 The Camino, in all its different forms, sits high on the bucket list for so many people. It is one of those adventures that people dream about for years. But while there is endless excitement around the experience itself, the information out there about training and physical preparation for the Camino is, honestly, not particularly amazing. A lot of people underestimate how demanding the Camino can be. Others overcomplicate the preparation process and turn it into something that feels like a second job. Neither approach is ideal. The goal of this article is simple. I want to walk you through the same training principles I recommend to hikers preparing for the Camino and other long-distance hiking and walking adventures. The focus here is on getting the best possible results with the least amount of time and effort invested. So you can have the best chance of a safe, successful and enjoyable Camino adventure: Why You Should Train for the Camino A surprising number of people do not think they need to train for the Camino. You will often see statements online like: "I did no training, and I was fine" or "Just practice some walking, and that is enough" I strongly disagree with that approach. There are two big reasons why training matters. 1) Training Gives You A Better Chance Of Success After investing all the time, money, planning, and excitement into a trip like this, nobody wants to step off the trail halfway through. But every year, people do exactly that. They head out underprepared, their bodies struggle to cope, and eventually, they are forced to stop. And what may have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this adventure ends for reasons totally within their control. It is something many hikers regret for years afterwards. You might not hear these stories online so much (because people rarely like to broadcast their failures), but it is incredibly common. Even a relatively small amount of training can dramatically improve your chances of completing the trail successfully. 2. Training Gives You a Better Chance of Enjoying the Experience This is the big one. Many hikers survive the Camino, but they do not actually enjoy it. They wake up sore and exhausted. Their feet ache constantly. They dread the next day of walking. By the end of each stage, they have no energy left to socialise, explore, or appreciate where they are. Training can change this. When you prepare properly, you give yourself a much better chance of waking up feeling fresh, moving comfortably throughout the day, and actually enjoying the experience you worked so hard to create. Most people are not doing the Camino just to tick a box. It means something deeper than that. And your training plays a massive role in shaping that experience. The Major Physical Challenges of the Camino Before we talk about training, we need to identify the specific challenges the Camino presents. Once you understand those challenges, you can reverse engineer your preparation around them. 1) Long Walking and Hiking Distances This is the obvious one. The Camino involves walking long distances day after day after day. Even if it sounds simple, those repetitive hours on your feet place a very real demand on the body. A lot of people can handle one long day of hiking. But the problem is not usually the first day. It is how you feel on day two, day three, and day four. Your body needs to be prepared not just for walking long distances once, but for backing it up repeatedly. 2) Overuse Injuries This is probably the number one reason people fail to complete the Camino. Overuse injuries include things like:
These issues often creep up gradually over time. A hiker might feel okay for the first few days, but eventually the pain builds to a point where continuing becomes impossible. These injuries can also appear during training if people ramp things up too quickly. 3) Hiking Pace This one catches people off guard. Some hikers naturally move at a slower pace. That is perfectly fine in normal circumstances, but on the Camino, there are situations where people need to move faster than they are used to. Maybe the daily distances are longer than expected. Maybe they are hiking with friends who move more quickly. Maybe accommodation timing or changing weather sets a deadline you need to meet. Walking faster changes the physical demands on the body. It increases fatigue and can increase the risk of aches and pains( if you are not prepared for it). Common Camino Training Mistakes  So with that being said, let's explore some of the most common training mistakes many people make when preparing for the Camino: 1) Only Walking and Hiking This is probably the most common mistake. People search online for Camino training advice and are told to simply hike multiple times per week. Walking and hiking absolutely should be part of your preparation. There is no question about that. But if it is the only thing you are doing, you are selling yourself short. If you are just stacking on more and more miles in your training, this is a short road to picking up an ache, pain or overuse injury. Not to mention, having to do long walks or hikes multiple times a week is incredibly time-consuming. For most people who have jobs, families, responsibilities, and busy schedules, just relying on walking and hiking is not realistic. 2) Listening to Random Advice Online You will often see people online saying: "I did no training, and I was fine." Or: "All I did was walk and hike." And yes, some people genuinely succeed with that approach. But what you never hear from are the people who failed. You never hear from the hikers who developed severe pain halfway through the trip. You never hear from the people who had to quit. You never hear from the hikers whose confidence collapsed during training because they pushed too hard, too soon. That is survivorship bias. 3) Using The 'Traditional' Fitness Approach A lot of people rely on generic gym classes, HIIT workouts, boot camps, or bodybuilding-style strength training. Those things are better than doing nothing, but they are not specifically designed for the demands of long-distance hiking. Most mainstream fitness programs focus on weight loss and general fitness. And there is a big difference between this type of training and the type of training that properly prepares you for the specific requirements of the Camino. A Better Way To Train For The Camino Now, let's get into what I actually recommend for training. Below are some key ingredients that I recommend for people training for the Camino. These are not random ideas or just theory, but it is a simple training system that has been used numerous times for Camino walkers and other long-distance hikers. 1) Build Your Walking and Hiking Capacity This is the foundation of your training. You need to spend time on your feet because there is no true substitute for preparing the body for long hours of walking. But the key is to approach this gradually and strategically. All too often, people will either be too aggressive with their build-up or too sporadic with their sessions - both of which greatly enhance the risk of an overuse injury. But with a little bit of planning and a little bit of forethought, you can greatly increase the effectiveness and safety of your walking and hiking training. This is a simple process I like to use: Step One: Figure Out Your Numbers Look at your Camino itinerary and figure out:
From here, we want to start at the end of your training journey and then work backwards. Two to three weeks before your departure date, you schedule your longest training hike. Mark it on the calendar and block the time off in advance. The goal for this final training hike is to be the equivalent of your longest day in hours and your heaviest pack weight (which you figured out in the previous step). The idea here is that if you can complete this day hike comfortably, this is a great sign that you are in a great physical position to conquer your Camino adventure. *I understand that this is just a day hike, and the Camino involves many days in a row of walking. But as a training target, I have found over the years that doing these numbers as a day hike works very well. Step Three: Work Backward Gradually Now, grab your calendar and pencil in every single date between now and your departure date when you think you can realistically hike (or do a longer walk). Once that is pencilled in, start from your final training hike and work backwards through those dates and fill in your targets of hours and pack weight. The goal is that every hike increases either the hours or the pack weight (not both at the same time). On top of that, we want to try and plan out the slowest possible progression between now and your hike (which will still get you to the final target). The reason for this is the more time you can give your body to adapt between hikes, and the slower the build you can take, the less chance you will have of aches, pains and burnout. Ultimately, your aim here is to plan out the slowest, most gradual progression while still reaching your end target (the slower you can go, the lower the risk of pain, injury or burnout). This plan will likely change numerous times over the months (due to weather, social events, sickness, etc.), but having a rough plan is incredibly valuable. For a video tutorial on how to go about this process, you can check out this page: How To Plan Your Training Hikes If You Cannot Do Long Hikes Some people, due to weather, scheduling, access or numerous other reasons, cannot realistically build up their hiking time to the recommended numbers above. In this situation, that is fine; you have to work around what is practical. Just plan to build up to the longest hikes you can realistically, and then if you are a bit short, you can increase the difficulty of these hikes in other ways, such as:
Back to Back Hiking At some point before your trip, it is also useful to do back-to-back hiking days, where you string together two or three days in a row of hiking. Doing this occasionally is useful to understand how your body responds to repeated days, and helps you mentally prepare. To be clear, you do not have to do this every week (as we said before, this can end up being incredibly time-consuming), but it can be valuable to do this a few times in your preparations.  2) Hiking Specific Conditioning Beyond your longer hikes, I typically recommend building your week out with some shorter 'hiking-specific conditioning' (which is a fancy way of saying cardio sessions that are directly targeting aspects of hiking fitness). The idea of these sessions is:
Typically, one to two sessions per week lasting 30 to 60 minutes is enough for most Camino walkers. 3) Strength Training For The Camino Structured strength training is one of the best things a hiker can do when preparing for the Camino. If done right, it can:
One common mistake we often see from hikers and walkers with strength training is just doing a few random squats, lunges and step-ups and expecting it will make a difference. This approach is better than nothing, but it is usually not enough to make any significant difference. To get the most out of strength training for your Camino adventure, you should aim to follow a specific and structured strength training plan, which trains the body as a whole and progresses over time. Most hikers do very well with two strength sessions per week lasting around 30 to 60 minutes. If you are not quite sure how to get started with strength training for your Camino adventure, I strongly recommend you check out this free mini-course: Strength Training For Hikers Mini-Course. Training For Pace If you think you may need to walk faster than normal during the Camino, it is smart to practice that during training. This allows the body to get exposed to the different stressors that come with quicker walking, so it can adapt and better tolerate these speeds in the future (e.g. not get as sore or uncomfortable when doing a quicker pace on the Camino!). One simple approach to this is doing some 'tempo walking' in your week. Where you alternate between doing periods of 'normal paced' walking and 'quicker walking'. For example, you might do a 30-minute walk alternating between 'quick/ and slow'. Over time, you can make the 'quicker' intervals longer, and you can slowly add a bit of pack weight. This doesn't have to be super strenuous, but the goal is simply to expose the body to these stressors before the trip itself. A Simple Weekly Training Structure For The Camino Putting this all together, a typical Camino training week might look like this:
This is still a full training week, but it is MUCH more time-efficient (and covers a lot more bases in preparation) than just doing 2-3 multi-hour hikes or walks in the week. And for most hikers, this is enough to make massive improvements in fitness without training into a full-time job. Other Preparation Tips For Camino Walkers Training is important, but there are other factors that can dramatically affect your Camino experience. Here are a few simple areas that putting a small amount of time and effort into thinking about and planning can make a dramatic difference to your time on the Camino. Nutrition Many Camino walkers undereat on the trail. That significantly impacts:
Learning how to fuel properly during long walking days is incredibly valuable. Self Care Spending a small amount of time on 'self-care' each evening while on the Camino can go a long way to helping your body wake up feeling fresh, recovered and ready to go. Developing a simple stretching and self-massage routine to use can be incredibly valuable here. If you need some ideas on this, you can check out this article: The Best Stretches For Hikers. Sleep Good sleep matters enormously for recovery and mental wellbeing over a long adventure. If you are staying in dorms or shared accommodation, think about:
Mental Strength Long-distance walking is as much mental as physical. Think ahead about:
 Final ThoughtsThere are many ways you can prepare for your Camino adventure, but the approach outlined above is time-efficient, tested and proven with many Camino hikers over the years.
You do not need to spend every spare hour hiking. You do not need to train like an elite athlete. You simply need a smart, gradual, and structured approach that prepares your body for the specific demands of the trail. If you do that, you massively improve your chances not only of completing the Camino, but of genuinely enjoying every step of the experience. If you did need help with this, and were curious about what a personalised and specialised training approach can do for your Camino preparations, you can check out the Online Summit Program here: Online Personal Training For Camino Hikers Yours in trekking. Rowan Comments are closed.
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AuthorRowan is an online personal trainer who specialises in training for hiking and mountaineering. He helps get them fit, strong and resilient so they can conquer every adventure. Archives
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