Mountaineers and hikers must have a good plan in preparing for their upcoming expeditions. Plans for training can beneficial as it involve proper time management, clear objectives and specific types of training.
We will share some advanced mountaineering training activities that might help mountaineers in preparing for the challenge from a simple hiking journey to some serious peak climbing.
1. Aerobic Training
Aerobic training is very important including good & intensified cardio training and we recommend 50-60% training for an expedition must focused on Cardio training. This training also provides us with good strength and stamina. Usually, climbers must put in minimum 2 -3 hours daily cardio workouts.
Always remember, start with a sport-specific workout, such as hiking or climbing in terrain similar to your upcoming expedition. But we can do Cross-training with climbing stair, cycling, road running, trail running including football and other games that can provide cardio training and fun.
2. Strength Training
We do lots of strength training preparation based on expedition and how much load that we have to carry. Some expedition requires us to carry 15kg and some uptown to 60kg load. The strength training will take 3-4 weeks. Every strength training will build overall strength and muscles, and we also focus on building core strength for all climbing and mountaineering expedition. All strength training must be done 3 months prior to an expedition called conditioning period and we must do specific exercises including upper body, lower body, and core exercises. Visiting a gym is good start.
For Upper Body, we recommend – Pull up & Push up and for Lower Body, we recommend Step-up, Deadlift, Squat and Core.
3. Endurance Training
Endurance training is also important and related to increasing Lactate level in our body and a higher lactate threshold allows for longer endurance and longer hikes or climbs. Long endurance training are important for an expedition as the summit days will take 8-14 hours of climbing especially at high altitude where recovery is less.
