This past weekend, my wife and I, and a couple of my younger brothers went hiking in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. The summer months are always filled with plenty of physical activity, and we love making an effort to enjoy the outdoors as often as we can. This past weekend, we hiked up Mount Pierce and Mount Eisenhower just for fun.

It was cool and humid, and best of all, there were no black flies or mosquitoes in sight. The way our trail was setup required us to hike the most difficult portion first, the initial hike up Mount Pierce. The trail got gradually steeper and steeper, offering no rest for the weary. The setting was absolutely fantastic, and the birds were chirping all morning. We happened to snap a few short clips with our video camera to show you:

Hiking Mount Pierce and Mt. Eisenhower

I always leave one of these trips with a new life lesson, or several. The major lesson of this trip was one I have learned countless times before, but I always benefit from experiencing it one more time. If you have fat loss goals, then pay attention because this hint will help you burn fat in your training sessions.

The lesson I took home was that the body is capable of anything that the mind has determined to be possible. Taken a step further, if you decide, for example, that you are going to train with high intensity before even attempting a fat burning session - that’s exactly what will happen. You must accept that you are capable of more than you previously thought possible. You must accept that your body can handle a lot more work than it would like you to think.

Walking up a mountain is no easy task, and we had a wide array of fitness levels attending our hike. I took a sort of “back seat” approach during the hike to observe how everyone was handling the training stress (because I’m weird, I know!). I watched as each person went through a transformation in their energy levels, and everyone hit this point at a different time.

The initial stage of this physical transformation experienced by all were those of feeling fatigued, breathing heavily, taking frequent breaks, trailing behind the rest of the group, along with some negative self-talk. Very early on in the hike, it seemed like no one would make it to the top of the first summit. Some were even entertaining the idea of only hiking one mountain that day, when we had all set out to do both.

The next stage of the transformation is what was really cool to witness. With each hiker, all of a sudden, the feelings of fatigue, and the negative self-talk stopped immediately. Very quickly, everybody was more than ready to reach the summit, and then to get to the next peak. A little competition even started to see who could stay in the front of the group. My wife, even started jogging ahead of the rest of us, leading us on at a much faster pace than before.

First, seeing everyone feeling like they should just sit down, take a break, or go back to the parking lot. Then seeing everyone testing their abilities, trying to push further and harder, trying to enjoy competition with themselves and others. It was amazing how each person had completely flipped their perspective in a matter of minutes.

I think everyone left this hike with a new view of themselves, realizing that we are capable of so much more than we like to credit ourselves with. The body is an incredible adapting machine!

I highly recommend sometime setting up an activity in which you can test yourself. And I mean, REALLY test yourself. Push your body to it’s limit, and see what you can achieve. You may find that your fat loss goals are much more in reach than you previously thought.

To your health and success,

John Sifferman, NSCA-CPT

P.S. Anyone else enjoying the outdoors this summer?

P.P.S. Just as a side note, this was my second major hike this summer, and I credit my successful completion of this hike to the fact that I knew I could push my training limits today, because I had done it before already. Doing something hard will make the next time you do it seem like a walk in the park.