How Much Training Does A Mountaineer Need?

Mountaineers are often recommended to do HUGE amounts of training in their week. But is this necessary?

Training And Preparation For Mountaineering

I was watching a presentation the other day about physical preparation for Everest.
 
There was nothing too groundbreaking in it. It went over the importance of lower-intensity cardio. Of doing strength and endurance work. Of doing a small amount of targeted high-intensity work. Nothing really that new.
 
But there was one thing that shocked me...
 
This coach (who is an incredibly experienced and respected coach for mountaineers) was recommending aspiring Everest summiters complete:  

• 5-6 days of lower-intensity cardio
  
  
• 1-2 days of higher intensity cardio
  
  
• 1-2 days of strength training

 
Which, if you add it up, is 7-10 sessions a week of training!
 
And considering that lower intensity cardio needs to be long duration (usually 60 minutes or more) that works out to be a HUGE time commitment.
 
And I thought this was crazy.
 
Who honestly has time for that?
 
Sure, I understand summiting Everest is no walk in the park...
 
But that amount of training is pretty much a full-time job!
 
If you have a family, a social life or a busy job, it would be so rare for this training load to be feasible.
 
In my opinion, this type of training is just too much for the majority of people. And probably unnecessary.
 
It always seems to be recommended by coaches coming out of the endurance sports world. Where runners, cyclists, triathletes or whatever, are quite content to spend 2+ hours a day training.
 
But I don't come out of the endurance sports world.
 
I come out of the strength and conditioning world.
 
Where we KNOW the importance of time efficiency, we KNOW that training can't always be the #1 priority in peoples lives. And we KNOW we want to make the biggest impact on an athlete, with the least stimulus and time possible.
 
Now, to be clear, I am not talking about Crossfit or other high-intensity approaches. These guys have taken the idea of time efficiency way to far (to their detriment).
 
But there is a happy medium between these two extremes.
 
Where you can get fit, strong and resilient for your adventures WITHOUT having your training take over your life.
 
Where you can develop your aerobic fitness WITHOUT wanting to cry your eyes out from boredom...  
 
Where you can get everything, you need for the mountain WITHOUT sacrificing your relationships, your social life and your job.
 
If you want to learn more about this approach, and find a type of training which fits around your life (and not the other way around) you can check out the Online Summit Program here:

https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online-mountaineer.html
 
Yours in adventure,

Rowan