What a BEAUTIFUL reminder. Last summer our family spent soooo many weekends hiking in Griffith Park. We’d pack up sandwhiches, oranges and water and walk until we were tired. In fact my biggest complaint about living in LA is there is too much of human creation (concrete, buildings, etc) and not enough of Allah’s creation (trees, rivers, etc).

For those who have kids can attest that even babies start to become very cranky without an outing into fresh air. Children are still in their fitrah and want to spend every moment outside discovering bugs, watching the sky change colors, feeling the wind etc. That is better entertainment than a TV or computer any day!!!!!!!!! InshAllah we can learn from our children.

But I will say that I do prefer the treadmill for my daily workouts. Mainly because I will burn more calories on it than hiking. Also because I find that being in a gym where everyone is working our around you, it pushes you to run faster, keep going, etc. I used to just go jogging in my neighborhood and I didn’t like it because when I would get tired I would just stop and also there is no way to track progress. Now that I’ve joined a gym, I truely enjoy my workouts so much better. Also the cold air in the morning outside is hard on my lungs sometimes, so I get shortness of breath easier than I do in the gym.

Fee aman Allah
Sumaya

Abdallah, let me refute your points one by one:

1. Injury is very possible on a treadmill. Injury happens by chance and there is know way of knowing when or how one will get hurt. If you lose focus for a second, you can easily be flung off the end of the moving belt on the treadmill just as you could fall down on a hiking trail. If you choose wisely, however, you could have a pretty good chance of accidently falling into a bed of flowers, if hiking. Treadmill injuries will always involve belt burn, contact with sweat-laden surfaces, and hard floors.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmNN1tiC7E&feature=related

Animal attacks can happen anywhere.

3. Good luck getting your treadmill into the mountains. Oh and finding an outlet. What redundancy.

4. You can ride a bike to a trail. Also, filtered gym air may have pollutants. Just sayin’.

5. It is worth the preparation.

6. Hiking almost always burns more calories than a treadmill does because of the uneven ground (more use of stabilizing muscles) and the motivation to work harder to get to the destination results in a net of more time spent moving.

7. Getting lost on a trail is possible, however if you carry a compass and stay on the path the chance of getting lost is very low. Disclaimer: The chance of getting lost increases with the percentage of dumb and/or stupidly reckless people in the group. (i.e. don’t take Abdallah).

=]

I love this article! One of my fav events last year was the umma hike! Lets do it again!

#1: Not necessarily – see below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxyssmLwMvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXh9qr9FhOY

#2: Gyms are full of 300 lb animals on Testosterone

#3: No electricity on mountain tops

#4: You claim less pollution. However, the treadmill too is using electricity to power itself. That energy had to be produced at some plant hundreds of miles away and transported to you. The production and transportation of the energy itself maybe enough to offset the carbon footprint of the vehicle transporting you to the hike. And if you carpool, you would probably use less energy then a combination of having to use 5 treadmills.

#5: Preparing to go to the gym is just as time wasting

#6 is baseless, what’s your evidence?

#7….GPS