View Full Version : Training Regime Tips?
tunafishsandwich
02-01-2007, 13:23
I'd like to know how some of you are training for an AT thru-hike. I've been putting myself on a running regiment of 4-5 times a week with some weight training on the side. What does everyone else do?
Boat Drinks
02-01-2007, 13:32
Been doing a tread mill with the incline set to max and MPH set to 3mph. I'll do this until I can't breath anymore, rest and do it again, lather, rinse repeat....:sun
Pacific Tortuga
02-01-2007, 13:45
IT HAS GONE IN THE DUMP LATELY, friend and silent partner (i thought) had employee problems this last month and gave them a hand full of rocks ... to
kick on down the road. This is a quarter of my hiking finances so I have been kicking in and training new help. I hope to get back to my 25-35 mile weeks
with pack next week. Aint nothin going to stop me now :cool: nothin !
Kerosene
02-01-2007, 13:58
Your best training will be to get out there with a slightly heavier than typical pack and do the miles on several shake-down hikes. Failing that, do what you're doing, but consider adding more squats, twisting lunges, and ankle stabilization exercises. Change the incline on your treadmill runs every few minutes, slowing your speed to accommodate.
If you do coralrive's regimen, then make sure that you have your toes pointed slightly outward when the treadmill is inclined. Otherwise you run the risk of pulling your Achilles tendons. The same holds true for climbing on the trail, a lesson that I had to learn the hard way.
Old Grouse
02-01-2007, 14:02
Wait a minute. Didnt we just learn from Greg Huse that we need to hire personal trainers and start drinking his juice supplements?
Boat Drinks
02-01-2007, 14:21
If you do coralrive's regimen, then make sure that you have your toes pointed slightly outward when the treadmill is inclined. Otherwise you run the risk of pulling your Achilles tendons. The same holds true for climbing on the trail, a lesson that I had to learn the hard way.
Always stretch before AND after the workout, your muscles will thank you that evening!
Wait a minute. Didnt we just learn from Greg Huse that we need to hire personal trainers and start drinking his juice supplements?
ROFLMAO:D
carolina trekker
02-01-2007, 14:24
I do the treadmill with loaded backpack. Also spend alot of time on the stair climber.
Stop bathing. Start living on a diet of ramen and foil packet foods. Drink only water, except for every 3 to 4 days. Every 3 to 4 days you should pig out at a local "all you can eat" restaurant and down a bunch of beers. Put a piece of plywood on the floor and start sleeping on that. Go to Petco, buy a bunch of mice and release them in your bedroom. Start pooping in little holes in your back yard.
Oh, yeah, walk a lot, too.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=184425#post184425
Sorry, no mention of juice ads. :)
I've turned myself into a ""Mallie" walking around an inside mall about 20 minutes a loop 8X. I live near the shore way too cold and windy the Mall is climate controlled:) may start using Weightvest soon with 20 lbs. Hopefully I'm not mistaken for a terrorist. Not planning a thru just wanna drop some ugly pounds.
Lone Wolf
02-01-2007, 15:51
I've turned myself into a ""Mallie" walking around an inside mall about 20 minutes a loop 8X. I live near the shore way too cold and windy the Mall is climate controlled:) may start using Weightvest soon with 20 lbs. Hopefully I'm not mistaken for a terrorist. Not planning a thru just wanna drop some ugly pounds.
you need to come to damascus and enroll in the lone wolf AT training camp.:)
carolina trekker
02-01-2007, 15:59
you need to come to damascus and enroll in the lone wolf AT training camp.:)
Specializing in the 12 oz curls :)
Toolshed
02-01-2007, 16:05
you need to come to damascus and enroll in the lone wolf AT training camp.:)
LW, What time do your Telesummits begin - I don't want a Scheduling conflict with my Greg Huse Invitational AT Telesummit!!!! Get back to my Personal Assistant and Trainer and they will blackberry me. Otherwise I am much too important to talk now.
PS, Can I pay $249 and bring my purse poodle??
:sun
then make sure that you have your toes pointed slightly outward when the treadmill is inclined. Otherwise you run the risk of pulling your Achilles tendons.
This is the first I've heard of this toe-orientation. I've had some pain in my Achilles for awhile now and was wondering what may be the cause. The doctor says it's tendonitis. I've been slightly pigeon-toed all my life so now I'm thinking I may have to be more conscious of how I walk.
I'd hate to think of rehabbing one of those 'catastrophic injuries'.
Thanks for that bit of information.
Tom
Pumping aluminum and glass is too hard for me. Push aways is the method for me;)
Blissful
02-01-2007, 19:51
I tried running and wrecked my knees when I switched to hiking (uses muscles and ligaments in different ways). Of course you're young though. I'm strictly hiking - around the neighborhood, that is, and on trails when I can get out. I did 5 miles today and we have some good hills around here. I had been carrying my pack until my back acted up from snow tubing. Will try again this weekend. Doing stretching too.
Programbo
02-01-2007, 20:55
I was lucky back in the day because in my late teens up to the age of 20 I had a HUGE morning newspaper route of like 400-500 papers which required me to walk like 6 miles every morning carrying all those papers in one of those belts (We never had bags)..Lots of hills too....But later when I did "train" (I don`t think anyone actually trained back then aside from just going hiking) I would always carry way more weight than I planned to on an actual hike
SalParadise
02-01-2007, 23:26
i admire you guys who are exercising and getting in shape before your hike. only exercise i did to prepare was a walk between the barstool and the bathroom, but that first hill I hit I wondered if maybe I hadn't thought it through enough.
not that anyone here is especially looking for it, but what would have helped me is a lot of calf raises and maybe extra protein sources in your food bag to start--after about a week my legs would really start to shake, especially downhill, just from being overworked and lack of nutrients.
GlazeDog
02-02-2007, 10:15
I use a stair stepper with loaded pack. But I program my weight in without pack added in and also under-estimate my age by a couple years--not even sure if that age thing does anything different, but what the hell. I also cross country ski in winter. That is amazing for developing muscles used in balance left to right--and of course aerobic too. But nothing beats time out on the trail with loaded pack. The trail will get you in shape. PLan for shorter days at the beginning (2 weeks).
GlazeDog
I'm training right now for a hike in late April and I just dance to ONJ's Physical for about 30 minutes then recreate Flashdance. Wife hates it because of all the water I get on the rug.
:banana
Actually, I started parking on the top floor of the parking garage and take the steps. I then do 30 min on the bike when I get home. Will step it up about every 2 weeks or so. My kids make me do sit ups and push ups a few times a week with them. It's so funny, it takes them a while to get me going but then they complain because I don't stop when they think it's time to rest. Most nights they walk away and I finish alone.
I'd like to know how some of you are training for an AT thru-hike. I've been putting myself on a running regiment of 4-5 times a week with some weight training on the side. What does everyone else do?
TFS… A year ago, while planning my 2006 Thru-Hike attempt, I located a hiking trail near my home in northern Missouri. Obviously, the Midwest is not particularly known for its hills, but from the parking area, the trail travels down about a quarter mile. From there, the trail gently ups and downs to the edge of a lake. Then the trail loops back to that quarter mile hill, up to the parking lot. I “trained” on that trail frequently with an increasingly heavier pack, prior to leaving for the AT.
During my first day on the trail, I recall seeing a sign stating “Hawk Mountain Shelter 5 Miles.” “No probs,” thinks I. When I finally arrived at the shelter, I thought that sign lacked one extremely important word…“UP!”
If there is one particular thing I did not contemplate in all my planning and training efforts for my hike, it’s the elevation changes on the trail. Had I known a year ago, what I know now, I would have hiked only that quarter mile hill, on the trail near my home, over and over and over. So my advice to you and anyone else “training” for the hike is simply this… Forget the flats. Go hike a hill.
I’d also like to forewarn you about leg injuries. Even after hiking nearly 600 miles, I got nailed by sever shin splints in both legs. They may have been stress fractures, but without having had a bone scan, (they sometimes don’t show up on x-ray) it’s only a guess. I was off the trail for 3 weeks icing these injuries. Plus, they constantly reminded me about them throughout the rest of my hike. I honestly believe it was the steep, downhill on the road hike near Bland VA that caused these injuries.
There are simple yet effective stretching exercises that can be done to help minimize the risk of these and other hike-threatening injuries. Look on the web, or speak with a sports trainer. Cross-country runners are particularly susceptible to shin splints and are a wealth of information. (Thanks Tomato Gravy!)
I watched people quit their 2006 hike for any number of reasons, including: injuries, boredom, house burning down, etc. Some injuries are unavoidable (slipping or other accidents) but the threat of some can be greatly reduced, simply by stretching, being careful with each step and “listening” to your body Who ever has the slogan, “Start slow and then slow down!” on WhiteBlaze, is providing hikers with a valuable piece of information.
Good luck!
4eyedbuzzard
02-03-2007, 14:04
you need to come to damascus and enroll in the lone wolf AT training camp.:)
Is that the one where you carry a 60 lb pack (20 in camping gear-40 in firearms and ammo) and follow Cindy Sheehan around to protest her protesting?;)
McPick said, "Forget the flats. Go hike a hill." I totally agree. Do them slowly and stretch well before and after. While I've only done sections of the AT, I'm "lucky" to live in PA and that's where I find myself the most... dealing with rocky uphills. I have some small hills near my home, and when I know I'm preparing for a trip from Hawk Mountain to Sunfish Pond, I put some weight on my back and go up and over my local hills as training.. I don't know how I'd do on a really long haul (ask me after I get back from New Mexico in September!), but training on hills helps.
Incidentally, McPick -- I met you in Shenandoah at Big Meadows where I was camped with my son. Thanks for the adult beverage!
walktard
02-05-2007, 16:27
I disagree with the previous posts about pointing your toes out on an uphill to avoid straining your achilles. Anytime you change your natural walking mechanics you set yourself up for injuring something else up the line (think knee, hip, back--it's all connected). Also, angling your toes to the outside will shorten your IT band making those downhills painful on the knees.
I've been in physical therapy for my ankle (several sprains and achilles tendinitis) more than once and never have I been encouraged to change how I walk--quite the contrary. Instead, they always stress how important it is to stretch and strengthen the ankle/achilles. Don't mess with your alignment, just my two cents...
southpaw95
02-05-2007, 16:33
Get Fat!!!