What Happens If You Are Not Fit For A Trek?

Since a few treks, we are noticing a disturbing pattern of struggle in trekkers because of lack of fitness. Due to this, they miss out on experiencing the joy of finishing the trek. We have always discussed the benefits and the ways you can practice fitness, so in this article, we share the consequences of lack of preparation. 

Following are the repercussions noticed by a few of our experienced trek leaders:

1. Low Self-Esteem

2. Rest is a must, but not too much.

3. Acute Mountain Sickness

4. Easy Injury 

Low Self-Esteem

The inability to enjoy the process of trekking and falling behind from your trek mates hampers your confidence. We want you to take home a good experience, but all you will remember is the suffering you had to go through in the process of reaching there. It impacts your thought process, and your interest in trekking will eventually fade you take back self-doubt instead of memorable moments.

Rest is a must, but not too much.

When you halt to catch your breath often, it impacts your speed, and you will always be on the lookout for chasing your trek mates. During this, you miss out on enjoying the process of trekking, it becomes a race, and trekking is not about covering the distance. So, a lack of fitness can change the purpose of your trek, which is to enjoy the serenity of the mountains, and for that, you need to be calm and peaceful. 

Acute Mountain Sickness

Rupin Pass and Sandakphu are some of the most extended treks, so you have to cover 10-12 kilometers each day, and it will take seven to eight hours of walking, including many ascending and descending. The duration exhausts people, and the level of impact will be high if you are underprepared, it will be visible through your body language and face. 

Lack of fitness also could be one of the reasons for AMS, we have seen many people going through that once they reach the highest point of the trek. They had to give up after completing more than half of the trek because of the sickness. 

Easy Injury 

Like any other sport, you are prone to injury while trekking, especially if you are not physically fit. However, the difference here is you will be far away from the network area, city, dispensary, and hospital. The situation can be under control with the help of trek leaders as they are trained to tackle these issues. Still, incidents like this can ruin your entire trek, and the only thing you will remember is the pain, and that's because you did not put extra effort into getting ready for the trek.

Trekking is more about the journey than the destination. Physical fitness is very important to enjoy the journey so that you can return with lots of learnings and memories and discover something new about yourself. So, put a little effort because it's worth 

Conclusion

In the end, fitness is critical for the success of your trek. You sacrifice a lot to sign up for a trek — money, time, so much thought and planning. You do it to enjoy trekking, to enjoy being in nature.

But just putting thought, money and time into registering is not enough. Reality is — you won’t enjoy the trek if you are not fit. 

Check out this article to start with your fitness preparation. Also check out this video by Dushyant Sharma, our senior most trek leader on how to get fit for a trek.

If you have any question or opinions about fitness, you can head to the Indiahikes community page and write. It is an active community forum where a lot of trekkers share their thoughts. We launched it just last week. (You’ll find several other interesting conversations there too.)

Video transcribed by: Aparna Aparjith