Physiological and metabolic responses to a hill walk

Abstract

logical and metabolic responses to a hill walk. J Appl Physiol 92: 179–187, 2002.—The physiological and metabolic de-mands of hill walking have not been studied systematically in the field despite the potentially deleterious physiological consequences of activity sustained over an entire day. On separate occasions, 13 subjects completed a self-paced hill walk over 12 km, consisting of a range of gradients and terrain typical of a mountainous walk. During the hill walk, continuous measurements of rectal (Tre) and skin (Tsk) tem-peratures and of respiratory gas exchange were made to calculate the total energy expenditure. Blood samples, for the analysis of metabolites and hormones, were taken before breakfast and lunch and immediately after the hill walk. During the first 5 km of the walk (100- to 902-m elevation), Tre increased (36.9 6 0.2 to 38.5 6 0.4°C) with a subsequen