Training for backpacking

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Replies

  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
    I go backpacking every summer!

    My suggestion to you is this:

    Load up your pack so its approximately the same weight it will be during your trip. Now go get on a stair climber or treadmill and stay there for an hour.. do this for several weeks..

    The big issue with packing is getting your body used to the heavy pack resting on your shoulders and hips. The only way to do that is to wear the damn thing a lot until your body grows accustomed to it.

    That's what I thought. Guess there's no way around practicing being a pack mule :P
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
    Also,

    I disagree completely with the posters saying your pack should not cause discomfort.

    When you go on a long trip your pack will inevitably be heavy. Even with a perfect fit its still applying significant pressure to the points it contacts your body, there is no way around that its simple physics. This will lead to bruising and discomfort. You have to get those contact points accustomed to the pressure and that takes repeated exposure over a period of time.


    This person has never had a proper-fitted pack. Bruising is NOT normal.


    Or you have never been on a ten day trek with an 80 lb pack. Seriously, with a super heavy pack your going to get bruising and discomfort at the contact points. to claim otherwise is pure ignorance, or your having someone else carry your weight for you.


    I wonder if the bruising issue is different for women vs. men. My hips also bruise very badly from surfing, and I know a few other women who have experienced this, but no men. Plus, I put most of the weight on my hips because my shoulders just couldn't take it.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    Also,

    I disagree completely with the posters saying your pack should not cause discomfort.

    When you go on a long trip your pack will inevitably be heavy. Even with a perfect fit its still applying significant pressure to the points it contacts your body, there is no way around that its simple physics. This will lead to bruising and discomfort. You have to get those contact points accustomed to the pressure and that takes repeated exposure over a period of time.


    This person has never had a proper-fitted pack. Bruising is NOT normal.


    Or you have never been on a ten day trek with an 80 lb pack. Seriously, with a super heavy pack your going to get bruising and discomfort at the contact points. to claim otherwise is pure ignorance, or your having someone else carry your weight for you.


    I wonder if the bruising issue is different for women vs. men. My hips also bruise very badly from surfing, and I know a few other women who have experienced this, but no men. Plus, I put most of the weight on my hips because my shoulders just couldn't take it.

    As others have said, a well fitted pack should not bruise you. Sell a kidney if you have to, but buy a good pack that a competent person fitted to you.

    For exercise, stairs or a stair stepper machine will do you far more good than a treadmill. You get the cardio and leg strength you need.
  • trelm249
    trelm249 Posts: 777 Member
    Do both cardio and resistance training. Yes that includes heavy lifting such as deadlifts, squats and power cleans.

    By all means get fitted for a quality backpack. Particularly on an extended trek with that kind of mileage.
    You aren't going to borrow someone's shoes to run a 10K or their bike to do a 60 mile race. Why skimp on your backpack or boots for a backpacking trip?

    Yes several extended shakedowns over long weekends prior to the actual trek are in order. You probably should start those monthly in April.

    50 to 70lbs backpacks are not uncommon on a 7 to 10 day trek.

    Enjoy it. Backpacking is a blast.
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
    Just found out it's 14-22 mile days. Ehhhh... I wasn't even considering getting a new pack up till just now. I'm now secretly hoping my friend who is planning this is just being really ambitious and he will actually scale it back a little.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    I would look into the new pack. Probably, it will solve many of your problems. If you do 20 mile days, you probably just will be tired and sore after the first one. It's okay. We all still go.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    I have never gone on a backpacking trip like this but I have trained for hunting season by adding sand or flour to my pack and hitting the local trails. With the sand or flour I could really push it and just dump the weight if it got to much or I had to get back in a hurry.

    Stairs would be great but there is just really no substitute for actual trail hiking. All those stabilizer muscles just dont get worked unless you hike on uneven terrain. Start light and work your way up past what you will actually be carrying.
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
    Should I put on weight for that kind of trip? I'm 128, and about 16% body fat. I don't want to drop down under 125, and my buddy planning the trip said I should load 6-14 days prior and put on 7.5 lbs of fat. 7.5 seems ridiculous ( I think he gave me this number based on his size and not mine), but I'm thinking 2 or 3 is probably about right. WIll there be an energy advantage to having the extra fat? I have 10 lbs of extra fat for fuel on my body already.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    Should I put on weight for that kind of trip? I'm 128, and about 16% body fat. I don't want to drop down under 125, and my buddy planning the trip said I should load 6-14 days prior and put on 7.5 lbs of fat. 7.5 seems ridiculous ( I think he gave me this number based on his size and not mine), but I'm thinking 2 or 3 is probably about right. WIll there be an energy advantage to having the extra fat? I have 10 lbs of extra fat for fuel on my body already.

    I wouldn't put on weight. Weight is heavy and you have to carry it. :-)

    Also, be meticulous about planning what will go in your pack. Weigh everything. Ounces count and do add up. I can hump a 45 lb pack a heck of a lot more comfortably than I can hump a 50 lb pack.
  • risak
    risak Posts: 79 Member
    Also,

    I disagree completely with the posters saying your pack should not cause discomfort.

    When you go on a long trip your pack will inevitably be heavy. Even with a perfect fit its still applying significant pressure to the points it contacts your body, there is no way around that its simple physics. This will lead to bruising and discomfort. You have to get those contact points accustomed to the pressure and that takes repeated exposure over a period of time.


    This person has never had a proper-fitted pack. Bruising is NOT normal.


    Or you have never been on a ten day trek with an 80 lb pack. Seriously, with a super heavy pack your going to get bruising and discomfort at the contact points. to claim otherwise is pure ignorance, or your having someone else carry your weight for you.

    Are you sure theres not an extra zero in there? 80lbs! Did you carry a complete kitchen in there?
    My base weight for 2.5 seasons is about 10 lbs. Obviously when its colder, I need heavier stuff. Food weighs about 2 lbs/day. 10 days without resupply you could do skin-out at less than 40 lbs. 30 lbs with a lighter sleeping system than I use...

    Heavy backpacks cause discomfort. To invest in such a long backpacking trip and then rent a backpack doesn't seem right. You should invest in a good backpack that fits you properly.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Seriously, no backpackers in the house?

    It's been awhile, but when I was training to hike my first 14er (oh so many moons ago) I pretty much hit the mountains 3 times per week. I'd do a full pack hike one day, and half pack hike the other day, and a no pack longer hike on the third day. I can't remember how many weeks I did this, but it was for a couple of months. Every week I upped the miles and picked more difficult trails. Make sure you are hiking both at an incline and a decline as you're training. On my non-hike days I did just enough exercise to keep me moving about, but nothing intense.

    For my general backpacking trips I used to take, I didn't do much because I used to hike in the mountains frequently for recreation..but if you're not used to it, you definitely need to train up.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Should I put on weight for that kind of trip? I'm 128, and about 16% body fat. I don't want to drop down under 125, and my buddy planning the trip said I should load 6-14 days prior and put on 7.5 lbs of fat. 7.5 seems ridiculous ( I think he gave me this number based on his size and not mine), but I'm thinking 2 or 3 is probably about right. WIll there be an energy advantage to having the extra fat? I have 10 lbs of extra fat for fuel on my body already.

    I wouldn't put on weight, but you'll definitely want to throuroughly plan out your pack meals. Lost of calories and lots of protein when you're out there, you will need the energy.
  • _reno_
    _reno_ Posts: 87 Member
    Looks like you already got tons of advice.
    A few more things to add.

    Find a short steep hill that is close to home (should take about 10 minutes to get up it). Do hill repeats with a heavy pack (work up to 120% of your target weight for the trip). Your goal should be to get up the hill as fast as possible, then leisurely stroll back down. Repeat. This is a great interval workout, that also trains sport specific strength. It will increase your speed up hill, and make your normal pack weight feel more comfortable.

    When climbing long hills / mountains with a training pack you can save your knees by using water or rocks from the trail as pack weights. You can then discard at the weight at the top.

    For the actual hike do EVERYTHING you can to make your pack lighter!! Every ounce counts on those long trips.

    I have found these books to be VERY useful in developing a personalized training plan. They are more valuable than a personal trainer IMHO. They are both available at my local library.

    http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Training-Performance-Mountaineers-Outdoor/dp/1594850984

    http://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Athlete-Courtenay-Schurman/dp/0736076115/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357232993&sr=1-1&keywords=outdoor+athlete
  • ejwme
    ejwme Posts: 318
    I used to hang with mountaineers, and remember some of the nutso things they used to do (turned me off Backpacking, until my BIL introduced me to Backpacking In Style (yes, it is worth it to haul in some lovely wine and steaks - you just can't go far with them). The crazy mountaineers would do stuff like skip toothbrush + paste, go for floss and bakingsoda (or nothing - ew). For food, it gets super old but nuts and dried fruit are very calorically dense, lightweight, and cheap - dried food like ramen doesn't weigh much if you've got enough water and fire for cooking. Obviously plan your water carrying and filtering so you only carry when you need. Another thing that might make life easier - if you're going with people, make sure you aren't all carrying things you can share, like pots/pans, utensils, first aid, etc. The crazy mountaineers used to have pre-trip packing parties where the whole group would get together with their intended packs to make sure everybody had what everybody thought they needed. Maybe they weren't so crazy.

    Things that might make life easier if you do end up bruised - they make reusable cold compresses that you just add water to recharge, like this one: http://www.arcticease.com/what-is-arctic-ease/#row-2 You could take it with you for very little added weight and potentially a tremendous benefit if you need it. But get fitted properly for a pack, it really does make life so much easier.
  • mhcoss
    mhcoss Posts: 220
    A good pack and good boots are an absolute must for a trip of your ambition. Even with the best gear your going to start to get sore where the pack contacts you after hiking that far for days on end.

    Buy the pack ahead of time and load it up and then hit the streets or treadmill! that will help get you accustomed to the pack ahead of time.

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