A Tip for Consistency and a Hiker's Dream

🔎 In This Fit Tip Friday 

 Inside you'll find:

• Tip: Have a consistent bed-time

• Story: The first thru-hike of the Appalachian trail

• Find: Kettlebell industry growth

• Quote: A hiker’s postcard poem

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🕰️ Have a Consistent Bed-Time

If you’re struggling with consistency with your workout routine, try this one tip.

Go to bed within the same 30 minute window every day, or at least on the days before you exercise.

This tip gets at the root cause of the lack of consistency we all face with trying to exercise with a busy schedule.

The logic works like this:

• If you have any type of responsibilities (marriage, kids, work, ministry, etc…), your days are busy.

• Which means to consistently exercise when you’re busy (and with the most energy), you’ll probably exercise in the morning before your responsibilities start.

• Which means to exercise in the morning before your responsibilities start, you’ll have to wake up early.

• Which means to wake up early, you’ll have to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

If your bed-time is unpredictable and inconsistent, your workouts the next morning will be too.

Give it a try.

📖 The First Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail (AT) is a hiker’s dream.

Conceived in 1921, the AT was built by private citizens and completed in 1937. The AT begins in the mountains of northern Georgia and ends at Mt. Katahdin in Maine, carving its way across 14 U.S. states in over 2,000 miles of connected trail.

At the AT’s inception, the idea of a thru-hike (completing the AT in one go) was said to be impossible.

But these days, about 3,000 hikers attempt a thru-hike of the AT each year, with 25% completing the trail annually, with 20,000 documented thru-hikes.

What changed this belief?

One guy. I’d like to introduce you to Earl Shaffer, the first person to complete a thru-hike of the AT in 1948.

Earl Shaffer, also called the Crazy One (as well as the Original Crazy One), was 29 when he started his AT hike on April 4, 1948. Averaging 17 miles per day for 124 days, he made his way through the eastern U.S., documenting his journey with photos, diary entries, and poetry.

Shaffer served in the Army in World War 2, fighting in the South Pacific. His close childhood friend Walter Winemiller served with him in the war. Earl and Walter planned to hike the AT together, but Walter died at Iwo Jima.

After the war, Shaffer fulfilled the promise he made to his friend to walk the AT. In Shaffer’s words, he walked the AT to “walk the war out of my system”.

For most of Shaffer’s journey he didn’t use a tent. He camped under his Army poncho or in lean-tos along the trail’s paths. His meals, as recorded here, consisted largely of “oatmeal, pan baked bread, jam, honey, raisins, Betty Crocker dried soups, and canned foods” purchased along the way.

But this wasn’t the last time Shaffer did a thru-hike of the AT.

When he was 47, he walked the AT in the other direction, starting in Maine and finishing in Georgia.

Then when he was 79, at the 50th anniversary of his first thru-hike, Shaffer did a final thru-hike from Georgia to Maine.

Shaffer’s trial diary has been published online for any to read, and his adventure was also chronicled in his book “Walking with Spring”.

This was a subscriber submitted idea for a story. If you have a story you’d like to share, just reply to this email with the idea.

📈 Kettlebell Industry Growth

Fads dominate the fitness space. Which has made me wonder, almost skeptically, if the kettlebell thing is just a fad.

Turns out, probably not.

The kettlebell market size was valued at $105 million in 2023, and is expected to more than double it’s size by the end of 2030 to reach $255 million, with an estimated 14% growth rate each year.

What’s the craze for? Here are some of the reasons behind the anticipated growth:

• The kettlebell’s ability to provide functional training

• Suitable for home workouts, as well as appeal to boutique gyms and functional fitness studios

• Growing acceptance of their ability to provide mobility, strength, cardio, and balance training

👍 Did You Like What You Read?

If you liked, enjoyed, or even hated anything in this Fit Tip Friday, just hit reply with your thoughts.

I’ll see you next Friday.

Be strong,

Don