12 Week Trekking Plan
This 12 week training plan is ideal for the moderately active person planning a trek such as Everest Base camp or the Annapurna Circuit who lives and works in a city and/or is otherwise limited in their ability to hike outdoors on mountainous our even hilly terrain due to weather or locale. The exercises are meant to be done largely on the equipment available in most commercial and even some well equipped home gyms. So, access to a treadmill, stairclimber machine, stationary bike and rowing machine will be required.
The only other special requirements will be a heart rate monitor to control the intensity of the aerobic workouts and access to some steep stairs such as found in tall buildings for fire exits. Preferably these stairs will allow you at least a continuous climb of 5 minutes but smaller buildings will suffice. You will just need to go up and down more. The most important factor in your successful and enjoyable trek is going to be your fitness.
Sticking with this plan will give you the base fitness you need to not only complete the trek but to enjoy the experience. Time requirements begin at just over 4 hours in the first week and peak at over 7 hours in the final week.
Here’s useful beta about how to purchase and start your new plan and why we use TrainingPeaks. For specific questions about this training plan, or to send us your success story email us at coach@uphillathlete.com.
Thanks for becoming an #uphillathlete
Steve House
Sample Workouts:
Workout #1: Other
Planned Time: 0:45:00
This is how we more precisely determine your correct aerobic training heart rate. Aerobic Threshold (AeT) test.
The Aerobic Threshold is very important to the development of a strong aerobic base. While the gold standard would be a laboratory test, the following three tests work well most of the time to determine a base line for aerobic training. The first test is for a treadmill and the second test is for use outdoors if a treadmill is not available. For either of these first two tests you’ll want to do them in a fasted state. This means no food, of any kind, for at least two hours before the test. Water, black coffee, tea without milk or sweetners, are fine. Sugary sports drinks and the like will give you inaccurate results. The third test is just a formula. If you don’t have a lot of athletic background. And don’t train a lot I highly recommend you using the MAF formula to determine your AeT. The MAF formula is 180 minus your age. What ever that number is, is your AeT HR.
Follow the link to learn how to perform an AeT test: Aerobic Threshold (AeT) Test Treadmill option or Outdoor option.
Workout #2: Strength
Planned Time: 1:00:00
Warm Up: 10min on Treadmill hiking 5%-10% grade.
Bird Dog: 8 reps each leg
Bridge: 8 Reps each Leg
Leg Raise Progression: 8 Reps each leg
Side Plank: Hold for 10 sec. on each side.
Plank Progression: 20sec hold
Super Man: 3x5sec holdAs you get stronger feel free to add a weight vest while doing these exercises.General Strength:
Box Step ups 3×10 reps (Each Leg)
Heel Touch 3×10 reps (Each Leg)(You can adjust the set and reps if it is too hard or too easy as well)You can adjust the height of the box for both Step Ups and Heel Touch. I recommend using a 10-14in box for step ups to start and a 6in block for heel touches. Or a box 75% height to your knee for box step ups. If you are doing the workout from home a stair works well for both box step ups and heel touches. If balance is a challenge doing these put your box next to a wall for assistances.
You can add resistance if with weight once you feel strong with just body weight. You can use a weight vest, water jug, bar or other types of weight to make it more challenging. Here is a link to a video demonstrating how to properly do both exercises.
Workout #3:
Walk
Planned Time: 0:30:00
Set Treadmill to 8%, keep your Heart rate under Aerobic Threshold.
Workout #4: Walk
Planned Time: 0:30:00
Set Treadmill to 8%, keep your Heart rate under Aerobic Threshold. Or if you want to mix it up do the stair master for 30min keeping HR under AeT.
Workout #5: Strength
Planned Time: 1:00:00
Warm Up: 10min on Treadmill hiking 5%-10% grade.
Core:
Bird Dog: 8 reps each leg
Bridge: 8 Reps each Leg
Leg Raise Progression: 8 Reps each leg
Side Plank: Hold for 10 sec. on each side.
Plank Progression: 20sec hold
Super Man: 3x5sec hold
As you get stronger feel free to add a weight vest while doing these exercises.
General Strength:
Box Step ups 3×10 reps (Each Leg)
Heel Touch 3×10 reps (Each Leg)
(You can adjust the set and reps if it is too hard or too easy as well)
You can adjust the height of the box for both Step Ups and Heel Touch. I recommend using a 10-14in box for step ups to start and a 6in block for heel touches. Or a box 75% height to your knee for box step ups. If you are doing the workout from home a stair works well for both box step ups and heel touches.
If balance is a challenge doing these put your box next to a wall for assistances.
You can add resistance if with weight once you feel strong with just body weight. You can use a weight vest, water jug, bar or other types of weight to make it more challenging.