Researchers studying exercise behavior consistently find the same pattern: people are far more likely to stay consistent when they train with others rather than alone.

They expect the answer to be motivation, discipline, or a well-structured plan.

It isn't.

The single strongest predictor of training consistency is one thing: whether you have someone to train with.

Not a coach.

Not a plan.

Not a goal.

A person.

Most people approach fitness the same way they approach a New Year’s resolution.

They set a goal.
They build a plan.
They rely on discipline to execute it.

And for a few weeks it works, until life intervenes, motivation fades, and the plan quietly disappears.

Here’s what nobody tells you: willpower is a depleting resource.

Every decision you make, every obligation you fulfill, every stressor you absorb draws from the same finite pool.

By the time the weekend arrives and the alarm goes off at 5 AM, that pool is often empty.

This is not a character flaw.

It’s biology.

The solution isn’t more discipline.

It’s building an environment where discipline is no longer required.

Over two years of leading this group I’ve stopped being surprised when someone shows up on their worst week and has their best hike.

It happens too consistently to be coincidence.

The hikers who show up through summer heat, through long work weeks, through every reasonable excuse not to, are almost never the ones with the most sophisticated training plans.

They’re the ones who made a commitment to a group of people, not just to a goal.

Tell yourself you’ll train and it’s optional.

Tell a group you’ll be at the trailhead at 7 AM and the contract changes.

1. Commitment devices work

Showing up for other people is neurologically different from showing up for yourself. The social cost of canceling on a group is real. Use it deliberately.

2. Standards are contagious

Spend enough time around people who move fast, fuel smart, and take their training seriously and those behaviors stop feeling exceptional.

They become normal.

Your baseline rises without conscious effort.

3. The hard moments become shared

Every long climb has a moment where quitting feels rational.

In isolation, many people take it.

In a group of people who are also suffering and also continuing, the calculus changes.

Shared difficulty is one of the fastest ways humans bond and one of the most underrated training tools available.

Before you build a new training plan, ask yourself a simpler question:

Who will I be doing this with?

Find one person whose fitness standard you respect, whose reliability you trust, and whose presence on the trail will make you show up on the days you’d otherwise stay home.

That relationship will outperform any plan you could write.

Last week on the Canyon Acres extension, something shifted the moment we hit the ascent.

The group went quiet, not gradually but all at once.

I noticed it immediately and made a joke about it. Nobody laughed.

They were saving the air.

Somewhere along the way a smarter subset of the group peeled off for a scenic caves detour while the rest of us suffered through the grind in collective silence.

Then there was Saturday’s 17-miler.

By mile 15 the conversation had moved well past food and recipes (our usual return-trip topic) into a full inventory of what hurt.

Tibias.

Glutes.

Hips.

Blisters.

Almost like a badge check.

You don’t get that honesty with strangers.

You get it with people you’ve suffered next to enough times that pretending is no longer worth the energy.

Last summer I started dealing with exertion headaches on long climbs in the SoCal heat during our longer mileage hikes.

I tried everything: more water, more rest, pacing adjustments. Nothing worked consistently.

Then I started taking LMNT before and during sustained efforts.

The headaches improved significantly. They still show up occasionally when I push hard enough to reach a new level of effort, but they’re no longer a regular part of long climbs.

It worked well enough that it became the electrolyte I carry on every long hike. Since then I’ve recommended it to several hikers in the group who run into issues like headaches, fatigue, or muscle cramps on longer climbs.

I cared enough about it to nominate our local OC Parks rangers for LMNT’s Give A Salt program, the people maintaining the trails we train on deserve it more than most.

LMNT sent this in return.

If you deal with fatigue, cramps, or headaches on long efforts, start by looking at your sodium intake.

LMNT is the electrolyte I currently carry on long hikes.

Not So Casual Hikes started as a Sunday trail group in Southern California.

Two and a half years later it’s become something more specific, a training community for people who use the outdoors to do hard things on purpose, often logging long miles, elevation gain, and heat exposure week after week.

This newsletter is where I reverse-engineer what the trail teaches me about training, discipline, and showing up, and try to make it useful for your life beyond the hike.

It goes out twice a month.

Always short.
Always honest.
Always worth five minutes.

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