Wading through mountains of information on mountaineering training to find simple, actionable tips you can use in your daily workouts can feel like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Seriously, who has time to read doorstopper books on the subject or digest weeks of training plans? The good news is that there is one kind of workout you should actually be doing about 80% of the time that will give you plenty of bang for your fitness buck. If you’re curious, it’s called aerobic base training. (I don’t think I actually name it in the episode!) And here’s how it works.

The 80/20 principle

In any area of your life, it’s usually a small subset of your actions that give you the majority of your results. Examples:

• If you run a business, 80% of your revenue probably comes from 20% of your customers.

• If you’re a blogger, 80% of your traffic comes from 20% of your posts.

• At work, 20% of your time accounts for 80% of what you produce.

The secret to simplifying your life is to figure out the magic “20%” for a given result — and focus your energy there.

So here’s the 80/20 for endurance training:

Lots of cardio at moderate intensity

Did that surprise you? Did you think I was going to say HIIT training, tabata, or lifting weights?

It’s a common misconception that intensity equals fitness. For an individual without specific goals, high-intensity workouts are actually a good place focus. (This is the principle that CrossFit is built on.)

However, if you’re training for a specific goal, you need sport-specific training. A marathoner needs a different workout program than a basketball player. And a mountaineer needs a different training plan than a competitive mountain biker. That makes intuitive sense, right?

So what does a mountaineer need to be able to do? Fundamentally, they need to be able to exercise at moderate intensities from a very long time (anywhere from 5 to 20 hours, depending on the mountain). That’s several times longer than your average marathon, though the work is less intense.

Research shows that the best way to get in shape for long events is through a model called classic endurance training. And high-volume, moderate-intensity cardio is the backbone of this type of program.

Let’s break that maxim down a bit further.

What’s lots of cardio?

In the classic endurance model, you gradually increase your volume (time spent training) to a peak that occurs a few weeks before your goal trip.

When calculating the right peak, you can look at this a few ways:

• Build up to the length of your longest day. So if you expect to spend 7 hours on the mountain, build up to 7 hours of hiking at once (or possibly a little more) during training. While this is easy to understand, it may not be feasible for longer trips or for people who are mostly training in the gym.

• Build up to 8–10 hours of moderate cardio per week. This should get you in good shape for most trips, especially if you can sustain it for about 6 weeks leading up to your peak week. You can go higher if you want, but it’s really tough when you’re working a full-time job and trying to live your life. Alternatively, don’t throw it in the towel if you can’t quite hit this benchmark. You might surprise yourself. People climb big mountains on much less.

What is moderate intensity?

Moderate intensity roughly corresponds to your aerobic threshold — the exercise intensity where your body shifts from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 representing all-out effort, it’s about a level 6 (also known as RPE 6).

The biggest mistake people make with moderate intensity is going too easy. Popular endurance training books, YouTubers, and speakers tend to emphasize that aerobic threshold work is “easy.” This may be true of you’re an elite athlete who trains for a living. But when researchers ask the general public what RPE 6 feels like, most report that it’s “a little hard.” As an ultrarunner who spends a lot of time at that intensity, I would tend to agree.

Aerobic Base FAQs

How can beginners start to build aerobic base?

A winning formula is to start with volume, then gradually add intensity. For many people, this means starting by walking and hiking. A good benchmark to work up to is 30–60 minutes of easy cardio on most days a week.

Once you’re able to handle some volume, start pushing the intensity for short bursts. You can play with speed by power walking to a tree or mailbox or powering up a short hill on your hike. (This type of speed play is called “fartlek.”) Eventually, you can graduate to short intervals (starting at 30s to 1 minute) at RPE 6.

If you’re brand new to hiking fitness, check out my 4-week Walk 2 Hike training plan. It’s totally free, and will take you from zero activity to daily activity with easy walking and at-home strength workouts.

What exercises should I do?

If you’re a beginner, focus on establishing consistency with a variety of exercises you enjoy. Include anything that gets you moving steadily and raises your heart rate. Try walking, hiking, group fitness classes (you can stream many of these at home), biking, and swimming.

As you get closer to your trip, you’ll want to shift toward hiking and mountaineering-specific cardio. Anything that forces you to step upward repeatedly will do the trick. Some examples:

• Hiking on hilly terrain (most specific)

• Running (especially hills)

• Walking or jogging stairs (a stair mill at the gym will also work in a pinch)

• Walking on an incline treadmill

• Cross country skiing and snowshoeing

If you have trouble reaching RPE 6 during exercise, try wearing a pack with some weight. Sand and snow can also add resistance.

What about strength training?

As we’ll discuss in future episodes, strength training has many benefits for your health and fitness, and you should definitely include it in your program.

However, in my experience, many fitness professionals and influencers oversell strength training to endurance athletes at the expense of aerobic base training. This is even true of personal trainers. There are probably several reasons why this happens, including a lack of familiarity with mountaineering and classic endurance training in general. (Endurance training really isn’t a core competency for trainers. It’s a bit of a specialty.)

This isn’t to say you should ignore strength training. All I’m saying is that it’s not part of your 80%. It’s helpful, but it’s not the engine that gets you to the top of the mountain.

To illustrate, before the 1980s, endurance athletes rarely did strength training. (I’m not saying that’s a good thing. If you look at winning marathon times through the years, performances have definitely improved with the addition of strength training.)

However, think of all the mountains that were climbed with minimal strength training and a focus on aerobic base. This would include the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.

So don’t turn up your nose at strength training. But if a trainer or “expert” tells you that you need to lift 6 days a week to climb your mountain or doesn’t assign you aerobic base workouts, it’s probably time to move on.

Additional Resources Mentioned in the pod

Timestamps

(1:40) Why it’s still important to train during coronavirus time/quarantine

(3:55) A little about me

(6:10) The number one thing you must do to train for mountaineering — revealed!

(7:30) Intro to classic endurance training for mountaineering

(8:35) How much cardio is “a lot?”

(11:00) What does moderate intensity mean?

(14:30) Tips for brand new beginners

(17:00) Best kinds of cardio exercise for mountaineers

(19:10) Where does strength training fit in?

So there you have it. Your number one Mountaineering training priority.

I hope you enjoyed the pod! If you have ideas for future topics, be sure to contact me and let me know. I love hearing from you, and I do my best to read and reply to every email.