Expansion companies are professional organizations that specialize in organizing teams for outdoor training. There are many such organizations in Beijing. With people's needs increasingly shifting towards the wilderness, more and more teams from Beijing expansion companies are engaging in wilderness crossings. During these crossings, a common phenomenon occurs: some individuals who are obviously physically strong slow down significantly after walking for a short while. Teams that were initially lively with discussions become silent after walking less than a kilometer. However, certain individuals within the same team do not exhibit such reactions. Is it due to their superior physical strength? The truth is not so simple. Could it be that those who appear to have reached their limit don't have someone with better stamina than them? In fact, this is due to our lack of outdoor activities.
During outdoor activities, some people may notice that after walking a certain distance, they still have strength in their legs, but their breathing cannot keep up, causing them to walk slower and slower. On the other hand, some people may find that after walking a certain distance, their breathing is not labored, and their body does not require much oxygen, yet they struggle to take steps forward. The reason for this is that you haven't properly allocated your energy. You haven't learned the principle of appropriately distributing your physical fitness. To conserve energy during outdoor activities and expansion training, we need to:
1. Speak less or even not at all.
Speaking consumes a significant amount of your energy. It requires the use of multiple muscle groups like oral muscles, throat muscles, and lung muscles, demanding blood supply from the heart. More seriously, speaking consumes a large amount of oxygen. When we speak, almost all the oxygen inhaled by the lungs is used for speaking, causing a rapid decline in the oxygen content in the blood. Loud shouting or continuous talking consumes even more energy. Therefore, minimizing talking during hikes is an important way to conserve energy. Additionally, using fewer words, observing more, and understanding more is a sign of a mature hiker and a hiker with class. Some hikers who talk incessantly along the way can be quite annoying, and listening to constant chatter can also waste energy and affect one's mood. So, unless necessary, try not to talk too much to avoid harming both yourself and others.
2. Minimize sitting down to rest.
Many hikers, when climbing, tend to sit down as soon as they feel tired. When it's time to get up again, their already exhausted legs must expend extra energy to support the entire body and backpack. Actually, there are various ways to rest without sitting fully:
- Lean against a tree trunk to reduce the burden on your legs and relieve pressure.
- Sit on higher ground, preferably on a slope or rock with a smaller height difference from your hips, so you don't need to exert much effort to stand up again.
- Use the specialized hiking rest method (named by me): Support your upper body by placing your hands on your knees, bend your upper body into a balanced bridge position, keep your back level, let the backpack rest steadily on your back, slightly bend your legs, face the uphill direction, relax your torso. This allows your shoulders to reduce the feeling of carrying weight, relieves pressure on the spine, quickly alleviates fatigue, and restores energy. When starting again, don't abruptly lift your upper body; gradually restore your torso to its normal position while ascending.
- Breathe deeply, slow down your pace until it feels effortless, and distribute rest throughout each step to reduce the number of rests.
3. Lower your center of gravity when going uphill or downhill.
From a physics perspective, lowering your center of gravity not only stabilizes your steps but also conserves energy. For instance, shorter people expend less energy climbing than taller ones. Slightly leaning your upper body forward to an appropriate angle allows gravity to assist you in climbing. If the slope is steep, it's best to use all four limbs, making it very easy. The incline compensates for the length of your arms, allowing you to walk on all fours like animals, which is one of the methods to save energy. Those equipped can use trekking poles to achieve this effect.
Outdoor activities must be conducted with proper techniques and sufficient outdoor knowledge for long-term outdoor crossings or elastic activities. Some people may scoff at this point, thinking it's unimportant and that finding a suitable location for wilderness survival is what matters most. But consider this: if you find such a place and rush there, would you have the courage to go blindly to an unfamiliar area? What if you reach a cliff with no path ahead? Either you descend via a rope, or you return the way you came. If you carry rope descent equipment, do you really know how to use it correctly? If you decide to return, can you find your way back? I believe you cannot guarantee this. In unfamiliar outdoors, without professional knowledge, it is advisable not to venture recklessly. While the wilderness is beautiful and full of vitality, dangers are everywhere. Even a hidden mole's burrow in the grass can sprain your ankle, leaving you unable to walk or even descend the mountain. At that point, regretting will be too late. However, if you understand outdoor knowledge, you'll know what kind of places are prone to having mole burrows. Even if you unfortunately sprain your ankle, you can use first aid knowledge to treat yourself. Therefore, I advise everyone to supplement their wilderness survival skills knowledge before embarking on outdoor crossings.
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Article reprinted from: http://www.blwh.cn/hv_more.asp?id=240