Strength Training For Mountaineering: Understanding Sport Specific Training

In this video, I explain how a mountaineer can find the balance between 'sport-specific training' in the gym and general strength work.

In the mountaineering community and the sports community at large, there is a never-ending discussion around sport-specific training. Some people are adamant that all your training needs to replicate the demands of the mountain as closely as possible while others argue that when in the gym, sticking to things like squats and deadlifts will be much more beneficial. 

There seems to be so much confusion and misinformation around this subject, with both sides firmly stuck within their own camps. And those mountaineers who are looking to learn, end up getting bombarded with conflicting, confusing and downright incorrect information at every turn. Which is obviously not a good thing.

So in today's video, I explore how a mountaineer can find a balance between sport-specific training in the gym, and the trusty squat or deadlift. This will allow a mountaineer to know exactly how to apply their training, to get the best transfer of performance onto the mountain.

The framework I teach will allow a self-trained mountaineer to make intelligent decisions about their exercise selection. Alternatively, it will also empower other mountaineers to use this framework to collaborate with a coach, to ensure they apply it correctly. (This will allow a mountaineer to get specialist training for the mountain, from a generalist coach - as there are not a huge amount of 'mountaineering specific' coaches out there.)

Full credit for the framework goes to one of my old mentors, Lachlan Wilmot. This is his framework, which I have adapted into the mountaineering world.

In this video. you will learn:

• Why exercises in the gym don't have to look exactly the same as on the mountain to be relevant to your mountaineering performance
  
• What the majority of strength training exercises in the gym are actually supposed to do (Hint: most exercises are not directly aimed to transfer to your performance on the mountain)
  
• Why the 'dumb' vs' smart' strength analogy is a bit too simple to do mountaineers justice
  
• The very first thing a mountaineer needs to identify BEFORE they choose any strength exercises
• What a 'big rock' exercise is (and why these are crucial to train and develop in the gym)
  
• The relevance of squats, deadlifts and other similar exercises (and what their role is in improving performance on the mountain)
  
• A range of specific exercise examples for mountaineers (which you can apply into your own training and workouts)
  
• A simple action plan for mountaineers to work through when putting together their own strength workouts
  
  

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