Lake Tahoe Standup Paddleboarding
Lake Tahoe standup paddleboarding is quickly... Read Article
What if your gym didn’t come with a membership fee?
Welcome to Tahoe-Truckee, your free outdoor recreation and recovery center. Featuring seemingly unlimited hiking and biking trails, beaches for swimming and cold plunging, golf courses, cross-country skiing and snowshoe trails and world-class downhill skiing resorts, the region is home to year-round recreation opportunities for every age and ability.
Photo: Explore the vast network of trails in the region for a great workout and views. Photo credit: Kirsten Alexis
Here, trails replace treadmills. Steep climbs test your endurance and strength while providing postcard-worthy views, swimming offers a full-body workout in crystal-clear waters, golf gives a seamless blend of physical and mental workouts, and skiing provides an adrenaline-fueled rush to combat the cold. After an adventurous day outside, your body and mind will need time to recover, and the region is prime for cold plunges, outdoor yoga and resting in the abundant sunshine.
The best part? You don’t even feel like you’re doing a workout.
Below, I have outlined some of the best ways to get a killer workout and relaxing options for your recovery routine. Enjoy!
Increase endurance, strength and mental clarity on the trail. Photo credit: Kirsten Alexis
Hiking and Biking Trails
Forget the treadmill, stair climber and spin bike. In the Tahoe-Truckee region, you have everything you need for endurance, speed, strength and mental fortitude on the hiking and biking trails.
With miles of trails through forests, mountains, meadows and by the lakeshore, you can explore a different trail every time you venture out, making your workout an adventure rather than a chore. As you increase your time on the trails, you’ll be able to increase your endurance, and mileage and explore more challenging terrain.
Hiking is one of the region’s most accessible forms of fitness, and we have trails for every age and ability to enjoy.
A leisurely lakefront walk like the East Shore Trail can be a great introduction to the sport or an active recovery workout, while a steeper climb like Mount Tallac can offer a great opportunity for cardiovascular and overall leg strength. Stepping into more strenuous terrain and elevation gain challenges balance, stability, coordination and endurance. It also offers some of the best views in the region that can’t be easily accessed, adding to the overall reward.
And then, there’s biking. From road cycling to mountain biking, the region offers a wide variety of trails for all ages and levels to enjoy and grow their skills. From flat trails by the lake and river to the rugged terrain of the Flume Trail to the manicured mountain biking parks at Northstar, there’s something to excite and challenge every rider in the region.
Lake Tahoe provides refreshing natural open-water swimming opportunities. Photo courtesy of Kirsten Alexis, shot by Christian Francisco
Open-Water Recreation
Our lakes are not only beautiful, buat also provide an incredible setting for low-impact, full-body workouts. Sure, the water is a bit cold, but once you get moving and appreciate the opportunity to swim in such a stunning setting, your mind shifts to a flow state and sets the tone for your workout ahead. Plus, cold water adds a bit of adrenaline to the workout (and motivation to go a bit faster)!
Swimming in the lake offers a full-body workout that challenges both your body and mind. Whether you’re swimming laps inside the buoys by the sandy shores or taking your swim to deeper waters (make sure to bring a buddy and a buoy), you’re getting a killer endurance and strength workout that puts almost no stress on your joints.
Another bonus to open-water swimming is how it puts you in the present moment. Your attention quickly shifts from your problems and worries to the stroke, rhythm of your breath, sounds of the water and landscape you’re in. It becomes meditative and helps put you at ease.
Other forms of recreation include kayaking, paddleboarding, wakeboarding and waterskiing. All of these offer their own forms of exercise and ways to explore the lake.
Pro Tip: Be mindful of conditions and that they constantly change. Our lakes are cold, and conditions can go from calm to choppy and treacherous quickly. Bring a friend and wear a wetsuit and buoy for extra safety. Know your limits!
Chris Ochtyun scales a sport route at Donner Pass. Photo credit: John Dill
Rock Climbing
The Tahoe-Truckee region also offers a variety of ways to build functional strength, and rock climbing might be one of the best, and most exciting, ways to workout and gain new perspectives.
Climbing challenges your entire body and cognitive abilities. It forces you to face your fears, adapt to challenges and utilize grip strength, back, shoulders, core and legs to work in tandem to move you to your destination. It requires agility, coordination and the ability to adapt quickly to changes in conditions right in front of you. Your workout becomes a puzzle to solve.
The Tahoe-Truckee region is full of granite landscapes that provide excellent terrain for all ages and abilities to test their skills and build confidence. If you’re not feeling ready to tackle the terrain quite yet, there are climbing gyms with dedicated instructors, such as High Altitude Fitness, to help get you started on your journey.
Golf
Golf might not be the very first activity that comes to mind when you hear outdoor recreation, but it certainly earns its spot on the list. Golf requires a seamless mix of coordination, flawless technique, mobility, balance and rotational strength. It’s also extremely mental, requiring patience, knowledge of the course and adjustment to conditions.
Golf requires you to slow down, both mentally and physically. And with a wide variety of world-class courses featuring stunning lakefront, forest and mountainous backdrops, you almost lose sight of the workout and enter a meditative state as you navigate the course.
Test your endurance with ski touring. Photo courtesy of Kirsten Alexis, shot by Katy Jo Caringer
Winter Sports
When the winter season arrives, the Tahoe-Truckee region doesn’t hibernate. It comes alive.
Snow completely transforms the landscape into a giant winter wonderland, full of opportunities to downhill ski and snowboard, cross-country ski, ski tour, snowshoe and ice skate.
Downhill skiing and snowboarding are quite possibly the most popular options and offer opportunities to increase strength, balance, coordination and a temporary mental escape. With every turn, you’re using your mind and body to navigate terrain, speed and changing conditions. You’re using your legs and core to stabilize and control speed and your mind as you quickly decide how to react to snow conditions, moguls, pitches, traverses, challenges and other athletes.
Want one of the best cardiovascular workouts with a view? Try cross-country skiing. This full-body, low-impact endurance workout is great for all ages and abilities. The flat green trails provide an excellent introduction to the sport or an easier workout on recovery days, while the steeper and longer blue and black trails offer chances to increase endurance, strength and mental focus.
Snowshoeing offers another great opportunity for a cardiovascular workout and can be done on official trails and the backcountry. For those who want to combine skiing with the backcountry, ski touring is an excellent and more challenging option. Make sure to be properly trained in avalanche and rescue skills and have all the gear needed for safety, including a beacon, shovel, probe and InReach.
Last but not least, ice skating is another fun way to experience winter and can be done at a variety of outdoor rinks and even wild ice. If you decide to skate on frozen lakes, make sure to bring a friend and test the ice before your workout.
Take the cold plunge to help with your recovery process. Photo courtesy of Kirsten Alexis, shot by Katy Jo Caringer
Recovery
One of the most underrated, and quite possibly the most essential, aspects of your workout routine is recovery. After a long day hiking, biking, golfing, swimming or skiing, it’s crucial to allow your body and mind to slow down and recharge. Recovery doesn’t have to be complex. It just has to flow.
One of my favorite components to my recovery routine is the cold plunge, and here in the Tahoe-Truckee region, it’s easy to find the perfect spot for a plunge with a postcard-worthy view. Cold-water immersion has been shown to increase muscle recovery, boost metabolism and help decrease stress. But for me, it goes beyond these markers. Cold-water immersion helps me stay present by focusing on the breath as I try to overcome the effects of the frigid temperatures.
Beyond a solid nutrition plan, meditation and a good night of sleep, recovery can also be active. Stepping into the sunlight and going for a slower more mindful walk can be a great way to still feel like you’re training, but give the mind and body permission to relax. It’s movement, but without a performance tracker or goal.
Another great way to recover is a yoga or mobility flow. Just get a mat or towel and bring it to your favorite outdoor spot. Here, focus on every movement and breath to stay fully present. Come up with your own flows to make it creative and fun. When the environment is calming, quiet and immersed in the natural world, your flow feels less like an item on your itinerary and puts you back in the state of now.
Relax and take it all in with your favorite people. Nature is here to help you reset your mind and body. Photo credit: Kirsten Alexis
About the Author Kirsten Alexis
Kirsten is an outdoor adventure enthusiast, writer and photographer. You can typically find her hiking, paddleboarding, cross-country skiing and checking out new spots to share in the Tahoe Donner region. She has been lucky to call Tahoe her second home since she was a child and aims to inspire people to experience Tahoe and fall in love with the beauty and adventurous spirit of the region through her blogs and content. 
