Hi folks,

I’m interested in hearing about ME protocols people have used in a gym setting. Especially ones that have some specificity to alpinism. I have a garage gym with an olympic bar, squat rack w/ pullup bar, bench, rings, hangboard, step-up box and a few dumb bells, kettle bells, resistance bands, etc.

Last spring I completed my ME outside using a hill and walls/crags with a weighted pack. I’m finishing up a transition back to base training with circuit style weight sessions and will be doing MS using hill sprints and bouldering over the next six weeks (with some auxiliary strength work thrown in to avoid strength imbalances). I plan to start the ME phase after that (late Oct/ early Nov) but my work schedule makes things difficult to get outside for the time I would need to do ME.

The goal is to use this ME phase to get prepared for winter alpine climbing. I’ve thought of doing step-ups in an interval style to keep things interesting (as opposed to doing straight box step-ups for an hour) and am interested in people’s experience with this. The big question is specific arm exercises. I did a lot of incline pull-ups on ice tools for MS last year which was great but I can’t do enough of them to get an ME type of workout. I’ve thought about building a ladder in the back yard for tool sessions, but I’m also interested in alternatives using what I already have. Maybe mixing upper body strength exercises to get an ME-type stress is a possible answer.

So, if you have a protocol that you have used effectively let me know!

Thanks, Sam