Core training after pregnancy demands patience and a back-to-the-fundamentals approach. This is because growing a baby changes your structure in major, long-lasting ways. Given these shifts to your alignment and anatomy, one of the best things you can do to support your return to athletic activity postpartum is to strengthen your core globally. Core training after pregnancy, and in general, isn’t about doing a million crunches to cultivate a six-pack. The goal is a functional core: a core that supports you as you eventually layer on more strenuous strength work and learn to move again with good postural and pelvic…
Author: Uphill Athlete
Assessing your Aerobic and Anaerobic Thresholds is important for every mountain athlete because that is how you will correctly define your training intensities for different workouts. This article summarizes the current best-practice recommendations for aerobic self-assessment. Embedded throughout you will find links to older articles—for those who want more information about a specific method.In our books Training for the New Alpinism and Training for the Uphill Athlete, as well on this site, we have devoted copious amounts of ink to helping athletes assess their fitness. In our efforts to cover all the angles, we’ve created a sprawling menu of options.…
YIn the final one to three weeks before a major race or climb, you should gradually reduce training volume to allow your body to recover from and adapt to the months of work you have put in. This is tapering, and when done correctly it leaves you feeling fresh and primed for your best performance. The key is to approach the taper with the same focus and intentionality you bring to your hardest training blocks. Like individualized training programs, the taper period doesn’t look the same for everyone. There are a number of core concepts to consider when planning it,…
This video shows you how to improve your skimo striding and bounding technique. Ski striding and bounding are great tools for training. Ski striding is a lot like walking uphill but with an extra hip thrust, creating a more fluid movement. Striding requires the heel placement and leg extension to be farther forward than just walking. Ski bounding is a faster, more powerful version of ski striding. Using the same basic technique, all you do is add power and more drive to get to bounding. The foot is still out in front while maintaining a solid hip swing. Bounding is…
Winter-sport athletes face a unique problem when it comes to training for their disciplines. Cross-country ski racers train seven to eight months of the year—NOT doing their sport—in preparation for a four-to-five-month racing season. These athletes have had to become very clever about sport mimicry to fool their muscular and nervous systems into believing that they are doing something very close to skiing. They call this dryland training. Off-season training can be just as beneficial for skimo racers, who would be wise to experiment with some of the methods and techniques their cross-country brethren rely on between winters. Skimo Off-Season…
Downhill running is where many trail runners lose time, accumulate injury risk, and burn through their quads. The good news is that technique improvements in three specific areas can make descents faster, more efficient, and less painful: core engagement, eye position, and cadence. These are learnable skills, not genetic gifts, and they respond quickly to deliberate practice. When we run technique clinics, the most common questions are not about climbing. They are about how to go downhill without knee pain, ankle injuries, or blown-out quads. The three tips below address all of these, and the drills at the end give…
Many people have asked me why I go to the small village of Chukung high in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal to do an annual “training camp.” Actually, “training camp” is a bit of a misnomer; really it should be called a “pre-acclimatization camp.” Even though once I’m there my main focus is running and fast hiking, the primary goal is to jumpstart my body’s acclimatization to high altitude.The reason that calling it a training camp isn’t quite right is that, at altitudes this high, the body won’t respond to training stimuli in the usual way: neither fitness, speed, nor…
In 2018 Steve House and Scott Johnston joined two of the world’s preeminent high-altitude medicine specialists, Dr. Robert Roach and Dr. Peter Hackett, to present an all-day seminar on all aspects of preparing military operations personnel to go to high altitudes. Steve and Scott presented the training methodologies you are all familiar with. Dr. Hackett presented on altitude illness. This video is Dr. Hackett’s lecture, which is approximately 1 hour in duration. Keep in mind that Dr. Hackett is presenting to an international group comprised of military field paramedics, training (coaching) personnel, and senior military officers. However, the basic science…
I never imagined that this day would come: having just received my Social Security card in the mail, I am now a certified, card-carrying old person. While I am probably more able-bodied than most 65-year-olds, my carcass carries the scars of over 10 significant orthopedic surgeries. Though a bit bruised and dented around the edges, I still like to get out there—maybe not like I did 20 years ago, but I’m not hanging up my skis, crampons, or rock shoes just yet. Each of these surgeries patched me up enough to get me back into the mountains, and each had…
Many people who reach out to Uphill Athlete for coaching are already active. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been approaching their training in a sustainable way. The jigsaw puzzle that is work and life keeps a lot of folks tethered to a haphazard schedule of shorter, high-intensity workouts during the week—think spinning, Boot Camp, CrossFit—bookended by longer mountain days on the weekends. Seems efficient, right? Not quite. You’ll crush those WODs, but if your training goal is Denali or a first ultra, you’re not primed for summit or race-day success. Read on for six endurance training principles, courtesy of endurance…