How Pat Overcame Knee Pain To Summit Mera Peak

This is Pat. And this is him at the top of Mera Peak in Nepal, having conquered his first mountaineering expedition. Learn how he used the Online Summit Program to overcome knee pain while hiking, train for elevation without any mountains and fit his training into a busy life.

Training For Mera Peak

Patrick was an online client of mine, who reached out to me worried about knee pain while hiking.

He had his first mountaineering trips booked, planning an ascent of both Mera and Island Peak in Nepal.
  
And he was concerned that his knees would be the limiting factor. On top of this, he had experienced plantar fassciits and lower back pain before, so he didn't want these ruining his experience. 

The big issues for Pat were:

• He worked long days standing on a ladder (which regularly aggravated his knee)
• He didn't have much time to get out hiking (so time efficiency in his training was essential)
• He needed workouts which would be realistic to complete after a long day on the tools
• He needed to get to prepare for elevation (because there were no convenient mountains in Sydney!)

   
In our initial assessment, we identified a few key areas to work on:
  

1. He was super tight through the ankles, hips and hamstrings
   
2. His knees had a tendency to 'knock in' during stepping exercises (which was likely a leading cause in his knee discomfort)
   
3. He had a tendency to hyper extent through the lower back during movements (which likely contributed to his back pain)

So we knew exactly what to work on in the coming months!

Now because Pat could not regularly get out hiking, we decided to base his aerobic conditioning around loaded pack walking around a local lake. As his knees got better, and he was more comfortable, we began to include a mix of long and short stair intervals.

For Pat, the key was staying flexible. To not only get him fit, strong and resilient for the mountain, but to give him strategies to help when he had had a long day at work, or when he got sick or when he simply was incredibly strapped for time.

And in the end?

Pat crushed Mera Peak. He nailed Island Peak. And got through all of it completely pain free!

Here are a few words from Pat: 

"I hired Summit Strength to help relieve knee pain and train for an upcoming expedition to Mera Peak in Nepal. The whole experience was very professional and personalised. It helped me deal with my knee pain and keep training. The app is great for tracking workouts. I would recommend working with them to others."

If you are like Pat, and you are concerned that knee pain while get in the way of you completing you adventures, just know there is a solution. A way to get fit, strong and pain-free for the mountain, which you can fit into a busy life. A way to get fully confident you are ready for your adventures without having to spend your entire life hiking. You can find it here:

The Online Summit Program