Training & Fitness for hiking

Hi all

What do you guys do to stay in shape for your next hike? Like excersizes and nutrition wise?

I run a 3.4km circuit everyday, and try to swim as often as possible, one length on surface and one underwater (heard it allows you to cope better at altitude, guess its worth a try), I do 200 ab crunches a night coupled with 50-70 pushups and some step ups on stairs. This seems to keep me in a good shape.

Nutrition wise, I take a meal replacement for breakfast and lunch, and just eat my usual dinner, I cut out fatty foods, oil, too much sugar, and try to drink about 3 litres of water per day. And then 3 days before a hike I do carbo loading, just for some extra body fuel on the hike.

That's my plan, nothing intense. I'm interested to hear what others do, always good to get opinions

Hey Cave Man,

Wow!

Not sure you'll get much response on this one, your programme's pretty tough to top.

In over 30 years of Berg hiking, I have covered a lot of different types of fitness. Here I have ranked them from worst fitness to best fitness. The stages correspond to periods of at least 6 months of a particular type of fitness.

1. Unfit, out of condition and stuck at a desk (now)
Hikes done on memory and tactics. Its amazing what can still be done by hiking light (very light!), starting early, knowing the way and when to carry water, and safe in the knowledge that its been done before. Can still cope on day one with much the same as before, but day two is generally much harder - regardless of what day 2 entails.

2. Periods of playing squash and not much else (long time ago)
better than being at the desk, but no good for stamina or strength - as in heavy bags and long days. Seemed like squash is a completely different kind of fitness requirement.

3. Rugby fitness (school and uni)
better than the above, but not so good on long days and stamina. The passes were certainly not too difficult.

4. Long distance running (uni and thereafter)
corresponded to training of about 80-100km a week and doing a standard marathon every couple of weeks in the lead up to Pmb-Dbn or Dbn-Pmb
Great fitness, easily coped with heavy bags and long days but on weekends in the Berg following a week of training felt very tired and couldn't understand why at first!

5. Doing loads of Berg trips (uni and thereafter)
Corresponds to a time after May when the Dbn-Pmb race was over, big endurance fitness and strength was in the bag, Berg was at its best in winter and, importantly, not much running was going on during the week (max 21 km). During this period, which lasted about 5 winters, we could carry huge bags, do unreasonable distances (Mnweni police post to Mponj Cave in time for afternoon tea) and not have to worry about fitness as a limiter. It was never necessary to rest during the hike. Wonderful time this which featured a Berg trip every second weekend. It felt like we could walk ourselves out of any kind of hassle. Did a lot of rock climbing then too.

6. Military service (not commenting on myself here, but a mate who spent basics at a hard posting near Bethlehem - went to the Berg a couple of times with him on passes and the guy, who I can usually out-walk, was a complete animal). I guess it must have been nice to walk around without a telephone pole on your shoulder.

So in summary, looks like telephone poles and ammo cases filled with sand are the trick. Followed by, well lots of Berg hikes!

HI cave man,
MY training routine: day 1)4 km run/cycling
day 2)80 curls 5 kg wieghts, 50 push ups, 100 situps, pull ups, 30 kg barbel squats, 50 dips.
day 3) rest day go for 6km walk.
day 4)parkour (if you dont know what it is here is a link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour )

and so the cycle continues...

My diet is normal lots of vegies and carbs, i do consume a large amount of coffee.

Some pretty intense workouts from some guys... I do about an hour on a treadmill on max incline at between 4 and 6km/h 3-5 times a week (sometimes with a backpack on - loaded with some books, water, sleeping bags and a tent), the most fit I've ever been for the berg though was when I did Bannerman Pass in April this year, my training for that was doing Langies and Bannerman Passes a few weeks before, and Popple still defeated me (due to hiking with an unfit friend)...

YOu saw how we handled rhino it isn't the hardest hike ever but we left you behind in the pass (cant blame you, heartburn nothing you could do about it.), you said i would be stiff the next day funny thing was....I wasn't!

I was very impressed how you guys handled the hike, its not very tought, but its not that easy, we'll see how you do on Judge Pass (although I don't think Judge Pass will be particularly hard - famous last words!). If I'm correct the pass is steep but short (anyone on VE done Judge Pass before? I imagine its similar to Bannerman Pass?)

As for stiffness, you only get that when you go slowly, medium speed (or 6+km/h in your case) is rarely a problem...

Thank you i feel like super man, i am looking forward to judge pass, is it just a coincidence that it is called "judge pass"?

Its named after the peak that it tops out next to (the pass is the snow track in the photo on the right hand side in the shaddow, the Judge is the prominent peak on the right of the pass, I was supposed to do it earlier this year, but as with many of the hikes I've planned this year, it didn't happen):




The pass really doesn't look hard, but looks can be deceiving, although (compared to passes like Corner Pass, or even steeper - Hilton Pass) it really shouldn't be tough.

Just a word of caution to newer and or younger members of the forum. Please don't allow the forum to become a vehicle for who is faster or better in the mountains. I have seen to many camera forums degenerate into oneupmanship.

Now back to the thread. I have never been the fittest hiker and my fitness regime is pretty non-existant. From 91-2000 it consisted basically of eating correctly and the occasional burst of walking 30 min a day for a week before a trip. From 2000-08 i was mountain biking at least once a week for about 2 hours per session. I did notice a slight improvement in strength and stamina because of the riding. Since 08 that has stopped but i started gym Mar last year and train twice, sometimes three times a week doing 1-1.5 hour of weight training and about 30 min cardio on an alpine climber (160bpm).

Fortunately I don't carry excess weight, eat well, don't smoke and don't drink to much. The most i have managed in a day with a full pack was from the top of Fangs down to the Police post which is about 28km, I was rather tired at the end though. I usually carry about 20kg, the most I have carried was about 30kg (two camera systems) on a trip from Witseshoek car park to the top of Icidi Buttress and back, that was very uncomfortable and my shoulders were not happy.

I usually hike within my abilities and rely on my mental fortitude to push through when my body is at its limit. That and having a supportive and encouraging hiking partner. Each of you have ups and downs on a trip and if you can pull each other through these. I think this is key.