FAQ - Fitness and Health

Send any comments to the maintainer Roger Caffin

By and large, we go bushwalking for the enjoyment. We aren't there to prove we can survive a post-nuclear-winter scenario. Even people doing endurance competitions and ultra-marathons are there for the fun (well, one assumes so...). So we want to play our games with reasonable safety and health. Of course, we would like to be able to do so to the best of our ability, and to be able to keep doing so for as long as possible. This means we do take some interest in health, nutrition, performance and safety. This section covers some of these areas. It's also an area which stirs some rather passionate debate.
This section has some holes in it. Maybe you can contribute or know of a good reference?

Trekking Poles

This must be one of the most contentious issues in the whole bushwalking scene (after Boots of course!) Some people, especially many in America, don't seem to be able to walk up a track without them, while experienced Australian bushwalkers wouldn't be seen dead with them. Granted, experienced Australian bushwalkers are often in the sort of country where your hands are far, far better used fending off the scrub! So are they of any real use?

Opinions really differ. I have seen a bunch of walkers in France walking up a gentle asphalt road to the happy tune of multiple clicks-clacks as they poled away. That I thought was a bit pathetic. On the other hand, some American walkers I know and respect claim the use of poles helps them at high speed on trails. This may well be so.

The subject has been researched by American academics, as reported here:

What Good Are Hiking Poles?

Double hiking poles, held like ski poles, are becoming a common sight on the trail. Do they really make hiking easier? Or, with their added weight, will they help you intensify your workout and burn more calories?

Researchers at Oklahoma State University tested these poles, not with vigorous arm swinging on a flat surface (which another study found increased exertion), but as a prop in walking uphill.

Twenty men were fitted with 33-lb (15 kg) frame backpacks, and walked uphill at 1 ½ mph at a gradually increasing grade for 5 minutes, then continued for 10 more minutes at a peak grade of 25 percent.

Whether they used hiking poles or not had no significant effect on their heart rate, breathing, oxygen consumption, or calories burned. It did, however, affect the hikers' perceived exertion (RPE), which was lower when using hiking poles, especially towards the end of the 15-minute hike.

The stabilizing effect of the poles may have made the hiking seem more comfortable and therefore, easier, even though physiologically, exertion was the same.

Source: International Journal of Sports Medicine, July 2000; 21, 5, 356-359

One place where I have found poles useful is when walking on snow in light footwear - especially hard slippery snow. Many have reported that poles are kinda nice when crossing fast rivers - and I can buy that one. Finally, many people have reported huge benefits when they have sore (or aging!) knees and are going downhill. The extra stability does take a load off the knees under these conditions. But otherwise, I still think they are a marketing department invention.

A very good article on pole use may be found at Pete's Pole Pages: pole use for people with injured knees.

Flies, Leeches and how to avoid them

A perennial topic of discussion on aus.bushwalking concerns leeches, and how to avoid them. Almost as (un)popular are large March flies and small black bitey flies. Sadly, we have to record that there are no miracle solutions.

It has been reported that 'Skoot' contains piperonyl butoxide which actually kills insects, while most other things like Aeroguard are based on DEET, which confuses the ability of the insects to detect the CO₂ you breathe out. It doesn't kill them. The trouble is, these sorts of chemicals are a bit nasty, and many people hesitate to put them on themselves.

It has also been reported that ti-tree oil has repellent properties for some things - leeches I think.

One reader commented that a very coarse bit of mesh hanging from your hat will keep flies away from your face, even with very large holes which you can see through easily. They don't like the motion. Apparently it's a bit like the old corks hanging from the hat.

John Henderson wrote 'Try anhydrous lanolin as your boot leather preservative/waterproofing. It's available as a spray-on or as a thicker "grease". The march flies love it, and will swarm all over your boots - paying absolutely no attention to you. Locally, I can get it at Bunnings and Super Cheap Autos. http://www.lanotec.com.au and http://www.lanoguard.co.nz/ are competing brands.' Then, when they are all there on your shoes ...

Contributions please!

Mosquitoes

If leeches are bad, at least they don't always bug you. But mosquitoes seem far more pervasive in some areas, and they can carry malaria, Dengue fever and Ross River fever (at least). Zen Seeker sent me the following brief notes. More would be appreciated!

Found an article on mosquito repellants: insect_repellents_122291_7.pdf. In this article the top four were rated the best (with lemon eucalyptus at the top). The right hand columns give a 'Repellency Index' and the number of hours for which each was effective.

The CDC is now pushing the use of lemon eucalyptus and picaridin in addition to the old favorite DEET. (One wonders why they don't like 2% soybean oil??)

Interesting Web sites

There are a number of interesting web sites covering parts of this general area far better than we can here. The Peak Peformance web site is directed towards endurance athletes and ultra-marathoners. They cover a wide range of topics including nutrition, health, performance and the effects of age. They have an on-line library of technical articles for anyone who is really serious about their athletic performance.

Coaching	Cycling	Drugs	Exercise	Fitness
Genetics	Injury	Nutrition	Physiology	Psychology
Rowing	Running	Swimming	Training	Veterans
Women

Body Surface Area

It's one of those fascinating but probably utterly useless pieces of information. It's relevance here? Well, what surface area do you have for sweating, or maybe for getting dirty while walking? Less than you might think.

Your Body surface Area, or BSA, is of the order of 2.3 - 2.4 square metres. More if you are especially fat, I guess.

BSA (m²) = Square root of ( [Height(cm) x Weight(kg) ]/ 3600 )   e.g. BSA = SQRT( (cm*kg)/3600 )

For this and other formulas see http://www.halls.md/body-surface-area/refs.htm

A Java calculator is at http://www.halls.md/body-surface-area/bsa.htm

It gives not only body surface area but percentile weight and height and percentile weight. Also included is lean body mass and ideal weight.

We need contributions here.