The Best Gym Exercises For Mountaineers

In this episode, I explore some of my favourite exercises mountaineers can use if they are training in a gym environment. 

​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode,

[0:04] we are talking about the best gym exercises for mountaineers. Now, you probably know at this stage of the podcast that I love strength training for mountaineering, and there are so many benefits that a mountaineer can get from applying structured and smart strength training into their week. And it is entirely possible for a mountaineer to develop all the strength they need, no matter if they're training at home, outdoors, or at the gym. And I have had mountaineers prepare for some of the biggest mountains in the world and never stepped in the gym at all.

[0:39] And I totally, totally, totally understand that a lot of mountaineers out there, they're just not a big fan of the gym environment. A lot of gyms suck, in all honesty. There's people, there's nasty people, there's dirty, there's busy, and all of this. A lot of mountaineers just don't like that environment. I fully understand.

[0:54] However, saying that, there can be no argument that the gym environment can make certain types of training, certain movements, and certain exercises just more convenient. Just because you have access to certain equipment, just because you have access to things laid out, just the way the gym environment is set, sometimes things can be a little bit more convenient. So with this in mind, today's episode is really exploring some of my favorite gym exercises for mountaineers and this is realistically exploring it in the context that okay if you have access to a gym these particular exercises and these particular things i personally think are just way easier to target in the gym and these particular things yes you can do like work on these areas in other ways but i think these particular exercises i'm going to talk about just make things more convenient maybe make things a little bit more effective and they can be a really, really, really, really good addition for many mountaineers. So with that being said, there's six exercises I want to talk about. And if I'm going through this and you're like, hey, I don't know what this is, most of these are pretty common and they're pretty self-explanatory. But if you don't know what these are, go to YouTube, type in the name, there'll be a million tutorial videos around these things.

[2:06] So with that being said, let's get into it. Six of my favorite gym exercises for mountaineers. Number one is the leg press. Now I know what you're going to say, so many people will jump to first conclusions. They'll be like, whoa, the leg press is a machine.

[2:22] Why would you recommend a mountaineer train on a machine? Shouldn't I be doing squats or lunges or step ups because those things will train my stabilizer muscles and help me with my balance and yada, yada, yada. And yes, there is some argument to that. And yes, you know, a mountaineer shouldn't do all their training on a machine. However.

[2:42] Machines in the gym environment can be really, really, really, really, really useful just to overload certain muscles because you don't have to worry about balance. You don't have to worry about stability, which can sometimes hold us back a little bit. And with machines, you can purely just focus on pushing yourself, pushing yourself for maximal strength, if that's what you're training for, or pushing yourself for endurance, if that's what you're training for. And I guarantee you, as much as people argue this won't help you on the mountain, it will, as long as it's combined with a well-rounded training program. So with that being said, the leg press is one I really, really like because mountaineers need a lot of quadricep strength. Frontier thighs need to be strong and need a lot of glute strength. And the leg press is a really, really, really good option where you can load up these areas without having to worry about other considerations.

[3:28] Now, squats, for example, squats are a great exercise, but a lot of mountaineers struggle to load this up safely. Some people are not confident with a barbell on their back. Some people just struggle with the squat movement, and they end up just not being able to push themselves quite as much. The leg press, however, you just sit on the machine and push, and it's really, really good. I love it for either heavier strength training, so like three or four or five or six reps, or doing high rep endurance stuff. And I also personally love it. I really like doing single-legged leg press, and this can be a really, really, really good challenge. And if you can't do a pistol squat to save your life because you fall over, a single-legged leg press can be way more accessible and you can get great strength development. So number one, leg press. If you're working in a gym environment and you've never explored the leg press and specifically the single-legged leg press, you'll love it. I guarantee you.

[4:20] Now, number two, what I really, really like is the seated calf raise. Now, calf strength is absolutely crucial for any mountaineer, And most mountaineers, if they are training their calves, they're typically used to doing straight-legged calf raises, meaning you're just standing on a step or standing on the floor and you're just pushing up to your toes and down. And this is a great exercise.

[4:44] But we want to build that out a little bit more. Because when it comes down to your calves, there are two big muscles in your calves. There's the gastrocnemius, which is like the muscle, the top portion of the calves, just behind the knees. That's the sort of muscle we kind of tend to think about with our calves the most. And when we're doing those straight-legged calf raises where we're just pushing up and down, up and down, up and down, that will typically target this gastrocnemius, which is great. And we definitely want that. However, there is a second calf muscle, which often gets overlooked. It's called the soleus. It's a little bit lower. It's a little bit deeper, and it's a little bit harder to target. And those straight-legged calf raises, they will work a little bit of that. But we also do want to be doing calf raises, which will really, really hone in on the soleus to get the best results. And we can typically do that through things like bent-legged calf raises, where instead of having your legs straight and you're pushing up on your toes, you go down like a quarter squat and then you push up and down on your toes there. And that can work out pretty well.

[5:44] However, this soleus muscle, it is strong. And sometimes doing body weight stuff or doing calf raises, it can be really, really tough to get enough load to get an effective training stimulus on that area. So enter the seated calf raise machine. This is a machine where you literally sit on a machine again in a gym. You put something over your knees, you load it up, and you go for it. And this can be such a great way of applying load into that soleus, building up endurance, building up strength, and it's so fantastic. And in all honesty, if you are in a gym environment and you have a seated calf raise machine and you haven't used it before, make it happen. So, so valuable. So that's number two.

[6:22] Now, number three is the cable pulldown or the lat pulldown or however you want to call it. Now, most mountaineers are pretty familiar with pull-ups and chin-ups. These are really, really, really good exercises to work the lats, to work the biceps, just generally work on upper body pulling strength and super, super relevant.

[6:40] However, many mountaineers may struggle with these. Some mountaineers can go out and do 10, 15, 20, no worries at all. But a lot of mountaineers may only be able to do one or two or three or four or five or maybe none at all. The pulldown, because it isn't a machine, because you can adjust the weight, it just allows a lot more flexibility. So for the people who just literally cannot do any pull-ups or chin-ups, the pulldown allows you to target that area. Great. For the people who can only do one or two or three or four or five, the pulldown allows you to do higher repetitions so you can work on that more endurance-based. Or for the people who can just do a million pull-ups and they've just been doing them for ages, this may be a nice change for you. And you can change the grips and change the way you approach it. The pull-down is a really versatile machine and I really, really like. So that's number three.

[7:29] Number four is the hack squat machine. Now, not all gyms are going to have this, but basically what this is, is you go on this big old machine. You may have to plug this into YouTube and have a look, but you go on this machine, you put these pads over your shoulders, And essentially what you do is you just go up and down in a squatting motion and the pads are on your shoulders in a machine thing. So it's on a set track and you literally go up and down, up and down. And essentially it's the same as a squatting motion, but you're in a machine. Really, really, really good way of developing quadriceps strength. And very similar to the leg press, it's just a really, really good way of you just putting yourself in a situation where you can absolutely push yourself, whether it's strength-based or whether it's endurance-based, without having to worry about falling over, without having to worry about barbells or anything like that. And again, the hack squat, you can do two-legged or one-legged, and both of those are great options. So very, very similar to leg press, but it's a good, good option there. Now, number five, this one's a little bit different, a little bit smaller compared

[8:28] to some of those big things we've been doing. But I really like the hamstring curl machine. Whether it's a seated hamstring curl or a lying hamstring curl, really, really good option.

[8:38] Because the hamstrings, the backs of the thighs, super important for any mountaineer to develop. Really, really important to help you stabilize on descents. Really, really important to help support the knees. Really, really important to help just support the legs in general. and the hamstrings are super important. However, many mountaineers, they tend to neglect this and they'll often neglect this and they'll end up training step-ups and squats and lunges and these things that are working the quadriceps a lot. But they'll neglect the hamstrings. Really, really, really common. Now, some mountaineers will train the hamstrings and they'll do things like, let's say, single-legged deadlifts or normal deadlifts. And that's great. And I fully, fully encourage that. But the hamstring curl is just a great option because it isolates the hamstrings. And you can just sit down on that machine. And you wouldn't typically do this for strength stuff like lower rep, but you can do this for higher rep stuff where you go on that machine, you'll do 15, 20 repetitions, really, really, really, really hone in on the hamstrings. And it's just a really nice way of complementing some of those other exercises we typically do.

[9:39] Very, very, very useful. And then the final one I want to mention, and again, not all gyms will have this, and many mountaineers will kind of gravitate to this already, is the sled. Now, I love sled training. It's such a versatile thing where you basically literally just have a sled in a gym, you put a bunch of weight on it, and you can either push or pull it up and down the gym. Now, this is a really versatile piece of equipment because you can do so many different things on this. You can load it up with a light amount of weight and do sprints on it where you're going back and forth and doing really, really high-intensity intervals. You can load it up with a stupid heavy amount of weight and do really, really slow, moderate intervals where you're just grinding it out. You can load it up with a moderate amount of weight and do kind of like moderate pace, like eight-minute intervals or whatever. It's just such a versatile piece of equipment, but I really, really like it because it can load up the muscles in a way which probably isn't going to aggravate you. It's probably not going to make you sore. It's probably not going to be too challenging. It doesn't take much time to learn, and it's just really, really, really good. Probably my favorite way of using this for a mountaineer is doing slightly longer intervals where we'll load it up with a reasonable amount of weight, and then we'll go up and down for about eight minutes, then you rest for two minutes, then do it again. That in itself, it's a bit dull, it's a bit repetitive, but it's very, very effective. Now, admittedly, it's not always possible in a gym environment, particularly doing eight minutes of that back and forth, you're getting people's ways and this and that. But if you do have a nice setup and there's somewhere that you can do this away from other people, it's not going to bother people, really, really good option.

[11:06] So with that being said, they're probably my favorite six gym exercises for mountaineers. The leg press, the seated calf raise, the pull down, the hack squat, the hamstring curl, the sled. As I sort of said at the start, a lot of people think, hey, I don't want to use machines. I shouldn't be doing that. I should be doing body weight or free weights at the very least. But I'll tell you right now, a combination is so, so, so, so, so effective. And if you use these machines and think about it through the context of I am applying load and stimulus to the muscles and I can apply more load and stimulus to these muscles because I do not have to worry about balance and stability.

[11:43] That's what you want to look at this through. And then, obviously, you'll find your balance and just build a stability in those other muscles in other exercises. We don't want to do all our training on gym machines, but you can do a decent portion of it. So ultimately, when it comes down to it, each of these exercises are my favourites for mountaineers. And while you can train these outcomes and the similar movement patterns and similar things without a gym in various ways, if you do have access to a gym, I just really think these are well worth including. They make things so much more convenient, so much easier to target. So give them a go.

[12:17] And ultimately, if you are a mountaineer and you're listening to this and you're like, you know what, Rom, you talk a lot of sense. I like what you're talking about here. I like the idea of getting some strong mountaineering. And I like the idea of just doing everything I can to give my legs and my upper body the best chance possible on the mountains, then I would love to speak to you. Now, as I always say on this podcast, through Summit Strength, we do online personal training for mountaineers. And specifically, we help mountaineers get fit, strong, and resilient so they can conquer any adventure they set their mind to. If you did want to learn a little bit more about how we help mountaineers every single day get ready for their adventures, what I'd like you to do is go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer. On that page, there's a bit of a video you can watch through, learn about how we help people. And if it does sound like something you want to explore more, you can book a free call with us on that page as well, where we can sit down, have a bit of a chat, get to know each other, and see if we might be able to help you. So with that being said, if you want to learn more, go to summerstrength.com.au slash mountaineer, and we can have a chat from there. But aside from that, I really do hope you've enjoyed today's episode. I hope you got some insights, and I hope this can give you a few extra options to work in the gym. So thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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