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Find out more about Shazia: Shazia Rana moved from a small town in Alabama to the West Hollywood area, pushing her way into this fitness mecca to search for new and innovative ways to improve peoples' physical wellness. She cares passionately about the science of exercise and how it applies to the human body. She has two accredited certifications of fitness, the American Council on Exercise and a kettlebell certification from Kettlebell Athletics. |
Located in Los Angeles along the eastern side of the Santa Monica mountains is a beautiful park known as Runyon Canyon. Runyon owned by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, has several trails that are perfect for hiking on a warm California day. The Canyon has three main entrances, the south, the north and a western entrance, all of which take avid hikers on different scenic paths around the mountain.
The entrance most familiar to West Hollywood is off of Fuller Avenue and Hollywood. Once you enter in from Fuller you can either go clockwise for a steady gradient climb or you can go counterclockwise for a harder hike full of steep steps and slopes. Among many other celebrities who hike this spectacular picturesque park, Matthew Mcconaughey seems to enjoy his run around the canyon. With those chiseled abs, and rock hard chest muscles its no joke this man endures the more demanding climbs around the mountain.
Can you get a tone and firm body from hiking like Matthew? Of course you can, hiking is an excellent form of cardio and the varying levels of elevation are great for building lean muscle mass in your legs, glutes, and thighs. No matter which route the fellow hiker takes, Runyon Canyon is an arduous climb for even the most fit athletes.
One can look at the canyon as a interval workout. Interval workouts are very popular in that they allow you to vary between your resting heart rates, recovery heart rates and target heart rates. The rise and fall of your heartbeat can help to improve your stamina, endurance and burn more calories. Runyon Canyon though it has many steep climbs, the steepest being Indian rock from the northern entrance at a peak elevation of over 1300 feet, has many flat terrains to allow your body to rest between each climb. One could jog along the flat fire roads that separate the canyon, and kick it up a notch by throwing your quads, glutes, calves and hamstrings into high gear as you prevail up the mountain cliffs. An added bonus, want sexy abs, the decline walk as you come down the mountain is a great workout for your lower abdominal muscles as it engages your lower ab core stability!
Upon your first visit to Runyon Canyon, a good suggestion would be to take the easy climbs as you allow your body to become accustomed to the rugged terrain. In the mean time, enjoy the beautiful scenery, from certain points in the mountain you can see downtown Los Angeles city skyscrapers, the Pacific Ocean and the famous Hollywood Sign.
Runyon Canyon is also a dog friendly park and has over 90 acres of leash free puppy playing fun areas, and because of its close proximity to the Hollywood Hills, do not be surprised if you see some of Hollywood's best hiking through the park with their pooches. Adrien Grenier from 'Entourage' and Lauren Conrad from MTV's 'the Hills' have both been spotted walking their dog through Runyon!
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