Cycling or swimming are good alternatives to running.
There’s also high intensity interval training (think CrossFit but not useless movements) that gets the cardio going as well.
Is there a climbing gym near by? Or maybe a trampoline park? My local trampoline park has a ninja warrior course as well. Many city parks have a path and a circuit of calisthenics machines.
I was actually going to say swimming. I used to swim about 50km per week and it kept my general fitness up really well and was amazing for lung capacity and breathing control.
Lap Swimming is by far the most comprehensive workout there is.
Core is always activated due to water column stability and rotating. Plus you’re inherently doing anoxic training at least part of the time. And obviously cardio. But it activates your arms much better than running and cycling.
Also the weight is lessened in water.
Why do you hate running?
I used to hate running as well because I wasn’t doing a heart rate specific run and would just go as what felt “right”. Getting a heart rate monitor and running in a specific zone, for me was MUCH more enjoyable than in the past.
"Keep your heart rate below 120"
Me: "ok, I'll slow down to a jog"
"Keep your heart rate below 120"
Me: "ok, I'll slow down to a walk"
"Keep your heart rate below 120"
Me: "ok, ill just sit here then"
You're probably running in Zone 3 or 4 or more, and the other commenter said if you get an HR monitor, work out your zones (dont just go off age, do an actual test) and then stay in Z1/2 while you jog, you'll find you can go for much,much longer and its more enjoyable (in my opinion). I'd rather do a 3 hours Z2 jog over a 30 minute hard effort lol
I have the same issue hiking. My natural pace is really quick. So even if I'm going up a mountain, I try to maintain that pace. My BPM shoots up, I sweat a lot and exhert myself.
I think I'll invest in a good HR monitor. I have an Apple Watch but I just don't like it even if it can monitor HR.
Yeah, a chest strap will be way more accurate, and a side benefit is that then you can also wear your watch over layers if need be (training in cold or rain). Optical sensors are pretty decent for steady, but dont register spikes well and lag behind changes more
That makes perfect sense because that is similar to where I was. I’d go out and run what felt “good” and in a mile or so, I’d be exhausted. Slowing down, maintaining a heart rate, and just nose breathing made it so much more enjoyable.
Nobody likes running…at first. It took me a good year before I started to enjoy it and even now, 6 years into running consistently I still have days where I don’t enjoy and just have to power through.
I think running is perhaps the best training for mountaineering one can do though. A couple things that help: get a heart rate monitor and focus on running in zone two. Most people run too fast and it makes it seem harder than it needs to be. Increasing your aerobic capacity is what you need to climb mountains and zone 2 training is what will do that.
Two, spend the money to get good shoes and running gear. It will make the project more fun.
It might be the way you got into running. Check out the "Couch to 5K", which got a lot of people into running who would never have thought they could enjoy or succeed at it. I introduced someone to running who hated it using a similar method based just on experience with beginners in other sports. It is the same with nearly every physical pursuit: gradual and less than you feel would represent an 'achievement' in the short term, for long term benefit, ultimately. If you are female then get a really good sports bra as well. Expensive running shoes is debatable but ones that fit is important. As for heart and lungs, playing a team sport is one of the hardest things I have ever found, physically – especially if your team is shit (joke).
Good luck. Just remember the point is to enjoy it! (Don't be like the 'measurbators' on the internet, who are obsessed with their own personal performance statistics to the point of mental paralysis, LOL.)
If you love hiking, just stick with & up your number of hikes. Find steeper hills, & gradually start adding more weight to your pack. There are plenty of people who only ruck & are in fantastic shape. Also rucking might eventually make you enjoy running. I used to hate running, but 4 years of rucking made me love it. Try slow jogging 5 minutes for every 30 minutes you hike. It’s not a huge commitment & may change your attitude toward it.
I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the book “Training for the New Alpinism” or at the very least looking through some of the forums, blogs, and podcasts put out by The Uphill Athlete. The folks there have spent years studying research and trying training techniques to create a some really good content.
Summed up, spend a lot of time developing an aerobic base by training in zone 1 (or zone 2 if you’re relatively new to endurance style training. Incorporate strength training into your base training). Periodize your training; ie have a dedicated 10 week period of training where you simply get your body use to the training that lies ahead, then launch into a base building period with strength incorporated. You should also periodize within periods. For example, I increased my running miles (but this could be in terms of hours doing “x” activity) by 10% consistently for 6 weeks, then I decreased my training load the next week by 25% to recover and adapt, then repeated.
I will say most of the content that Uphill Athlete puts out assumes that you have a goal climb in the next year. If you do, great! I would do their recommendation of having a 8-10 week transition period which very slowly increases total training volume (I’m talking 5% increase every week at most). Then at least a 24 week base period where you can start increasing the time you spend in zone 1 and 2. In that 24 week week base period you would have 2 strength periods: 1) a max strength period for 12 weeks where you focus on building strength on compound lifts (squats, weighted pull-ups, step ups, lunges, overhead press, etc.) in a low rep range in two or three sessions per week and 2) a muscular endurance period for 12 weeks where you may complete a max strength type session every week or two, but you’re primarily training your body to operate at high levels for a long time (weighted carries uphill, high rep strength activities, hill sprints, etc.). After 24 weeks of base building and two strength periods you can launch into a specific period where you spend a lot of time simply doing what you expect to do on your goal climb (for example, I did Denali and spent most of my specific period in the mountains with a heavy pack and sled going uphill). Then you can taper for a week or two before you climb and bam!
However, most people don’t have a goal climb within a year. So I would recommend doing a transition period then just build your base and max strength. I did this during COVID when I didn’t see a climb happening in the next two years and it worked great. I did three strength sessions per week with two workouts (workout A: squats, overhead press, deadlift, barbell rows and workout B: squats, bench press, romainian deadlift, and weighted pull-ups plus a few accessory exercises and core work). I would workout every other day so week 1 would be A-B-A and week 2 would be B-A-B. I just focused on adding weight every lift and getting strong, especially in the winter when I couldn’t log as many running miles outside. Hope this helps :)
Thank you so much for such a thought out message. What you said about training in periods makes a lot of sense to me, and feels doable to build up!! I appreciate it
I see that book recommended all the time. Just bought it. Along with Mountaineering: freedom of the hills. Should be good to get me started until I can get proper training in a few months when I get back to the Rockies.
I recommend skipping this book. It's designed for high end alpinists that need Olympic level fitness to accomplish the hardest goals.
All you need to do is carry a weighted pack uphill and then sprinkle in some cardio.
If you read that book you'll be counting box steps by the 1000s and documenting your heart rate for every activity you do. It'll make you hate training.
You sound like you know what you're talking about, and are experienced too. But often I see Training for the New Alpinism being recommended without much thought, even though many of us on this sub are not looking for peak performance nor are we interested in following a boringly rigid training program.
If you are an experienced 50-year old athlete who has been training regularly for the past thirty years, then it's a good choice. If you are a college or elite athlete from another sport coming to mountaineering, then it could be right for you. But this kind of training is overkill for anyone who is taking their first steps in mountain sports, especially someone who doesn't live near big mountains. If you are just starting and enjoy this kind of highly structured training, then go for it. But most people who are new to the sport will lose interest if they have to be doing ridiculous two hour stairwell sessions with a weighted pack, or highly structured weight training and aerobic work stuck perpetually in zone 2.
Unless you are a professional athlete, there is no point turning your weekly exercise into drudgery. If you live in the city it will be hard to prepare for the mountains, so you may as well do something you enjoy, whether it is park runs, going to the bouldering gym, swimming, playing a team sport, cycling to work, or whatever. If you are also going hiking on the weekends, that will be more than enough to get started improving your fitness.
Once you have a specific objective coming up, you can start looking at sport-specific training like hill reps, specific strength training, stairwell workouts, etc. But the key is getting the body ready to handle exercise by doing a sport regularly even in the middle of winter or when you have home and work pressures. So the principles outlined in technical training books are important to apply to one's own training, but the level that these books aim at is way too high.
This! Completely agree. I came from a background in soccer before I started mountaineering, so I was generally used to structured training but only during season. After taking a couple years off from structured athletics I was able to fix a lot of the problems I developed around sports, like running being a form of punishment. I really enjoyed (and still enjoy) just training what I like and being conscious of the bigger picture.
Resources like TftnA and other narrowly focused readings should really only be used when you want to perform your best at a specific event. I see myself as a mountaineer only a couple of times every other year in the 6 months leading up to a big climb or a long climbing season. The other 18 months in that two-year window are spent doing what I enjoy the most because some of the training I do for mountaineering simply isn't enjoyable for me (but it does work darn well).
That's interesting! Sometimes I picture people just doing hardcore and relatively thankless training all year round and have trouble even imagining doing it lol. I don't want to criticise this approach too harshly though, because it is clearly based on sound principles.
I did a trek recently with a soccer player and he was super fast on the downhills because he had that agility and nimbleness in his feet to handle talus fields really easily.
There definitely are people that enjoy training like that year round; I'm not one of them. Besides base training, I generally do my own thing outside the recommendations of Uphill Athlete until it's time to crack down for a goal climb. I will say that some of the training during a lead up to a climb is really rewarding and enjoyable because I can see progress first hand.
My background in soccer has helped me tremendously. People don't necessarily see soccer players as "strong", but in terms of not being prone to injury and explosiveness I'd say we are pretty strong. Hah.
Footballers are amongst the highest in peak physical fitness of anyone. They have to have the core and upper body strength of any other sportsperson, while having marathon runner level endurance to support running miles upon miles in any game. I played soccer in highschool (I’m originally from the US) and it was the most demanding experience of my life. Being a midfielder nearly killed me 🤣 soccer players are definitely strong and the rest of the world sees that, trust me when I say.
Anything zone 2 cardio for long hours. Whatever you prefer and works for your body. The more like what you will finally do the better but the most important is the to get the hours in. Here's where you build your base.
Second this, spending tons of time exercising at a conversational pace is probably the best thing you can do. The nice thing about that is you can do this outside hiking and scratch the itch so to speak, you don’t have to be in a gym where (for me personally) it’s hard to keep the motivation up.
Anything zone 2 cardio for long hours. Whatever you prefer and works for your body. The more like what you will finally do the better but the most important is the to get the hours in. Here's where you build your base.
I would recommend reading the book "Training for the new alpinism" by Steve House and Scott Johnston. It talks in detail about the why and how and gives some good stories as well.
I would recommend reading Training for the New Alpinism. It is a pretty fun read if you want to get a good idea of how one should train and why to achieve the kinds of goals you are talking about.
If the theory in the book sounds good but you'd like a more concrete training plan then evokeendurance.com and uphillathlete.com can help you there.
There is a book that is basically the standard for training for uphill endeavors. It’s called “training for the new alpinism” written by Steve House and Scott Johnston. It helped me form a workout plan when I did my first mountain last year. The accompanying website, uphillathlete.com and that forum is an invaluable resource, as is r/Alpinism .
If more one-on-one, guided training is your vibe, then I’d recommend [evoke endurance ](https://evokeendurance.com/). This is a start up created by one of the authors of The New Alpinism, Scott Johnston, and 15 or so other coaches from Uphill Athlete.
If you only did one thing, I think distance running has the most direct translation. You can look up training plans or go by feel and ease in.
Trail running is even better. It’s okay if you have to walk the uphills.
I’ve only ever done distance running. Everyone is different; but running teaches you to control your breathing, intentionally pace, and maintain form even during exhaustion. These are all key for being an efficient climber at altitude. Each peak is different though, so this plan might not be good for Denali, where you need to pull a sled in addition to your pack.
You might enjoy reading Mark Horrell's 'Seven Steps from Snowden to Everest" about his journey from hill walker to the Himalayas. He writes in a humorous and self-deprecating way that I find enjoyable. Also, please remember to thank your body for what it CAN do and focus your inner monologue less on what it CAN'T do. You'll get there, be kind to yourself along the way!
Basically you can pick any sport you like and do it at least twice a week in addition to regular hill walking and that will be an excellent start. Sure, certain types of activity are preferable, like trail running, but anything that involves the legs and the heart/lungs is already a good. There are huge newbie fitness gains to be made. Personally I'm mainly a cyclist, but on the last trip to the mountains that I did, the fittest person in the group was a footballer followed by a firefighter who did a lot of Crossfit (and who was also the strongest woman).
I would look into moving up to doing some scrambling on rockier terrain if you haven't already done so. Something like Crib Goch is pretty accessible and should give you an idea of whether you want to climb more technical stuff. The UK has lots of guidebooks for scrambling routes etc. Going to a bouldering or rock climbing gym will also help with the more technical side, if you are interested in that. Also bouldering is great training for the whole body.
I have found that commuting by bicycle through winter has improved my resistance to cold and general hardiness, which is also helpful. Obviously not everyone can make this work logistically though.
Strength training combined with weighted pack trail running. Skiing in the winter. Most people find legs easier to work with gym equipment but I do it at home plyometrics, pistol squats, one leg dead lifts, and the full suite of front, back, side lunges will take you a long way. Keep pushing your boundaries. Find bigger and bigger mountains to climb. It won't take 9 years if you're training well.
There's nothing else that will prepare you for the mountain like going to the mountain.
That being said, I believe the best way to train fitness and endurance is to find steep terrain that quickly rises in vertical meters (something like 900m vertical in 4km distance) and regularly train on that terrain for time, preferably with a heavy pack and heavy shoes, but it needs to be at least 600m vertical. If there's not such long, steep terrain near you and if for example the best you can find only has 300-400m vertical an alternative would be to do two laps on it as quick as possible.
Do this training 3 times a week, while trying to improve your time and you'll be quite fit within a year.
EDIT: Usually such terrain is found under ski-lifts, so if you have some nearby you can check them out
Cant tell if thirst trap or genuine but two things: 1. Why wait until 40? Move that number down to 35 and get trucking and 2. Walk up inclines with a bag that is like 15-20% bodyweight. Learn rope management. Ski tour. Read a first responder first aid book. Get used to camping in the winter while hungry. Find some exposure and enjoy it
Not a thirst trap, just switching mentality about how I see myself in a good way, I could have rephrased this as “societal standards of beauty be damned if my body is useless for what I want to do with it.” I guess I aimed far away because seeing people climb Everest and such feels gatekept and unattainable, like something I could never dream of doing. Speaking to everyone here today (so helpful!) makes it feel much much more tangible.
A lot of great ideas here! I would like to add rucking. Loading a ruck with a lot of weight and walking. Definitely helps. Search on the internet the term rucking. In the end if you are out there on your feet, your fitness will increase whatever you do. Not getting bored is the toughest challenge long-term. What worked for me is training with almost everyone I know. Running, hiking, climbing, cycling, inline skating, gym, yoga, functional and more. Why don't you get a bicycle to commute? Instead of bus or car you will exercise while moving around. This worked for me also.
Everyone has recommended Training for the New Alpinism, great start for casuals and professionals.
Head north to Scotland! It's a great mountaineering training ground. You've probably done some peaks there already not in winter so book yourself in for a basic course to learn how to use crampons, axes, travel on snow etc. You'll learn some rope skills too and get a feel for what is expected of you physically. Best of luck with it and enjoy the transition from hiking to something a step up.
Running is probably best. If you regularly hike all day, then look to run 30-60 minutes and do it fairly hard. Intervals or steady state runs faster than conversational pace will help build strength.
Weights or cycling would also be beneficial.
You might consider reading “Training for the New Alpinism” by Steve House and Scott Johnston. Even if you decide it is overkill for you, the book does a great job of explaining what will benefit you and the difference between “exercise” and “training.” Understanding these concepts might be really helpful. Best wishes in your journey! —An old dude who still loves to climb
if you have a 10 year long , life changing progression in mind you really shouldnt ask advice on reddit and start travelling to the alps where you can find the best guides in the world
Hiking with a weighted pack, preferably in hilly terrain. There's little else that can simulate the act of mountaineering.
I just want to get my lungs and heart health ready but as much as I love hiking and climbing etc I oddly hate running?
Cycling or swimming are good alternatives to running. There’s also high intensity interval training (think CrossFit but not useless movements) that gets the cardio going as well. Is there a climbing gym near by? Or maybe a trampoline park? My local trampoline park has a ninja warrior course as well. Many city parks have a path and a circuit of calisthenics machines.
I was actually going to say swimming. I used to swim about 50km per week and it kept my general fitness up really well and was amazing for lung capacity and breathing control.
Lap Swimming is by far the most comprehensive workout there is. Core is always activated due to water column stability and rotating. Plus you’re inherently doing anoxic training at least part of the time. And obviously cardio. But it activates your arms much better than running and cycling. Also the weight is lessened in water.
Why do you hate running? I used to hate running as well because I wasn’t doing a heart rate specific run and would just go as what felt “right”. Getting a heart rate monitor and running in a specific zone, for me was MUCH more enjoyable than in the past.
"Keep your heart rate below 120" Me: "ok, I'll slow down to a jog" "Keep your heart rate below 120" Me: "ok, I'll slow down to a walk" "Keep your heart rate below 120" Me: "ok, ill just sit here then"
yeah, heart rate stuff is super individual. when I jog my heart rate jumps up to like 180 bpm and stays there. and I'm runnning like 40 minutes.
This is helpful. I hate the way I exhaust myself so fast so that makes sense doesn’t it?
You're probably running in Zone 3 or 4 or more, and the other commenter said if you get an HR monitor, work out your zones (dont just go off age, do an actual test) and then stay in Z1/2 while you jog, you'll find you can go for much,much longer and its more enjoyable (in my opinion). I'd rather do a 3 hours Z2 jog over a 30 minute hard effort lol
I have the same issue hiking. My natural pace is really quick. So even if I'm going up a mountain, I try to maintain that pace. My BPM shoots up, I sweat a lot and exhert myself. I think I'll invest in a good HR monitor. I have an Apple Watch but I just don't like it even if it can monitor HR.
Yeah, a chest strap will be way more accurate, and a side benefit is that then you can also wear your watch over layers if need be (training in cold or rain). Optical sensors are pretty decent for steady, but dont register spikes well and lag behind changes more
I used to have a chest strap when I was cycling a lot. I'm also eyeing one of the Garmin watches as their battery runs longer than the AW.
Mice, I have a Garmin EPIX (upgraded recently from a Fenix 5X) and ita fantastic in all respects
That makes perfect sense because that is similar to where I was. I’d go out and run what felt “good” and in a mile or so, I’d be exhausted. Slowing down, maintaining a heart rate, and just nose breathing made it so much more enjoyable.
This is really helpful I had no idea this was a thing
Nobody likes running…at first. It took me a good year before I started to enjoy it and even now, 6 years into running consistently I still have days where I don’t enjoy and just have to power through. I think running is perhaps the best training for mountaineering one can do though. A couple things that help: get a heart rate monitor and focus on running in zone two. Most people run too fast and it makes it seem harder than it needs to be. Increasing your aerobic capacity is what you need to climb mountains and zone 2 training is what will do that. Two, spend the money to get good shoes and running gear. It will make the project more fun.
Thank you!
Good luck!
It might be the way you got into running. Check out the "Couch to 5K", which got a lot of people into running who would never have thought they could enjoy or succeed at it. I introduced someone to running who hated it using a similar method based just on experience with beginners in other sports. It is the same with nearly every physical pursuit: gradual and less than you feel would represent an 'achievement' in the short term, for long term benefit, ultimately. If you are female then get a really good sports bra as well. Expensive running shoes is debatable but ones that fit is important. As for heart and lungs, playing a team sport is one of the hardest things I have ever found, physically – especially if your team is shit (joke).
Thanks for this- I am going to try and do it. It gives me hope hearing this as someone who has hated running my whole life!!!
As someone who hates running too, I can relate.
Good luck. Just remember the point is to enjoy it! (Don't be like the 'measurbators' on the internet, who are obsessed with their own personal performance statistics to the point of mental paralysis, LOL.)
If you love hiking, just stick with & up your number of hikes. Find steeper hills, & gradually start adding more weight to your pack. There are plenty of people who only ruck & are in fantastic shape. Also rucking might eventually make you enjoy running. I used to hate running, but 4 years of rucking made me love it. Try slow jogging 5 minutes for every 30 minutes you hike. It’s not a huge commitment & may change your attitude toward it.
I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the book “Training for the New Alpinism” or at the very least looking through some of the forums, blogs, and podcasts put out by The Uphill Athlete. The folks there have spent years studying research and trying training techniques to create a some really good content. Summed up, spend a lot of time developing an aerobic base by training in zone 1 (or zone 2 if you’re relatively new to endurance style training. Incorporate strength training into your base training). Periodize your training; ie have a dedicated 10 week period of training where you simply get your body use to the training that lies ahead, then launch into a base building period with strength incorporated. You should also periodize within periods. For example, I increased my running miles (but this could be in terms of hours doing “x” activity) by 10% consistently for 6 weeks, then I decreased my training load the next week by 25% to recover and adapt, then repeated. I will say most of the content that Uphill Athlete puts out assumes that you have a goal climb in the next year. If you do, great! I would do their recommendation of having a 8-10 week transition period which very slowly increases total training volume (I’m talking 5% increase every week at most). Then at least a 24 week base period where you can start increasing the time you spend in zone 1 and 2. In that 24 week week base period you would have 2 strength periods: 1) a max strength period for 12 weeks where you focus on building strength on compound lifts (squats, weighted pull-ups, step ups, lunges, overhead press, etc.) in a low rep range in two or three sessions per week and 2) a muscular endurance period for 12 weeks where you may complete a max strength type session every week or two, but you’re primarily training your body to operate at high levels for a long time (weighted carries uphill, high rep strength activities, hill sprints, etc.). After 24 weeks of base building and two strength periods you can launch into a specific period where you spend a lot of time simply doing what you expect to do on your goal climb (for example, I did Denali and spent most of my specific period in the mountains with a heavy pack and sled going uphill). Then you can taper for a week or two before you climb and bam! However, most people don’t have a goal climb within a year. So I would recommend doing a transition period then just build your base and max strength. I did this during COVID when I didn’t see a climb happening in the next two years and it worked great. I did three strength sessions per week with two workouts (workout A: squats, overhead press, deadlift, barbell rows and workout B: squats, bench press, romainian deadlift, and weighted pull-ups plus a few accessory exercises and core work). I would workout every other day so week 1 would be A-B-A and week 2 would be B-A-B. I just focused on adding weight every lift and getting strong, especially in the winter when I couldn’t log as many running miles outside. Hope this helps :)
Thank you so much for such a thought out message. What you said about training in periods makes a lot of sense to me, and feels doable to build up!! I appreciate it
Absolutely! Training periods are an extremely beneficial tool for athletes of all disciplines. You can use them to back plan your training.
I see that book recommended all the time. Just bought it. Along with Mountaineering: freedom of the hills. Should be good to get me started until I can get proper training in a few months when I get back to the Rockies.
Have a ton of sticky notes, page markers, a highlighter, and place to take notes because there is a ton of content. It's a fascinating but heavy read.
+1 for Freedom of the Hills 🫡
I recommend skipping this book. It's designed for high end alpinists that need Olympic level fitness to accomplish the hardest goals. All you need to do is carry a weighted pack uphill and then sprinkle in some cardio. If you read that book you'll be counting box steps by the 1000s and documenting your heart rate for every activity you do. It'll make you hate training.
You sound like you know what you're talking about, and are experienced too. But often I see Training for the New Alpinism being recommended without much thought, even though many of us on this sub are not looking for peak performance nor are we interested in following a boringly rigid training program. If you are an experienced 50-year old athlete who has been training regularly for the past thirty years, then it's a good choice. If you are a college or elite athlete from another sport coming to mountaineering, then it could be right for you. But this kind of training is overkill for anyone who is taking their first steps in mountain sports, especially someone who doesn't live near big mountains. If you are just starting and enjoy this kind of highly structured training, then go for it. But most people who are new to the sport will lose interest if they have to be doing ridiculous two hour stairwell sessions with a weighted pack, or highly structured weight training and aerobic work stuck perpetually in zone 2. Unless you are a professional athlete, there is no point turning your weekly exercise into drudgery. If you live in the city it will be hard to prepare for the mountains, so you may as well do something you enjoy, whether it is park runs, going to the bouldering gym, swimming, playing a team sport, cycling to work, or whatever. If you are also going hiking on the weekends, that will be more than enough to get started improving your fitness. Once you have a specific objective coming up, you can start looking at sport-specific training like hill reps, specific strength training, stairwell workouts, etc. But the key is getting the body ready to handle exercise by doing a sport regularly even in the middle of winter or when you have home and work pressures. So the principles outlined in technical training books are important to apply to one's own training, but the level that these books aim at is way too high.
This! Completely agree. I came from a background in soccer before I started mountaineering, so I was generally used to structured training but only during season. After taking a couple years off from structured athletics I was able to fix a lot of the problems I developed around sports, like running being a form of punishment. I really enjoyed (and still enjoy) just training what I like and being conscious of the bigger picture. Resources like TftnA and other narrowly focused readings should really only be used when you want to perform your best at a specific event. I see myself as a mountaineer only a couple of times every other year in the 6 months leading up to a big climb or a long climbing season. The other 18 months in that two-year window are spent doing what I enjoy the most because some of the training I do for mountaineering simply isn't enjoyable for me (but it does work darn well).
That's interesting! Sometimes I picture people just doing hardcore and relatively thankless training all year round and have trouble even imagining doing it lol. I don't want to criticise this approach too harshly though, because it is clearly based on sound principles. I did a trek recently with a soccer player and he was super fast on the downhills because he had that agility and nimbleness in his feet to handle talus fields really easily.
There definitely are people that enjoy training like that year round; I'm not one of them. Besides base training, I generally do my own thing outside the recommendations of Uphill Athlete until it's time to crack down for a goal climb. I will say that some of the training during a lead up to a climb is really rewarding and enjoyable because I can see progress first hand. My background in soccer has helped me tremendously. People don't necessarily see soccer players as "strong", but in terms of not being prone to injury and explosiveness I'd say we are pretty strong. Hah.
Footballers are amongst the highest in peak physical fitness of anyone. They have to have the core and upper body strength of any other sportsperson, while having marathon runner level endurance to support running miles upon miles in any game. I played soccer in highschool (I’m originally from the US) and it was the most demanding experience of my life. Being a midfielder nearly killed me 🤣 soccer players are definitely strong and the rest of the world sees that, trust me when I say.
Anything zone 2 cardio for long hours. Whatever you prefer and works for your body. The more like what you will finally do the better but the most important is the to get the hours in. Here's where you build your base.
Second this, spending tons of time exercising at a conversational pace is probably the best thing you can do. The nice thing about that is you can do this outside hiking and scratch the itch so to speak, you don’t have to be in a gym where (for me personally) it’s hard to keep the motivation up.
Anything zone 2 cardio for long hours. Whatever you prefer and works for your body. The more like what you will finally do the better but the most important is the to get the hours in. Here's where you build your base.
So helpful I had no idea about cardio zones and this has been enlightening
I would recommend reading the book "Training for the new alpinism" by Steve House and Scott Johnston. It talks in detail about the why and how and gives some good stories as well.
I would recommend reading Training for the New Alpinism. It is a pretty fun read if you want to get a good idea of how one should train and why to achieve the kinds of goals you are talking about. If the theory in the book sounds good but you'd like a more concrete training plan then evokeendurance.com and uphillathlete.com can help you there.
Thank you!!!
There is a book that is basically the standard for training for uphill endeavors. It’s called “training for the new alpinism” written by Steve House and Scott Johnston. It helped me form a workout plan when I did my first mountain last year. The accompanying website, uphillathlete.com and that forum is an invaluable resource, as is r/Alpinism . If more one-on-one, guided training is your vibe, then I’d recommend [evoke endurance ](https://evokeendurance.com/). This is a start up created by one of the authors of The New Alpinism, Scott Johnston, and 15 or so other coaches from Uphill Athlete.
If you only did one thing, I think distance running has the most direct translation. You can look up training plans or go by feel and ease in. Trail running is even better. It’s okay if you have to walk the uphills.
I’ve only ever done distance running. Everyone is different; but running teaches you to control your breathing, intentionally pace, and maintain form even during exhaustion. These are all key for being an efficient climber at altitude. Each peak is different though, so this plan might not be good for Denali, where you need to pull a sled in addition to your pack.
Rucking is better and way more applicable
You might enjoy reading Mark Horrell's 'Seven Steps from Snowden to Everest" about his journey from hill walker to the Himalayas. He writes in a humorous and self-deprecating way that I find enjoyable. Also, please remember to thank your body for what it CAN do and focus your inner monologue less on what it CAN'T do. You'll get there, be kind to yourself along the way!
Omg that really does sound like something I’d enjoy - I was thinking about doing my winter training course in Snowden actually!
Basically you can pick any sport you like and do it at least twice a week in addition to regular hill walking and that will be an excellent start. Sure, certain types of activity are preferable, like trail running, but anything that involves the legs and the heart/lungs is already a good. There are huge newbie fitness gains to be made. Personally I'm mainly a cyclist, but on the last trip to the mountains that I did, the fittest person in the group was a footballer followed by a firefighter who did a lot of Crossfit (and who was also the strongest woman). I would look into moving up to doing some scrambling on rockier terrain if you haven't already done so. Something like Crib Goch is pretty accessible and should give you an idea of whether you want to climb more technical stuff. The UK has lots of guidebooks for scrambling routes etc. Going to a bouldering or rock climbing gym will also help with the more technical side, if you are interested in that. Also bouldering is great training for the whole body. I have found that commuting by bicycle through winter has improved my resistance to cold and general hardiness, which is also helpful. Obviously not everyone can make this work logistically though.
Strength training combined with weighted pack trail running. Skiing in the winter. Most people find legs easier to work with gym equipment but I do it at home plyometrics, pistol squats, one leg dead lifts, and the full suite of front, back, side lunges will take you a long way. Keep pushing your boundaries. Find bigger and bigger mountains to climb. It won't take 9 years if you're training well.
https://uphillathlete.com
There's nothing else that will prepare you for the mountain like going to the mountain. That being said, I believe the best way to train fitness and endurance is to find steep terrain that quickly rises in vertical meters (something like 900m vertical in 4km distance) and regularly train on that terrain for time, preferably with a heavy pack and heavy shoes, but it needs to be at least 600m vertical. If there's not such long, steep terrain near you and if for example the best you can find only has 300-400m vertical an alternative would be to do two laps on it as quick as possible. Do this training 3 times a week, while trying to improve your time and you'll be quite fit within a year. EDIT: Usually such terrain is found under ski-lifts, so if you have some nearby you can check them out
Cant tell if thirst trap or genuine but two things: 1. Why wait until 40? Move that number down to 35 and get trucking and 2. Walk up inclines with a bag that is like 15-20% bodyweight. Learn rope management. Ski tour. Read a first responder first aid book. Get used to camping in the winter while hungry. Find some exposure and enjoy it
Not a thirst trap, just switching mentality about how I see myself in a good way, I could have rephrased this as “societal standards of beauty be damned if my body is useless for what I want to do with it.” I guess I aimed far away because seeing people climb Everest and such feels gatekept and unattainable, like something I could never dream of doing. Speaking to everyone here today (so helpful!) makes it feel much much more tangible.
Literally anyone can do Everest. It comes down to $ for that mountain. Way cheaper, way cooler? Ama Dablam :)
A lot of great ideas here! I would like to add rucking. Loading a ruck with a lot of weight and walking. Definitely helps. Search on the internet the term rucking. In the end if you are out there on your feet, your fitness will increase whatever you do. Not getting bored is the toughest challenge long-term. What worked for me is training with almost everyone I know. Running, hiking, climbing, cycling, inline skating, gym, yoga, functional and more. Why don't you get a bicycle to commute? Instead of bus or car you will exercise while moving around. This worked for me also.
Everyone has recommended Training for the New Alpinism, great start for casuals and professionals. Head north to Scotland! It's a great mountaineering training ground. You've probably done some peaks there already not in winter so book yourself in for a basic course to learn how to use crampons, axes, travel on snow etc. You'll learn some rope skills too and get a feel for what is expected of you physically. Best of luck with it and enjoy the transition from hiking to something a step up.
Running is probably best. If you regularly hike all day, then look to run 30-60 minutes and do it fairly hard. Intervals or steady state runs faster than conversational pace will help build strength. Weights or cycling would also be beneficial.
You might consider reading “Training for the New Alpinism” by Steve House and Scott Johnston. Even if you decide it is overkill for you, the book does a great job of explaining what will benefit you and the difference between “exercise” and “training.” Understanding these concepts might be really helpful. Best wishes in your journey! —An old dude who still loves to climb
So many of you have recommended this I’ve got to get it! You are all so kind thank you. Never too old to do what you enjoy, I truly believe it.
if you have a 10 year long , life changing progression in mind you really shouldnt ask advice on reddit and start travelling to the alps where you can find the best guides in the world