Any successful ascent can’t be done without luck, good weather, a positive attitude, a close-knit team of people, and undoubtedly – preparation! Climbing Elbrus, Mont Blanc, Kazbek, as well as any mountain, obliges you to have a good shape. You have to start gaining it long before your planned trip to the mountains!
The best, in my opinion, will be a period of 3-4 months before going to the mountains! However, six months before is better. This is the time that will allow you not only to gain the necessary physical form, but also to recover.
Of course, it won’t be superfluous to pre-read some “good books” about climbing, and take a look at the workouts plans, and so on…, but, in fact, the whole workout will be just simple exercises, and mostly all of them are all related to cardio-training and increasing the overall stamina of your body.
Running is the key to your success
Run, run and run again! 🙂 This theorem is very simple – the better you train your heart, lungs and leg muscles, the easier it will be for you to pull your backpack up the mountain, breathe fully with low oxygen. The heart needs to work a little more often in order to deliver the necessary portion of life-giving oxygen to all organs, so it MUST be in good shape!
In addition, running is not only healthy, but also a pleasure! 😉 I’ve written about this in my previous article “5 Reasons to Start Running”.
So, in general the most important things are:
- Choose an exact time and make a schedule when you are going to run (it can be in the morning or evening, and it’s up to you);
- Start running, for example, from a distance of 2 kilometers and get it up to 10-12 km;
- I would recommend to do it 3 times a week, so your body will have time to rest and recover;
- Increase the training time, for example, from 20-30 minutes at the beginning to 60 minutes after a couple of weeks.
How to diversify your running
You can diversify your running exercises, so you won’t get tired of doing the same thing for a long period time! For example, you can try interval running, when you run with your maximum speed for 200-300 meters, and then run slowly for 400-600 meters. The distance might be up to 3 km. It’s healthy, but very exhausting! 😉 Another good thing is running up and down stairs, stepping on each step! You can also try “plogging” – it is when you run and collect garbage at the same time! This trend was invented originally in Sweden, and it became popular all around the World. It’s very good for your body and the environment!!!
It’s very easy to do, you just need to take a trash bag and gloves for a run 😉
Squats is another healthy exercise. You can squat on one leg, like a pistol, or on two legs. Start with a small amount, for example, 5 times and get it up to 20-30 times.
Oh yeah, a jumping rope is the best and funny thing! I just remembered my childhood….! 🙂 It turns out, that jumping with a rope is very effective. It’s enough for only 2-3 minutes of jumping! You will have a lot of fun, especially if you do this together with your partner!
What else can you do to prepare for the mountains
Of course, training your legs is good, but don’t forget about the other parts of your body!
You can swing the press, do push-ups and strengthen your back (so, your heavy backpack won’t cause you a “headache”). But in general just improve yourself and train everything you can! 🙂 And train your brain too!!!
As you can see, all these exercises are accessible to anyone, and do not require going to gyms or any other financial investments! The main thing is not to be lazy, exercise! After all your body will certainly reward you on the ascent!
The last recommendation is to change your training program to minimize your exercises three-two weeks before going to the mountains, and set aside one week to rest and completely recover!
Good luck and see you in the mountains! 😉
