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Mountaineering Training | Fit To Climb: Week 3

Posted by: | February 18, 2013
Categories: *Mountaineering Fitness & Training

Now the real work begins! This is the beginning of Phase 2: Foundation / Build. You’ll be adding strength work and cross training to your daily training routine.

Fit to Climb: Week 3 Schedule

DAY	WORKOUT	TOTAL TIME	DIFFICULTY
1	Rainier Dozen (*see below) / Easy Hiking ( 30 min)	42 min.	Medium
2	Rainier Dozen / Stair Interval Training (40 min)	52 min.	Hard
3	Rainier Dozen / Rest	12 min.	Recovery
4	Strength Circuit Training x 2 (*see below)	38 min.	Hard
5	Rainier Dozen / Rest	12 min.	Recovery
6	Rainier Dozen / Cross Training (1 hr)	72 min.	Medium
7	Rainier Dozen / Hike (2 hrs)	132 min.	Medium
	Total	6 hrs

THE RAINIER DOZEN
You’ve been doing the Daily Dozen for two weeks, going forward the new Daily Workout will be the Rainier Dozen. The Rainier Dozen is based upon the Daily Dozen and it’s a more advanced workout.

Here are a list of the exercises. You may be familiar with all or some. A description is added below for each exercise. Following the Rainier Dozen, you’ll find a description of the Day 4 Strength Circuit.

1.  Steam engine
2.  Three quarter squats
3.  Turkish Get Up
4.  Lunge
5.  Arm extender
6.  Triceps Dip
7.  Deep squat
8.  Steam engine laying down
9.  Mountain climber
10.  Push up
11.  Ranger crawl
12.  8 Point Body Builder

If you have any concerns about performing these exercises, consider hiring a coach or fitness trainer to help you learn how to get the most from each movement.

1. Steam Engine
How to do it: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands clasped behind your head. Lift your left knee, simultaneously twisting your body to the right, while keeping the muscles of your core engaged. Alternate the movement, using your right knee and left elbow.

2. Three Quarter Squats
How to do it: Stand with legs shoulder width apart and arms at your sides. Swing your arms forward and up, raising them above your head, palms facing forward. At the same time, bend your knees as if you were sitting in a chair. Hold the Squat briefly, then stand up by pushing through your heels, until you are in a full upright standing position.

3. Turkish Get Up
How to do it:
Step 1: Starting in a laying down position, with the right hand vertically toward the sky, bring the right knee into a bended position, while rolling towards your left. Placing the left hand on the ground, bring the right foot over the body and placing it on the floor. From here, keeping the right arm vertical, bring your body into the lunge position. From this position, push down on the right leg to bring your entire body into the standing-upright position.
Step 2: Drop back to the lunge position, with your left foot back. Place your left arm on the ground. Simultaneously rotate your body towards the right, while extending the right leg. Place your bottom on the ground, proceeding to lay flat while the right arm remains vertical throughout.

4. Lunge
How to do it: Stand upright, feet and legs together, hands on hips, elbows out to sides. Step your right leg backward. Bend your left knee until the kneecap is directly above your foot, causing the leg to form a 90-degree angle. Simultaneously lower your right leg until the knee almost rests on the ground, forming another 90-degree angle. Step back to starting position, and repeat, stepping backward with the left leg. Continue to alternate legs.

5. Arm Extender
How to do it: Standing upright, start with the hands and elbows at shoulder level. Simultaneously extend elbows outwards three times, and on the fourth time, completely extend the arm to finish with arms completely straight out to the side. Pause, and repeat.

6. Triceps Dip
How to do it: Find a solid object, such as a wall, stairs, or a bench. Facing outwards, place the hands behind your body on the edge of the object. Your legs can be straight, or to reduce the resistance, they can bent at the knees. With the core muscles engaged, simply lower your body until the angle behind your forearm and upper arm is approximately 100 degrees. Be careful to not lower yourself more than this, because to do so will place undue strain on the shoulders. Reverse movement to start position.

7. Deep Squat
How to do it: Stand with your feet a little wider than hip distance apart, toes pointing out at 45-degree angles. Put your hands on your hips and bend your knees out to the sides, making sure to keep them in line with the toes. Lower your body in a Squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground, and then push up through your heels to a standing position. Repeat.

8. Steam Engine (on ground)
How to do it: Lie on your back with your hands behind your head, head slightly raised, taking care not to pull on your neck. Extend your legs fully, holding them an inch or so off the ground. Bend the left knee in toward your body as you extend your right elbow to touch the left knee. Alternate the movement, touching your right knee to your left elbow as you extend the left leg fully.

9. Mountain Climber
How could the mountain climber not be good for mountain climbing! Seriously though, the mountain climber is a great exercise for core strength, hip flexor extension, agility in the calves and strength in the feet and ankles. How this benefits the climber is through the improved flexibility, coordination, strength and endurance required during the stepping-up motion.
How to do it: Starting in the plank position, bring the right foot forward as if you were in the starting blocks of a 100 meter sprint. From here, simply alternate your left and right legs between this position, as if running or bounding. The length of the movement can be shorter or longer depending on your level of ability.

10. Push Up
How to do it: Start with palms and toes on the ground, body in the air, as straight and strong as possible. Your arms should be directly underneath your shoulders, and you can spread your fingers wide for stability. (If this is more of a challenge than you’d like right now, do a modified Push-up with your knees on the ground.) Keeping the back and neck straight, inhale, bend your elbows and lower yourself until you are about 2 inches off the ground. Exhale as you push back up into the starting position. Repeat.

11. Ranger Crawl
How to do it: Starting in the plank position, bring the right knee towards the right elbow. Pause, then return to the start position. Then, bring the left knee towards the left elbow, again, pausing, before returning to the start position. Repeat. What’s important with this exercise is to engage the core muscles and the arm and shoulder muscles prior to beginning the movements. Keep the hips low to maintain the plank position.

12. 8 Point Bodybuilder
How to do it: Starting in the standing position, drop to the ground and then thrust both legs back to the plank position. Perform a push up. Then, perform a scissor, spreading the legs wide, then returning them to the start position. From here, bring the feet forward into a position to be able to perform a power jump. Finally, perform the power jump, finishing with a hand clap before returning to the start position.

STRENGTH CIRCUIT TRAINING
A. (Rainier Dozen to warm up) - 12 minutes
B. The 8 exercises for this circuit (40 seconds on, 20 seconds rest) x 2 - 16 minutes, based on the Rainier Dozen, are:

1.  Stem Engine
2.  Push Up
3.  Squat
4.  Lunge
5.  Plank
6.  Jump rope / Jumping Jack
7.  Mountain Climber
8.  Side Lunge

C. (10 Minute Cool Down) - 10 minutes. See the Home Stretch for exercises.

-John Colver

John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle, and is working on his second book, Fit to Climb - a 16 week Mount Rainier Fitness Program.

Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts with John and other readers on the RMI Blog!

You can read the past Weekly Mountaineering Training Series on the RMI Blog.

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Summit for Whittaker, Viesturs and Team

Posted by: | May 19, 2009
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: Top of the World

Peter Whittaker and Ed Viesturs reach the summit of Everest.

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Mt. Rainier: Expedition Skills Seminar - Summit!

Posted by: | September 21, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir led by RMI Guides Brent Okita, Billy Nugent and Linden Mallory reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  The team was walking into the crater rim at 8:20 a.m.  Winds are 20 mph and there is a cloud cap on the mountain this morning.  The teams will return to Camp Muir and continue their training of expedition skills.  They will descend from Camp Muir to Paradise on Friday and conclude the program at Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to today’s climbing teams!  Enjoy the rest of your time on the mountain.

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Shishapangma: RMI Guide Team Returns to Kathmandu

Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos | October 17, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Guide News *Everest

Dear friends, family and colleagues: we are happy to get back in touch with you. Before all, we would like to apologize for the lack of communication of the last 10 days, but unfortunately, we were the most frustrated with that issue. Our satellite phone decided not to cooperate with our solar panel, and recharging the battery was an impossible task. Being the last team this season on the mountain, we could not borrow any other means of communication and we understand the worries this might have caused. But this is what being in the Himalayas brings to all of us…

That said, we are eager to announce that entire team is back safe in Kathmandu after having reached the SUMMIT ON THE CENTRAL SUMMIT OF SHISHAPANGMA at 8013metres!!!!
On Oct.11th, Bridget, Jake, Geoff and Elias reached the central summit in the mid afternoon, on a warm and cloudless day, after having followed the NW ridge for several hours from C3 (Elias and Bridget) at 7450m and from C2.5 (Geoff and Jake) at 7100m. The next day, Oct 12th, Eric and Leon, who had made shelter in C3 the previous day, started strong towards the summit. Leon reached the summit hours later, having Eric turning around well above 7600m in a wise and mature decision that honors this young, strong and smart climber, since his cold toes were not warming up in those early hours and up there you are the mercy of the temperatures.

Two days later, the entire team was reunited at Base Camp, from were we would proceed to do several back-carries to clear our gear and trash from anywhere below C1 at 6400m. After another day of rest and packing, we initiated our descent towards the trail head, also called Chinese Base Camp, were we arrived yesterday, the 16th. We were picked up by our truck (who learned about our arrival by a paper note sent down 2 days earlier with a yak shepherd) which would take us to the town of Nyalam, just a few Kilometers away from the Tibetan-Nepali border, to spend the night. This morning (Oct 17th) we made it into Nepal not without a couple small issues at the border and multiple traffic stops en-route to our hotel in Kathmandu, due to the heavy tourist season in the area. Is close to midnight here, so I will stop writing, but we will send you a good recap of the entire expedition soon.

Again, thanks to all of you for your support, your interest and the good vibrations sent. Best regards.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

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RMI Guide Katie Bono Makes Speed Ascent

Posted by: Katie Bono | July 25, 2012
Categories: *Guide News
Elevation: 14,410'

Katie Bono climbs Mount Rainier in 4 hours, 58 minutes on July 24, 2012.

RMI Guide Katie Bono completed a car-to-car speed ascent of the classic Disappointment Cleaver route. Her effort is significant not only because it sets the female speed record but also because it adds a female presence to a list which had been exclusively male dominated.

Bono described the route, which she climbed 12 times, as straight-forward and direct, minus the rocky section of Disappointment Cleaver itself, where she expressed difficulty keeping “the high-RPM, small steps” she was able to use on the remainder of the route.

The first known speed ascent was made by Lou and Jim Whittaker, with John Day, in 1959 (7 hours, 20 minutes). Craig Van Hoy (5 hours, 25 minutes; 1981), Justin Merle (4:49:35; July 9, 2008), and Liam O’Sullivan (4:46:29; August 5, 2008), all former Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. guides, successfully lowered the record times until September 17, 2008 when renowned guide Willie Benegas completed the round trip in 4:40:59. Benegas’ record currently stands.

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Shishapangma: RMI Team Ready to Begin Rotations Above Camp 1

Posted by: Jake Beren | September 20, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Guide News *Everest

Hey guys, this is the Shishapangma team.  We are just calling to check in.  Everybody is well.  We did feel the big earthquake the other day.  Both our team up at Camp 1 and our team at BC are just fine.

We are going to send another team up in the direction of Camp 1 later this afternoon.  We are going to start our rotations a little higher up.  All is well here.  We are waiting for a weather window and just hanging out.

So, we hope all is well back in Ashford.  We’ll be giving you a shout when we have a little more to say.  That is all from Tibet.

RMI Guide Jake Beren

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Sara McGahan on Climbing and her Studies

Posted by: | March 30, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 11,300'

Hi, my name is Sara for those of you that are reading this that don’t know me, I am 16 years old, and a sophomore at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. I started climbing when I was 12 years old, and since then I have climbed Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Rainier, Denali (Mt. McKinley), and a bunch of other mountains.

I like climbing for a number of reasons.  I like training for climbing because I know that when I am doing it its with a goal in mind. I love the people I meet when I am climbing, and hearing all their stories and experiences. I have also been able to travel to a lot of different places like Tanzania, Argentina, Russia, Australia, Nepal, and the states of Washington, Alaska, and Colorado. Its really interesting and fun to go to all these places, and to see different people and cultures.

While on this climb I am working on two different projects for classes at my school:

1.  For science, I am measuring heart rate and blood oxygen levels at different altitudes of 4 people (including myself) to study the effects of high altitude.  I am taking readings using a small finger device and doing it twice a day.  As we move up to higher and higher altitudes its interesting to see how peoples bodies react to the altitude, and how they change as the body starts to acclimatize.

2.  Right now I am in the Northern part of Nepal and Tibet is just over the border in China. The Dali Lama is openly held in very high regard here in Nepal, but pictures of the Dali Lama are forbidden in Tibet.  For English I will be talking to people about the current situation of the Dali Lama in Tibet, their views on this situation, and any impact its had on climbing near this border and on the villages close to the border.

As I write this I am sitting in an internet cafe in Namche, Nepal.  Namche is the center for trekking and climbing in Sagarmatha National Park.  Today we took a hike from Namche, which is at about 11,200 feet, up to the villages of Khumjung, Khunde, and Syangbouche. The views from these villages are truly breath taking. Some of the men in the villages work as porters and sherpas (guides for climbers and trekkers), and the rest of the people are farmers.  Our group stopped half way at the Everest Hotel to have a coke, and we sat on the terrace with clear views of Everest, Lotse, Ama Dablam, and lots of other huge mountains.  Really, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Sara McGahan

 

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Dave’s Thirteenth Everest Summit

Posted by: | May 21, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest

RMI Guide Dave Hahn summits Mt. Everest for a Record Thirteenth Time. On May 20th, 2011, Dave Hahn, Linden Mallory and their Sherpa team stood on the summit of Mt. Everest on a clear and beautiful day. Congratulations!

The team has safely returned to Everest Base Camp.

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Mountaineering Training | Interval Training

Posted by: | November 19, 2012
Categories: *Mountaineering Fitness & Training

Interval Training is a training technique employed in many endurance sports. It refers to a training session where periods of high intensity effort, followed by rest, are repeated during a training session. 
 
The benefits of interval training: 
 
Benefits include improved cardiovascular fitness, increased aerobic performance and increased anaerobic threshold. It has its place in a weight loss program too, due to the high levels of energy burned during and after the workout. 
 
It’s true that during a climb, the goal is to ascend at a steady pace and to conserve energy, which begs the question; 
 
“Why do high-intensity interval training”? 
 
There are several reasons. One is that as we climb higher, the air is thinner and every effort becomes more taxing. Interval training, by raising the anaerobic threshold, will simply extend the range of effort we can make before we get out of breath. It also helps us to recover after a short, hard effort. 
 
Some ideas to implement this type of training: 
 
As a general rule, you’ll want to be fully warmed up with some mobility exercises (for example, try the Daily Dozen) and 10 to 15 minutes of moderate walking or running, just enough to get your blood flowing and your muscles ready for a hard effort.
 
Stairs: If you have a set of stairs available in town or at an athletic stadium you can use them for interval training. Simply push hard up the stairs for about a minute then rest by going easy down the stairs. How many times you’ll want to repeat this depends on your fitness ability. To start off, you may chose 3 or 4 efforts. During the peak phase of training a dozen or more will provide significant benefits. 
Steep grade: Same as above and use a stopwatch or mark a spot as your turn-around point. 
Indoors: You can do intervals on treadmill, bicycle, stair-master and elliptical machines
None of the above? You can even do intervals with a step, a low wall or even a box you might find in a gym. Simply use your watch and do repeated step-ups. You can even wear a pack, hold weights or a medicine ball while you work. 
 
Example workout: Short high intensity interval training. 

Here is the timeline for a one hour interval training session: 
• 0:00 Daily Dozen
• 0:12 Ten minutes moderate walking or running 
• 0:22 Two minutes rest
• 0:24 One-minute high intensity
• 0:25 Repeat six times
• 0:43 Ten-minute cool-down walk
• 0:53 Stretch
• 1:00 Finish

If you are new to interval training, expect to feel both exhilarated and fatigued. When I do interval training with groups it’s always easy to see the effort evidenced by sweat and hard breathing. 
 
Another version of interval training is ‘Fartlek’ training. The word originated in Sweden and means ‘Speed Play’. It’s popular with cyclists, runners and cross-country skiers. You simply chose random ‘targets‘ like the top of a hill, a loop of a track, a tree or trail marker and then get after it with gusto! Increase your effort level as high or moderate as you feel like and mix up the length of the intervals. I like this type of training very much as it replicates the unpredictable nature of mountain terrain. It’s fun too, helping to pass the time while training alone, or to add a competitive challenge with friends. If you lack stairs, you can use any uphill grade and no matter what the terrain, you can always increase intensity by adding weight to your pack.
 
How often to include Interval Training?

I find that two times per week is a good amount and I’ll choose days of the week where I’m likely to be fully rested and recovered. Avoid doing back-to-back sessions as you’ll need a day or two to recover after the effort. 
 
In summary: 

Interval training is a valuable part of a mountaineers training. It’s energetic, gets the adrenaline flowing, boosts your cardiovascular system, burns energy and helps your body cope with the stresses of a high altitude, low oxygen environment. 
 
As with any training session, make sure you are rested, hydrated and properly fueled before interval training. It’s hard work - you’ll need good energy to complete the sessions. 

- John Colver
 
                      
John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle.

Questions? Comments? Leave a comment to share your thoughts with John and other readers!

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RMI Guide Katie Bono Recounts Mt. Rainier Speed Ascent

Posted by: Katie Bono | July 29, 2012
Categories: *Guide News

RMI Guide Katie Bono completed a speed ascent of Mt. Rainier on July 24th, ascending from the Paradise Parking Lot to the summit of Mt. Rainier and returning to Paradise in 4:58. Her ascent is believed to be the fastest ascent of Mt. Rainier by a female climber. Here, Katie describes her climb:

I first thought of doing a speed ascent on Rainier late in the summer of 2011.  I started guiding with RMI that summer and spent plenty of time that year carrying heavy loads up the Muir snowfield as quickly as possible.  I come from a cross-country ski racing background and I raced professionally for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, the Rossignol Factory Team, and Dartmouth College before that. I quit ski racing in 2011 but soon realized that I missed the feeling of pushing myself hard and finding my limits.  As a result, this summer I found myself thinking about a speed attempt more frequently.  It seemed like a cool way to push myself in a way I hadn’t before.  When I first started thinking about it, I was planning for something in the sub-7:00 range.  As a way to test the waters, I did a hike up the Muir Snowfield in early July trying to simulate a manageable pace to the summit and ended up with a time of 1:36.  My time for running back down the Muir Snowfield was 38 min, including a stop to chat with friends.  After that, I sat down, did the math, and figured that if I could do 1:45 to Camp Muir (elevation gain of ~4600’), 1:45 from Camp Muir to the summit (~4400’), 1:00 back to Camp Muir, and 0:30 to Paradise, I could do it in 5 hours.  The big questions were:

1. Whether I could maintain pace all the way up to 14k of altitude and 3.5 hours of uphill hiking, and
2. If taking an hour to get from the summit to Camp Muir would feel at all unsafe.  I didn’t want to do the climb recklessly - it was just a fun and unique challenge.

The next step was figuring out my gear plan.  Fortunately, I’ve had a very full schedule on Rainier this summer, and as a result, I had lots of time to think about logistics at Camp Muir while trying to fall asleep at 6:00 P.M.  I decided the best plan would be to wear running shoes, specifically a pair of shoes with built-in gaiters I had lying around.  I would wear YakTrax to Camp Muir and up to around 12,000.  After that, the route gets steep enough and snowy enough that I would don aluminum strap-on crampons over my running shoes.  I checked out the forecast for the summit and used my experience from ski racing to figure out clothing strategies for racing hard in the cold - I would wear lightweight climbing pants, a base layer top, a super-lightweight hooded down jacket, and belay gloves as my layering system.  I also decided to bring along some gels and sports drink in a water belt.

When the day came, I woke up groggy and sleep-deprived.  I had picked up my boyfriend and fellow RMI guide at the airport the previous evening and hadn’t gotten back to Ashford until the wee hours.  Driving up the road to Paradise in the morning, I realized I forgot both my YakTrax, and my sunscreen.  Oh well, you only live once.  So I kept on driving up.  I got out of the car, tuned my iPod to some electronic music, and was off and running (or, more precisely, rest-stepping).  It was a beautiful morning, and perfect for climbing.  I had picked that day for good weather and good route conditions - the Disappointment Cleaver route is fast, direct, and reasonably safe right now so all systems were a go.  I started off around 6 a.m. so I could hit the snow conditions just right for ideal ascending and descending.  Having climbed the route two days prior, I had a solid sense of how to time it.  The lack of YakTrax turned out to be not an issue - the snow was just grippy enough to make it work. 

I reached Camp Muir at 1:38 on the timer, grabbed my crampons that I had cached earlier (and convinced some friends to set out for me), and dropped down onto the Cowlitz Glacier.  The next big hurdle was climbing the Disappointment Cleaver.  The whole way up, I had been walking at a very high cadence to minimize fatigue, but the rockiness of the Cleaver made it pretty much impossible to do that and it was a difficult stretch. After the Cleaver, the upper mountain was a haze of looking alternately at my feet, the rate of ascent function on my watch, and at the remainder of the mountain to climb.  I hit the crater rim at 3:30 on the time, sprinted (a.k.a. walked) across the crater rim over to Columbia Crest, did a quick gaze around the whole panorama of the Cascades, and headed down.  The crampons gave me just enough purchase to feel very safe running downhill, and I made it back to Camp Muir about 45 minutes after reaching the summit.  I passed the RMI groups on the way down, and they offered to radio the crew at Camp Muir to get out some Gatorade and baby wipes for me (the most uncomfortable part of the climb, hands down, was the massive salt deposits on my face.  However, they possibly helped prevent the outrageous sunburn I somehow avoided). 

After reaching Muir, I had 35 minutes to get back down to Paradise, but I was starting to falter.  I sprinted down through the sun cupped snow, trying not to fall with all my stabilizer muscles maxed to their limit and hit the trail leading back to Paradise.  At this point I was looking at my watch, fairly convinced that I was going to get to the parking lot just over 5 hours.  And, not that stuff like that really matters, but it’s somehow infinitely more satisfying to dip just under than just over.  So I focused in, tried not to terrify too many tourists with my mad dash, and reached the bottom of the steps at Paradise at 4:58:41.  I stumbled around glassy-eyed in the parking lot for a while, and then drove back home to get ready to climb the next day.  All in all, it was a great climb — I definitely surpassed my own expectations, and it was incredibly fun to be able to do it with the cheering and good vibes of all the other people on the route that day going for their own summits.   

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