Hiking: Will It Build Your Leg Muscles?

Many people will ask themselves, will hiking build leg muscle? This blog post will answer this question. Hiking does condition your lower body and will strengthen your legs, but let’s make sure hiking can do everything you are looking to accomplish.

First of all, hiking is a great form of cardio exercise. Cardio is a vital part of any workout routine to lose weight. Cardio will burn calories and will help you get fit, even if the cardio exercise is low impact such as hiking. How many calories will hiking burn? 30 minutes of hiking on average burns about 300-400 calories for a 150 pound person (source).

Not only is hiking amazing cardio, it is great for building leg muscles. Hiking builds your muscles through endurance. This is great for maintaining muscle mass and increasing longevity!

However, hiking will not necessarily help you build a ton of mass in your legs. If you are looking to bulk up your leg muscles then you will need to focus on heavy lifts. Hiking can still be a part of your training routine, but you will need to lift heavy to increase muscle mass dramatically.

That being said, if you have been chilling on the couch and not doing much lately then hiking can surely help you build up some muscle mass that you are lacking. Hiking will also help tone your leg muscles!

Perhaps you don’t enjoy going to the gym and doing boring squats all the time, but still want to get substantial leg gains? Try shorter hikes while carrying things. You can always use your pack fully loaded with water. Ankle weights and weighted vests can also help give your legs more of a burn! And if you have a baby, those legs are gonna burn baby burn 🙂

Hiking will not only benefit your legs, but the rest of your body as well. Hiking will strengthen your heart and will help prevent diseases. Best of all, hiking gets you outside and is a great way to unwind from the stress of everyday life!

So, will hiking build leg muscle? The answer is yes! Hiking conditions the muscles for endurance and helps with weight loss. It also provides cardio benefits that will help you get fit.