Specific aerobic training for flatlanders

[Teaman1]

For the people who don’t have mountains to train with, how do you get your mountain specific training done?
I’ve heard Scott Johnston say that we need to incorporate incline treadmill, stair climber, or work on stairs.
And for those that train this way, do you train them year round or just the few months leading up to a hunt?
Was thinking about running and elliptical until July, then do mostly sport specific aerobic work.

 

[hawkhunts]

I am cursed with flatland around me in MIchigan- we have some hills but i eould need to drive to them. Just not enough daylight to get to them now.
I strapped a 40 lb bag of salt onto my kifaru and did a 1.7 mile hike in 6-8 inches of snow tonight. It’s a start, and all i can do is increase the load and distance to compensate until the days get longer. I plan on a couple of hikes a week in conjunction with a leg and core centric program.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Following.

I can get a couple hundred feet of elevation. Maybe a thousand if I drive 2-3 hours

 

[justinspicher]

When I’m stuck in places with no mountains, I carry my loaded pack up and down stairs for a ridiculous amount of time. It’s boring and monotonous, but way better than sucking in the mountain wishing I’d done more to prepare.

 

[SupressYourself]

Incline treadmill with ankle weights and dumbells in your pack is no joke.
It doesn't replicate the thinner air, but Its worked well for me.

 

[Snowhunter11]

Incline treadmill with/without weighted pack. For side hill prep I walk dikes, ditches, or anything to get my feet uncomfortable. Seems to work pretty good for me.

 

[brca005]

When I’m stuck in places with no mountains, I carry my loaded pack up and down stairs for a ridiculous amount of time. It’s boring and monotonous, but way better than sucking in the mountain wishing I’d done more to prepare.

That's what I do as well, just put my headphones on, put on the podcast queue and off I go...normally the first 15-20 minutes my dog is either following me up and down the stairs or he'll hang out on the landing looking at me wondering what in the world am I doing.

I also try and breathe strictly through my nose to somewhat simulate being up at altitude, whether it's a good thing to do or not, it's worked for me so far.

 

[Skerhunter]

I run, ruck and use the stair climber. It works extremely well for me and it’s very time efficient.

I maintain a good base level of fitness year round, but don’t go crazy on cardio. Usually 2-3 months is plenty of time to get in shape for a really difficult hunt. Start out running and using the stair machine a few times per week (20-30 minutes). The last 30-40 days before a hunt I ramp everything up (either rucking, running, or stair machine 20-60 minutes 7 days a week). Stair machine is very low impact use it almost as a recovery day when I’m sore from running/rucking.

 

[Truck24hr]

Stair climber, treadmill at 15%, stairs, or box step ups.

You can likely get lots of aerobic work on those, without weight. I'd not add any weight to these until you're wanting to get some muscular endurance work in.

In my expereince, if you add much weight to these in the beginning, you'll probably be Zone 3 or 4 really quick.

 

[WRO]

Jacob’s ladder and running will really help your cardio..


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[Machingeaneer]

MN great plains dweller here. Last year, every time I walked after work I wore my pack with a 45lb sandbag in it. If it was raining or hot as blazes out i'd go for incline on the treadmill. Like mentioned earlier I tried to keep my pace down to where I breathed only through my nose to try and train that zone 2.

I did some heavy breathing up at 10k but I never tapped out.

 

[Bluefish]

Having been a high altitude person for a lot of years, altitude affects everyone. The advantage of living there is extra red blood cells. You can’t duplicate that without special equipment.

With that said, being in good shape really helps. Also learn the rest step for real high elevation climbing. It’s simply straitening the leg before taking the next step. That slight pause really helps. Inclines and steps help accustom legs to hiking on ground that isn’t flat. This can be a big deal. When my wife was training for the pikes peak marathon they trained on short steep hills to get used to hiking/running up Barr trail.