Four Ways to Conserve Energy While Hiking Outdoors
Methods to Conserve Energy Outdoors
1. Talk Less
Speaking consumes a significant amount of energy. It requires engaging multiple muscle groups such as those in the mouth, throat, and lungs, and demands blood supply from the heart to fuel these muscle movements. More seriously, speaking consumes a huge amount of oxygen. When we speak, almost all the oxygen inhaled by the lungs is used for speech, causing the oxygen level in the blood to drop rapidly. Shouting loudly or talking continuously consumes even more energy. Therefore, try to talk as little as possible during your hike.
In addition, talking less, observing more, and reflecting more are signs of a mature hiker. It’s also a quality of a well-cultivated trekker. Some hikers who chatter non-stop along the way and spout endless nonsense can be quite annoying. At the same time, listening to someone drone on in your ear is very tiring and can ruin your mood. So unless it’s necessary, try not to talk too much — it’s better for both yourself and others.
2. Reduce the Number of Times You Sit to Rest
Many hikers, when feeling tired during an uphill climb, immediately sit down without thinking. When they’re ready to move again, their already exhausted legs have to expend a lot of energy just to lift their entire body and backpack. In fact, there are many ways to rest without having to sit down completely:
One option is to lean against a tree trunk to take some weight off your legs and relieve pressure.
Another is to choose a higher place to sit, preferably on a slope or rock where the height difference from your hips is small, so you don’t have to use much energy to get back up when you start walking again.
The third is to use a special hiking rest method (named by me, Qiu Shui): support your upper body with your hands on your knees, bend your upper body into a balanced bridge shape, keep your back level, and let your backpack rest steadily on your back. Slightly bend your legs, face uphill, and relax your torso. This reduces the sense of load on your shoulders and alleviates the downward pressure on your spine, quickly easing fatigue and restoring energy. When starting to move again, do not quickly raise your upper body. Instead, gradually return your torso to its normal position as you continue moving uphill.
The fourth is to breathe deeply and slow your pace down until it feels effortless, distributing your rest throughout each step and reducing the number of rest breaks.
The fifth is that if you do need to sit and rest, try to do so before reaching flat terrain ahead, rather than resting right before you have to start climbing again. Otherwise, once you resume, your heart, lungs, and muscles are still in a resting state, and suddenly needing to exert a lot of energy can be dangerous and will waste even more energy.
The sixth is to take small steps and slightly drag your feet. Small steps help conserve some energy, and when going uphill, not lifting your feet too high and letting them drag slightly—as long as it doesn’t affect walking or safety—can save energy. Paying attention to these small details and turning them into habits can lead to significant energy savings.
The seventh is that when stepping onto high platforms, you can use your hands to help lift your legs up, then push up your body with your hands on your knees. There are many paths in the mountains where you suddenly need to climb onto a high rock platform. If you're very tired at this point, don’t rely entirely on your leg strength to lift your body, because your legs have been in continuous use during the ascent and may cramp or become stiff from extreme fatigue. Combining the use of both your upper and lower body is the best approach — it saves a lot of energy and ensures safety.
3. Methods of Deep Breathing
Many hikers breathe shallowly, quickly, and irregularly when going uphill, which leads to increasing fatigue. When hiking uphill, maintain an appropriate rhythm between your steps and your breath, consciously working toward a habitual state. On steep, weighted climbs, aim for one breath per step. When fatigued, take deeper breaths and consciously slow your pace slightly to distribute energy evenly with your breathing. Rapid breathing wastes the movement of your lung muscles. The same amount of exercise fails to deliver enough oxygen — this is something hikers should pay attention to.
A good rhythm of steps and breathing allows you to hike for hours without needing to stop and rest, and without feeling tired.
4. Keep Your Center of Gravity Low When Going Uphill
This is easy to understand from a physics perspective: a lower center of gravity not only makes your steps more stable but also conserves energy. For example, shorter people tend to conserve more energy when hiking compared to taller individuals. Lean your upper body slightly forward at a suitable angle and let gravity assist you in climbing. On steep slopes, it’s best to use both hands and feet — this feels much easier, as the incline helps make up for the length of your arms, allowing you to move in a quadrupedal manner like an animal, which is one of the most energy-efficient methods. If you have gear, trekking poles can help achieve this effect.
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