Always Repeating The Same Training Hikes? Do This!

When it comes to Training For A Trek, getting some hiking time under your boots is absolutely essential! This is the single best thing you can do to prepare your body and mind for the uneven, undulating and unpredictable nature of the trail.

However for many, the luxury of finding new and exciting trails to hit each week seems like a distant dream. And for convenience sake, you might find it much more practical to simply repeat the sames over and over and over again...

And if this is you, don't worry! This can be a perfectly valid method of training. You just have to be smart about it...

The Problem With Most
Hiking Training Programs

When training for just about anything, one of the most important principles to incorporate is progressive overload. Which, in its simplest form, is ensuring the body is regularly given new challenge and stimulus to enable it to continually adapt and grow.

In most traditional trek preparation programs, progressive overload is incorporated through increasing either the distance or difficulty of your hiking each week.  While this is an very effective way of going about things, it does have one major drawback... in that you need a new trail each week!

Now at first glance, this might seem simple. But when it comes down to it, this involves a significant time investment. It takes time to research new trails each week. It takes time to find the right hike for your fitness and skill levels. And it takes time to travel to them!

And while some people absolutely love incorporating these 'micro adventures every week... just as many people don't! And for convenience sake, would much prefer to simply repeat the same hike over and over.

And if this is you, that is fine! But just don't make the mistake of simply repeating the same hike, with no change, and hoping you will get fitter. This is not an effective way of going about things!

Instead, you need to find an alternative way of 'progressing your training, in order to keep yourself moving forward...

And that is exactly what I am about to share with you:

6 Simple Ways To Progress
The Same Training Hike

Increase Your Pack Weight

After distance and difficulty, this is probably the most popular way of progressing a training hike. Simply adding bit more weight to your pack can make things much more challenging!

But before you simply strap on some extra weight and hitting the trail, you need to stop and think. If done incorrectly, this type of training can often result in aches, niggles and pains in the feet, shins, knees or back. So to prevent this from happening, you need to do it smart! 

A few points to follow here:

• Start off with 5% of your body weight in your pack
  
• Each week, progress it by no more than another 5% each week
• Every 4th week, have a 'deload week', in which you reduce your weight significantly.
  (It is important to do this BEFORE you begin to feel like you need a 'rest week')

One final piece of advice here is when loading up your pack, avoid the common mistake of using dumbbells or weights plates. These don't distribute the weight evenly through your pack and can cause some genuine discomfort in the back. Instead, use water bottles and pack the rest of your bag out with towels. This allows even weight distribution (as you would normally have when hiking). On top of this, it gives you the option of pouring out the water if things get too much (or you something starts to feel a bit niggly)

Increase Your Hiking Speed

Increasing the speed of a workout is a tried and true method of progression. But it is one that is often overlooked in the hiking world! And yes, when you are actually on your trek, you are probably not going to be trying to break any speed records... but by training at a quicker pace, you can simply give the body some extra training stimulus. 

Now when you are trying to cut this time down, you don't have to be walking at a faster pace the whole way (though that is one option!)

A couple of other ways to increase your total hike speed:

• Reduce your rest breaks. If you had a 20 minute lunch one day, cut that down to 10 minutes the next!
• Attack certain sections of the trail (prior to starting choose one or two difficult sections of the trail. When you come to these, really attack them!)
  

The main key of this, is you simply need to track and record how long your hike takes each time. After each hike, jot it down in a notebook or in a note on your phone. It is important to be accurate here, as even a 5 minute increase in speed can be counted as a success!

Choose A Hill To Repeat

Another great method of a progressing a training hike is simply repeating a challenging hill or section of the trail. Even if you live in the flattest place on earth, most hikes will have at least one tough stretch! 
 
Now this is literally as simple as it sounds. Do your hike as usual. When you come across this section, climb to the top and then immediately turn around, walk back to the bottom and repeat it!

This can be seriously mentally tough, but it is a great way of adding a little extra challenge into your hike!

And each time you repeat this hike, simply add another repetition.

Leap Frog Hiking

If you have ever participated in a team sport, I am sure you have done the old 'leap frog' workout before.

(No it isn't what you used to do as a kid!)
  
Which basically involves you all running in a single file and the person at the back has to speed up, overtake everyone and then takes their place at the front.
  
And then the process repeats with the next person...
  
Well, this is a really good training technique on the trail!

(The only difference is you will be walking, not running)

Tee up your training buddies. Choose a nice flat stretch of trail. And give it a go!

Over the weeks you can increase the time you spend doing this. And when you are feeling really brave, you can give this a go on a hill!
 
Train The Day Before Hiking

Conventional wisdom is to put a day between training sessions, to allow the body to recover properly.
 
But by doing a training session the day before your hike (either strength or cardio) you will go into your hike slightly fatigued already. This will simply make things harder and add a bit of extra stress to the body!

Over the long term, this isn't the best way of doing things... mainly because coming into your hikes pre-fatigued, will prevent you from hiking at your best! But doing this every once in a while, can be an easy way of adding some extra challenge.

Chill Out A Bit

While not so much of a progression, this option can be very effective if you are not feeling in the mood for 'pushing' yourself on your training hike.

Maybe you haven't slept so well. Maybe you have a lot of stress going on at the moment. Maybe you are just a bit demotivated. Whatever the reason is, if you are feeling a bit flat, give this a go...

For the entire hike (or as much as you can possibly do) try focusing on practicing abdominal breathing...

So that means breathe deeply through the nose and feel your belly expand (as opposed to the chest and shoulders) and then slowly exhaling through the mouth.
  
This type of breathing has a huge number of amazing benefits for trekkers. 

And if you practice this while you are hiking, not only will it get so much easier to do and become much more effective...
  
But it will significantly reduce your stress levels, increase your energy and leave you feeling like you are floating on a cloud!

Two Ways NOT To
Progress A Training Hike

Hike In A Dehydrated State. 

A terrible recommendation that often gets passed around is for people to limit the amount of water they drink while hiking. People say this is good 'mental preparation'. And that because it feels much tougher, it must be good for their training...

And while there is no argument that this is going to be tough, it is a terrible idea for your training! It might feel hard but it is not going to improve your performance. Not at all.  On top of that, dehydration and hiking is not a great mix and can be potentially dangerous.

Don't make this mistake.

Hike In A Fasted State.

The same goes for restricting your food before and during your hike.

Again it is going to feel tougher, but you are simply limiting your performance during the hike. It will not aid you in any practical way in the future. If food doesn't agree with you while you are hiking, that is fine! But just don't purposely restrict yourself in the hopes of improving your performance in the future.

When you are training for a trek, repeating the same hikes can be a very effective way of getting fit. But just make sure you are not simply doing the same thing every week! Apply one (or a mix) of the methods above and you can ensure that you are constantly progressing, adapting and moving forward towards your dream adventure!

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