How to Train for a Difficult, Grueling Hike

I'm a certified personal trainer and also very experienced as a hiker and trail runner. There are some shortcuts you can take to whip your body into shape for tackling grueling hiking trails.

To prepare for hiking, many people use treadmills at an incline. And many of those people fail to get in shape. It's because they make a huge mistake on the treadmill: They hold onto the machine! Holding on totally eliminates the training effect of the incline. When you hike, do you hold onto anything? In order for the treadmill to prepare your body for an outdoor hike, you must mimic reality-and the reality is that when you hike, you are not clinging to anything. Keep hands off the treadmill.

Another superb way is to use the revolving staircase. But if you hold on, you will get only meager results. Stand erect and keep hands off the rails.

Step classes can also prepare your body. Break away from your comfort zone and add more risers to the stepper platform. Don't wait for a class. Grab a platform and just go at it for 30 minutes. Include segments at a four-riser height.

Outdoor training for those already base-conditioned

To prepare for a brutal 8-10-mile group hike, you need train for only 90 minutes to two hours. You won't cover near this distance, but if a shorter excursion is intense enough, it will prepare your body for an all-day group hike. In group situations, there are more rests than you would take alone. The overall pace is determined by the slowest hiker. Though faster people may be way ahead of the straggler, they also get to rest while the straggler(s) catch up.

HIIT (high intensity interval training) is essential for strenuous hiking preparation. Find an area that offers varying grades of steepness and terrain surface.

Every time you encounter a moderate to steep portion, charge up as fast as you can (the work interval). If the steep part is really long, then just keep charging until you become very breathless. Then, slow down to a very leisurely climb (recovery interval). Do not stop. Keep moving. After 2-3 minutes, it's time to go full steam again. Keep doing this until the steepness tapers off. Once you're back on minimally steep or level ground, resume a moderate to brisk pace.

If the trail has only very short segments of considerable steepness, then run up them until you reach the top. Each work interval should be an all-out effort, and depending on the shortness of the steep sections, these intervals may last only 10-30 seconds. Numerous 10-30-second all-out intervals will create an astonishing training effect on your body.

You needn't spend the entire time doing HIIT. Do it for the first 45-60 minutes. Then, spend the remaining time at a steady-state pace, but make sure you have to work hard for it.

In group hikes, you won't know what the collective fitness level is until after you begin the hike. YOU might end up as the straggler! Many people will go on a lengthy hike, thinking they're prepared because they hike three times a week for two or even three hours.

But then they are shocked to discover that in a group situation, they are straining to keep up, and suffering in pain. Why? Because the collective conditioning level is way beyond them. Everyone else wants to go faster. Or, the hiker is totally unprepared for the particular terrain. Did you know that hiking hard only on pebbly-earthen surfaces will not prepare you for tundra? Even climbing on stair-case-like, man-made paths of big rock chunks won't prepare you for tundra - which is essentially grass; but very long, thick grass.

When climbing steep tundra, the calves and Achilles tendon are recruited far more than when climbing terrain studded with rocks and large stones. Also, ascending a steep forest bed will really hit the calves and Achilles tendons. So always make sure you get in some tundra training.

Finally, include leg weight workouts such as squats, leg extensions and hamstring curls.