, ask yourself, have you managed to stay consistent for about six to eight weeks of consistently fitting in the session? If so, okay, cool. Maybe I want to explore other things, but if not, that's something that's really missing. Now, the other thing is progression in the sense that the body gets used to things very, very quickly. So ultimately, when we're doing these exercises, we need to regularly give the body more and more challenge to ensure that it's moving forward. It's called progressive overload, where we keep it a little bit harder, a little bit harder, a little bit harder, a little bit harder. That's how we get things stronger. Now, examples of this is making things harder is adding a little bit extra weight. So in one of those examples, let's say that the single leg calf weight, we may do four weeks with body weight, then four weeks with a pack on our back, then four weeks with more weight or whatever it may be. And bit by bit by bit, we add some weight. Or we may adjust range of motion. We do maybe four weeks from the floor, then four weeks off a step and something like that. Or we may do changing from double leg to single leg, do two legs at a time for four weeks, then do one leg at a time for four weeks. They're all different ways of making things a little bit more difficult. Ultimately, if you have just been doing the same exercises week after week after week after week, and they're not getting harder, you're not complying more challenge, you're probably not seeing the benefits from it. This, again, is something so many heart kids miss. They'll see a physio or physical therapist once, or they'll see them once every eight weeks, and they'll just do the same thing over and over and over. They never progress. We're missing out a lot there.

[33:33] So, ultimately, I'm not going to go on too much more about strength training today because it's already up to 30 minutes on this video. We've got a lot more to cover. So, ultimately, obviously, getting into the details around how to progress things, how to put together full workouts so you actually get all these exercises, how to plan out in a week, a little beyond the context of today. So, if you did want to dive into this a little bit more and learn a little bit more about strength training for hiking, I have a free mini course around getting started with strength training for hiking, which you're more than one going to get your hands on. Now, inside this course, you'll learn things like the benefits of strength training for hiking. So today, we've been talking about the foot context, but there's so many other benefits around hiking that strength training can provide. It talks to you in understanding the principles of effective strength training. So we briefly touched on consistency, progression, and it talks to you a few other bits and pieces of how to get the most out of this type of thing. And it also teaches you how to create your own strength workouts. So basically, by the end of the course, you'll actually be able to put together your own strength workout, which will incorporate some of the exercise we talked today and sort of build out the rest of your body. so you can get the best out of this type of thing. Now, if you did want to sign up to this course, it's absolutely free. You can go to summitstrength.com.au slash strength dash mini dash course. On there, you can sign up and get your hands on it absolutely free. So check that out if you like.

[34:47] Now, next up, we're still on the strengthening side of things. Now we're going to be talking about building load tolerance through pack training. Now, ultimately, when it comes down to hiking, when we're out on the trail, we pretty much are always carrying a pack, whether it's sort of just carrying a couple of kilos, if we're just on a day hike, maybe just carrying a full day pack, if we're on a bit of a longer one, if we're carrying a full pack on an overnight or a multi-day, whatever it may be. Hikers, it's very rare that we can completely get away with no weight on our back. Now, ultimately, when it comes down to it, for every kilo or every pound of weight we have on our back while hiking, this puts a hugely disproportionate amount of extra force through the heel and through the feet. So it's not just, hey, I've got a kilo on my back and it's going to put an extra kilo of force through the feet. It adds quite a bit more. Now, strength training is one way that can help prepare the body for this and build up those structures and build up those muscles to help support the feet.

[35:38] However, it is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly beneficial to fill the gap between our general training, which is considered our strength training, and our actual hiking. Because there's a little bit of a difference between strength training and actually being out on the trail. And it's really, really beneficial to sort of find something that's in the middle between the two, which can sort of help us get ready for this hiking. And loaded pack walking is a really, really fantastic way of developing tolerance to this type of stresses that we encounter on the trail, and loading up the feet in a hiking-specific way which is really really controllable so it's a it's not sort of a case of just being in the middle of nowhere and just like hoping you're going to be okay and not get foot pain but it's a really really controllable way now this is super super beneficial for all hikers and for all of my hikers who struggle with foot pain i get them all doing this to one degree or another, regardless of whether they're carrying a day pack on the trail or a full pack or they're carrying almost no pack if they're doing fully supported hikes and get everyone to do it because it's really really beneficial.

[36:35] How do you go about this? It's very, very straightforward. It's pretty common sense. Essentially, we just choose a hike, which is not a hike, a walk around a local neighborhood. You can do this on the treadmill for like 30, 60 minutes. Essentially, we start with a pack weight, with a weight which is 100% comfortable for the feet. So what that means is we choose a weight which doesn't cause pain while walking, and it doesn't cause pain to ramp up in the next 24 hours. Two very, very important things. So ultimately, if someone chooses a weight, and let's say they start off with five kilos and they walk along um and the walk is fine and the next 24 hours the feet are actually fine they don't get any worse that's a good weight to start out and they can slowly build from there alternatively if they do the walk and like oh the walk was okay but then overnight they wake up in the morning like oh my feet are a little bit sore then we're like well we need to reduce the weight a little bit so this can take a little bit of trial and error but ultimately we want weight which doesn't cause pain and doesn't cause it to ramp up in the next 24 hours. Now ultimately what we do here is we just go out for a short easy walk for like 30-60 minutes. When we're doing these walks we want to keep the pace nice and slow because one of the simplest things we can do to reduce pressure through the feet is keeping our walking pace a little bit slow. Some people are a little bit tempted on these flat walks to just kind of power march along but keep the pace slow.

[37:49] And then ultimately each time you do this um you might just do this once a week and just add a small amount of extra weight some people can add you know a kilo or pound every single week and just build and build and build and build some people can only add like half a kilo or half a pound um or like you know metric and imperial and all that but you know what i mean um some people can just do a little bit a little bit a little bit a little bit um as we come through um and we just sort of slow the build up and ultimately you just keep on building up and then at the stage if you ever do feel like the feet flare up they get uncomfortable either during that walking or in the next 24 hours then take a rest let the feet bounce back then next time that you go out and do this session again just strip the weight back take a couple of kilos off and then build back up so ultimately we build up then we pull back then we build up then we pull back and it's this sort of staggered build build build build um ideally what we want to do with these sessions is we kind of want to build up to a weight which is a little bit heavier than what you'd expect when you're actually out on the hike so ultimately long-term plan if you typically carry seven kilos on your day hikes then with this type of walk you might build up to like nine kilos on these walks so the feet are getting used to a little bit heavier um obviously it's much much shorter than day on the trail but you know that's what we'll kind of want to look at that's sort of a long-term thing.

[39:01] Now, that's the strength side of things. We're calling for 40 minutes so far,

[39:05] so a bit of detail here. Let's talk about mobility now. Now, mobility, flexibility, pretty much the same thing, technically a little bit different, but pretty much the same thing for our respects, can often play a significant role in helping the feet. Now, ultimately, if certain muscles are tight and restricted or certain areas in the body are tight and restricted, this can often be a contributing factor to discomfort. It's not the be-all end-all. It's not the one magic bullet which will fix your foot pain, as a lot of people kind of tend to think, it is a contributing factor. It's something worth paying attention to, worth working on, but by itself, it's probably not going to be the magic cure for your feet, just to be clear. Now, ultimately, mobility can really be beneficial in two big categories for us with foot pain. Number one, short-term pain relief, meaning you can do certain mobility stuff. Sometimes it can just reduce discomfort in the feet for the next hour or two hours or whatever may be. That can be really, really useful in certain situations. And it can also be useful for longer term changes, so actually changing the range of motion through these areas over the long term.

[40:06] Which can play a pretty significant role in certain situations. Now, ultimately, when we're looking at foot pain, again, we're talking in general terms. Lots of people will have specific diagnoses which may need other bits and pieces. But in general, the areas we want to look at is mobilising the calves because, as we said before, they're directly linked to the feet, play a big role, both the gastrocnemius and the soleus. The plantar fascia, so the actual bottoms of your feet can sometimes be quite beneficial, not for everyone, but for a lot of people it can be quite nice. And the big toe joint as well sometimes and basically the reason i say sometimes is it's one of those things where probably worthwhile chatting with a specialist about because it can be a role in a lot of different foot issues if the big toe is restricted and tight sometimes that can put pressures through the feet but how do you know if your big toe is tight or not you know there's assessments online and this and that but it's probably better chat with a specialist get them to look at and say hey do you think i should do any stretching on this um for my issue they can give you the yay on that but i'll give you an example of this anyway now a few simple examples for exercisers the knee wall is a great one for the calf specifically for the soleus what we're doing here um we're just basically against the wall um keeping that front leg on the heel on the floor and you're literally just driving that front and knee into the wall and back so essentially what we're trying to get is a nice stretch at the lower bit of the car all right so this is um sorry about that music jumping up um yeah about the lower uh lower bit of the calf here.

[41:32] So very, very straightforward. You can basically do this like I'm doing here, where you're pushing forward, pushing back. That works out pretty well. Or you can hold this as a full stretch. Very, very simple, but very, very effective. Now, next one is doing something like this one. So this is like working the gastrocnemius. So the upper bit of the calf, something most people probably done before, where you're basically just dropping your heel off a step and just holding that. Very, very simple, but very, very effective. Now, the plantar fascia stretch, this is an example here um again this isn't for everyone but it can be nice for some people essentially it's not the easiest video to see it was a bit of a rough one filmed back in covid back in the day um but basically what this is one foot goes over one knee then you're basically just wrapping your hand around your foot and then just gently pulling your foot back and you feel a nice stretch through the um through the the bottom of the feet now for this one don't go too crazy on this it's just a gentle stretch and it's not designed to really really yank your foot and force it but that can be quite nice.

[42:28] And then this is an example in regards to the big toe one. As I sort of said.

[42:32] Not everyone's going to need this. It is a bit hard to sort of self-assess, well, at least in my opinion, self-assess whether you need it or not. But this is an example of the big toe stretch. So basically what this is, you've got your feet on the floor, you've got your toes kind of flexed almost, and you're literally just leaning back and pushing in to the feet. In all honesty, this is a pretty intense one. It's not super comfortable for a lot of people. But if you're interested, this is a type of thing you can do. In all honesty, if you are interested in big toe mobility as ever before, talk to a specialist. I get it assessed, have a look at it, see if they say whether you need it or not, because you don't want to be wasting time working this tiny joint if you're absolutely fine already, in my opinion. So there are a few simple examples there. Now, you may be asking yourself at this stage, okay, there are four stretches, but what about rolling? You know, in the sense that one of the most common recommendations for foot pain is people will say, hey, do some rolling on your foot with a ball, or use your phone roller on the car. You know, really, really common, lots of people do it. now this type of self-massage it can be good for a few things can be good for short-term pain relief in the sense of you know sometimes you can do this and then for the next 10 minutes 30 minutes a couple of hours it can reduce sensation of pain a little bit which can be quite nice so this can ultimately just help us if we're feeling a bit uncomfortable it can also sometimes help us get through a workout a little bit better if we typically get a little bit discomfort through a workout and we find that a bit limiting sometimes doing a little bit of this in your warmer can actually help us get through our workouts this type of stuff can also be good for short-term increases in range of motion in the sense of self-massage.

[44:01] When you do it, for a short amount of time, you will have better flexibility and it will improve how far your joints can go in the short term. However, in isolation, it very, very, very rarely will make that turn that into a long-term change. It'll be short term, which can be beneficial, but it's probably not going to dramatically change things in isolation by itself. So typically, if we're looking at improving our mobility, improving our flexibility, if we're using rolling, it's probably worthwhile combining this with the type of stretches. So we can use this it can improve the range of motion in the short term and then we can stretch it out um so things can actually change over long term and at least that's my opinion now this type of stuff can be a really nice addition um into what we're talking about already um if you like it if you enjoy it if it feels good fantastic um but just know it should never be relied on in isolation again super super common people say just roll your feet that'll fix your feet um by itself it's very rarely going to fix things and we want to combine it with other bits and pieces.

[45:00] Now, when you use mobility, as we sort of said just before, cabbie uses the short-term relief and also as a longer-term strategy. Ultimately, mobility and the changes that we're looking at over the longer term, it is very, very slow to develop. It doesn't just happen just doing one stretch a week and this and that. It does take a little while to develop and does need a fair amount of attention. So essentially, what we want to do with this type of stuff is just dosing mobility into our week, meaning just doing little bits and pieces here and there just so we get lots of exposures to it and over time it can change. Now, a few good areas to include this type of thing, warm-ups. So warm-ups for your training, doing mobility stuff can be great here because not only can it help us prepare to exercise, but it can just be a good option to fit this type of stuff in, both for your training and also your hiking. It can be good in your rest periods and strength training in the sense of traditional strength training. You do an exercise, you rest. You do an exercise, you rest. You do an exercise, you rest. It can be really good just to do this mobility stuff in those rest periods when you're not really doing anything either way. You can do dedicated stretching sessions. Some people like these, some people don't, where you spend 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes just stretching. It works well enough. And even doing it before bed. If you're at home, it can be great, just a little routine that can help you sleep. If you're out on the trail, it can be a nice way just, again, help you sleep and also help things feel a bit more comfortable. So a few ideas there.

[46:16] Now, next thing I want to cover or final thing I want to cover or idea around this is load management. Now, ultimately, this kind of encapsulates everything we've been talking around already and a lot of other things as well. And this is probably the most significant risk factor in foot pain. And in all honesty, I should be doing a 60-minute video on this particular topic because it is so fast and so important, but we're going to try and sum it up in like five minutes. Now, ultimately, yeah, load management is one of the most significant risk factors when it comes to full pain, both on and off the trail. And ultimately, what this means is when we have a spike in load and spike in stress through our feet, meaning where certain amount of stress, certain amount of stress, certain amount of stress, day to day, week to week, and all of a sudden, the feet take a big jump up in regards to stress and in regards to load, which it's not used to, this is the most significant risk factor in pain presenting itself, both in the short term and also long term. Now, for hikers, this type of spike in load or spike in stress will usually come from things like, we've just been doing casual hikes for a little while, and then all of a sudden, we're like, hey, I'm going to go do an overnight, or I'm going to do a super long hike or something like that. And all of a sudden, I've just jumped up and dramatically increased my hiking distances or my difficulty. Or on the other side of things, it may be someone like, hey, I haven't actually hiked in six weeks, and then I'm just going to decide to go out and do a really tough trail. And I've done no hiking, all of a sudden, the feet just take all this extra pressure. It can come from ramping up walking sessions. So, a few people sometimes will walk in a week, A lot of people walk in a week and all of a sudden you've gone from two walks in a week to walk in every day.

[47:45] That's not a bad thing, but that can be a big jump up in stress for the feet. Or other training sessions. If you're doing all of a sudden doing one or two sessions of calf raises in a week and you go up to four or five or six in a week, that can be a big jump up. Or if you just all of a sudden start doing lots of jumping or skipping or stuff like that. We just want to think about stress that goes into the feet.

[48:06] If there all of a sudden is a big jump up into it, that can be a big risk factor. Now, and if you do struggle with foot pain and you have a history of foot pain or something you deal with, you need to be really, really intentional with this. Because people who don't have a history of injury, people who don't have things in England, people who don't have things holding them back, they can be much more flexible with this type of thing. They can kind of jump into things, not have too many worries. But if you do have a history of foot pain, unfortunately, we do need to be a bit more intentional here. We need to be a bit more calculated. and if you can control this it's going to greatly significantly reduce the risk of your pain both in the short term and also actually getting on top of it in the long term so ultimately what this looks like you know in hiking realistically it's just making sure they're not big jumps up in distance pack weight or speed um so if you're hiking every single week um or even or most weeks if you plotted out your distances on a calendar making sure it's a nice slow and steady graph, and a nice, slow and steady build as opposed to if you're, sorry, plotting out in a graph, as opposed to jumping up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. That can be a little bit difficult. Or if you're sort of hiking, you know, every once in a while, if you've got a really challenging hike planned out, make sure, okay, don't jump from zero to 100, but somewhere in the middle, you have a couple of ramp up hikes or something like that.

[49:20] Again, I could talk about this for an hour, but that's kind of what we want to be looking at, making sure there's not big jumps up. Now, if you're training, same thing, we just want to make sure there's not big jumps up been loads from things like walking sessions. If you're doing pack walking, make sure there's a slow and steady build. If you're doing stair and hill climbing, make sure there's a slow and steady build. If you're walking in the week, make sure you just don't jump from zero to six days a week, but slowly and steadily build things up. Same thing for running. I'm not a big fan of running for people with foot pain, but if you're doing it, making sure you're not jumping up in distances too quickly. Same thing with a calf raiser or other foot exercises. Don't go from zero to 100. Ease yourself in. Or jumping exercises. If you're doing lots of like going group exercise classes and doing things like burpees or squat jumps jumping exercise can put quite a bit of pressure through the feet so take it easy with those things um.

[50:07] Ultimately, as well, if you do have a bit of a break in training or hiking, please make sure you ease yourself back in. Another risk factor is people will be training really, really, really well. They'll be all good. They'll go on holidays or they'll get sick for two weeks. And then they'll come back and they'll jump into right where they were before. But because they've done nothing for two weeks, this is one of those jumps up in stress and tolerance. And it can be a bit of an issue. So if you have a bit of a break, give yourself a week or two to do half sessions and ease back in or whatever it may be. And on top of this is again this is something i could probably talk about for 45 minutes, but i'm going to briefly mention it for like 30 seconds just be aware that your capabilities can change from week to week meaning the amount of stress and the amount of load that your body can tolerate is not constant it will change week to week to week to week and things like being sick being stressed being emotional having a negative mindset temperature changes a bunch of other things can actually change our capabilities week to week so ultimately just respect that and if you're having a really tough week emotionally stress wise if you're not sleeping well maybe it's worthwhile adjusting your training around that as opposed to being 100 dedicated to doing the same workouts the same distances even though you're a bit run down now again i could talk about that for like 45 minutes but it's something to be aware of um.

[51:30] And then on top of that, there's a final point on this is just be intentional. As I said before, people who don't have a history of pain, people who don't have a history of injury, they don't have to worry about this so much. They don't have to really sort of pay attention to how much they're hiking. And they can go out and they may be tired, but it's not going to be a big deal. If you do have a history of foot pain, it can be so frustrating over the long term. You need to be intentional here. Track your hiking distances, pay attention to it, really really put um concentration into this because it goes a long way on top of that be flexible again if you're having a bit of a rough time if you're a little bit low alone energy adjust your sessions if you're having a bit of a gap in between things if you had a bit of a break adjust your sessions you need to be flexible here and also try to be kind to yourself because these types of journeys it's never a linear process there's so many ups and downs setbacks and this and that and there will be periods where you have a flare-up and you've been doing so well for three or four or five, six weeks and all of a sudden the feet get uncomfortable. Adjust around it, be flexible and be kind to yourself. Try not to beat yourself up. Get back on the wagon, do the right things. And that is a big, big, big thing.

[52:36] Now, summary so far, we're getting towards the tail end of this video now, almost there. On the strengthening side of things, we want to make sure we're building direct strength in the feet, and we want to make sure we're building general strength in the legs, and we also want to be filling the gap a little bit with our load of pack hiking. On the mobility stuff, incorporating a bit of mobility for the calves, the planter, and maybe the big toe can be beneficial. And with the load management, just be very, very, very conscious in regards to big jumps, in regards to walking, hiking, and training. That's 53 minutes in a nutshell, basically there. Now on top of that basically putting these areas of training that can go a long long way to help and support your feet on the trail however when it comes down to reducing foot pain there is a lot more that goes into the bigger picture again these are important areas but it's not the whole picture other factors that you do want to keep in the back of your head and do want to consider is your conditioning your fitness fatigue and exhaustion in your training sessions and in your hiking sessions are a risk factor in regards to presentation of pain in the feet so what are you're doing to build up your fitness, build up your conditioning to reduce the risk of fatigue and exhaustion on the trail. Exposure to specific challenges. If there's certain types of hiking which you're aware flares up the feet, if hiking on the beach flares up your feet, if lots of elevation or something like that, it's probably a good idea as opposed to completely avoiding that forever, but slowly in one way or another and intentionally exposed to the feet to that so we can adapt and get stronger for that type of stress.

[53:59] Footwear changes. As I said before, the big change in footwear can go a long way in regards to putting extra stress in the feet. Every type of footwear has its pros and cons, but ultimately, if you aren't changing your footwear, respect that that's a change. Don't jump into the same type of hiking you were doing before, but give yourself a few weeks to adjust to it. Pacing, again, how can you make sure you're not going too fast on your hikes? You're not marching along. How can you control that? It goes a long way. Stress and emotions play a big role in chronic pain. Something we could, again, speak about for 60 minutes, but be aware of that. Recovery and sleep, again, plays a big role. All of these are really, really, really important for your feet. We've talked for an hour already on this type of subject, but all of those, it does go into it as well. So just be aware. If you're doing these things I'm mentioning, if you're consisting with it, you're progressing it, and you're sticking with it, and you're still struggling with foot pain, and you're not covering these things, there are probably other areas it's worthwhile thinking into and considering as well. And there's probably a bunch more I've missed as well, but definitely worthwhile keeping top of mind.

[55:02] Now, with that being said, we're almost at the end of this video. I just want to say, obviously, that's quite a bit of information. We've been talking for 55 minutes now, quite a bit of information. Sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming thinking about how to actually put this all together for yourself. So ultimately, if you were interested in getting a little bit of help putting this type of stuff together.

[55:19] I would love to have a chat with you. Ultimately, through Summit Strength, we offer personalized training programs for hikers to help them get fit, strong, resilient for their adventures. Now, what our packages typically include is we will create a custom and personalized workout program to help you get fit, strong, and resilient for anything the travel may throw at you. This is all online programming, so you can do it anywhere in the world. It'll cover things like strength training, cardio, hiking, recovery, mobility.

[55:44] Designed in a way that's going to meet you, where you're at, work around your needs, your preferences and your situation we'll also put a big emphasis into educating you on all the other peripheral factors which can affect both your feet and your hiking things like fatigue management conditioning nutrition recovery and a bunch of other things and also give you the coaching and support accountability to keep you on track make sure you have someone in your corner to work through all the roadblocks and all the different things that life will throw your way and make sure you get that consistency that we said is so so so important now if you did did that did sound like you and you did want to find out a little bit more basically you can go to summitstrength.com.au online now on that page we have a video which talked through our programs and a bit more detail around how we go about things and if that does sound like something you want to explore a little bit more there's a link on that page where you can book a call with our team we can have a thorough chat with you learn about your situation your needs what you got going on and ultimately if we have that chat and we feel like we are in a position that will be able to help you we can talk you through one of our training programs which may fit into your situation and you can make a decision if and how maybe right for you.

[56:49] So with that being said, I hope you've enjoyed today's video. I hope this helps a few people and I hope it fills a few gaps in regards to this big, big topic of foot pain for hiking. And ultimately, I really do hope it helps a few people on their adventures in the future. So thank you so much for listening and watching. I hope you've enjoyed it and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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