Fitness 4 Adventure - Whole Body Fitness: Tips to Enjoy an Active Lifestyle Throughout Life

Big Day-Fitness Hike Big Day-Fitness X-ski

Why this site? Because:

  • we need fitness for outdoor adventure, travel,
  • fitness can & should be a lifestyle choice,
  • we need fitness to remain active and mobile, and
  • as we age...we can not live and enjoy active lives w/o it!

Hopefully you have come to this site because you embrace this philosophy, you want to enjoy a healthy and active life throughout life, and may want to supplement your existing workout-fitness regime. I welcome you on this fantastic journey! Fitness 4 Adventure is a Whole Body Fitness idea and uses a variety of exercise regimes and philosophies as well as several unique approaches to maintain whole body fitness:
  • whole body fitness
  • using outdoor activities to exceed fitness levels
  • a Big Day™
  • mix it up

There are 4 fundamentals for our muscular-skeletal system we need to be aware of and need to routinely exercise in order to engage in outdoor cardio-level activities and live long-healthy-active lives. We need:
  • core strength,
  • endurance-cardio strength,
  • physical strength, and
  • flexibility.

Our bodies are designed for mobility, NOT sedentary lifestyles! If we embrace a healthy, active lifestyle, there is no reason why we should stop moving as we age...there should be no boundaries-limits on mobility and activity throughout life. Sickness, accidents, injury should be the only reasons we experience temporary to longer limits on our mobility. We draw from this philosophy-belief and from my decades of maintaining a fit body and overall healthy, active lifestyle. My body has taught me at an early age that I cannot live an active and healthy life w/o routine exercise. Cross-country skiing built up my knees that were ruined on an extensive backpacking trip in my 20's, yoga and dancers exercises and stretches have repaired my back from injuries that manifested in my 30's, they now help keep my lower back limber and strong; I cannot exist w/o these activities and workouts!

We should think of exercise as a whole body approach...to maintain our muscular-skeletal systems. We need to maintain this system and structure of our bodies to remain mobile throughout life. Our muscles help maintain our skeletal structure- posture, keeps joints and bones in place and working as a whole. Age and gravity are two continual forces that work to reverse our muscular-skeletal structure. To keep them from progressing, fitness and exercise are mandatory! Decades of exercise has given me an appreciation to many approaches to exercise and workout regimes. The idea of mixing up routines...cross-training allows our bodies to not "plateau" too much (where our bodies cannot go beyond a certain level of fitness, an approach embraced by P90X). Among the elements of the workout regime I practice are:
  • yoga
  • pilates
  • strength training w weights, dumbells, resistance bands
  • plyometrics
  • bongo board workouts
  • martial arts
  • elements of P90X
  • elements of Insanity workout
  • elements of high intensity workouts
  • dancer's workouts (from fluidity.com)
  • endurance training from X-ski machine, fitness X-skiing, and fitness hiking

Big Day™:

Every so often you need a "Big Day™" that involves a sustained level of activity much, much longer than you would achieve during a daily workout session. A Big Day truly inspires us, allows us to test and reexamine how all the exercise regimes are working, to explore our overall level of fitness, and to tweek our fitness regimes; it also allows us to mix up our workouts in a very big way...to really physically tax our body and see how well it responds and how long to recovery. If you judge your bodies and workouts on the basis of recovery times you are on the right radar screen. In order to achieve a Big Day we need to use the outdoors and outdoor activities to sustain a workout over a 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 hour period. I will post from time to time abbreviated videos of my Big Days so you can join along and help inspire you. Examples of Big Days are fitness nordic skiing- (X-skiing) at a quick pace w few or no stops for 1-3hr period; fitness hiking-carrying load (10-20-30lbs) for 2-8hr periods w elevation gain (+1000ft) with few or no stops; surfing-bodyboarding for 2-4hr periods. This approach sets us up to do extended day hikes of 6-10miles+, backpack trips, winter mountaineering day and multiday trips, and ice climbing days, downhill ski days. My standard Big Day is a 2.5mi (1-way) hike with 2000ft elevation gain and a 15-20lb load in 1hr15min to 1hr30min, and then back down, and X-skiing 5-10km w elevation in 25-55min.

Top Five Aerobic-Cardio Exercises:

Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Institute, who coined the term "aerobics" has studied cardio-exercise since 1968 and ranked the Top 5 Aerobic Exercises based on type, intensity, and duration as:

  1. X-country Skiing
  2. Swimming
  3. Running-Jogging
  4. Cycling
  5. Walking
see www.cooperinstitute.com, "The Aerobics programs for total well-being" 1982, K. Cooper. At that time several cardio-exercises were not yet popular or not begun:
  • nordic walking
  • snowshoeing
  • skate skiing
All THREE claim to be extremely high cardio extensive workouts, able to burn high levels of calories and condition the muscular-skeletal system. And skate- skiing could be a level above classic X-skiing. An explanation why cycling and walking were low could be because both use little or no upper body movement. If we add poles to walking we get nordic walking and maybe have doubled its benefits as the upper body is engaged.

Outdoor Activities w Whole Body Effects:

  • snowshoeing - pace of 3-3.5mph can burn up to 1000cal/hr, engages leg muscles more than jogging because of soft snow, overuse injuries in soft tissues so best to use poles for upper body movement and help.
  • nordic walking - began in Finland as dry-land training exercise for nordic skiers, can boost heart rate up to 4% in women & 8% in men, with proper technique and equipment burns more calories than walking alone, and strengthens the upper body.
  • hiking/backpacking w load - a thru-hiker that completed the PCT(Pacific Crest Trail) underwent before & after tests and found carrying a 55lb pack increased bone density in hips and spine by 1%, decreasing risks of fractures, lost 5% of body fat, a 16mi/day pace lowered resting heart rate 20beats/min & increased VO2 score from 25 to 28 increasing endurance and stamina.
  • hiking w trekking/hiking poles - can aid in ascents by engaging upper body muscles & preserve knees in downhill descents (a 1999 study found on a 25-degree grade, using poles reduced compressive forces on knees by 12-25%, on level ground by almost 5%).
  • running, trail running - studies suggest benefits from running as better odds for increased lifespans & postphoned disabilities, no increased risk of osteoarthritis after 18-yrs, and Dr. Fries (Prof. of Medicine, Stanford) summarizes "running is good because we depend on motion and resistance to build stronger cartilage and tendons. Running becomes negative when overuse and injuries result in tears or worst." Best advice listen to your body!

Exercise Programs offering High-levels of Benefits:

  • Yoga - strength, core, posture, flexibility, balance
  • Pilates - strength, core, posture, flexibility, balance
  • Tai Chi, Martial Arts - core, posture, flexibility, balance
  • P90X, Tony Horton - strength, core, posture, flexibility, cardio
  • HIT, Sprint8-P. Campbell - endurance, stamina, cardio, strength
  • The Fluidity Barre System - strength, core, posture, flexibility, balance
  • Resistance Tubes, Weighted Balls - strength, core, posture
  • Xco Trainer - flexibility, range of motion, strength, core


Books and Programs I use and suggest:
  1. Hittleman, R.L. 1969. Richard Hittleman's Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan. Bantam Books: New York, NY. Available from used booksellers, Alibris.com.
  2. Stanmore, T. 2002. The Pilates Back Book. Fair Winds Press: Gloucester, MA.
  3. Chuen, L.K. 1994. Step-by-Step Tai Chi. Fireside Books: New York, NY.
  4. Craig, C. 2003. Pilates on the Ball. Healing Arts Press: Rochester, VT.
  5. Michelle Austin. Fluidity Fitness Evolved DVDs. at www.fluidity.com
  6. Horton, T. 2011. Bring It! Rodale Books: New York, NY.
  7. Gadd, W. 2003. Ice and Mixed Climbing: Modern Technique. The Mountaineers Books: Seattle, WA.
  8. Twight, M.F. and J. Martin. 1999. Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light, Fast, and High. The Mountaineers Books: Seattle, WA.
  9. Xco Trainer DVD. from Fitter First, www.fitter1.com
  10. Weighted Ball Workout DVD. Danskin Now. Danskin, Inc. at www.staminaproducts.com


Disclaimer: By opening and visiting this site (Northern Lights Production, Fitness 4 Adventure-Whole Body Fitness) and its contents, you the user agree that all site content is informational and suggestive, that you and all heirs assume all risks and liability from using any of the content, exercises, workout regimes and ideas from this site, and agree to never pursue legal proceedings against this site, its developers, owners, inclusive. You acknowledge that any exercise and fitness plan carries inherent risks, that it is suggested that before you conduct any exercise and fitness plan you consult your doctor regarding your health, your participation and any issues you may have concerning your health and wellbeing before you start any exercise and fitness plan such as the ideas and plans from this site.

Copyright © 2017-25 by Northern Lights Production™. All rights reserved.