VO2 max is often seen as the gold standard of endurance, but is it really the best predictor of performance? This article challenges the VO2 max myth and reveals why factors like economy and lactate threshold may be more important for athletes aiming to excel.
Author: Uphill Athlete
Maximize your fitness with this 12-week mountaineering training plan, especially for athletes with limited time availability.
Kevin Daniels was a climber to the core. For over three decades, the Bishop-based owner and operator of Fixe Hardware USA divided his time between outdoor-industry work and vertical play: alpine, ice, trad, sport, bouldering—he did it all. Then an ACL re-injury sidelined him in 2013, and his doctor suggested he tool around the mountains on a trail bike while recovering. The next day he bought a motorcycle, and the following year he raced over 40 hours through the Mexican desert to his first Baja 1000 Ironman finish. He was hooked. Determined to win the 2017 running of the event—the…
BUY NOW FOR $49 The Uphill Athlete 8 week Mount Blanc Plan is designed for climbers bound for either the Gouter or the more demanding Cosmique route over Mt Blanc du Tacul and Mt Maudit. This plan assumes that you have no strength training background and is ideal for mountaineers and trekkers who have never engaged in an organized training program or who have not done so for a long time.This training plan is based on scientifically sound training principles and a combined thirty years of professional endurance coaching experience and sixty years of world-wide climbing and mountaineering experience. In…
I am 55 years old. Even though I started climbing when I was 14, for the vast majority of my life, I never did anything too strenuous, or big. I climbed Pocotapetl when I was 14, and Aconcagua when I was about 24; and I was always an outdoors enthusiast. But it wasn’t until 2011, a year after I left my corporate career at SAP (a global business software company), that I decided to take on climbing in a much more formal way. In the three years following my departure from SAP, I was fortunate enough to make quite a…
Developing core strength is important for all mountain athletes. A strong core will guard you against injury and will enable you to more effectively use your arms and legs in your chosen sport. Watch the following video demonstration of Scott’s Killer Core Routine to learn the proper form for each exercise. All athletic movements originate from the core; do not neglect this foundational form of strength. For a deeper dive into the exercises, consult Chapter Seven in Training for the New Alpinism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqpbU1Y3bU&feature=youtu.be Scott’s Killer Core Routine: Notes on the Exercises Strict Sit-ups: Straight back. All the way up and…
One question we often get is: How fit do I need to be to climb/run/ski Everest or Denali or Rainier…or…? Our collective 100-plus-year history of endurance training and mountaineering clearly points to the conclusion that you can never have too much aerobic fitness. And when I prepare for an expedition to an 8,000-meter peak, I know my training is going to require a lot of the following three things: duration, consistency, and elevation. Beyond the training for my own (many) expeditions, Uphill Athlete has now coached dozens of successful 8,000-meter-peak climbers. We feel that we can confidently predict an athlete’s…
Over the last decade the sport of ski mountaineering racing, or skimo, has seen a dramatic increase in participants, most notably in North America where it captures legions of trail and mountain runners seeking winter challenges in the mountains. Thanks to rapidly improving equipment, moving fast on skimo race gear has started to look more and more like the cross-country ski racing of yesteryear. It’s no surprise that skimo racers can reap huge efficiency gains by adapting a number of Nordic ski training methods. One of the most valuable of those methods is training on roller skis. By closely mimicking…
Professional alpinist David Goettler, coached by Scott Johnston, uses a special muscular endurance workout in preparation for an alpine-style ascent of Shishapangma in 2017. The day’s session involves sets of weighted climbs of a long staircase. Specific training like this should be layered on top of hundreds of hours of aerobic base building. It is not recommended for those who are suffering from a lower-limb injury. You May Also Be Interested In: Mount Everest without Oxygen: Reaching the Highest Point of My Life Shishapangma 2017 Running in the Khumbu to Acclimatize
The following article was written by professional alpinist David Goettler about his return to the south face of Shishapangma in May 2017 to again attempt a new route that he and Ueli Steck had tried in 2016. Below, David reflects on where his personal journey to these mountains has taken him and makes some interesting observations about how a second year of structured training has brought him to a new level of fitness. Progress and Success This year I returned to the south face of Shishapangma. For me to want to return to the same mountain two years in a…