How to Know If You'll Be Ready for Your Hiking Adventure

You've booked the trip. Or maybe you're close to booking it. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a  question keeps surfacing: am I actually going to be ready for this?

That question is completely normal. And if you've got an ache or a niggle on top of it, or if your last hike left you wiped out for a week, that question can start to feel pretty loud.
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Here's a simple way to work through it. Rather than guessing, run yourself through these check-ins. They'll show you pretty quickly whether you're on track, or whether something needs to change.

Start With Your Hiking Plan for Your Adventure

​This is the first thing I do with every single hiker I work with, and it's the first thing I'd recommend to anyone training on their own.

Sit down and work out your longest day on the trail in hours, and your heaviest expected pack weight. Those are your two targets. Then look at your calendar between now and the trip, and ask yourself honestly how often you can actually get out and hike. Every weekend? Once a fortnight? Once a month? Whatever's realistic.

From there, schedule a long day hike two weeks before you leave. It should match your longest day and your heaviest pack weight, maybe with a kilo or two extra to give yourself a buffer. Then work backwards from that day hike through all your available dates, building the slowest and most gradual progression you can manage.
Realistically, the build shouldn't feel scary.

If you're looking at the plan and it feels a bit intimidating, that's a sign the progression is too steep and something needs to adjust.

Once you've got that plan sketched out, any time the nerves start creeping in, you've got something concrete to look at. Are you where you need to be right now? If yes, keep going. If not, that's useful information, because now you know what to change.

If you don't have a hiking plan yet, that's your first job. Do that before anything else.

Check Your Strength Training Is Covering the Right Areas

A lot of hikers I speak with are doing some form of strength work, which is great. But there's a difference between doing something and doing the right things.

So, are you consistently working on your quads (front of the thighs), hamstrings (back of the thighs), glutes, and calves? All four, every week?

And are you working those areas with both double-leg and single-leg exercises(or at least working towards single-leg work?) Because on the trail, you're dealing with uneven ground, step-ups, scrambles, descents, and single-leg demand is constant. Bilateral exercises only get you so far.

Finally, are those areas actually getting stronger over time? Not hitting a specific number, just moving forward. That's what matters.

If you can say yes to all of that, you're in a good place. If you're missing some of those areas, or one or two are progressing but the others have stalled, that's worth addressing.

Make Sure Your Conditioning Covers Pack Weight and Elevation

Most hikes are going to throw two big challenges at you: the weight on your back and the hills. Both need a plan.
For pack weight, do you know your target weight and are you actively building towards it? This doesn't have to be on trail. Even walking around your neighbourhood with a loaded pack once a week is enough to start conditioning your body to that extra load. Every kilo you carry adds significant demand through every single step, and that accumulates fast over a long day or a multi-day trip.

For elevation, you don't have to be doing hills all year round. But you do need to know when you're going to start introducing them and how you're going to build them up. The goal isn't just to be able to do the uphills and downhills, but to do them in a way where your breathing stays under control and you're not completely cooked by the time you reach the bottom.

And then there's the combination: can you handle elevation with your pack on, at your target weight, by the time you get to your trip? If you've got a plan that progresses towards that, great. If you don't, that's something that needs to go on the list.

What to Do If Something Isn't Ticking the Boxes
​If you've gone through all of this and things are looking good, that's genuinely reassuring. You're on track. Keep doing what you're doing.

If something's missing, though, the fix depends on where you're starting from.

If you're training on your own, this is the time to sit down and sort it out. Build a strength program that covers those four lower-body areas and progresses consistently. Build a hiking plan with a clear progression towards your target day and pack weight. Build a conditioning plan that introduces elevation and pack weight in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming.

If you're already working with a professional, it's worth having a direct conversation. Tell them about the specific demands of your trip, and ask them to map out a plan that covers those things, in writing, over the months ahead. It doesn't have to be a detailed week-by-week breakdown. Even a broad month-by-month overview is enough to show there's a plan.

If you're getting vague answers, or the plan never quite materialises, that's probably a sign you need a bit more structure than you're currently getting.

There are dozens of other factors that go into hiking preparation. Pacing, nutrition, terrain, recovery, mindset. All worth thinking about. But if you're months out and just have a question mark around your readiness, this is the right place to start.

The hikers I work with who come in with a knee that's been flaring up for years, or a hip that's never quite settled, or who just haven't trained properly before a big trip, they don't need a generic fitness program. They need something built around what hiking actually demands, and around what's specifically going on for them. That's what the Summit Online Program is built to do.
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If you're looking at a big adventure and you want someone to help you build the plan, track the progress, and make sure you actually get there confident and capable, then follow the link below to check it out. 

Yours in trekking,

​Rowan 

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