LAB GUIDELINES FOR AEROBIC THRESHOLD TESTING By Uphill Athlete co-founders Steve House and Scott Johnston You’ve decided to get tested! Great. This can provide useful, actionable information about your metabolism and helps set a baseline which if you choose to re-test in the future will demonstrate the effectiveness of the training work you’ll do. We ask that you send this letter the clinician conducting the test prior to your arriving for your test. This text explains what we want to learn from these tests and why. Aerobic Threshold. We are primarily interested in determining your aerobic threshold first (AeT), and…
Author: Uphill Athlete
TrainingPeaks.com is an incredibly powerful tool for planning and monitoring your training. We’ve been using it since 2012 and the longer we use it, the more impressed we have become. At this point we simply can’t imagine training without this tool. It is simply light-years better than using a spreadsheet-as-training-plan. TrainingPeaks was originally developed by professional cyclists and their coaches who needed to analyze not only the effect of each workout, but the cumulative effect of days, weeks, and months of workouts. Even with the simple basic (and free) version of TrainingPeaks, this monitoring is possible. In this video, Steve…
Back when I was doing a lot of shorter trips to Patagonia, really fast down and back, having success, I coined the term “Daddy style.” It’s alpine style but for a family man with two kids, like myself: show up super fit, crush something, and then head home. Make the most of your pre-trip training so that you can make the most of your climbing. It’s a tactic I’ve always deployed for alpine climbing, and in the past two years I’ve applied it to harder rock climbs—to mastering the 5.13 grade. -by Whit Magro I’ve been climbing since I was…
Aerobic Deficiency is one of the most frequent issues we encounter at Uphill Athlete among athletes seeking coaching and training. While the term might sound alarming, the condition is not dangerous and can be reversed. It describes an underdeveloped aerobic metabolic system, typically found in athletes who have spent months or years prioritizing Zone 3 and higher-intensity workouts at the expense of low-intensity aerobic base training. These individuals often feel strong, fast, and fit in short efforts, but their aerobic foundation is significantly underdeveloped. For athletes who are less active or newer to structured training, some degree of Aerobic Deficiency…
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.
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. Scott’s Killer Core Routine: Notes on the Exercises Beyond the Core Scott’s Killer Core is just the beginning.…
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.
The simple but time-consuming Rusko orthostatic test was developed by the famed Finnish exercise scientist Heikki Rusko as a way to monitor for overtraining among high-level cross-country skiers at training camps. It requires only a basic heart rate monitor with real-time display. Here is how it works: A well-rested, fit athlete will display a low resting heart rate, a rapid heart rate response in the first 15 seconds of standing, and a rapid fall in heart rate during the next minute. Whether the heart rate rises or drops during the final 30 seconds is also a good indicator that there…
Why Metabolic Efficiency Matters Consider this week of mountain activity, all performed by one person: Days 1–2: Approach on foot from Chamonix to the north face of the Grand Jorasses. Climb the Colton-MacIntyre route (ED, VI, 1,200 meters) and descend into Italy. Total time: 27 hours. Total fuel consumed: two gels and half a liter of water. Day 3: Pace a friend in a 50K trail race. Day 4: Win the Chamonix Vertical K race. Days 5–6: Travel to Alaska. Day 7: Win the Mountain Marathon in Seward, Alaska, setting a new course record. Kilian Jornet did all of this…