Outdoor Women Strong

Liz Koch
  • 4.8 (33)
  • Sports
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Outdoor Women Strong Podcast, a podcast dedicated to fitness and health for women who want to be strong for their outdoor sports such as mtn biking, whitewater paddling, hiking, snow sports, running, and many more! Let's focus in on training habits, mental issues, and how to gain strength and mobility to keep you healthy so you can enjoy and excel at your sport! Come learn with me, doctor of physical therapy Liz!

  1. 5d ago

    105. Why Do Your Knees Get Cranky Going Downhill?

    Your knees feel fine hiking uphill for an hour. Then you turn around, and twenty minutes into the descent they get achy and cranky. Why? Downhill hiking and downhill trail running aren't the easy version of uphill. They're a different demand, and where you feel a cranky knee isn't enough information to tell you why it's happening. In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, a physical therapist turned strength coach for outdoor women, explains what descending asks of your body and how strength training can build the capacity to handle it, without a magic list of "exercises to fix your knees." Start here Strength Foundation, a four-week, three-workouts-a-week program that teaches you how to strength train while you build the foundation (not a rehab program): https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/ Free guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb. Feel Better the Next Day: https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/ In this episode Why downhill hiking and trail running ask something different of your quads and knees than climbing does Why a cranky knee on the descent is a symptom, not an explanation, and the questions worth getting curious about How capacity and fatigue change the demand: the same descent twenty minutes in versus four hours in Why your muscles can adapt to lowering work Why Liz likes a high step-up with a controlled lowering, a TKE (terminal knee extension) with a band, and a wall sit with a march Red flags that mean it's time to have someone actually look at your knee Research mentioned in this episode Kuster M, Sakurai S, Wood GA. Kinematic and kinetic comparison of downhill and level walking. Clin Biomech. 1995;10(2):79-84. doi:10.1016/0268-0033(95)92043-L Hu X, Pickle NT, Grabowski AM, Silverman AK, Blemker SS. Muscle eccentric contractions increase in downhill and high-grade uphill walking. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020;8:573666. doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.573666 Bontemps B, Louis J, Owens DJ, Miríc S, Vercruyssen F, Gruet M, Erskine RM. Muscle soreness but not neuromuscular fatigue responses following downhill running differ according to the number of exercise bouts. Eur J Sport Sci. 2025;25(3):e12240. doi:10.1002/ejsc.12240 Palmieri-Smith RM, Villwock M, Downie B, Hecht G, Zernicke R. Pain and effusion and quadriceps activation and strength. J Athl Train. 2013;48(2):186-191. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.2.10 This episode is educational and isn't a diagnosis or medical advice. If your knee is significantly swollen, locking or giving way, getting progressively worse, or really limiting what you can do, have someone assess it. Adventure Strong. #downhillhiking #kneepain #trailrunning #hikingtips #strengthtraining #outdoorwomenstrong

  2. Oct 15

    104. Your Strength Exercises Don't Need to Look Like Your Sport

    Your strength exercises don't need to look like your sport. In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, talks to the woman who wants to start strength training and thinks the flashy exercises she sees on Instagram are where she needs to begin, because they'll keep her motivated. Liz explains why an exercise doesn't have to look like hiking, trail running, mountain biking, or paddling to make you stronger for those sports, why functional does not mean complicated, and what to start with instead. What the research found: a 2014 review of runners and cyclists found that adding heavy strength training to their endurance training improved running economy and cycling economy, with the strongest case for heavy strength training in cycling. That research covers endurance runners and cyclists, not hikers or paddlers. A 2020 randomized trial in Norway trained active young women for eight weeks with either a leg press or two single-joint exercises (a leg extension and a glute kickback). Both groups got stronger, but each group improved most in the exercise it practiced, and the leg press group improved less on the kickback, likely because the leg press does not take the hips to full extension. It was one study of young women using machines. Also in this episode: exercises that look nothing like your sport but still help it (deadlifts, rows, split squats, core work lying on your back, and pull-ups or pulldowns), why compound exercises and targeted accessory exercises both belong in a program, why making an exercise wobblier is not the same as making it better, why you can't build strength on an exercise you can't progress, why the simple version is not the beginner version, and how to tell whether an exercise deserves a spot in your week. Strength Foundation: four weeks, three workouts a week, and Liz teaches you how to strength train while you get stronger. https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/strengthfoundation/ Free guide, Feel Stronger on the Climb: three small adjustments to movements you already know. https://www.outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/ Adventure Strong. Rønnestad BR, Mujika I. Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: A review. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2014;24(4):603-612. doi:10.1111/sms.12104.Stien N, Pedersen H, Ravnøy AH, Andersen V, Saeterbakken AH. Training specificity performing single-joint vs. multi-joint resistance exercises among physically active females: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(5):e0233540. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233540.Show notes references

  3. Oct 8

    103. Your Sport Already Trains Your Sport. Strength Training Is for Everything Else.

    Your sport already trains your sport. Strength training is for everything else. In this episode, Dr. Liz Koch, DPT, explains the difference between sport-specific training and the strength work hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers, and paddlers actually need: the things your sport doesn't train, for your performance, your tissues, and your bones and muscle for life. What the research found: a 2002 study in the journal Bone (Warner and colleagues) compared 16 competitive mountain bikers, 14 road cyclists, and 15 active men. After adjusting for body weight and age, the mountain bikers had higher bone density at every site measured, suggesting mountain biking gives bones a loading stimulus road cycling doesn't. It was small and all male. You'll also hear what hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and paddling each train and what each rarely asks for, and the three gaps that show up across all four sports (heavy work, a strong core, and rotation, both producing it and resisting it), and three named tools: The Never-Ask List, Flip the Pattern, and One Lift, One Gap. Free guide: Feel Stronger on the Climb, three small adjustments (the hip hinge, the single-leg stand, and the plank) to carry onto your next hike, ride, or paddle: outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes-wa/ Adventure Strong.

  4. Oct 1

    102. Building Stronger Bones Strength, Impact Training & Your Outdoor Sport

    Being active outside doesn't automatically mean strong bones. In this episode, physical therapist and strength coach Dr. Liz Koch breaks down what actually builds bone density — and why some of the most popular outdoor sports don't provide it on their own. Liz explains the mechanism behind bone adaptation (mechanotransduction and Wolff's Law), why walking alone typically doesn't provide enough mechanical load to build bone density, and walks through the landmark LIFTMOR trial: an 8-month study showing that heavy resistance training and impact training significantly improved bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis — safely, reversing decades of guidance that told women with low bone density to avoid heavy lifting. She details the exact exercises used (deadlift, back squat, overhead press, and jumping chin-ups with drop landings), the gradual loading progression, and an accessible alternative (foot stomping) for anyone without access to a pull-up bar.The episode also covers site-specific bone loading — why cyclists and paddlers may be missing a stimulus their sport doesn't provide, and why hikers and trail runners on technical terrain get more benefit than those on flat trail. Liz shares her own approach to bone health as a mother of two who breastfed both kids, including her plan to get a DEXA scan for a real baseline.This episode is for any woman who hikes, trail runs, mountain bikes, or paddles and wants to understand what her training is — and isn't — doing for her long-term bone health. ⛰️ Join the OWS Membership → ⁠⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠⁠ 🆓 Free guide — 1 Think to Change to Feel Stronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠⁠ Follow me on IG - ⁠⁠@drlizkoch⁠

  5. Sep 24

    101. What Does "Lifting Heavy" Actually Mean for Outdoor Women?

    What does it actually mean to lift heavy? In this episode of Outdoor Women Strong, physical therapist and strength coach Dr. Liz Koch breaks down what "lifting heavy" really means for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — and why it has nothing to do with a specific number on the bar.Liz explains rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and why effort, not rep count, determines whether a set is actually heavy. She covers why training in a 9–15 rep range can build strength and muscle nearly as effectively as low-rep, heavy-load training — backed by current exercise science research — and why she personally programs effort no higher than a 7–8 out of 10 rather than training to complete muscular failure, based on research showing higher injury and discomfort risk with failure-based training. This episode also covers why rep ranges and load should flex day to day based on readiness and fatigue, why accessory and mobility-focused exercises don't need to be maximally loaded, why the first set of a workout should function as a warm-up set, and why beginners should build toward heavier lifting gradually rather than starting there.Whether you're new to strength training or have lifted for years, this episode will change how you think about progressive overload, training intensity, and injury prevention in your strength program.Outdoor Women Strong is a strength training and physical therapy podcast for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — helping you build strength that keeps you doing what you love, on the trail and for life as you age.

  6. Sep 17

    100. The 5 Things I Want Every Outdoor Woman to Know About Getting Strong

    One hundred episodes in, Dr. Liz Koch steps back from the body-part-of-the-week format to share the five beliefs about strength training she keeps coming back to — as a physical therapist, a strength coach, an outdoor athlete, and a woman who has rebuilt her own body more than once. This episode covers why your sport alone isn't your strength training, why the number on the bar matters less than what it proves about your body, why consistency beats the perfect program, how to build strength that supports your outdoor life instead of competing with it, and why the goal was never to get your old body back. Liz also shares her own story — years of chronic pain after multiple surgeries and a hypermobility diagnosis, and how strength training changed not just what her body could do, but how she saw it. Whether you're brand new to strength training or you've been at this for years, this episode is the philosophy underneath every other episode Liz has ever recorded.Outdoor Women Strong is for women who hike, trail run, mountain bike, and paddle — helping you build strength that keeps you doing what you love, on the trail and for life as you age. ⛰️ Join the OWS Membership → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠ 🆓 Free guide — FeelStronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠ Follow me on IG - ⁠@drlizkoch⁠

  7. Sep 10

    99. You Don't Have to Be Ready. You Just Have to Have a Direction

    A few weeks ago Dr. Liz Koch rolled her ankle on her own driveway — not on a trail, not doing anything heroic, just walking to her car — right in the middle of training for an 8.5-mile trail race. In this episode she tells the full story: the decade off trail running, the slow careful rebuild, the setback, and where she actually is right now — back on short trail runs where she has to really focus, back in the gym loading single leg stability, back on the bike because that's where her body feels best. She's not on the other side of the setback with a neat lesson. She's in it. And four days before the Strong for Fall Challenge starts, that's exactly the right place to be talking about the three things that keep you moving forward when fear would have you stop: meeting your body where it is, recognizing fear as a signal rather than a verdict, and understanding why direction matters more than readiness. A setback changes the timeline. It doesn't change the direction. ⛰️ Strong for Fall Challenge — join theOWS Membership to participate → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠ We start Monday Sept 14th - Plan - Proof - Profit 🆓 Free guide — FeelStronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠ Follow me on IG - ⁠@drlizkoch⁠

  8. Sep 3

    98. The One Thing That Separates Women Who Finally Get Consistent From Women Who Keep Starting Over

    Consistency doesn't come from motivation. It comes from the right kind of goal and a plan that exists before the week gets away from her. In this episode Dr. Liz Koch, DPT breaks down the two types of goals that produce completely different relationships with consistency — deficit goals that make her feel behind every day she hasn't achieved them, and gain goals that build her up every session she shows up. She also covers the planning piece most goal-setting content skips entirely — why deciding when sessions are happening before the week starts is the single highest-leverage thing an outdoor woman can do for her consistency, and why September is the most perfectly timed window of the year to put both into practice. Life is schedulable again. The outdoor season is at its peak. The structure that makes planning possible is back. And the Fall Strong Challenge — a 3-week accountability challenge for OWS Members starting September 14th — is the structure that makes the goal and the plan real. Plan, Post, Profit. Details inside. ⛰️ Strong for Fall Challenge opens Sept 7 — join the OWS Membership to participate → outdoorwomenstrong.com/ows-membership⁠ 🆓 Free guide — FeelStronger on the Climb, Feel Better the Next Day → ⁠outdoorwomenstrong.com/3-small-changes⁠ Follow me on IG - ⁠@drlizkoch⁠

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4.8
out of 5
33 Ratings

About

Welcome to Outdoor Women Strong Podcast, a podcast dedicated to fitness and health for women who want to be strong for their outdoor sports such as mtn biking, whitewater paddling, hiking, snow sports, running, and many more! Let's focus in on training habits, mental issues, and how to gain strength and mobility to keep you healthy so you can enjoy and excel at your sport! Come learn with me, doctor of physical therapy Liz!

Information

  • Creator
    Liz Koch
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    105
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 0
  • Show Website
    Outdoor Women Strong

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