Stay Fit And Strong For Mountaineering All Year Round

Today, we are talking all about how a mountaineer can stay fit for the mountains all year round.

This is a really common question I hear from mountaineers who are interested in their training.

The majority of information out there is written for people aiming for one or maybe two big climbs a year.

This follows a relatively simple approach:

• They take a gradual approach.
• Progress things month after month
• Slowly building to a peak of fitness and strength right before the climb.
  
  

Without a doubt, this works. If you are leading into a single big climb, this is the recommended approach.

But what about the mountaineers who do not have a single objective for the year?

The ones who want to stay fit and strong for an entire season of climbing? Or the entire year?

The ones who have no major adventure coming up but want to stay motivated. And the ones who find that super slow, gradual approach to be the most boring thing in the world.

That is what we are talking about today:

How To Maintain Mountaineering Fitness All Year 

Before we go any further, I want to be clear:

It is impossible to maintain 100% peak fitness year-round.

Being at your absolute best can only be sustained for a relatively short period of time.

Eventually, motivation will wane. The body will break down. Something in life will get in the way.

Maintaining true peak fitness forever is not realistic.

So these recommendations are not about maintaining your absolute top level of performance year-round.

It is about maintaining roughly 85-90% of your potential.

This is much more realistic to sustain. On top of this, it tends to be plenty for most 'regular' adventures and gives a great base to launch off if you need to ramp up to something more significant.

This is not the only system that works for staying fit for mountaineering all year round. There are many ways to train effectively. But this particular system is simple. It works. And it probably suits about 95% of mountaineers in this situation.​

Let's get into it:

Part One: Maintaining Cardio For Mountaineering 

​First Things First: Workout Phases

In this system, you will break your training into four-week blocks.

In each block, you will aim for three solid weeks of training and one deload week. Your deload week is a reduction in both volume and intensity so your body can recover.​

Three weeks of harder work. One week of deload. Keep that principle in mind.
​

​Aerobic Capacity Training 

Aerobic capacity is the single most important aspect of fitness for mountaineers. No matter what situation you are in, you should be working on this.

If you have not heard this term before, it simply means the efficiency of your body to produce energy using oxygen.

A large aerobic capacity lets you work at moderate effort for long periods without getting so fatigued that you must stop. A higher aerobic capacity lets you go longer, at a faster pace (perfect for mountaineers).

For the most part, aerobic capacity can be developed endlessly.

Whether you have been training for 12 weeks or 12 years, if you do the right things, you can keep on improving. (This is one of the reasons why older endurance athletes can perform so well in their sports - they have been developing aerobic capacity for decades ).

No matter where you are in your climbing season, you should be working on this.

You develop aerobic capacity with large amounts of low-intensity, long-duration exercise, through things like hiking, running, cycling, etc.

When preparing for a big adventure, you traditionally build week after week in a continuous upward progression.

But if you want to maintain fitness long term, this approach has drawbacks:

• You cannot endlessly increase volume (i.e how many minutes you do each week) 
• You will get bored
• Your body will pick up aches, pains and niggles
• Your fitness will plateau at some stage.

​
So here is a much easier way:

Choose A Range Of Cardio Options

Sit down and make a big list of low-intensity cardio options you have access to and you enjoy. Anything you can sustain for thirty minutes or more without getting overly fatigued or bored.

The list might include:

• Hiking
• Road running
• Trail running
• Road cycling
• Mountain biking
• Skiing
• Stepper
• Treadmill walking
• Jacobs ladder
• Light sled work
• Rower.
• Elliptical
  
  

Whatever suits you.

Fit One Long Session In Per Week

Choose one of the cardio options. You will do one longer cardio session per week.

Pick a day when you can dedicate a few hours. Choose a time or distance you are confident you can commit to each week.

Then, each week, add 5 to 10 per cent more time.

E.g. if you run for 60 minutes one week, then the next week you do about 66 minutes.

I generally recommend doing each activity for eight-week blocks before switching to another.

If you need more variety, make it four weeks. If you want more consistency, make it twelve.

Incorporating Deloads

Remember your four-week structure. Three build weeks, then one deload.

During deload, you reduce volume significantly. If you are feeling fresh, this doesn't have to be too much. If you are feeling quite fatigued, make this a bigger reduction.

For example, over an eight-week block:

• Week 1: 2 hours
• Week 2: 2:10 hours
• Week 3: 2:20 hours
• Week 4: 1:30 hours (deload)
• Week 5: 2:30 hours
• Week 6: 2:40 hours
• Week 7: 2:50 hours
• Week 8: 2 hours (deload)
• Week 9: switch to another cardio method
  
  

Intensity:

All of this should stay at a lower intensity.

All of this must stay low intensity. You should be able to breathe through your nose or maintain a conversational pace (if using a heart rate monitor, aim for zone 2).

If you are huffing and puffing, you are going too hard.

Fit A Second, Shorter Session In Per Week

One long aerobic capacity session tends not to be enough for most mountaineers (if you are short on time, you can get away with it, but it is not ideal).

So you want to aim for another shorter, lower-intensity session per week.

For this session, I like to lean towards something with a bit lower impact/easier on the joints. Which you can develop your aerobic capacity, but it helps manage how much training load is going through your lower limbs and joints.

Simple examples here include:

• Cycling
• Hiking
• Swimming
• Stair or hill climbing
• Gym cardio (e.g. elliptical, rower, etc.)
  
  

If you are a very experienced runner, you can use running here. But if running is tough for you, you might want to choose an easier option.

For timing, this session will tend to be 30-90 minutes (depending on your schedule and needs).

Rotate the modality every 4-12 weeks (same as your longer session).​

During your deload weeks, this session does not need to change.
​

​Higher Intensity Cardio

Lower-intensity training is always going to be the priority for mountaineers, but higher-intensity training has its place, too.

This does not mean I am recommending jumping into random HIIT sessions at your gym. Not CrossFit. Not F45. None of that. Those are high intensity, but not so specific or relevant for mountaineering.

Higher intensity cardio (in this context), means higher intensity workouts specific to mountaineering performance.

One simple approach is to list a big range of high-intensity mountaineering-appropriate workouts.

This might include:

• Tempo runs
• Aerobic power intervals
• Quick climbing intervals (on a hill/stairs)
• 30/30s
• Hill runs
• Fartlek sessions
• Sled sprints 

Choose one and repeat it weekly for four weeks (pushing the intensity each week), then rotate.

Another, more targeted approach is to ask yourself what aspect of fitness you want to develop in this block?

Do you want to develop aerobic power? Or lactate capacity? Technical climbing endurance? Specific mountaineering skills?. Extra aerobic capacity? More climbing time? Muscular endurance?

What specifically do you feel like you want to improve on?

Then pick whatever workout you want that improves that specific quality and repeat it weekly during that block. And then when you come to your next training block, choose another quality of fitness and go again.

During deload weeks, reduce either volume or intensity. (e.g. if you were doing some type of intervals, you could either reduce the number of intervals, or reduce the speed/intensity of each interval)

On weeks or periods where you are feeling very fatigued or stressed, you can swap this higher intensity session for another lower intensity session.

Note: Some claim continuous high-intensity training is too much for mountaineers. But as long as you listen to your body, take the deloads and adjust the sessions when you need, you will be fine.

Your Training Week So Far:

1. One longer aerobic capacity session (90+ minutes)
2. One shorter aerobic capacity session (30-90 minutes)
3. One higher intensity conditioning session (30-60 minutes)

*If you have more time in your week (after we add strength training), you can add more. But for 95% of mountaineers, this tends to be enough without it taking over your life.

What About Your Actual Mountaineering?

Any week you do a climb or trip, it replaces your long aerobic capacity workout.

If it is a strenuous adventure, you should deload the week before and the week after. The remaining two weeks in the block are standard training.

If it is less strenuous, you can skip the formal deload and simply take a few easy days before and after. Do not progress intensity or duration that week. Simply maintain.

If you are in a period of constant climbing, you may drop the high-intensity session entirely and simply maintain aerobic capacity and strength.

PART tWO: Maintaining sTRENGTH aND eNDURANCE fOR mOUNTAINEERING 

​Now, let's talk about how to fit muscle strength and muscular endurance into this training approach.

Both of these aspects of fitness are incredibly valuable for any mountaineer.

Maximal strength is essential for:

• Injury and pain prevention
• Movement economy
• Improving movement speed
• Making pack loads much easier
• General health and well-being
• And much, much more
  
  

Muscular endurance is incredibly specific to mountaineering objectives and is something every mountaineer wants to be developing.

In the traditional sequential approach (which most mountaineers are familiar with):

1. You start with general strength to build a base and get used to the exercises.
   
   
2. Then you move into a long period of maximal strength where you use heavy weights and low repetitions to develop that high-end capacity.
   
   
3. Closer to your trip, you convert all that maximal strength into very specific climbing-focused muscular endurance (through higher repetition exercises and movements).

This is known as 'block periodisation'.

It works, but for many mountaineers who do not have a massive objective, it is often not appropriate.

It can often feel boring, confusing and hard to manage when you are unsure about when to switch phases.

So, instead, in this situation, I like something called 'undulating periodisation'.

This is a fancy way of saying that you work on multiple aspects of strength at the same time.

In many sports, this might mean strength, endurance, and power being trained together (rather than in blocks).

For mountaineers, muscular power is not particularly a priority, so this usually boils down to working strength and muscular endurance at the same time.

There are two main versions of this model:
​

• Daily undulating periodisation
  
  
• Weekly undulating periodisation
  
  

Daily undulating might look like two strength sessions per week, where Monday is maximal strength, and Thursday is muscular endurance.

Weekly undulating would be one full week of maximal strength, one full week of muscular endurance, then back again (and switch between the two each week).

You can see how flexible this can be.

Since you are working both elements at the same time, if you go on holiday, get sick, or have a big climb, you are not going to miss any important cutoffs or switch points.

It is enjoyable, flexible, and easy to maintain for long periods of time.

Personally, I lean toward daily undulating. Not because it is better, but because it is easier for me to plan and think through.

If you are following this approach, a few things I recommend:

Frequency And Duration

For all mountaineers, when it comes to strength and endurance training, I recommend two 45-60 minute sessions per week.​

If you structure things correctly, you do not need more. You can even get away with less if you really know what you are doing, but most people should stick with two sessions.
​

​Maximal Strength Recommendations

In your maximal strength sessions, repetitions should be low, anywhere from two to eight repetitions at a time (for the most part). Much higher and you can still develop strength, but it drifts a bit closer to 'hypertrophy training' (which is not ideal for most mountaineers because it involves adding muscle mass that may not help you on the mountain).

Rest between sets of the same muscle group should be two minutes or more.

That does not mean you sit around. You can fill the time with upper body work, core mobility, breathing, and so on. But between sets of the same muscle group, you rest for two minutes or more.

Your exercises should include both general strength work, such as squats and deadlifts, etc, and slightly more 'specific' movements such as step up and lunges.

Both support each other, and both matter.

One simple rule is to always balance the number of 'pushing' and 'pulling' exercises each week.

Mountaineers love quad-dominant pushing work, such as lunges, squats, and step-ups.

These are all great exercises, but they all work similar areas (e.g. the quads).

The back of the body/legs wants equal attention. Balancing things out with exercises like deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, single-leg deadlifts, hip thrusts, or reverse hyperextensions is valuable.

One push exercise for every pull exercise. Simple and effective.

An example max strength workout for mountaineers might look something like this:

• Warm up
  
  
• 1a) Barbell front squat x 5 reps
• 1b) 3-point row x 5 reps (each arm) 
• 1c) Deadbug wall push x 60-90 sec
• 1d) Any mobility exercise x 60 sec
  
  

* Repeat four sets, no rest in between exercises (the stretch is your rest).

• 2a) Dumbbell rear foot elevated single-leg deadlift x 7 reps each leg)
• 2b) Dumbbell neutral grip chest press x 7 reps 
• 2c) Single-leg calf raise x 7 reps each
  
  

*Repeat three sets, no rest in between legs or exercises

You repeat the same workout four times.

In the daily undulating model, this is four weeks. You repeat the workout each week while increasing the weights.

In the weekly model, you also complete four total exposures, though spaced differently. After four exposures, you progress/change the exercises.

If you were doing a back squat, you could change it to a front squat or leg press for the next phase.

Or if you were doing a forward lunge, you could change it to a Bulgarian split squat or a pistol squat.

Making each exercise slightly different (but keeping the same movement pattern) is a simple way to keep things moving forward.

Once you change the workout, then repeat the new set of exercises for another four weeks.

(If you like more consistency, you could stretch each cycle to eight weeks.)​

And continue this process. 

​Exercises Mentioned: 

Muscular Endurance Training Recommendations

For muscular endurance training, you have a bit more flexibility when it comes to session choices.

You can either do this in the gym or use outdoor 'mountaineering-specific' sessions.

Gym-based endurance work means high repetitions, 15- 20+ reps, with low rest and chasing 'muscle burn' and fatigue.

Again, you balance 'pushing' and 'pulling'.

An example of a lower body focused gym-based muscular endurance workout could be:

• Warm up
  
  
• 1a) Dumbell hack squat x 20 reps
• 1b) Romanian deadlift x 20 reps
• 1c) Deficit forward lunges x 15 reps (each leg)
• 1d) Chinese Plank march x 15 slow reps (each leg)
  ​

*Repeat 4-5 times. 60-90 sec rest in between reps.

Outdoor muscular endurance sessions might include:

• Loaded hill intervals
• Loaded stair intervals
• Box step sessions

These would follow the same structure:

• Four weeks of the same workout, increasing either the pack weight or the gym load.
• Then switch to something new.

You could alternate between gym work and outdoor intervals every four weeks. Or any cycle you choose.

Exercises mentioned: 

Deloads For Strength And Endurance

For both strength and endurance, a deload every four weeks is helpful (in this model of planning).

This does not have to be dramatic like your aerobic capacity deload.

Most of the time, you can schedule your deload to coincide with the start of a new training phase.

When you swap exercises and begin learning new movements, the intensity naturally drops a little, which acts as your deload.

If you are feeling very fatigued, you may intentionally drop volume or intensity.

But for most people, shifting exercises while reducing aerobic training is enough.

A Few Simple Rules:

If you have a climb or trip during the week, drop your training volume (e.g., if you usually do five sets, drop to three, or if you are doing a hill interval session, cut the amount of climbing in half).

You want to arrive fresh but still keep things ticking over.

If you are doing a strenuous adventure, you want a deload week before and after.

If it is a less strenuous adventure, you may not need full deloads. Maybe just take a couple of days easier and maintain instead of progress. Just use your best judgment.

If you are in a period of constant climbing objectives you might reduce strength training to one light session per week.

Something like two exercises for two or three sets each, just heavy enough to maintain strength.

This will not likely improve strength, but it will go a long way to helping maintain what you have.  ​

I have had many mountaineers in environments with no gyms who maintain strength with twenty-minute body weight or pack-based sessions for months at a time.

Want to learn a full system for maintaining strength while in the mountains? Check out this podcast: Maintaining Strength Over A Long Season. 

Summary:

That is a lot of information. So let me boil it down to a simple plan that will work for ninety per cent of mountaineers who want to stay fit year-round or through a big season.

This is your week:

1. One longer aerobic capacity session (90+ minutes)
2. One shorter aerobic capacity session (30-90 minutes)
3. One higher intensity conditioning session (30-60 minutes)
4. One maximal strength session (45-60 minutes)
5. One muscular endurance session per week (45-60 minutes)

Five sessions total. Pretty manageable for many people! And very effective for staying fit and strong all year round.

You can add more aerobic work if you love it or cut things down if life gets busy.

This is not perfect, but it should be a simple framework most mountaineers can work off.

Then, when a big objective approaches, you can shift into the traditional sequential model (if you want).

Yours in adventure,

Rowan 

Want to get
fit, strong and resilient
for your
mountaineering adventures?
 
Check out the
Online Summit Program