Muscular Endurance for Mountain Athletes

[Poser]

I can see that, I have access to a pretty steep trail, but even with 110 pounds my heart rate is up in zone 4. I'll have to chase down some steeper slopes.

I agree with the others: no need to be training with that kind of weight. Reduce the weight, use steeper terrain. I did a pack out recently that was 140 lbs. It was stupid and it sucked etc, but there's no benefit I can see to train with that kind of packweight. Get your muscular endurance in order with a conventional pack weight and use the gym to get strong so you can shoulder that can weight on the occasion that you need to.

 

[mtwarden]

Got another one in Sunday— longer at 1.3 miles w/ 1950' gain, roughly the same steepness (we did an additional 6-ish miles w/ very little gain, almost all down hill).

I think I was calculating slope degree wrong. I was using distance traveled with ascent putting it into a calculator that shows both grade % and degrees. Looking at it, they use the "horizontal travel" and ascent; horizontal travel is not the long side of the triangle, the long side is the actual distance traveled—so that shortened up (not a lot, but a little) the one side I needed to enter w/ the ascent. Had to brush up a bit to the horizontal travel side—who said geometry would never be useful

Both of these were pretty close to 20 degrees, which IMHO you're not going to get much steeper without being on your toes the entire time and most likely pulling on rocks/vegetation to help get you up the slope.

We were able to carry on a conversation the entire way up and according to my watch pretty solidly in Zone 2 (occasional Zone 3).

Like the prior session, pretty sore/fatigued legs, but not sore enough I couldn't hike my regular trails the next day.

 

[mtbraun]

Got another one in Sunday— longer at 1.3 miles w/ 1950' gain, roughly the same steepness (we did an additional 6-ish miles w/ very little gain, almost all down hill).

I think I was calculating slope degree wrong. I was using distance traveled with ascent putting it into a calculator that shows both grade % and degrees. Looking at it, they use the "horizontal travel" and ascent; horizontal travel is not the long side of the triangle, the long side is the actual distance traveled—so that shortened up (not a lot, but a little) the one side I needed to enter w/ the ascent. Had to brush up a bit to the horizontal travel side—who said geometry would never be useful

Both of these were pretty close to 20 degrees, which IMHO you're not going to get much steeper without being on your toes the entire time and most likely pulling on rocks/vegetation to help get you up the slope.

We were able to carry on a conversation the entire way up and according to my watch pretty solidly in Zone 2 (occasional Zone 3).

Like the prior session, pretty sore/fatigued legs, but not sore enough I couldn't hike my regular trails the next day.

I suspect the eccentric contractions while working the downs are very beneficial also.

 

[mtwarden]

I suspect the eccentric contractions while working the downs are very beneficial also.

I think so; we didn't go back down the way we came up as that might have been a wee bit painful , but we still lost a lot of elevation w/ weight on out backs.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I suspect the eccentric contractions while working the downs are very beneficial also.

Absolutely.

 

[mtnbound]

You guys are 100% correct; you must also do loaded downhill work. I will also angle up and down to where I'm overloading one leg and then rotate to the other to further push ME. I do this for time, distance, or elevation.

 

[AkMtnRunner]

Don’t over complicate things. To improve muscular endurance, simply do the target activity with a little more weight, or a little steeper, or for a little longer, or more frequently, or some combination of those, a little more than you are currently adapted too.

 

[Poser]

Just got 4 consecutive days of M.E. in while helping a buddy archery elk hunt. We climbed avalanche chutes ranging from 800-1700 feet all 4 mornings in the dark just to get the days started. By day 4, I was feeling fantastic: had my pacing dialed in perfectly and noticed my leg muscles were staying cool/cold despite the effort. I notice every Fall when my endurance starts peaking that I can do quite a bit of hard climbing while still wearing (zip-off) base layers on my legs and not have them overheat. -that's when I know I'm in "elk shape." Legs are so efficient that they don't get "hot"

 

[mtwarden]

^ Good deal!

I did my fourth go round today (twice a week); shaved 7 minutes off (~12%) my previous times. I did bounce into Zone 3 near the top, slowed it down a little and got it back into Zone 2.

I'm going to add 5 lbs on my Sunday workout and see how that goes.

I'm still adding 3-5 miles at the top to make it a loop; almost all downhill. Those miles are solidly in Zone 2, nowhere near 3.

 

[mtwarden]

Well I've got a month under my belt (8 workouts).

I'm definitely seeing some improvements. I could see improvements in my time to finish the climb of roughly 20-25%. After 2-3 workouts I bumped the weight up and am now sitting exactly at 25% of my body weight (won't be going any higher); ~ a 25% increase in the weight of the pack from the first go rounds, but still seeing the quicker climbs.

So increase in pace with an increase in weight

There is a little bumping into Zone 3 as I reach the top—gets even steeper at the top and it's at the end of the climb; I don't think that's a big deal. I've continued adding 4-6 miles after the climb; almost all descent and solidly in Zone 2.

Going antelope this weekend and in two weeks a mountain mule deer hunt up high; we'll see how this ME stuff translates to actual hunting, but guessing pretty good

 

[Josh Gray]

You guys are 100% correct; you must also do loaded downhill work. I will also angle up and down to where I'm overloading one leg and then rotate to the other to further push ME. I do this for time, distance, or elevation.

For those that can’t get to the mountains during the week I’ve found adding a few sets of jumping lunges & squat jumps after a Stairmaster ME session does a pretty good job of building endurance for the downhills. And if I’m doing steep hiking with a lighter pack on the weekend seems to convert well. I do like to get in 1-2 steep outdoor session with a heavy pack in the month before though.

 

[P Carter]

For those that can’t get to the mountains during the week I’ve found adding a few sets of jumping lunges & squat jumps after a Stairmaster ME session does a pretty good job of building endurance for the downhills. And if I’m doing steep hiking with a lighter pack on the weekend seems to convert well. I do like to get in 1-2 steep outdoor session with a heavy pack in the month before though.

This is a great gym-based ME workout that's based on jumping lunges and squat jumps. A good block of these, followed by a good block of weighted uphill hikes, is a great way to prep and then peak.

FREE At Home Muscular Endurance Workout with Progression

Click to download a printable PDF of this workout.The following gym-based ME program is ideal for runners, skiers, alpinists, and any other mountain

www.uphillathlete.com

 

[Josh Gray]

This is a great gym-based ME workout that's based on jumping lunges and squat jumps. A good block of these, followed by a good block of weighted uphill hikes, is a great way to prep and then peak.

FREE At Home Muscular Endurance Workout with Progression

Click to download a printable PDF of this workout.The following gym-based ME program is ideal for runners, skiers, alpinists, and any other mountain

www.uphillathlete.com

Also just doing this without the uphill block is probably much safer and effective than trying to hike with 110 lbs, if you don’t have access to steep enough terrain

 

[mtwarden]

the "steep enough" terrain should be available to almost anyone; stairs as it turns out are almost the perfect steepness

find a multi-story building, strap the pack on, rinse and repeat—just ignore any funny looks!

 

[Josh Gray]

the "steep enough" terrain should be available to almost anyone; stairs as it turns out are almost the perfect steepness

find a multi-story building, strap the pack on, rinse and repeat—just ignore any funny looks!

I agree 100%. If you can afford to hunt western big game then you can sure as hell afford to get a membership or punch card for a gym with a Stepmill. Even though I’m 45 min from a great 35% fall line, I primarily use a Stairmaster for my ME sessions and even some endurance sessions when it’s impractical to drive to that hill. I think the Stepmill is better for the pure ME benefit, the off trail hiking is just icing on the cake for me. It’s some serious mental training to stay in on that suffer machine for an hour or more with no cool breeze and mountain air to keep you happy.