Old Forum A new body in 153 days

[Physical Culture]

I came upon an interesting news piece about a man who hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 153 days.  He kept a blog about his adventures, and apparently a book is forthcoming.  Of interest to this forum is his physical transformation.  The page below has before and after pictures.  He went from soft and flabby with a spare tire and man boobs to a very impressive, lean, muscular physique.  That's what long duration, low intensity weighted cardio, along with caloric restriction and lots of good sleep will do for you.

It's interesting to me that the man clearly has the leg endurance to walk with a pack all day for five months, but very little if any visible hypertrophy in his legs.

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/how-much-can-a-2000-mile-hike-on-the-appalachian-trail

 

[Michael Corrales]

Pretty cool before and after pictures!

 

[Jeff]

He put on more upper body mass than I would have anticipated.

 

[Mattsirpeace]

Nice fat loss, and also good posture.  Backpacking can get you stooped over.  I don't see any change in muscle, and that's not surprising.

 

[Kyrinov]

If you want to see a real rapid transformation, see if you can get before and after photos of tree planters.  Now THAT's a transformation.  Much faster than 153 days too.  Great for the musculature, horrible for the spine, hips, knees and shoulders.  Ah hell, bad for the skeleton.  Nonetheless spending a few summers hammering in 2000-3000 trees per day, carrying 50-60 lbs of the damned things around your hips up and down over treacherous slashpiles can give a young man or woman a certain hardiness that is hard to develop elsewhere.  And the parties.  Oh the parties.   Nothing like being at such latitude that you can drink until 1 AM and still be enjoying the sunshine.  Pardon the nostalgia, but the aforementioned gentleman had the haggard look of a planter.