Training & Fitness for hiking

ghaznavid wrote: 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)...

Tell me that wasn't at a public gym!?? If so, I want to see the photos!

And I'm with mnt_tiska on this one - the most hiking fit I've ever been is when I was at uni in Cape Town, doing overnight hikes most weekends. We even started a little tradition called the Table Mountain Diggs Week, where members of the UCT mountain club would make the MCSA hut at the top of Table Mountain their diggs for the week. The rules were that you were to sleep in the hut every night, could not miss any lectures and could not use a car for the entire week. The 15km one-way hike between campus and the hut got us fit pretty quickly!

Cycling, running, strength exercises, etc help to some extent but there's nothing that beats putting a pack on your back and heading into the mountains! Pity they're a little far from Joburg...

Admittedly until recently this was done on my elliptical training machine (which broke a few weeks ago), so I replaced it with a treadmill shortly after getting my first non-articles salary

Agreed. The human body is so amazingly designed that the set of muscles that get fit doing other sports, won't get you totally fit for hiking. What does help, and i think our upcountry cousins have the advantage here, is training at altitude. I think there is a huge difference between getting fit at 1500m verses sea level and then hiking in the berg. If anyone has any data on this I would be interested to see it.

I like that Table Mountain idea, thats pretty cool...

You guys all sound way too fit! As a shall we say, more 'mature' member of the forum, I don't train fanatically. On a good week I try and get to gym three times and find 20 minutes on the power plate very good for leg strength. Cardio consists of time on the eliptical and alternate days the stepper machine together with some upper body weight exercises - that's it. I hate gym and only go because it helps me in the Berg. The best thing of course would be to hike every second weekend - nothing better for hiking fitness than hiking! I eat healthily, take a good vitamin supplement and try and drink a fair amount of water. I totally agree that a strong mental attitude and support from your fellow hikers are what gets you through those really tough days.

This is a bit off topic, but in answer to ghaznavid's query , I did Judges Pass about two years ago - in thick snow and none of us had been up there before. We had intended to go up Corner Pass but felt it would be too iced up, therefore the decision was made to do Judges. I didn't find it too bad, although route finding was difficult due to the path being covered in snow. I also came down it last year - pretty eroded but certainly doable. I will attach a photo from both trips

Thanks Elinda, those 2 pics help quite a bit, thats pretty much what I expected it to look like More pics will help further

Looking at those pics again that actually looks very easy, am I making the common Berg mistake of underestimating its steepness or is it just one of those Langalibalele Style routes that is really easy?

I am attaching some more pics. I didn't think it was that tough - it was just the snow that made it a bit difficult. Coming down the second time was ok too - just had to be a bit careful as it's eroded with loose scree in places. I am sure you will have no problems!