Different Methods Of Hill Training For Mountaineers

​Hill training is core method of training for mountaineering. In this episode, I explore a few simple variations of this training to help keep things fresh and keep your fitness moving forward. 

​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode,

[0:03] we are talking through a few different ways that a mountaineer can approach hill sessions. Now, hill training and training on steep hills is a pretty stock standard method of training for mountaineers, because it is probably one of the most specific things a mountaineer can do to get ready for the mountains. However, when it comes down to this type of training, a lot of mountaineers kind of fall into the trap of just doing the same thing over and over and over again. And it does get a little bit but dull. It does get a little bit boring. And, you know, if a mountaineer is doing this for months and months on end, it can just get really monotonous and even sometimes not super effective. So today I just want to talk you through a few really simple ideas around this. And the idea, most of this is probably stuff you've heard before, but hopefully just having this all laid out in one place or another in one place will help some mountaineers just maybe open their eyes, get a bit more variation in their training or whatever it may be.

[1:03] So essentially today, I'm going to talk through six different ways you can use hill training as part of your sessions and different ways you can incorporate it. Now, first and foremost is our basic sessions and basic hill training. And this is literally just what people will typically fall into without a huge amount of thought. Now, this particular session just involves you finding any type of hill you have access to. If you're lucky enough to live near some big, steep inclines, this might involve finding a 10-minute, 20-minute, 30-minute hill, which you can do.

[1:34] If you're not so lucky to live that, it might involve a five-minute hill or a two minute or one minute or whatever maybe like whatever you have access to and essentially the intention here is you literally just go up and down the hill for repeated amount of times and week by week by week you either add a little bit of extra time so more repeats or a little bit of pack weight now this is super super simple very very basic and this is just a natural way people can approach this and this definitely works and i get a lot of my my mountaineers doing this at parts of their training where we're just doing a very basic hill training session where we're concentrating on a slow and steady climb, typically looking at nose breathing pace or zone two if you're using a heart rate monitor and just slowly getting exposure to that. Now, this may sound basic, but it's really, really useful in just getting another way of developing our aerobic fitness. It can be really, really useful in just introducing the specific forces of going up and down hills to mountaineers. So, specifically getting the calves ready to go up and up and up which is pretty important and a lot of people get a little bit of soreness from that. Also with the knees getting them exposed to the repeated downhills which can be really important because a lot of people get sore knees from downhills and

[2:46] this is our most basic session. I don't need to go too much more on about that but that's what we're looking at.

[2:51] Now number two and again another session that a lot of mountaineers are pretty familiar with is doing overloaded hack hills. So the intention behind this is you find a nice long climb and you get a very, very heavy pack. And essentially the idea behind this is loading up the pack so much that as you're going up the hill.

[3:12] You get a really, really good burn in the legs, but it weighs you down so much that you can't really push very fast. And essentially what we're trying to develop here is what's called muscular endurance in the quadriceps, in the legs, in a really, really specific way. So the intention here is you load up the pack, probably heavier than you're going to be using on your expedition and slowly, slowly, slowly just work up that hill. And then week by week by week, you just add in a little bit more. You add in a little bit more weight, add in a little bit more weight. Maybe you do a little bit longer. And week by week by week, you kind of bump that up. And this type of stuff is really, really good. And a lot of mountaineers will lean towards this because it is quite popular in the mountaineering community. And typically, we would use these sessions anywhere from six to eight weeks before you actually head out on a bee expedition. So if you're looking at a longer-term journey, if you had sort of 16 weeks to train, you might do eight weeks of just those basic hill sessions of just slowly building up. And then eight weeks of this really heavy stuff where you really ramp things up and that can be a nice sort of progression which can work pretty well.

[4:11] Now with the heavier stuff the main thing to be aware of is if you don't have access to one of these nice long climbs up and you do need to do repeated up and down up and down up and down you need to be aware of that overloaded weight can put a bit of a toll on your knees. So whether you need to find an option where you can just go up and not need to worry about this. So if you're using a Stairmaster or a super high-inclined treadmill or something like that, or using the old water bottle trick where you go up your hill, you dump a bit of water at the top, go down the bottom, refill, and up and down, up and down, up and down. But you just need to be aware of your knees on this.

[4:46] So these are two sessions that a lot of mountaineers are pretty, pretty familiar with. Very, very basic. And I'm sure it's not news for you there.

[4:53] Now, the next type of hill session that I quite like using for mountaineers, and this is something that, you know, some people will do to one degree or another, but I've started really getting into it, is what I call speed manipulation, in the sense that typically when we're looking at hill climbing, a lot of mountaineers will typically use this slow, steady climb, the nose breathing pace, the zone two pace, really, really getting up there, which is great and definitely worthwhile doing. Now, the idea behind speed manipulation is essentially when we are going up a hill, we are changing our speeds from this slow and steady pace to periods where we're actually pushing the speed quite quickly.

[5:31] Now, the idea behind, and to give you an example of this, this may involve if you've got a nice, long, super long hill, and if you've got, say, 10 minutes of climbing, you may do three minutes of nose breathing pace, climbing up the hill, then three minutes of really, really quick pace, pump up the pace, push it a little bit more, get your breathing quite quick, and then drop it down for three minutes or four minutes to finish it off of nose breathing pace, and then go back down the bottom and repeat. Or if you've only got a shorter hill, you might do first climb, nose breathing pace, go back down the bottom. Second climb, really, really quick pace, get huffed and parked, go back down the bottom, next one nose breathing, next one really quick, so fast, so fast. Now, the reason I quite like these particular sessions is one of the biggest issues that a lot of mountaineers have is getting really, really out of breath when they're climbing steep hills. They may be fine on the approach. They may be fine on the relatively flat or moderate climb, but when they hit a steep climb, they get really, really out of breath.

[6:28] Sometimes, mountaineers can get really uncomfortable with this. They can really, really struggle to control their breathing, even more so if they're up at high altitude, and it can just end up being a little bit tricky. So the idea behind this speed manipulation is not only are we getting exposure to lower intensity, which is good, not only are we getting exposure to some higher intensity cardio, which can develop certain adaptations in the body, which is pretty good, but also we're getting practice around managing our breathing between these intensities. So essentially, we are going at a slow pace, controlled breathing. We bump the speed up. We get our breathing really, really quick. And then we're actually practicing pulling our breathing down back to that slow pace while we're still moving and while we're still climbing, which in itself is a skill. It does take a little while to develop. But if you can practice this and develop this, this will give you two really, really important advantages on the mountain. Number one, it will help you that if you are going out on the mountain, you can actually control your pace because you'll get that awareness between that nose breathing pace and that quicker pace and you'll get that awareness around okay this is the speed i need to do to keep that more steady pace on top of that it'll also give you the ability that if you do hit a really tough section of terrain or if you do start getting a bit stressed out or if you have bumped up the speed a little bit and you realize you're getting like huffed and puffed and you're really struggling.

[7:52] Then you've done the practice where you can actually keep on moving with the pack keep on moving with the team, but hold things back, get your breathing under control.

[8:02] It's a really, really, really valuable skill. And I've been using this a lot recently with my mountaineers and I really quite like.

[8:09] Now, the way you can progress this is typically you would progress it just like a basic session. And you may each week just either do a little bit more climbing, you may introduce a bit of pack weight and ramp that up, or you can even just keep it the same and keep it body weight, but just on those quicker ones, just push quicker. and really, really ramp up the speed. And ultimately, you can make this as difficult as you want by just bumping up the speed there. Quite an effective session.

[8:34] Now, session number four is running hill intervals. So the three ones we talked about already, they're kind of walking, they're hiking, they're getting that slow and steady build, which is for mountaineering, pretty relevant. Now, running hill intervals, very, very similar, but it's just a different way of going about this. Realistically, running intervals can be great for mountaineers who are already runners and they enjoy running. And also people who do get a little bit bored with the typical basic hills. And maybe you run all the time. Maybe you love trail running and this and that. And the thought of actually pulling your pace back and just doing this repetitive stuff up and down is just torturous. Then this could be good for you. Now, realistically with the running stuff, this does take a little bit of thought because to get the best out of running intervals for mountaineers, we do kind of want to be finding, climb, which is going to take a little while to get up. An ideally perfect world, you get something that's going to take at least two minutes running up the hill to get up.

[9:35] Now, as we said before, sometimes people just won't have access to this. So if you're in a situation where you've only got these short hills and you can only get up the hills in like 30 seconds or so, it may not be really worth your time and it may be worthwhile just doing a walking session but loading up the pack a bit heavier so you get a bit more time spent moving. But if you can find a nice long hill, yeah, doing a run for two or three or four or five minutes, getting that burn and just working through it, this can be really, really valuable. Now, I wouldn't say this would ever completely replace your full pack stuff or your basic stuff, because the intensities are going to be a little bit different. And obviously, we're not getting exposure to pack weight, but it can be valuable. And again, if we're looking at longer term planning, and if you had sort of say, let's say 16 weeks, you may do four weeks of basic intervals, basic heal intervals. Then you may do four weeks of running heal intervals and just get that exposure to that quicker pace. And then he may do four weeks or eight weeks of that heavy loaded stuff. And again, that can be a nice manipulation of things. And that can get us nice exposure to the slow and steady stuff to start, the higher intensity stuff for

[10:42] a little while, and then get exposed to that heavy stuff later on. And that can work out pretty well.

[10:47] Now, another situation we often get from pioneers is kind of, again, going into that kind of boredom factor. And they're like, oh my gosh, the thought of literally just going up and down a hill over and over and over. Like, I just cannot stomach the thought of that. That's fair enough. A lot of people fall into that. And I fully, fully understand. If you're in that situation and you're like, oh my gosh, I just mentally can't bring myself to do that. A good way of incorporating this is actually incorporating it into your training hikes or your training runs. In the sense that as opposed to you doing a standalone session of this. What you can do is you can go out for a normal training hike. If you're going out for four hours or five hours or six hours or whatever it may be, going out for that hike. And then throughout that hike, at some point, you're like, you know what? This is a nice long climb. What I'm going to do is I'm going to set the timer and I'm going to go up and down this hill for 20, 30 minutes. And then once that's done, then I'm going to head out and continue on my hike.

[11:44] Or alternatively, if you're going out for a run, it may be the same thing. You go out for a 10 kilometer run on the trail, something like that. You find a nice long hill and then you could spend 10 minutes running up and down that hill, or you could just do some walking up and down the hill and then continue on with your run. This may sound really, really basic, but I have seen some pretty good success with this just mentally from people who really just struggle fitting this stuff in in the week. And they're like, oh, this is so boring and mononymous. And sometimes just doing this in a bit of a nicer atmosphere, sometimes just doing this as part of a sort of more fun adventure can be really good. And then if you're in the situation, if you are on the trail and you're like, you know what? I'm hiking along with a certain amount of pack weight. I'm doing these hill repeats and I don't want to do it with a pack weight. Well, you can leave your pack at the bottom of the hill and go with that or the top of the hill and go with that. Or alternatively, if you're like, you know what, actually I want to have more weight in my pack than what I'm doing with my hiking, then you can just grab some rocks or grab some stuff from the trail and chuck it in. That's easy enough and it does give you a bit of flexibility there. So that can work pretty well.

[12:47] And then the final type of hill training, which, again, I've seen some pretty good success with for mountaineers, is one that's probably not accessible to a lot of people. But if you do have access to it, it can be good. And this is mainly for people who kind of have access to the beach. If they live on the coast, they have access to the sand. I'm in Australia, I'm in Sydney. We have beaches galore, so this can work pretty well. And it's basically just doing some soft sand June climbing. Now, I wouldn't say this is the first place to look because the walking mechanics, It's a little bit different between walking in soft sand and walking up a normal hill. But if you're looking for a little bit of variety in your training, if you've been doing the same old hill sessions for a while and you just need a little bit of a change, then this can be a really good way of approaching. Essentially, what you want to do is find a dune, a nice long sand dune. And all you're going to do is do your hill session on there.

[13:39] You will notice pretty quickly that it just feels very, very different. With the sand falling away from you, the quads get absolutely hammered. The ankles need to do a slightly different amount of work and it can be really really useful it's just a bit of a change now typically depending on where you're doing it what type of sand you're doing that whether you just do this barefoot or in shoes depending on you whether you use a pack or not depends on you you can turn these into running intervals again if you can kind of get that exposure to the longer time of like two minutes or more of going up could be really good but this can be just a nice way of mixing things up.

[14:13] And when we are looking at the longer-term approach for mountaineering, just having some variety in these sessions, the value of that just cannot be understated. Because I see so many mountaineers who just do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over, and they just get sick of it. They just get bored. They just get so mononymous and they end up burning out way before they should be. Or they just do the same thing over and over and over and they end up picking up overuse injuries because they're just not getting enough variation. So when you're looking at your hill training and you're looking at your specific elevation training, here are a few ideas for you. This can all really work well. Now, on top of that, obviously there's other options where you can look at doing stair sessions. That's a good enough variation or doing step sessions where you're going up and down a step or a small box or doing stuff on the stepper in the gym. And there's all these other variations. But if we're talking specifically about hills, this is can be quite nice to go about it. When you're looking at longer-term planning, probably you want to prioritize that heavy overloaded stuff in the final phases before you go because that's probably the best stuff you can do right before you go.

[15:19] Beyond that, in the months before and the weeks before, you can vary around these different ways of going about it. You can vary around the basic one, the running ones, the speed manipulation

[15:27] ones, soft sand if you have access to this. And just rotating between those is a nice way of just exposing the body to different challenges and keeping things fresh while at the same time specifically training our ability to go up and down steep ascents and descents so if you're a mountaineer who's been doing the same old thing for a while maybe just pull one of these different ideas out as i said none of this is rocket science a lot of this might you may be heard of before but i feel like just having this all just laid out in one place may just open a few eyes give a few ideas and hopefully help a few mountaineers out there so with that being said last thing i want to say if you are interested in getting a little bit of help with your mountain training for mountaineering if you've got a big expedition and you want to be in the best possible position for that or if you just like to be in a good position for your trips and for your adventures all year round either way i would love to hear from you and find out a little bit more about our online personal training for mountaineers and what I'd like you to do is go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer. Now on that page, there's a video that talks through how we go about our training, how we help our mountaineers all around the world prepare for their adventures. And if you did want to learn a little bit more, there's a link on that call where you can book a call with our team for a bit of a chat. So with that being said, thank you so much for listening today. Hope you've enjoyed it. Hope it helps a few people and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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