Six Summer Strong Moves that Showed Up in Real-Time in the Backcountry

When Your Body Already Knows What To Do 

Last month, I spent 2.5 weeks in the northernmost part of Alaska - the Brooks Range - with my husband, Luc. 

There were a ton of highlights on this trip, but one that I wanted to write about right away was how, in all the little ways, my training showed up on this trip. Even when I wasn’t even thinking directly about it. 

It wasn’t even during some epic summit push or dramatic river crossing - though the nervous system and fitness training did certainly help the hard parts be more manageable. More often, though, it was in the day-to-day movements we needed our bodies to be able to consistently handle as we navigate the weird body shapes that living and moving through a wilderness landscape asks of us. 

The idea for this piece began while we were crossing a side-sloped snowfield on our way toward a mountain pass. We were walking across the snow when I heard the distinct sound of a slip and a laugh from Luc. 

“I just did that move from Ski Babes!” he said. 

He couldn’t remember the name of it, but I knew exactly what he meant: the Center-Loaded Lunge! 

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The movement pattern - lunging or (uplevel) jumping a bit to practice catching your weight while one foot slides to the side - is something we intentionally practice in both Ski Babes and Summer Strong. Out in the mountains, it wasn’t an exercise anymore. It was just… the movement his body naturally reverted to when the terrain demanded it. 

This is the ideal way for training to show up! Generally, when we’re learning a new movement pattern, there’s a time period when it takes conscious focus to do it well, hold alignment, etc. Then, after repetition, the movement becomes embodied and can happen without us thinking about it, which helpfully frees up our conscious attention for other things. Your body knows what to do, and will do it automatically when it is in a situation that needs it - like a side-sloping snow field. 

From that point on, we started noticing all the other times the training was showing up and supporting us through this adventure! 

My only lament with this piece is that we didn’t take pictures or video of these in real time, except for the final one 😂darn! We were too in the moment to document, I guess - not a bad thing either. At some point, I might replicate these and add pictures back!  

Core Moves When They Really Count 

A couple of days later, we were in the tent doing our evening ritual: hunting the mosquitoes that had made it inside before we zipped up. 

We had just gotten in the tent, and I had my soggy socks on still and was trying to keep them off of my dry sleeping bag (can you picture it?). 

While reaching forward to get one of the last 🦟, I realized… this is a v-sit!  

Not because I was trying to do a workout in my tent, but because the strength and body awareness I’ve built over the years through training made that awkward position doable, and also funny to recognize in the moment.

So Many Ups and Downs

And then there was the actual hiking. Over the course of the trip, we climbed endless hills and stepped up and over rocks (step-ups): 

balanced across uneven tundra full of tussocks (stagger squats): 

stepped down and over as we were descending various terrain (single leg lowers) more times than I could possibly count:  

Many of those connections are obvious - others surprised me. 

Balance Challenge For The Win

One of my favorites in this series, and one of the most recognizable, happened nearly every day - whenever I changed socks or shoes. 

Standing on one foot, trying to keep a dry sock clean while swapping footwear or socks on wet ground - it became an accidental but very effective figure-four balance challenge. 

Like the Ski Babes/Summer Strong mantra goes - I’ve been training for this! 

Training for the Life You Actually Live 

One of my favorite things about what we’re practicing in Summer Strong and Ski Babes is that it’s not really about being good at the workouts themselves. 

The real-life applications of these movement patterns, and the way they show up just when we need them (I really needed to get that last mosquito so I could go to sleep in peace!). And the joy a body that feels capable when life asks something of it - and that could be hiking into the backcountry, carrying groceries, chasing kids, stepping over the dog, skiing, backpacking… the list goes on and on. 

It’s pretty fun to celebrate these micro-wins - they are what got us through, in the end (plus celebrating micro-wins is a nervous system practice too).

What a treat to notice, in the middle of an adventure, that your body already knows what to do and you can trust it.

I hope this was a fun one to read, and also hope it inspires you to notice the small ways your body is showing up for you these days! Let us know what you notice!