a great article

Posted by: Jenna.

The other day I was reading a Backpacker magazine at the gym and I found a great article about what a 2000+ mile hike will do to your body. Here are the highlights (or click here to read the full article, and find training tips):

• The average thru-hiker's quads expand more than 10 percent, and thigh circumference increases by almost two inches.
• Calf muscles grow an average of 3.5 percent, gaining a half-inch in circumference.
• VO2, the measure of the body's ability to fuel muscles with oxygen, increases a whopping 18.3 percent over the course of a long hike.

I have also heard we will need to be consuming 6,000-8,000 calories a day to simply maintain our weight. These numbers are boggling! I can't even imagine my thighs growing that much...