Hi all,
I read this topic a while back, and thought I would return with my thoughts on hiking fitness / training.
This can be a very open topic due to the huge differences in people. Many people have different abilities, are coming from different fitness levels, and have different goals, however, I will offer what I can.
I think that base fitness and injury prevention should be high on the list for hikers. Base fitness can be different for seasoned hikers, and people coming in fresh, with no experience of exercise.
I think a good place to start is to actually get out and do a little walking, and see what you feel. Do you get out of breath? Do your knees ache? Do you tire too soon, and not have the endurance you would like? These things can all influence training plans.
I don't think that the best way to train for something is to actually do it. The best way to train your aerobic capacity, or strength isn't to go out and hike. I think that time spent in the gym, or similar can be time well spent.
Brisk walking, gentle jogging, and running, depending on your fitness levels are great for building base fitness and endurance. Swimming and cycling are also great too. If you really want to get fitter - to be able to power up hills, cover lots of ground in a day, then a big aerobic capacity is important. Specifically, VO2 max, which, in simple terms, is a measure of how efficient your cardiobascular system is. I train this in myself, and others, using intervals. I find an eercise bike best for this, but it can be done in many ways.
Try sprinting / all out effort against an increased resistance for 30 seconds, and then taking a minute of gentle recovery. On the bike, I do this by putting the resistance up high, and getting my RPM upto 110 for 30 seconds, and then dropping the resistance away to it's lowest setting, and gently spinning at 60 rpm for a minute.
In the 6 week lead up to competitions I do this at a 2:1 ratio, usually 60ss:30s as it quite closely mimics the rounds we do in my competitive martial art. Play around with the intervals to keep the body guessing, varying the times, and resistance levels. Try to increase your number of rounds over time, and really push yourself hard during the working intervals.
This method of training should make the left chamber of your heart bigger and stronger, resulting in a lower heart rate per unit work than before. It is also good for raising your lactate threashold, which is the level of activity you can maintain continuously. The higher your lactate threashold, the harder you can work aerobiclly.
I also do this in the pool, doing one length of fast front crawl, followed by one or two of easy breast stroke. But this could also be trained with hill sprints, or when out jogging. I sometimes sprint between lamposts when jogging.
I think that muscular strength and proprioception is very important for hiking. I used to have lots of problems with aching knees, particularly when going down hill, but a programe of leg work really helped. Specifically, leg extensions. I work harder on legs extensions in the build up to a hike to try and get a bit of support for my knee.
For base strenght, I think that squats can be very effective. If they are too much for you, just start with bodyweight squats, or the leg press machine.
Moving closer to a hike, or hiking season, I will start to add in some stablity work, such as squats on wobble boards, or bosu balls. Lunges onto a bosu ball seem to work quite well, especially if you vary the foot placement. to mimic the different angles of terrain your foot may land on. Add in a pair of kettlebells and you are continuing to build strength in your lower body.
Standing on one leg is great for improving balance and proprioception, both of which I think are very important for hikers. When you think about it, you spend most of a hike on one leg! If you are comfortable standing on one leg for a period of time, move upto a uni-directional wobble board, and then a bosu ball. As a progression from there, you could try exercises like single leg squats, or have somebody throw a ball for you to catch while still on one leg.
With the leg work, be sure to stretch afterwards. I have been doing a lot of calf raises recently, and found my calves were really really tight when walking up hill, so I need to work on that area.
Depending on your fitness levels, I think that as you get closer to hiking season, adding in other resistance exercises can really help. Think about how heavy your pack is on your back, or how tough it can be to lift a heavy pack from the floor. For this reason I think that adding in core (including lower back) exercises can be a real help. A good strong core can help to prevent injuries, and lower back ache. Don't just work in one plane of motion though, the core is a complex area, with lots of muslces running in different directions, so be sure to use all of them. Crunches, leg raises, russian twists, cable twists, planks, and swiss ball back extensions (with twists) are some of my favourites, and work many different muscles in the core, not just the "six pack". If you have any lumbar spine issues, it is perhaps a good idea to steer clear of the plank.
As you build up strength in these areas, don't forget to add resistance - it's what many people forget to do with core, instead bashing out tons of reps.
The great thing about core, is that you can train it at home with very little equipment.
If you find the time, it's always good to train the whole body, using big, compound, movements. Having good strength will help in many areas out on the trail - just think of the shifting load on your back, and you will realise that it's not just legs that you use. Also, carrying a bit more muscle usually leads to decreases in bodyfat, which is never a bad thing either :-)
I'm working with a snowboarder at the moment, and so am incorperating many of these ideas into his routine, really focusing on injury prevention in our sessions. Snowboarding places similar demands on our body to hiking, in my opinion, and looking after the knees and ankles is very important.
I will try and add more when I get time, but that's a brief run-down of my initial thoughts.
Steve