Weighted Walking?

I'm planning on walking with a decent amount of weight today. I'm trying to do around 66 pounds in a bag on my back, then walking up and down a bridge. I'm gonna use some rollerskates which way around twenty pounds and then i'm gonna buy some gallons of water to complete the weight quota. Is this enough? Too much? Too little?

Too much. I'd say put about 40lbs max in the pack. How many reps are you planning to do on the bridge? Mountaineering is all about endurance in zone 2/3.  

Victor Machtel wrote:

Too much. I'd say put about 40lbs max in the pack. How many reps are you planning to do on the bridge? Mountaineering is all about endurance in zone 2/3.  

I did 34 pounds for about a mile, to the end of the rail from the beginning of the rail and back. on another day i did 45 on a much shorter bridge, probably less than 0.5 miles and it was fine. what do you mean by zone 2/3?

What mountain are you considering?

Realistically you should be looking to work up to training in the 5-15 mile range. At one mile you’re not gaining much, regardless of weight.

Training in Florida is gonna be rough but rucking on the elevation you have available is a good start. 

anonymous coward wrote:

What mountain are you considering?

Realistically you should be looking to work up to training in the 5-15 mile range. At one mile you’re not gaining much, regardless of weight.

Training in Florida is gonna be rough but rucking on the elevation you have available is a good start. 

i'm not really considering any mountains right now, i just want to be able to do one. i suppose i could pass over the bridge multiple times, but i would struggle walking over it multiple times just because of getting bored. a lap over the bridge is around 0.6 miles and is 65 feet above sea level at it's peak.

Mileage is way more important than pure strength. The key for mountaineering is the balance: being able to hike up- and downhill with a reasonable amount of weight for extended amounts of time. Mountaineering days are easily 8 to 10 hours of moderate exercise. This is what zone 2-3 refers to - these are heart rate zones. Zone 2: you feel your heart rate is elevated but you can easily keep this up for hours, provided you fuel your body properly. Zone 3 is higher - you might be able to keep this up for some time, but it will eat into your reserves. Read Training for the New Alpinism for a thorough explanation of these concepts for training, it's worth it for mountaineering training. 

Hi Ronan, I found this to be helpful https://www.rmiguides.com/resources/fitness-and-training "Creating A Mountaineering Training Program".

Having read your other threads, seems like you're putting the cart before the horse. The best thing you can do at this age is work on general ability and skills. Climb stuff (indoors or out). That's what I wish I had done more, as that is the one things that holds me back the most at this point. Work on the movement and technical skills involved. 

Walking up a mountain is nothing special from a training/ability stand-point, you need strength and endurance. Given that you are in High School in Florida right now, the best thing you could do if you wanted to start working on more general fitness for the future, is to join the track/cross-country team and/or take an intro to weight lifting PE class. These are great general opportunities that will provide you with better fitness and knowledge to train for specific objectives as opportunities arise when you're older. 

Hiking up a 50ft rise on a bridge with a weighted pack is a waste of time because the angle is super low and you don't have the strength/endurance background to gain much from it. In fact, you could be reinforcing poor movement patterns that could lead to a training injury. Once you have a lot of general fitness AND have a mountaineering objective on the calendar then doing something like this on stairs (because it's steeper) once a week for a few weeks would probably be useful. Unless you're booked to go climb Rainier in two months, and assuming you aspire to technical climbing routes (where you actually belay pitches because the climbing is hard enough) as you have stated previously, just go to the gym or your local cliff and get better at climbing.

You might consider shopping around at the gyms in your area.  A stairmaster or treadmill with a steep incline ability will be a better training tool than a bridge w/ 65' of climb. Or even just build some boxes to step-up.  Agree with Sam though, as a young gun, general fitness is probably not going to hold you back as much as technical knowledge and ability.

Sam Bedell wrote:

Having read your other threads, seems like you're putting the cart before the horse. The best thing you can do at this age is work on general ability and skills. Climb stuff (indoors or out). That's what I wish I had done more, as that is the one things that holds me back the most at this point. Work on the movement and technical skills involved. 

Walking up a mountain is nothing special from a training/ability stand-point, you need strength and endurance. Given that you are in High School in Florida right now, the best thing you could do if you wanted to start working on more general fitness for the future, is to join the track/cross-country team and/or take an intro to weight lifting PE class. These are great general opportunities that will provide you with better fitness and knowledge to train for specific objectives as opportunities arise when you're older. 

Hiking up a 50ft rise on a bridge with a weighted pack is a waste of time because the angle is super low and you don't have the strength/endurance background to gain much from it. In fact, you could be reinforcing poor movement patterns that could lead to a training injury. Once you have a lot of general fitness AND have a mountaineering objective on the calendar then doing something like this on stairs (because it's steeper) once a week for a few weeks would probably be useful. Unless you're booked to go climb Rainier in two months, and assuming you aspire to technical climbing routes (where you actually belay pitches because the climbing is hard enough) as you have stated previously, just go to the gym or your local cliff and get better at climbing.

This /\. Learn proper general exercise science/methods and, can’t stress this enough, proper form and body mechanics. Establish overall balanced fitness, strength, knowledge, then train for specific activities. That’s how you avoid injuries long term. You can get away with short cuts when you’re young - but they will catch up to you sooner than you think or want. Take the time to do it right and form good habits now. You’ll thank us in 20-30 years when you’re still going strong!

Hey Ronan- I just saw your other post in the new climbers forum.  I’m replying here as well to say +1 for joining cross country at school, or at least starting to train distance running first.  That base of good movement form and cardio endurance translates over well to mountaineering when you get into an environment with some vertical relief.  I grew up in a fairly flat part of New Jersey, and my cross country running there served well as a starting point when I got to Colorado at last.  The uphill work took some adjusting to (try adding a stair machine to your training to target quads in particular), but being able to keep moving for hours was clutch.

Victor Machtel wrote:

Mileage is way more important than pure strength. The key for mountaineering is the balance: being able to hike up- and downhill with a reasonable amount of weight for extended amounts of time. Mountaineering days are easily 8 to 10 hours of moderate exercise. This is what zone 2-3 refers to - these are heart rate zones. Zone 2: you feel your heart rate is elevated but you can easily keep this up for hours, provided you fuel your body properly. Zone 3 is higher - you might be able to keep this up for some time, but it will eat into your reserves. Read Training for the New Alpinism for a thorough explanation of these concepts for training, it's worth it for mountaineering training.

So could I do something like a 3 hour walk away from home then back with like 30 or 40 pounds?

Sure. Hiking is a great way of building endurance for mountaineering. Try building in as many feet of ascent and descent into the route as possible. 

I find ankle weight and a stair master to be really beneficial. My hip flexors are usually the things that are screaming at me during and after a big trip. Mountaineering boots + crampons, + optional gaiters add up pretty quick and you have to lift that weight over and over again ad infinitum. Walking with a pack doesn't really train that, ankle weights do. 

As to training with a weighted pack. It's a balance between wear and tear, which can be significant once you get above 40 pounds, and training your cardiovascular system and legs. Focusing on slow ecentrics during squats is a great way to train for downhill. Weight training plus unweighted walking/hiking/hill climbing is probably gives the most benefit for the least wear and tear. 

Scott D wrote:

I find ankle weight and a stair master to be really beneficial. My hip flexors are usually the things that are screaming at me during and after a big trip. Mountaineering boots + crampons, + optional gaiters add up pretty quick and you have to lift that weight over and over again ad infinitum. Walking with a pack doesn't really train that, ankle weights do. 

As to training with a weighted pack. It's a balance between wear and tear, which can be significant once you get above 40 pounds, and training your cardiovascular system and legs. Focusing on slow ecentrics during squats is a great way to train for downhill. Weight training plus unweighted walking/hiking/hill climbing is probably gives the most benefit for the least wear and tear. 

You sound pretty experienced, how many pounds could I wear to equate to the weight of crampons and boots? That other guy was saying packs don't go above 40 pounds typically, how much should I be practicing with? I live in eastern central Florida and there's a significant lack of notable elevation here.

A good pair of modern mountaineering boots shouldn't be too much more than 1.5 pounds on each foot, and crampons should add between 1 and 2 pounds per foot (with some being much lighter, of course).  If you walk in boots, you should reduce the additional ankle weight accordingly.  I wouldn't want to train with more than 1.5-2.5 lbs per ankle; otherwise, you'd risk straining or overdeveloping/overtightening the hip flexors.  You'd be aiming to condition those muscles, but not create weird imbalances in your pelvis/hips/core.  You may find you need to stretch and massage the hip flexors in particular if you're doing ankle weighted walking.  Side lying on a tennis ball and rolling around to release the hip fascia can be good.

Way too much weight to start. Really hard on your knees. You will get better results from starting lighter (~20 pounds) and significantly reduce chance of injury. 

Personally, I've never found much benefit to resistance training at or below the weight I'll moving in a real life scenario. Training my cardiovascular system is different, then I'll usually do less than what I might have to do in real life. For hip flexors I've got kind of a hybrid system. I do short sessions with 5 - 8 lbs ankle weights on a stair master, treadmill, or elliptical with the incline maxxed out. I do that for 20 minutes / ~a mile three times a week for about a month with 5lb ankle weights. Then 30 minutes 1.5 miles 4x per week for another month, I move to 8 lbs ankle weights during this month. Then 40 minutes twice a week up until two weeks before my objective. 

I just try to get out hiking with some decent elevation gain and a pack a couple times a week. Nothing crazy there. 

A good well rounded resistance training program is very beneficial. 

As far as real world weight on your feet. Mountaineering boots are about 1.5 - 2 lbs each boot. Crampons are .5 - 1 lb each. Socks and gaiters are maybe .5 lb. Any snow that sticks to you boots add another .5 lb (depends on conditions, antibots don't work perfectly). Stretch in your clothing system probably adds a other pound. So like 3lbs on the low side and 5 lbs on the heavy side, so for me the 8 lbs ankle weights are great to "overtrain" my hip flexors.

I do yoga as well and roll out with a foam roller and balls. 

grug g wrote:

Way too much weight to start. Really hard on your knees. You will get better results from starting lighter (~20 pounds) and significantly reduce chance of injury. 

Maybe, I've walked with for around mile with 33 pounds and I felt completely fine afterwards. I'll consider it on my longer walks, though.