Outdoor Women Strong

You've done the planks. You've done the crunches. And somewhere on a long climb, whether you're hiking, riding, trail running, or paddling, your low back gets tired or your hips seem to be doing everything.In this episode, I walk through why your core is about more than abs, and a different way to think about what your trunk is actually doing out there. You'll leave with one question to carry into your next workout or your next time out on the trail.Start hereFree guide: Feel Stronger on the Climb. Three small adjustments you can apply tonight (the hip hinge, the single-leg stand, and the plank), including the plank we talk about in this episode:https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/Strength Foundation. Learn how to strength train while getting stronger. Four weeks, three workouts a week, about 30 to 40 minutes each, $97 one time, with lifetime access:https://coach.everfit.io/package/FH324757OWS Membership. Progressive strength and mobility for outdoor women who mountain bike, hike, trail run, and paddle. Build the strength your sport asks for, without giving up your time outside. $25 a month, about three workouts a week:https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membershipResearch mentionedWillard FH, Vleeming A, Schuenke MD, Danneels L, Schleip R. The thoracolumbar fascia: anatomy, function and clinical considerations. J Anat. 2012;221(6):507–536. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01511.xVleeming A, Pool-Goudzwaard AL, Stoeckart R, van Wingerden JP, Snijders CJ. The posterior layer of the thoracolumbar fascia: its function in load transfer from spine to legs. Spine. 1995;20(7):753–758. doi:10.1097/00007632-199504000-00001This episode is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for individual medical advice. If something doesn't feel right when you move, check in with your healthcare provider.

Someone tells you to push your hips back. So you try. Then they tell you to keep your back still, and suddenly you're wondering about your knees, your chest, and why you feel your back working instead of your glutes. If the hip hinge in a deadlift or Romanian deadlift feels confusing, you're not weak and you're not doing it wrong. It's a skill you can learn, and sometimes the answer isn't another cue or more effort.In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, a physical therapist turned strength coach and mountain bike instructor, explains why the hip hinge can feel so awkward, including difficulty with lumbopelvic control, and walks through how she actually teaches it so you can learn the movement and eventually load it for strength.Start hereFree guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb. Feel Better the Next Day. The hip hinge is the first adjustment: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/Strength Foundation, a four-week program with three workouts a week, about 30 to 40 minutes each, $97 one-time with lifetime access, for more structured instruction on the foundational movements: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/In this episodeWhat a hip hinge is, and why it's the foundation for Romanian deadlifts and many deadlift variationsWhy "push your hips back" doesn't always work, and what lumbopelvic control and dissociation mean in plain languageLiz's own experience learning the hip hingeHow Liz teaches it step by step: tall kneeling, hands and knees with pelvic tilts, a broomstick for feedback, standing, then adding dumbbells or kettlebellsWhat you should feel in a hinge: your back, glutes, hamstrings, and abs all contribute, and why you don't need to chase one sensationThinking of your trunk as a cylinder, not just a rod, and a slight pelvic tilt as one coaching optionWhy the hinge matters for mountain biking and other outdoor sports, even when a lift doesn't look like your sportHow to know when to progress from learning the movement to building strengthThis episode is educational and isn't medical advice. If what you're feeling is significant, getting worse, or concerning, don't push through it. Modify the exercise or have someone take a look.Adventure Strong.#hiphinge #romaniandeadlift #strengthtraining #strengthtrainingforwomen #beginnerstrengthtraining #outdoorwomenstrong

You watch someone do a squat, a deadlift, or a single-leg exercise and think, "That doesn't look too complicated." Then you try it, and suddenly you're thinking about your feet, your knees, your back, where you're supposed to feel it, and whether the weight is too heavy or too light. If strength training feels harder than it looks, you're not bad at it. You're learning a new skill, and there's a process for that.In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, a physical therapist turned strength coach and mountain bike instructor, explains why strength training feels surprisingly hard when you're new, even if you're already a strong hiker, mountain biker, trail runner, or paddler, and how to learn it one piece at a time.Start hereStrength Foundation, a four-week program where you learn how to strength train while you get stronger. Three workouts a week, about 30 to 40 minutes each, $97 one-time with lifetime access: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/Free guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb. Feel Better the Next Day: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/In this episodeWhy being athletic outdoors doesn't automatically make strength training feel easyWhat learning a bunny hop on a mountain bike, one piece at a time, teaches you about learning a squat, hip hinge, or single-leg movementWhy "hard" can mean tired muscles, coordination, balance, or discomfort, and why each one needs a different adjustmentWhy an exercise can feel hard without giving you a good strength-training stimulusA first look at how Liz starts teaching the hip hinge, and a preview of next week's episodeWhy practice, repetition, and room to make mistakes matter, from whitewater kayaking to strength trainingHow to know when to make an exercise harder, including RPE (rating of perceived exertion)Why you don't have to feel every exercise in one specific muscleThis episode is educational and isn't medical advice.Adventure Strong.#strengthtraining #beginnerstrengthtraining #strengthtrainingforwomen #mountainbiking #hikingtips #outdoorwomenstrong

Your knees feel fine hiking uphill for an hour. Then you turn around, and twenty minutes into the descent they get achy and cranky. Why? Downhill hiking and downhill trail running aren't the easy version of uphill. They're a different demand, and where you feel a cranky knee isn't enough information to tell you why it's happening.In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, a physical therapist turned strength coach for outdoor women, explains what descending asks of your body and how strength training can build the capacity to handle it, without a magic list of "exercises to fix your knees."Start here Strength Foundation, a four-week, three-workouts-a-week program that teaches you how to strength train while you build the foundation (not a rehab program): https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/Free guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb. Feel Better the Next Day: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/In this episodeWhy downhill hiking and trail running ask something different of your quads and knees than climbing doesWhy a cranky knee on the descent is a symptom, not an explanation, and the questions worth getting curious aboutHow capacity and fatigue change the demand: the same descent twenty minutes in versus four hours inWhy your muscles can adapt to lowering workWhy Liz likes a high step-up with a controlled lowering, a TKE (terminal knee extension) with a band, and a wall sit with a marchRed flags that mean it's time to have someone actually look at your kneeResearch mentioned in this episodeKuster M, Sakurai S, Wood GA. Kinematic and kinetic comparison of downhill and level walking. Clin Biomech. 1995;10(2):79-84. doi:10.1016/0268-0033(95)92043-LHu X, Pickle NT, Grabowski AM, Silverman AK, Blemker SS. Muscle eccentric contractions increase in downhill and high-grade uphill walking. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020;8:573666. doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.573666Bontemps B, Louis J, Owens DJ, Miríc S, Vercruyssen F, Gruet M, Erskine RM. Muscle soreness but not neuromuscular fatigue responses following downhill running differ according to the number of exercise bouts. Eur J Sport Sci. 2025;25(3):e12240. doi:10.1002/ejsc.12240Palmieri-Smith RM, Villwock M, Downie B, Hecht G, Zernicke R. Pain and effusion and quadriceps activation and strength. J Athl Train. 2013;48(2):186-191. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.2.10This episode is educational and isn't a diagnosis or medical advice. If your knee is significantly swollen, locking or giving way, getting progressively worse, or really limiting what you can do, have someone assess it.Adventure Strong.#downhillhiking #kneepain #trailrunning #hikingtips #strengthtraining #outdoorwomenstrong

Your strength exercises don't need to look like your sport. In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, talks to the woman who wants to start strength training and thinks the flashy exercises she sees on Instagram are where she needs to begin, because they'll keep her motivated. Liz explains why an exercise doesn't have to look like hiking, trail running, mountain biking, or paddling to make you stronger for those sports, why functional does not mean complicated, and what to start with instead.What the research found: a 2014 review of runners and cyclists found that adding heavy strength training to their endurance training improved running economy and cycling economy, with the strongest case for heavy strength training in cycling. That research covers endurance runners and cyclists, not hikers or paddlers. A 2020 randomized trial in Norway trained active young women for eight weeks with either a leg press or two single-joint exercises (a leg extension and a glute kickback). Both groups got stronger, but each group improved most in the exercise it practiced, and the leg press group improved less on the kickback, likely because the leg press does not take the hips to full extension. It was one study of young women using machines.Also in this episode: exercises that look nothing like your sport but still help it (deadlifts, rows, split squats, core work lying on your back, and pull-ups or pulldowns), why compound exercises and targeted accessory exercises both belong in a program, why making an exercise wobblier is not the same as making it better, why you can't build strength on an exercise you can't progress, why the simple version is not the beginner version, and how to tell whether an exercise deserves a spot in your week.Strength Foundation: four weeks, three workouts a week, and Liz teaches you how to strength train while you get stronger. https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/Free guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb: three small adjustments to movements you already know. https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/Adventure Strong.Rønnestad BR, Mujika I. Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: A review. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2014;24(4):603-612. doi:10.1111/sms.12104.Stien N, Pedersen H, Ravnøy AH, Andersen V, Saeterbakken AH. Training specificity performing single-joint vs. multi-joint resistance exercises among physically active females: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(5):e0233540. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233540.Show notes references

Your sport already trains your sport. Strength training is for everything else. In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, explains the difference between sport-specific training and the strength work hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers, and paddlers actually need: the things your sport doesn't train, for your performance, your tissues, and your bones and muscle for life.What the research found: a 2002 study in the journal Bone (Warner and colleagues) compared 16 competitive mountain bikers, 14 road cyclists, and 15 active men. After adjusting for body weight and age, the mountain bikers had higher bone density at every site measured, suggesting mountain biking gives bones a loading stimulus road cycling doesn't. It was small and all male.You'll also hear what hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and paddling each train and what each rarely asks for, and the three gaps that show up across all four sports (heavy work, a strong core, and rotation, both producing it and resisting it), and three named tools: The Never-Ask List, Flip the Pattern, and One Lift, One Gap.Free guide: Feel Stronger on the Climb, three small adjustments (the hip hinge, the single-leg stand, and the plank) to carry onto your next hike, ride, or paddle: outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/Adventure Strong.

Being active outside doesn't automatically mean strong bones. In this episode, physical therapist and strength coach Dr. Liz Koch breaks down what actually builds bone density — and why some of the most popular outdoor sports don't provide it on their own.Liz explains the mechanism behind bone adaptation (mechanotransduction and Wolff's Law), why walking alone typically doesn't provide enough mechanical load to build bone density, and walks through the landmark LIFTMOR trial: an 8-month study showing that heavy resistance training and impact training significantly improved bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis — safely, reversing decades of guidance that told women with low bone density to avoid heavy lifting. She details the exact exercises used (deadlift, back squat, overhead press, and jumping chin-ups with drop landings), the gradual loading progression, and an accessible alternative (foot stomping) for anyone without access to a pull-up bar.The episode also covers site-specific bone loading — why cyclists and paddlers may be missing a stimulus their sport doesn't provide, and why hikers and trail runners on technical terrain get more benefit than those on flat trail. Liz shares her own approach to bone health as a mother of two who breastfed both kids, including her plan to get a DEXA scan for a real baseline.This episode is for any woman who hikes, trail runs, mountain bikes, or paddles and wants to understand what her training is — and isn't — doing for her long-term bone health.⛰️ Join the OWS Membership → ⁠⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠⁠🆓 Free guide — 1 Think to Change to Feel Stronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠⁠Follow me on IG - ⁠⁠@drlizkoch⁠

What does it actually mean to lift heavy? In this episode of Outdoor Women Strong, physical therapist and strength coach Dr. Liz Koch breaks down what "lifting heavy" really means for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — and why it has nothing to do with a specific number on the bar.Liz explains rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and why effort, not rep count, determines whether a set is actually heavy. She covers why training in a 9–15 rep range can build strength and muscle nearly as effectively as low-rep, heavy-load training — backed by current exercise science research — and why she personally programs effort no higher than a 7–8 out of 10 rather than training to complete muscular failure, based on research showing higher injury and discomfort risk with failure-based training. This episode also covers why rep ranges and load should flex day to day based on readiness and fatigue, why accessory and mobility-focused exercises don't need to be maximally loaded, why the first set of a workout should function as a warm-up set, and why beginners should build toward heavier lifting gradually rather than starting there.Whether you're new to strength training or have lifted for years, this episode will change how you think about progressive overload, training intensity, and injury prevention in your strength program.Outdoor Women Strong is a strength training and physical therapy podcast for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — helping you build strength that keeps you doing what you love, on the trail and for life as you age.

One hundred episodes in, Dr. Liz Koch steps back from the body-part-of-the-week format to share the five beliefs about strength training she keeps coming back to — as a physical therapist, a strength coach, an outdoor athlete, and a woman who has rebuilt her own body more than once. This episode covers why your sport alone isn't your strength training, why the number on the bar matters less than what it proves about your body, why consistency beats the perfect program, how to build strength that supports your outdoor life instead of competing with it, and why the goal was never to get your old body back. Liz also shares her own story — years of chronic pain after multiple surgeries and a hypermobility diagnosis, and how strength training changed not just what her body could do, but how she saw it. Whether you're brand new to strength training or you've been at this for years, this episode is the philosophy underneath every other episode Liz has ever recorded.Outdoor Women Strong is for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — helping you build strength that keeps you doing what you love, on the trail and for life as you age.⛰️ Join the OWS Membership → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠🆓 Free guide — FeelStronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠Follow me on IG - ⁠@drlizkoch⁠

A few weeks ago Dr. Liz Koch rolled her ankle on her own driveway — not on a trail, not doing anything heroic, just walking to her car — right in the middle of training for an 8.5-mile trail race. In this episode she tells the full story: the decade off trail running, the slow careful rebuild, the setback, and where she actually is right now — back on short trail runs where she has to really focus, back in the gym loading single leg stability, back on the bike because that's where her body feels best. She's not on the other side of the setback with a neat lesson. She's in it. And four days before the Strong for Fall Challenge starts, that's exactly the right place to be talking about the three things that keep you moving forward when fear would have you stop: meeting your body where it is, recognizing fear as a signal rather than a verdict, and understanding why direction matters more than readiness. A setback changes the timeline. It doesn't change the direction.⛰️ Strong for Fall Challenge — join theOWS Membership to participate → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠We start Monday Sept 14th - Plan - Proof - Profit🆓 Free guide — FeelStronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠Follow me on IG - ⁠@drlizkoch⁠