How George Trained For His First Altitude Trek To Everest Base Camp

This is George. And this is him at Everest Base Camp, loving life on his first high altitude trek. Learn how he trained for this hiking adventure, and got fit, strong and resilient for the mountains.

Training For Everest Base Camp

Initially, George approached me wanting some advice preparing for this high altitude trek, specifically with help strengthening his legs to tackle the many days in the mountains.

George had been doing a bit of training at that point, mainly some beach runs and a bit of stair climbing. But he was interested in learning what else he could be doing to prepare for this fantastic adventure. 

 So our first point of call was an online Ready To Trek assessment.  

 Here we identified a few areas which could see improvement:

• Strength through the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings)
• Mobility through the ankles
• Core stabilisation (both in static and dynamic postures)

George had 12 weeks until his trip. And he was keen to make the most of his training! So he signed up for the Online Summit Program. 

Starting off, we decided to work with a mixture of:

• Home strength workouts
• Beach running/walking intervals
• Longer walks (alternating between hiking and neighbourhood walking each week)
• Home mobility work
• Daily, casual walking 

When George first looked at the prescribed strength training programs, he thought the looked a bit easy...

But once he went through them, he definitely felt the challenge! But after a bit of discussion, we decided to add a few barbell deadlifts, squats and presses (which George loved). So, in the end, we got the best of both worlds!

One speedbump in the process was that George worked as a truck driver. So he spent long days sitting in a truck, would have periods where he didn't have access to training equipment and would often get some quite tight muscles. So to combat this, we created a few simple, short workout options to do on these days, which didn't require any equipment and would help his body feel a bit more comfortable. 

Over the 12 weeks, we slowly but steadily progressed the training. Shifting the strength work through a plan which incorporated both pure strength development and trekking specific muscular endurance. Moving the beach running into loaded stair intervals. And slowly, but steadily, adding a loaded pack to his walking sessions. 

And in the end, well George nailed it! He got through Gokyo Lakes and Everest Base Camp without a problem. And he discovered a newfound passion for the mountains.

Here are a few words from George:

"My goal was to build up strength in my legs to have a better chance of getting through my upcoming trek to Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lakes.

Initially, Rowan rang me up, and we had a chat about what I was doing and where I was going, and he tailored a training program around what I would need for my trek.

Overall it was a very welcoming and accommodating experience. Even though we haven't met face to face, he was very friendly, and I am glad I took Rowan on. I have managed to lose 5kgs along the way so far and haven't looked back.

I would work with him again in any future endeavours I will be undertaking. I feel stronger when walking, the training app is easy to use, and the side emails are very insightful as to what to expect on the trek and contain heaps of useful information regarding altitude". 

Want To Get Fit For
Everest Base Camp?

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Online Summit Program