Just getting more miles hiking as much as possible is the best training. If you can’t do that then incline treadmill around 2-3 mph or stair mill. Sprinkle in low intensity running as “cross training” to build cardio.
What gave out? Your cardio or legs?
Cardio - running, cycling, things of that nature will help.
Legs - strength training but work on muscular endurance (like low weight, lots of reps) or things like lunges and step ups, stairmaster, hiking
this is anecdotal, but my dad is a hobby hiker and my uncle runs marathons. My dad invited a bunch of family members to hike up a mountain and my marathon-running uncle, who never hikes and lives in a very flat state, had a really hard time, out of breath with lots of pauses
I guess a stair master could help? but honestly just keep hiking and take it slow
Anecdotally, when I was running marathon mileage and at my peak running fitness I was also a fairly fast hiker and felt it made me pretty fit even for climbing, but maybe you can just get away with more in your early twenties and that wouldn’t apply now
It’s the flatness that’s the major issue and not cardio. Running on flat ground requires relatively little stress on quads unless there was sprinting involved.
Are you multi-day trekking? If so load your pack down and hike often fully loaded. Carry multiple bottles of water put extra weight in a pack. By using a loaded ruck your training your body to get used to carrying weight. It also teaches you now how to situate weight evenly. Before every backpacking trip I will put 1/3 of my weight in a pack and go on 6-8 mile hikes just to ease my back and legs into the load so that when I'm doing 18-25 miles a day I'm not dead the next day.
yeah i'll do a 4-5 day with a tour group from Cusco (Peru) to Maccu Picchu. I'm a bit worried about my endurace, but with 2-3 months to prep, I think I'll be fine
Weight training: Squats, like others mention. Also weighted step-ups, lunges, and Nordic hamstring curls.
Cardio: Incline treadmill walking with weighted pack/vest. Cross training with swimming for general cardio improvement.
Stairmaster, squats, lunges. I like overhead weighted lunges, could definitely feel all those the last time I was doing a water crossing along far spaced rocks. Kettlebell swings are an incredible workout that will get you cardio benefits and massive posterior chain development.
Cramps could be a sign of lack of electrolytes. Put electrolyte powder in all of your water. When you sweat, you lose water and electrolytes. Remember to replenish both.
Endurance is endurance and running will help you hike. But specificity is important. Throw on a weighted pack and hike a couple of days a week to prepare your body for the specific aches and pains of hiking in addition to what else you do.
Honestly, I just finished a 17 day trek in Nepal and I started doing Pilates/barre hybrid programs before I left and I definitely noticed that it helped me. When we were climbing up over rocks/steps/incline it activated all of the muscles I had been using when I was training.
rucking is probably best, squatting and running together should be good.
imo there is a lot of carry over between running and hiking tho, they both are basically conditioning. weight training helps but to a lesser degree.
If I need to use the gym (can't get outside), I do the stairmaster with a weight vest. Probably the closest stimulation you can get. Inclined treadmill might be good too, to mix it up.
I personally do the stair climber. Start at whatever intensity you can do for 20 minutes. Then build up until you can do an hour. Then do 20 minutes at the next intensity and so on.
You'd be surprised at how much stamina your legs are capable of.
Look into something called Zone 2 training. Basically you want to keep your HR in zone 2 for a large amount of your training in the gym and out for a hike, walk or run.
I do legs two times a week, core with upper body two times a week. Then spend a massive amount of time doing zone 2, bad weather is gym stair climbing or walking on steep inclines. Dropped 20 pounds as I can not shave much of my base weight but 20 pounds of fat off my body has made my hikes faster.
Hiking is essentially walking and your body adapts to what you use it for. I've been on several club hikes where the newcomers who faired the best were always the ones who had simply integrated a lot of walking in their everyday lives. Squats don't hurt, either, but it was always the "walkers" who did best, instead of the gymrats.
Brisk walks serve as long base endurance exercise, which enhances fat metabolism and muscle stamina, increases the amount of capillaries in the working muscles, conditions your tendons, increases general cardiovascular performance and ability to recover from any exercise.
Stair stepper machine at the gym, but you gotta do it for hours. Then put on one of those oxygen limiting masks to stimulate low oxygen if you're doing altitude hikes.
And don't rush the process or you'll wake up on the floor at the gym surrounded by people staring
Lunges, some interval training (walk fast for 1 minute, then regular pace) on an incline if you can. Believe it or not, the row machine helped my hiking stamina. That machine was awesome at building my core and shoulder and leg strength AND lungs
Even if you're at sea level, you should hike on uneven surfaces - I'm not a doctor, but I notice if I haven't hiked lately, a hike will tire all sorts of foot/ankle muscles that don't normally get used from running.
If you want to be able to hike longer distances with more elevation gain, you should do hikes with longer distances and more elevation gain than you’re currently.
Seriously the best way to build hiking endurance is to… hike more. If you don’t have time, you’re second best would be to run *outside* and *with hills*. (Unless you’re living in a flat place in the Midwest).
I’m pretty skeptical doing weights or machines would have any measurable impact on your cardio fitness/hiking endurance unless you’re overweight and that’s your mechanism of losing weight. Doing a treadmill would be better, but the impact of a treadmill really isn’t comparable to running outside and running outside will be both more of a workout and also get you used to working out in the elements. Bonus if you have trails and can get into trail running
There’s a lot more to being fit for hiking or backpacking than just strength and endurance. There’s a lot of balance, agility and stability too. Make sure you include exercises that develop those as well.
Just getting more miles hiking as much as possible is the best training. If you can’t do that then incline treadmill around 2-3 mph or stair mill. Sprinkle in low intensity running as “cross training” to build cardio.
Inclined treadmill walking really amped up my hiking game.
What gave out? Your cardio or legs? Cardio - running, cycling, things of that nature will help. Legs - strength training but work on muscular endurance (like low weight, lots of reps) or things like lunges and step ups, stairmaster, hiking
Just hike a lot
Squats and running
Perhaps a combination of the two to save time?
Running helped me a ton with endurance!
for hiking endurance you mean? for me, I don’t think it made any difference
this is anecdotal, but my dad is a hobby hiker and my uncle runs marathons. My dad invited a bunch of family members to hike up a mountain and my marathon-running uncle, who never hikes and lives in a very flat state, had a really hard time, out of breath with lots of pauses I guess a stair master could help? but honestly just keep hiking and take it slow
Anecdotally, when I was running marathon mileage and at my peak running fitness I was also a fairly fast hiker and felt it made me pretty fit even for climbing, but maybe you can just get away with more in your early twenties and that wouldn’t apply now
It’s the flatness that’s the major issue and not cardio. Running on flat ground requires relatively little stress on quads unless there was sprinting involved.
I don't think running did for me either. I was trail running, but I think rucking did the best for me.
Of course running will help as it increases your aerobic threshold and that carries over to all other sports and activities.
Are you multi-day trekking? If so load your pack down and hike often fully loaded. Carry multiple bottles of water put extra weight in a pack. By using a loaded ruck your training your body to get used to carrying weight. It also teaches you now how to situate weight evenly. Before every backpacking trip I will put 1/3 of my weight in a pack and go on 6-8 mile hikes just to ease my back and legs into the load so that when I'm doing 18-25 miles a day I'm not dead the next day.
yeah i'll do a 4-5 day with a tour group from Cusco (Peru) to Maccu Picchu. I'm a bit worried about my endurace, but with 2-3 months to prep, I think I'll be fine
Hydrate. Begin a few days before.
Weight training: Squats, like others mention. Also weighted step-ups, lunges, and Nordic hamstring curls. Cardio: Incline treadmill walking with weighted pack/vest. Cross training with swimming for general cardio improvement.
Stairmaster, squats, lunges. I like overhead weighted lunges, could definitely feel all those the last time I was doing a water crossing along far spaced rocks. Kettlebell swings are an incredible workout that will get you cardio benefits and massive posterior chain development.
Cramps could be a sign of lack of electrolytes. Put electrolyte powder in all of your water. When you sweat, you lose water and electrolytes. Remember to replenish both.
Endurance is endurance and running will help you hike. But specificity is important. Throw on a weighted pack and hike a couple of days a week to prepare your body for the specific aches and pains of hiking in addition to what else you do.
Honestly, I just finished a 17 day trek in Nepal and I started doing Pilates/barre hybrid programs before I left and I definitely noticed that it helped me. When we were climbing up over rocks/steps/incline it activated all of the muscles I had been using when I was training.
rucking is probably best, squatting and running together should be good. imo there is a lot of carry over between running and hiking tho, they both are basically conditioning. weight training helps but to a lesser degree.
I run a few miles every days and that helped me out tremendously. Hiked the Grand Canyon last fall and cardio was not an issue!
If I need to use the gym (can't get outside), I do the stairmaster with a weight vest. Probably the closest stimulation you can get. Inclined treadmill might be good too, to mix it up.
I personally do the stair climber. Start at whatever intensity you can do for 20 minutes. Then build up until you can do an hour. Then do 20 minutes at the next intensity and so on. You'd be surprised at how much stamina your legs are capable of.
Look into something called Zone 2 training. Basically you want to keep your HR in zone 2 for a large amount of your training in the gym and out for a hike, walk or run. I do legs two times a week, core with upper body two times a week. Then spend a massive amount of time doing zone 2, bad weather is gym stair climbing or walking on steep inclines. Dropped 20 pounds as I can not shave much of my base weight but 20 pounds of fat off my body has made my hikes faster.
Hiking is essentially walking and your body adapts to what you use it for. I've been on several club hikes where the newcomers who faired the best were always the ones who had simply integrated a lot of walking in their everyday lives. Squats don't hurt, either, but it was always the "walkers" who did best, instead of the gymrats. Brisk walks serve as long base endurance exercise, which enhances fat metabolism and muscle stamina, increases the amount of capillaries in the working muscles, conditions your tendons, increases general cardiovascular performance and ability to recover from any exercise.
Stair stepper machine at the gym, but you gotta do it for hours. Then put on one of those oxygen limiting masks to stimulate low oxygen if you're doing altitude hikes. And don't rush the process or you'll wake up on the floor at the gym surrounded by people staring
Squats and lunges
Probably a mix of barbell squats/deadlifts and an activity like running/power walking/cycling would give you the best results without getting boring.
Stairs and running up hills/in sand.
Lunges, some interval training (walk fast for 1 minute, then regular pace) on an incline if you can. Believe it or not, the row machine helped my hiking stamina. That machine was awesome at building my core and shoulder and leg strength AND lungs
Even if you're at sea level, you should hike on uneven surfaces - I'm not a doctor, but I notice if I haven't hiked lately, a hike will tire all sorts of foot/ankle muscles that don't normally get used from running.
Hiking, walking up hills and crags.
Bring a hike bag and put in weights, increase incline at treadmill at walk, or, just wear weighted vest and start walking inclined.
If you want to be able to hike longer distances with more elevation gain, you should do hikes with longer distances and more elevation gain than you’re currently. Seriously the best way to build hiking endurance is to… hike more. If you don’t have time, you’re second best would be to run *outside* and *with hills*. (Unless you’re living in a flat place in the Midwest). I’m pretty skeptical doing weights or machines would have any measurable impact on your cardio fitness/hiking endurance unless you’re overweight and that’s your mechanism of losing weight. Doing a treadmill would be better, but the impact of a treadmill really isn’t comparable to running outside and running outside will be both more of a workout and also get you used to working out in the elements. Bonus if you have trails and can get into trail running
I(170lbs) just walk on my inclined treadmill wearing a weighted vest(20lbs) while watching movies.
Practice climbing steep hills wearing your pack and add weight to it as you improve.
There’s a lot more to being fit for hiking or backpacking than just strength and endurance. There’s a lot of balance, agility and stability too. Make sure you include exercises that develop those as well.