I’ve been using weighted hill climbs the last couple of years to prepare for spring couloir climbs, and I’ve found that they’ve helped me develop the leg strength and stamina to at least keep up with my partner, though I still struggle relative to other regular climbers.
But one thing has always perplexed me, and that is the repeated advice that if your heart rate is what’s slowing you down, you need to add more weight. In my experience, adding weight is what elevates my heart rate even quicker. In fact, I can’t even comprehend in my mind what it looks like to exhaust the legs without elevating the heart rate. Even if I’m doing squats in the gym, I’m usually huffing and puffing, and that only gets worse when I do heavy sets.
For my hill climbs, I typically carry 3.5 gallons (primarily b/c that’s all my pack will fit and I don’t want to tear up my good packs!) and go up and down at Red Rocks in CO. I can’t keep it below high zone 3, YET I can usually feel it in my calves and glutes the next day (not severely sore, but enough to know they’ve been sufficiently stressed).
So my question is, are my legs too strong for my aerobic capacity, or is my aerobic capacity way too underdeveloped?
I’m 37, 5’9″, 180lbs, 17% body fat, fairly athletic build, have always been more of a sprinter than a marathoner, if any of that matters or helps.
Thanks,
James