Hiking Exercises: Beef Up Your Lower Back

Agreed with Eric. While the aforementioned exercises are great, the body needs a variety of core exercises to become truly resilient. In addition, compound exercises that recruit multiple sets of muscle such as pullups with a leg raise or single-leg pushups/planks will really push the body towards balanced strength.

One thing I have learned from having an injured back is that all the core muscles are equally important, and having an extra 20lbs around the middle is not helpful. The two exercises (Supermans and planks) are good, but they only focus on one region. We also need to do some kind of direct ab strengthening (crunches, sit - ups, leg raises)and work on the oblique muscles which get a lot of stress when twisting on a rocky trail with weight. We don't need a six-pack, but regular (3x per week) and varied exercises are as equally important as logging miles on the trail. Your morning routine will be much easier after having slept on the ground all night.