I've got the going up part down pretty darn well, but when it comes time to turn and head for home I seem to run into some real difficulty. My legs seem to weaken rapidly and my knees really begin to ache. I have started using trekking poles and this seems to help some for sure but it is not the true answer.

I know that descending a mounting uses a much different set of muscles than the act climbing a mountain. I imagine I really need to strengthen my Quads (which in turn will help my knees I am assuming).

Can anybody share some knowledge and training techniques that one might use to help strenthen their legs and knees for the descent? I've never been much of a gym rat so I'm looking at ways to improve outside of just lifting some weights.

thanks.

Crossfit.com
Actually my legs were extremely sore after a 7,000 foot one day descent, but I had enough to make it without too much suffering. Training eccentric movements is tough.
One thing, don't think about "training your quads". This will get you in trouble. The body is a system designed to work together. If you "train your quads" in isolation, you'll just screw up something else.
Obviously going up and down hills is good, you're in Denver so that's easy. In addition, practice "air squats". Use a full range of motion.
Work your core. Stay off the damn weight machines. Body weight and free weights are good. Look at www.mtnathlete.com Good stuff there.
Sort of rambling. If you give some more details about your training and goals, I'd be happy to give you some suggestions.

The real problem is what trains you best for going down hill, is ”going down hill”. Unfortunately too much “going down hill” leads to injuries. I’ve added few steep trail runs to my workout regime from 1 to 4 weeks before peak bagging trips and it really seamed to help on my last two trips. I’ll bet that doing more peak bagging would help too. Past that, a little vitamin I before descent and trekking poles will help too.

Hi
Should try yourself how good ...
If you see someone proposed damage may not be helpful to you ...
Best regards

got any big buildings around? take the stairs down from the top floor, uses very similar muscles. i work on the 19th floor and use the stairs to ground level several times a day, makes a very noticeable difference.

or you could always learn to ski/snowboard and not have to worry about it

DMT you going Barefoot in the mountains?
Description No. 1 was appropriate because I am using this method ...

try wrapping the knees it may help absorb some of the shock and spinning on a cycle will help to build the aducter and abducter muscles in the legs and lube the knee joints up. cheers....Gak

Very interesting, Dingus, I was trying to start doing some barefoot running but wasn't sure people actually did it on mountain trails. I really enjoy being barefoot as much as possible, in the crags and elsewhere, and think it helps with precision footing and putting less stress on my joints.

I am interested in your experience. Did you do it on "real" approaches, with pack on, or only on light training hikes? And how did you go about strengthening soles enough that the bettered stance benefits outweighed the pains, especially on sharp loose rocks.

In my experience with many people that had knee pain on mountain descents, many of them had muscle imbalances. It’s not uncommon for people to have a relatively weak inside quad muscle (vastus medialis) compared to the outside quad muscle (vastus lateralis).

During the descent the inside quad gets tired and the outside quad starts pulls the knee out of track. This type of imbalance can develop from not using enough range of motion during squats and other quad dominant exercises.

To overcome this type of imbalance strengthening the inside quad is the key. However it’s not easy to focus on this muscle without outside quad muscle taking over.

One exercise that has worked well for this is the reverse step-up (also called Petersen Step-up). You basically are stepping up backward on a relatively low step (6-12 inches depending on strength). The key on this exercise is to go slow on controlled both up and down.

I have a good article on my site describing this along with a youtube video. The article can be found at http://www.bodyresults.com/e2kneetest.asp

A couple ideas: lunges (slow and in control), slow motion step up and step down on a stair. Maybe squats. Careful not to overdo the lunges, I find they can be a little hard on the knees. Check out the bodyresults stuff also.

Thanks for the replies everybody - some good info that I'll be putting to use for sure.

Going to the great smokey mountains and Mt. Mitchell in like 3 days and was hoping to find out this info.

I cycle regularly as part of my training and seem to fare better compared to my climbing buddies who don't on the decents.

Used one real cheap trekking pole and my knee feels find this time. Everything else and right wrist is sore but won't have knee pain for a week

Your Dudeness wrote:I think I don't pound as much this way because I touch the foot to the ground and then load it and then lift the other foot, touch it, load it, etc. It is gentler than facing out.

This can be accomplished facing out, and I imagine hiking barefoot as DMT suggests will provide some negative feedback when you fall onto your front foot rather than bend your back leg and place your front foot.

The exception is plunge-stepping in snow or scree. I'd prefer shoes in this case...