Training Tips from our Team

As a group of experienced high altitude trekkers, we thought we'd share some of our own training tips to help you out at the beginning of your trek training journey. 

Molly suggests setting yourself small, easy to achieve goals to kick start your training off. "If you're not very sporty, try going out for a small walk around the block or just a 3km at first. Or if you usually get the bus, why not walk to university instead or get off a stop early?". You can also set yourself smaller challenges along the way to help with your training as well as your fundraising. "I did a 10km with friends to help with my fundraising and also prepare me for Kilimanjaro, it was a lot of fun". 

Sam recommends swimming to kick start your training. He says "it's a full body workout and helps you prepare for altitude too. It increases your lung capacity which means you'll be able to take in more oxygen on the mountain." It's also a great way to have less impact on aching muscles. 

Naomi loved doing practice hikes with her team before taking on the Machu Picchu trek at university. "It's a fun social, and not only helps you get to know your team but can also help you prepare for walking such a long way too. Doing it after a night out can also help you prepare for lack of sleep you may have along the trek." Naomi is also a very big advocate of doing the exercise you enjoy, "by doing something you actually enjoy, which for me is running, helps you to actually stick to a trek training plan".

Lucy found the biggest struggle on her challenge was walking with a heavy rucksack. So her biggest recommendation would be to practice walking with a weight before taking on your trek. "Both with your practice hikes outside, but also in the gym, make sure you are carrying around 6kg with you to get used to carrying what you will be carrying on the trek. You can up the weights throughout your training plan. For my second challenge, I went to the gym and put the treadmill on the steepest incline with 6kg in a rucksack. I found this prepared me way more for the trek than my previous training for Kilimanjaro". 

Felix agrees with Lucy, setting the incline to high or going on the stepping machine whilst wearing a heavy weight seems to be the way forward. Tom goes one step further suggesting that you should also wear your boots in the gym to ensure you wear them in properly too.