Re: Some exercises for climbing & hiking
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:57 pm
Ze wrote:The key to any of these is that you need to be able to do high intensity for at least 4-5 minutes non-stop...so you would have to find enough stairs to do that (like a tall building stairwell).
1 minute intervals, for instance, won't yield the same improvements in conditioning.
Hi Ze,
I love your blog, so many interesting topics discussed. I don't understand your assertion that high intensitiy intervals be done in 4-5 minute increments. What percentage of maximum aerobic heart rate should one aim for?
I derive the core ideas of training from Mark Twight's book 'Extreme Alpinism, Climbing High, Fast, and Light" published sometime in the last century. Are there newer ideas folks are applying to alpine climbing?
I currently do two types of high intensity work - intervals and lactate threshold training.
For intervals I run as hard as I can up a steep, consistent grade one mile long. I run for 90 secs followed by 3 1/2 minutes active recovery (jogging back down the hill). Within 60 seconds I go from aerobic to anaerobic - after 90 seconds my vision literally goes red then black and I begin seeing stars. I can't imagine sustaining this level for 4 minutes. After six sets including a warm up and cool down jog I am pretty wrecked.
For lactate threshold training I run uphill for 3,800 ft in 4 miles keeping my heart rate just barely in the aerobic zone. This takes 45 minutes.
It sounds like you are advocating a level of intensity higher than lacate threshold training but lower than completely anaerobic intervals. Can you expound upon this?
TIA,
EB