Training for a flatlander

[FlatlanderMike]

I certainly appreciate what you are talking about.
I had a goal of doing a 14er two weeks but came up short.
I lost 20 pounds and got down to 220.
I walked 25+ miles / week for 3 months, plus did a lot of time on the elliptical.
But coming from Florida, I did not fully appreciate the need to acclimate to the altitude.
I arrived in Denver on Saturday and tried to climb Quandary on Monday.
Well needless the say the mountain kicked my butt!
I only made it to 13,100.
The one bit on training that I believe I missed out on was stair stepping, or any other exercise that really pushes your lung capacity.
I'll do better next year. And regardless of not making it, it was the time of my life.

Good luck, I know you can do it!

[Bean]

FlatlanderMike, I've found no better exercise for improving performance at altitude than running. Go outside and just run, fast. I haven't gotten into HIIT but intervals (say, half mile at 6:00 pace then a few minutes at a 9-10min pace, repeat for 5-10 miles) are amazing for it. After a fair amount of that I felt nothing from the altitude this summer at all. The only clue I had as to the elevation was my beer almost exploding when I opened it on top

[aerohr]

Losing 80 lbs is an amazing feat. That alone is something many/most people could not do. congratulations and keep it up.

As far as training goes most of it has been covered here, however you need to incorporate an element of strength training in your routine. The reason being that the weight you are losing is a combination of fat/water/muscle. The less muscle you have the slower your metabolism and the easier it could be to regain weight, especially if you are dieting to lose weight, as dieting tells the body to go into famine mode.

Many people confuse weight loss and fitness, they are two separate things, although they tend to go hand in hand. being lighter will make the gains in fitness even greater. I dont think many super models are climbing 14ers.

Training should encompass at least the following systems:
strength/power
aerobic endurance
anaerobic systems

strength/power -You dont need a bodybuilding type program where Tuesday you work pecs and then wed you whale on your glutes, etc. In fact most people dont need this kind of program. 2-3 days a week of a few simple exercises with weights should be sufficient to attain a base of fitness. Think of exercises like squats, deadlifts, cleans, jerks, chin ups (assisted if need be), dips (assisted if need be), kettlebell swings/snatches, push ups, etc. Mostly multi joint exercises that recruit a lot of muscle groups. avoid things like curls and tricep push downs.

Aerobic endurance- sounds like you have that covered. As you get closer to summer try to get a few 3-6 hour training sessions in. wear your pack with a little weight in it so your shoulders are used to eat/ Also these longer training sessions will allow you to fine tune your fueling and hydration needs. If you want to experiment with gels/bars/drinks do it in training and not on the day of your climb.

Anaerobic training- intervals, and threshold workouts (work outs at you anaerobic threshold for set period of time). no more than once, maybe twice a week to start. You need to train your body to recover, as you recover quicker you can do more.

This is the gym workout that I have found to most closely resemble what climbing a 14er is like, especially one where there is uphill on the return trip. And it is not for the faint of heart, as well as not for everyone.
think of this more as a template- I have different variations on this.
work out on an piece of aerobic equipment. Stair climber is best. do a set number of flights of stairs as fast as you can. get off stair master and go do some squats, cleans, deadlifts, etc. the point is to do something fairly heavy and a relatively large number of them, maybe 30 minutes or so (think 10 sets of 10, or 50-40-30-20-10). the point here is to deaden the legs a bit. when you are done with the weights go back on the stairmaster for a set number of flights.

looks like:
200 flights of stairs, 10 x 5 cleans and front squat complex, 100 flights of stairs. SCALE AS NEEDED. the last session on the stairmill is awful, truly unpleasant but it prepares you for having to climb back uphill with dead legs. Just like holy cross.

try to get out and run/hike on trails as well. Treadmills/ellipticals/stair climbers dont work out the small muscles involved in balance. These are the muscle you use when hopping around on talus. Machines=weak ankles (IMO).

I will agree with some of the points you've made, but I strongly disagree with your suggestions of cleans, jerks, deadlifts, squats, etc with the casual approach you've taken for them. Great exercises, yes, I do them all. Are compound movements for overall fitness better than isolation movements, absolutely. However, without proper instruction on these exercises, or just jumping into a high intensity program, you are setting someone up for serious injury. Even many instructors cannot properly teach clean/jerk form, so the idea that someone can just start doing them is a bad idea. Lets also not forget that as far as lower body strength, if he was able to have some success climbing at 400 lbs, strength is probably not the limiting factor in this equation. If there is time to throw some full body weight training workouts in 2-3 times a week, that would be great, but the myth floating around the each pound of muscle burns 40-50 calories extra per day etc. etc. is unfounded and most research suggests that while muscle does burn more calories, its more like 6-8 calories per pound of muscle per day versus 2 calories per pound of adipose (fat) tissue per day.

As for weight loss, I think the primary focus should continue to be cardio and nutrition. This alone is sufficient to take an untrained individual and maximize weight loss. If you are on a narrow time schedule, cardio should be absolutely priority number one. I agree with trying to bring some intensity into it, but until you are relatively fit, I don't think its a great idea to be pounding out high intensity interval training, again for risk of injury. Cycling, elliptical, stair master, walking, and other low impact activities are going to do wonders to save your knees, hips, and other joints until you are down to a healthier weight. Trying to run at 320 sounds like a recipe for overuse injury, though maybe some fast walking/light jogging intermixed will work for you as a progression to full on jogging. Who knows, maybe you already are jogging, in any event, just be wary of not blowing out your knees/hips/feet. Cycling is excellent low-impact exercise which is really great for getting outside for an enjoyable few hours. Swimming is also great - it will build strength and muscle in an untrained individual, it is great for flexibility, it is about as low impact as it gets, and it burns a decent amount of calories. Be careful, however, as swimming tends to dramatically increase hunger post swim leading many studies to suggest that any calories burned during the exercise are re-consumed after the workout. If you can control that, great.

Finally, I wouldn't worry about anaerobic exercise too much. Hiking is inherently one of the most aerobic activities you can do, and while one may experience slight anaerobic moves, as long as you are staying on class 1/class 2 hiking, you'll hardly be engaging anaerobic systems unless you are purposely trying hard to wear yourself out. If you are slow and methodical in your pacing, you shouldn't be bumping up into anaerobic levels... and if you are, you'll know pretty quickly that you need to slow down.

Congrats on the weight loss - I have a close friend who has dropped over 120 lbs and is a completely different person in just about every positive way. I hiked the Barr trail with him this summer, he rips out half marathons now, snowboards, and one would be hard pressed not to call him athletic. Stick with it, drop the weight, and make an absolute promise to yourself never to let it go back up. Once you've hit your target, make a promise never to let your weight increase to more than 10 pounds above that number... because once that slip happens, its all downhill from there.

Good luck on your continued success, I'm sure you'll hit your goal next summer.

[Hobopoet]

As expected, you have a lot of really good advise here. This site has any number of experienced climbers, accomplished athletes, personal trainer, coaches, etc. I worked with a personal training client this past year who also lost a significant amount of weight, from around 300 to about 180 now - and still losing! We spent two weeks in the San Juans this summer, and he rocked! The experience changed his life; he came back to Michigan, retired from his government job, sold his house, bought a Toyota Tacoma 4X4 and moved to Durango.

[14erkid]

I would go this site called Crossfit. My dad has gotten in good shape doing crossfit. They have a workout everyday ranging from cardio vascular training to strength building. They even have competitions to show your fitness. It has worked and I know a few people that are in extremely good shape because of this site.

[paul109876]

Hello fellow Hoosier!!!! Glad to see a post from a local. I have struggled with weight issues my entire life.
At 1 point I was up to 318lbs and now hover in the 260 range. I recently went to the Dr. to find out I have a thyroid issue.
I turned 46 last July and as far as cardio I'm in the best shape yet. I'm not going to bore everyone else with tips but if you'd like some advice send me a pm. I plan on heading back out 3 times next summer.

[bigsexy]

I want to thank everyone for their advice. I weighed in Monday and was down 85 pounds. On Saturday I did a 16 mile trail and on Monday started walking 5 miles per night with a 30 pound pack. Tomorrow I am taking the pack to a local park and doing work on a hill. I started light weight training and got my bike out of storage and into the garage. It is amazing what ten years of storage can do to a chain and tubes.

Thanks again for the help and I hope to see some of you at the top of Holy Cross in a couple of years.