Planning Multiple Training Hikes Per Week

"I do multiple walking or hiking sessions in a week. How should I structure them when training for a big adventure?"

This is a topic which comes up quite a bit. Because for many hikers, when we are training for a big hike, the first thing we start to fit in is walking and hiking!  

And while some people may struggle to get out hiking reguarly (and can only get out on the trail every few weeks or so)... 

There are many people out there who are in a position where they can hike two or three times a week! 

But the tricky thing here is while lots of hiking can be great, it can be VERY easy going overboard on this...

And end up doing too much and aggravating aches, pains and overuse injuries.

So to help here, if you are doing multiple hiking sessions in the week, this is what I would typically recommend: 

Twice A Week:

• 1x longer walk or hike (with the intention of building up time and pack weight over time)
  
  
• 1x shorter, heavier walk/hike (where we do a significantly shorter distance and a slightly heavier pack than our long session) OR an elevation session (e.g. hills or stairs).

Three Times A Week:

When looking at three times a week

• 1x longer walk or hike
  
  
• 1x shorter, heavier walk/hike OR an elevation session
  
  
• 1x short, easy, unweighted walk/hike (which should feel super casual)

For many people looking at this, it may be WAY less then they would typically expect (because many people try to fit in as much 'long hiking' as they can)...

But I find this approach works quite well in fitting in what most hikers need to be ready for their adventures, but also reducing the risk of doing too much (and flaring up some type of overuse issue).

Not to be clear, I would never say a hiker should ONLY be doing these hiking-based sessions (and we always want to build this out with things like strength training, recovery/mobility work and maybe even some feet conditioning).

But when we are looking at hiking and walking specifically, this structure can work pretty well.

So I hope it helps!

And if you were a hiker who was preparing for a big adventure and needed some help with their training and preparations, you can check out the Online Summit Program here:

https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online.html

Yours in trekking,  
​
Rowan