"We can not forget one of the benefits of hiking: it can be done with other people. Speak, laugh, enjoy, enrich yourself with opinions from others ... define us as human beings and makes us feel good, so the reward is Double. This, for example, is something that is not obtained from running, where many times it is trained in front of marks, it is less playful. " Sports psychology explains a stamp that turned so usual that it stopped attracting attention. Hikers in each corner, walk as an escape route against the pandemic, also as a sports activity: none grew more in 2021.
This is how it corroborates it in its annual report the Strava platform, which ceased to be a social network of sport geeks to become the world's largest sports community with more than 95 million athletes. "The walk is the easiest physical activity to perform because it is within reach of any. Beyond this, throughout 2020, the information that came to us is that the most populated areas, with greater overcrowding, suffered greater figures of Contagio. And hiking is a good way to escape from the city, "analyzes Rubén Moreno, a sports psychologist, professor at the European University, who also speaks of" social intelligence ". "Once in the rural environment, you surely see more people practicing hiking, at first it can make you feel not as special as you thought, but it ends up forging a feeling of community and a self-examination that you are really doing the right thing. In the end , the human being is gregarious, we are herd animals, and if something is going well for our congeners, I will also want to do it. "
Not only run, walk was the first thing that so many did when, on May 2, 2020, after three months confined, he could go out on the street. That day all records were broken in Spain in Strava. But the phenomenon was not a day's flower. The walkers continue to fill the streets of rural cities or environments. Discovering routes, increasingly longer. That is the main conclusion reached by the 2021 report that has just become public. The sports boom that was lived as a result of the pandemic does not show signs of deceleration, quite the opposite - "a kind of compensatory mechanism that makes the saying good 'you do not know what you have until you lose it'" - but walk is wearing La Palma: walks and hiking have multiplied by two, the largest increase in the year along with yoga and some indoor workouts.
The phenomenon has been observed in all age groups, but, above all, among those of more than 50 years, highlighting especially those over 70 years old: 56% of them have registered walks (45% in Spain). "They are retired people who can perform walks without major problems. In the end it is difficult to escape from the daily information of contagion figures and others, and as sometimes we only ignore when" we see the ears to the wolf ... ". On the other Side, for a person over 70 years, see that he is able to walk, feel active, functional and vigorous, gives him a self-image of himself from a healthy person and he combats better the fear he continues to plan about us, "says Moreno .
Another data to be highlighted from the report is the one that indicates that women have added more intensity than ever to physical activity. "Sociology identified men have long practiced more sport because women stay at home attending domestic tasks, fear and stress exists for everyone, so the fact that they have thrown more sport seems to me A wonderful fact, "concludes Rubén Moreno.
Athletes who upload platform regularly their rides register between 2.5 and four hours per week of activity (3.7 in our country) and cyclists and runners who also walk are 16% more likely to follow active in six Months that athletes who do not do it. Because in Spain, 64% of those who walk, also run or ride a bicycle, but running women and cyclists have 2.4 times more likely to climb rides than men.
The report draws attention to the increase in sports activity (38%); In total, 1,800 million activities have been published in Strava in the last 12 months, but also the growth of this social network. Performing a great sociological analysis. For example, another of the sporting activities that grew the most is the mountain and background ski. The explanation is in the closures and restrictions that in 2021 suffered ski resorts, which has meant a decrease of 37% for alpine skiing and snowboarding compared to the previous season (October 2019 - September 2020).
Or how Filomena affected Spanish athletes. The strong snowfall made the week from 7 to 15 to increase in 55% activities indoors and that sports outdoor practice fell by 69%. Not only cold influences: During the heat wave in Oregon in summer, outdoor activities decreased by 23% ..
By the way, another curiosity, the most active day of 2021 in Spain was Sunday, April 18 and the least, on Friday, February 5.
Date Of Update: 08 December 2021, 12:42
