Last Minute Training Before A Big Hike

"I am 3 weeks out from a big hike, and feeling nervous about my preparations. What can I do with my training if I want to 'cram' in some final fitness?"

Inside this video, we explore how a hiker can approach their last week's training if they are feeling a bit underprepared. 

Inside We Cover:
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• The biggest mistake I see from hikers in their final weeks of training
• Some simple recommendations for training to help finish off your preparations while reducing the risk of things going wrong
• How to ensure you're feeling fresh and recovered before you start your hike 

Video Transcript:

[0:00] So last minute preparations for a big hike. Essentially, what can you do is if you just got a few weeks ahead before you head off on a venture, and what can you squeeze in with your training? Now, this specific question came through on our Facebook group the other day and basically just said, I'm three weeks out from Everest Base Camp and I'm second guessing, the second guessing is hitting hard. I feel like I've been kind of doing everything you said in my training, but like before a big exam, what would you suggest I can cram in now which would benefit me the most? I'm thinking of maybe some daily stepper sessions or maybe some extra cardio sessions in an altitude training gym, but I value your expert advice. And this is a really common question and situation that comes up because realistically, as we get closer and closer and closer to a big expedition, there's so many unknowns. We start thinking about all the other things we could have been doing in our training. We start thinking about all the little bits and pieces that could go wrong on the trail. and we kind of really just want to squeeze in everything we can before we head off. And if you are a few weeks out from a big hike and you are feeling a little bit nervous, you do need to be very, very intentional around how you approach this. Because one of the things I often see from hikers in this type of situation is they're like, oh my gosh, I feel like I'm a little bit far behind. I feel like I haven't been doing quite enough. So all of a sudden in the last three or two weeks, they absolutely dial up what they're doing. They just throw all this new stuff in or they just ramp up how much walking they're doing or whatever it may be.

[1:28] And while this may sound good in theory because we're like, hey, we're just going to squeeze in some last-minute training, the big risk here is any time where we do a sudden jump up in regards to how much training we're doing, whether it's new exercises, new routines, or just more and more and more of what we're doing, it does increase the risk of picking up aches, pains, and injuries. This is one of the reasons why a slow and steady approach with your training where you can month by month by month build up and slowly build up is the best because we can have a very smooth increase in things and make sure we're not jumping up suddenly and putting you at risk of things going wrong. And this is often what I'll see. People like I'm three weeks out. I start doing like three or four or five heel sessions per week. And then all of a sudden I get this knee pain right before a trip. And it can be really nerve wracking. It can cause a lot of anxiety and it can just be really, really tricky. So we need to be smart here.

[2:22] Typically in this type of situation, if you've already been doing some type of training, but you are just a little bit nervous about what's going on and you want to fit in a little bit extra, what my recommendations would be is whatever you've been doing.

[2:36] We don't want to add too much in. Stick with whatever you've been currently doing and essentially just take what you've been doing and just bump it up just a little bit in your final weeks if you want. So on the strength side of things, whatever routine you've been doing for your strengthening, instead of throwing in all these new exercises or brand new workouts, just do what you've been doing and maybe add an extra set or two. So if you've been repeating an exercise three or four times, maybe do it four or five times. That's a significant amount of extra work, but you're not learning new things, you're not having to figure things out, and it can be an easy way of going about it. Or if you're doing cardio, if you're doing, say, pack walking or stair sessions or interval sessions, just add a bit of extra time. Do an extra 15 minutes, do an extra 30 minutes, do some extra intervals or whatever it may be. And with our hiking, typically in our last about two to three weeks before we head away, that's typically when we're going to aim for our longest training hike anyway. So now's the time where you can go out and do quite a challenging hike and do it about two weeks before you go. That way, if things do get achy, if things do get sore, you've got plenty of time to let it relax and let it recover.

[3:42] So stick to your whatever you've been doing, just ramp it up a little bit. And then if you do want to do more on top of that, and you're like, well, actually, I do want to squeeze in more and more and more.

[3:50] I want to make the every minute count with this. Then you just want to think about what are things you can do which are going to be beneficial for your trip, but doesn't have a risk of overdoing things. And specifically for hikers, it tends to be doesn't have a risk of flaring up the feet and getting them uncomfortable before you go, or flaring up the knees and getting them uncomfortable before you go. So a really, really good option here is filtering in some off-feet conditioning, essentially cardio activity, which doesn't put stress through the feet. So it may be cycling, like hopping on a bike outdoors, or hopping on a stationary cycle, just doing some sessions there, or an elliptical, or an rower, or even doing some swimming. This type of stuff, you can't really go wrong with this if it's slow intensity. If it's casual, it's not really going to flare things up and you can layer that on top. And quite often, if I have people who are just freaking out before they go, we'll do what they're doing. And I'll just say, look, on the days that you're not doing the other training, hop on a stationary bike, do 60 minutes, 90 minutes, a couple of hours. If you've got time, the inclination, that can be a nice addition.

[4:52] Now, if you are in a situation where you're like, ah, you know what, I'm just so, so, so far behind and I really do need to fit in some walking-based sessions, you know, that's fine, but just don't go too crazy here. Because what I often see from people, they're like, hey, I'm going in the mountains. I'm just going to go do hill training every single day. Someone recommended that and I'm just going to do it. You know, in all honesty, it may work, but again, if you're just ramping this hill training, this stress, this stimulus, completely ramping it up that you haven't really been gotten used to, and we do so much more than we've been doing, we don't want to put that risk of things flaring up. So if you are doing more and more and more walking, then you still want to think about how can I vary this in the training? So you may say, okay, I've been doing three days of training a week. I've been doing a little bit of strength, I've been doing a little bit of walking, but I need to do more. I want to fit in maybe two or three extra sessions per week in these final things. That's okay, but just make sure it's different types of sessions. Maybe do one day where it's a flat pack walk, where you're just cruising along with a pack on your back. Maybe do one day where it's a stair session, where you're going up and down a set of stairs. Maybe do one day where it's a hill session, so you still get an elevation, but it's a bit of a different stimulus. Maybe do one day as a hike. So you can see there are different walking-based sessions, but there's a bit of variation in there. It's not just the same thing over and over and over.

[6:07] So a few ideas in regards to that. And then finally, if you are doing this, even if you are really, really, really far behind, I would not recommend training hard all the way up to your trip. We still want to ensure we have a bit of a taper period just to pull things back, to give the body a little bit of a rest, give the body a bit of time to chill out before you head off. So typically, depending on the individual, the trip, where you're at, usually we're looking about 7 to 14 days before you fly out or before you head off to your big trip, where we want to start tapering off, where we begin to pull things back. Now, there are a million and one ways you can go about this. General rule of thumb is we still want to be doing something. It's not a case of just doing absolutely nothing and just sitting on your bum, sitting on the couch until you head off, because that's not ideal. We still want to be keeping the body moving over so it doesn't tighten up, so we can manage our nerves, manage our stress and get through. But we also just want to make sure we're not doing so much that we start our trip exhausted. So a really simple way to approach this, if you're looking at 14 days or a two-week taper, 14 days out, just take whatever you've been doing and just reduce it down by about 25%.

[7:15] So if you're looking at strength training, you could sort of say, if I was doing an exercise for 10 repetitions and I was using a certain amount of weight, what I'm going to do this week is I'm going to do the same routine, the same exercise, the same weight, but I'm going to reduce the reps down by 25%. So I'll do seven repetitions as opposed to 10. And that way you finish it feeling like, hey, that was pretty easy. I could have done way more, but you still get a bit of a workout. Or alternatively, if you were doing interval training, you could do reduce the intervals down by 25%, reduce the speed down by 25%, whatever. Just reduce it down a little bit. And then the final week before you go, you just reduce it down again and you take it down to like 50%. So it's really, really, really easy, but you're just ticking things over. Now, there are a million and one ways you can go about your taper, but that's a really simple way you can approach it. It doesn't take too much thought or too much effort, but it can work out pretty well.

[8:05] So ultimately, if you are in this situation where you're just trying to squeeze in a last little minute bits of training before you head off, that's totally fine, but just be smart about it. Don't put yourself at risk of just doing too much in a small amount of time that you're going to pick up an ache or pain before you go away. Be intentional, have some variation, be smart about it, and it can go a really long way.

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