Training For The Hills In a Flat County

[Ibex]

I had a trip to the Brecon Beacons last weekend and loved the walking. The only downside was that my physical fitness let me down. My thighs and calf muscles are still protesting quite a bit today.

I need to get in more training to get myself fitter for the next trip to the hills.
I found that my legs were getting extremely knackered on the uphill sections. Strangely the middleing gradients made my hamstrings ache. Very odd. Steeper slopes had my thighs going.

I guess general cardio vascular fitness is important, so I will up that by running. Also core stability helps with lung function, so will also work on that.
My main concern is the legs. I don't think there is any real movements I can do in the gym to replicate the walking. I already do squats and deadlifts for legs, but my legs were still not up to it in the hills last weekend.

Does anybody have any good ideas for exercises that can be done to increase fitness specifically for hill walking?
Maybe we could get together an article on this, that people could find usefull, if they are as unfortunate as me to be so far away from the hills.

I'm thinking that I will start doing Army style tabbing, with weight on my back to increase the legs endurance standards and try to include as many hills as possible, though its not easy in flat as a pancake Oxfordshire.
Obviously there is no real substitute for walking in the hills, so I will try and get to the Malverns, to walk in as well. If anyone has any advice on good places with hills to walk around Oxfordshire, then i'd be glad of the info.

Cheers.

[RyanfaeScotland]

There was a brief discussion on this not long ago but not a lot was really decided http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30605.

I've always thought the crosstrainer would be a good in gym exercise or those fancy treadmills that you can add a gradient to. I did once threaten to go to the gym with my wife in my full winter walking gear + pack, tent and so on to really get the proper workout but it never happened.

[Ibex]

I had a look at that topic. I don't think treadmills work for training at all. Simply because when I was unfit I could run for 10 miles on one at a decent pace. All you are doing is bouncing on the spot really and when I transfered out to running outside it was much much harder, simply because you have to propel yourself forwards, as well as up.

I agree that being able to control the incline is really good though.
I really need to find some ground round here with a good incline, but its hard to find any around Oxfordshire.

Thinking I may just get in contact with my brother in law, who is in the Army to give me some Army style training tips.

[tenohfive]

It may be worth having a scroll around on the GPS planner for the steepest ground you can find nearby - whilst the hills might not be steep, if you can string together a few (or do a circuit of one or two good ones) you'll still get some benefit. And chances are muddy tracks will tax your stabilisers even more on smaller hills than a good trail up a big hill.

[RyanfaeScotland]

I remember seeing on the TV show LOST one of the characters doing a 'Tour De Stade' If you have a stadium of some sort nearby you could give that a try?

[Lenore]

I don't know what's the best, but being from a flat country, I can tell you what I do: bike! Road biking, miles and miles of it on a relatively high gear (though started much lighter). Got big thighs and stable knees now Still, first few days on the hills hurt...

[Ibex]

I have the Malverns about an hour away, so am thinking of doing a load of slogs up and over those, with a heavy bergen on.
I did a lot of tabbing before, when I was training to join the TA and the only thing I could use as a substitute for a hill, was a bridge with a long gradient on. I used to jog up and over it, and back several times, whilst wearing up to 20kg in the backpack.

Thanks for the advice Lenore. I will think about the biking. I have seen a few body builders that bike with ENORMOUS thighs.

I managed to go climbing today, but it was a lot harder with knackered legs. Not great that we jumped from 6m to 11m walls today as well.

[RyanfaeScotland]

I remember seeing on the TV show LOST one of the characters doing a 'Tour De Stade' If you have a stadium of some sort nearby you could give that a try?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_stade Fixed the link

[BlackPanther]

I would second Lenore with cycling. From my own experience, regular cycling really strengthens your lower parts. I also like jogging, but only outside. Stationary bike is good for bad weather days - I usually put on a mountain movie of some sort and cycle through
When I had a painful knee injury a couple of years back, I discovered, that biking puts much less pressure on your knees than jogging.

On a funny side, I bumped into an old friend once (she hasn't seen me for years) and I was complimented: "You have thighs like Marit Bjoergen!" Wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry...

[Phil the Hill]

Obviously there is no real substitute for walking in the hills, so I will try and get to the Malverns, to walk in as well. If anyone has any advice on good places with hills to walk around Oxfordshire, then i'd be glad of the info.

Cheers.

The Malvern ridge is a great walk. You could also try the Chilterns and Cotswolds. Both have nice steep scarp faces if you go up them the hard way. Or, depending where you are in Oxfordshire, the Wiltshire Downs might be a possibility. The Ridgeway is a good route that will take you across some hilly areas.

Agreed it's a problem for us flatlanders training for the hills. I'm on the Southern edge of London, and head for the North and South Downs to get into shape for Scotland.

[The Rodmiester]

Hi there Ibex, gym work ie cross trainer good, running machine good, bike machine good all very fine for heart/lungs, but not really giving the joints the rigours of rough unlevel ground. Unless you have previously done cross country running or the like, your joints and muscles probably require toning up and as you say nothing beats getting out on the hills to build up ankles joint muscles, knee joints etc. Like anything else build up gradually on uneven surface or go for a jog on grass or the like. Good Luck in your training.

[Ibex]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I mainly just need to up my fitness and my muscular endurance. Working on core strength wouldn't hurt either.

I'm going to borrow some kit from my brother in law and go tabbing in the hills.
I'm right at the western edge of Oxfordshire, so the Wltshire Downs are a good shout as well.

Will start off light, but hope to end up tabbing about with a 25kg load at least. Build up the weights and distances and soon i'll be flying up the hills........maybe.

I still think we could all pool our knowledge on the subject and get together some sort of article on conditioning for hill walking, for those poor sods that live away from the mountains.

[Sgurr]

I posted this advice on a previous thread, but no harm again. We trained for the big Bulgarian hills by (a) walking in Scotland...no good for you, since this is the sort of thing you want to train for (b) running up and down stairs. We had a bucket on the top step and carried dud golf balls up to see if we could break our personal best records for 50. DON'T LET TEENAGERS have a go. Firstly, they have a surprising degree of innate fitness (not to be confused with stamina) secondly they refuse to stick to the rules of treading on every step so if you have a large window at the bottom of the stairs, it can be lethal.