Strength training for adventure. Getting strong and staying strong for those times when it gets very very real.
Pound for pound world class mountaineers and climbers are among the strongest people on the planet. You realize that when you start to trudge 50-70 pound packs up thousands of feet.
After several months I started to drag a bit no matter the recovery interval. Essentially you have been hammering your entire body for many hours at a time and not all of the recovery happens within a week. Nothing really works even rest...just time. It's really wierd when the recovery period ends. It can be quite dramatic with this kind of recovery; all of a sudden I have my vitality back and everything kicks in. Luckily there are some things you can do in the meantime...
Yesssshhh my frrriennnnds....It's time to take a load off and wrest for some gains.
I do not own the picture of this celebrity. Alas despite my best effort nor can I find his source to properly cite his
photographic portrait as content but if anyone knows I will be happy to cite him. Lacking essential biographical details I simply know him as PunCat...FunCat. I do know he is a bit of an a--hole so I'll apologize right now.
So here goes...I favor the deadlift to get things started. It basically works every muscle right up to your eyebrows. Also it has a nice encouraging name.
With all that encouragement the average beginner can readily learn to lift about 130 percent of their body weight. Good form is critical however.
The Russians know a lot about these things. They would generally prescribe a set of five at 90 percent of your maximum lift then 5 at 80 percent. Then come back the next day and nudge it up a hair and do it again...and so on for 5 consecutive days...
I modify this a bit in the beginning and start fairly low.
45 from the bar, 45 each plate to get 135 total...
a bit more...I'll increase by 2.5 pound increments.
I'll spare you the bore of the whole thing. Basically I get the whole thing up to 150 pounds by the fifth set. So it is basically the typical five sets of five; I'll give myself some days before I try it again.
In any case there are no worries. Country boys from Kerhonkson historically have had nothing to do but throw hay bales and push around concrete filled plastic barbells.
That and push sh..ty cow tails out of our eyes. Those things pack a wallop! ( The wet part wraps around your face perfectly and those dried up little bits add just the right amount of sting.)
(photo credit: Sonja Williams @ http://jfwitter.weebly.com/cow-tales---a-bovine-blog/a-dirty-tail-tale)
The next day I try to get some circulation to the joints I just put that strain on. Also, it doesn't hurt to give the body some idea of how you want the strength used. A good hard haul through deep snow is just the thing!
While you pace out the miles and look around...
as you pass along the Shawangunk ridge...
and look over...
there's Ashokan High Point just to the left of the trees in the foreground!
This tells the story a bit. You haul through the snow as fast as 3.7 mph. Anything over two miles per hour through snow for 5-6 miles is generally pushing hard enough to give your body the general idea.
As I understand it the idea is to crank up the anabolic hormones (e.g. testosterone,growth hormone) without peaking stress hormones that have tended to keep you dragged down (e.g. cortisol) after long sustained efforts.
Yesshhhh I realize my frrrienndsss...when I go on about my fitness activities in detail you really would rather see me shove off...
And so let's get on with it shall we? :)
It is now 17 days in ( I repeated the deadlifts for the second time last Wednesday). I do them every ten days for full recovery since I am working them in other ways also.
These I do every seven days or so : pushups with one arm on a basketball. It works the extremes of range of the pushup very hard which in turn works pretty much the entire front side of the body ...
The deadlifts of course will build up the back and legs for all the pack carries.
The pushups and leg lifts save you when you slip and catch yourself on your hiking pole or ice axe. For example, I fell a few times in this talus field on along the SouthEast ridge of Mount Bierstadt in Colorado...and caught my full weight on one arm on the hiking pole but was still able to control the fall. Those things help.
The next part is important because overall carrying strength is important but strength to bodyweight is important too. Squats and Deadlifts tend to chunk on the muscle mass dramatically as the body struggles to meet the demand ( I wouldn't be surprised if I have put on ten pounds in the last few weeks simply from that because it isn't uncommon.) The climbing should help to bring things back into balance.
And,as friends have explained to me, it takes time to build up the finger tendons and ligaments. I have some strength in the hands from time spent in the Grove cranking on this,that and the other thing for hours of course. So, if I start slowly I should make good progress over time.
It's fun! :)
Beginning climbs are about 5.6 (rock climbing protected by ropes begins at 5.0.) It isn't bad but after several times up and down you begin to fall off.
The autobelayer that catches your fall works extremely well and there is little or no shock. Weirdly enough, I neglected to ask what one is supposed to do when you get to the top. So I kept climbing down until I learned what happens when you fall off.
I'd like to think perhaps great Paul Preuss would have found my effort acceptable. (He felt rappelling except in emergency was not pure alpinism and that if you weren't able to climb down you shouldn't climb up. In his honor, I will try to down climb as much as I can. It's good practice.
The wall I was on was quite high but apparently I am used to heights from the rappelling practice I have done so far. It's no where near as noticeable as rappelling from an 8mm rope from the top of a 100 foot cliff on the anchor you just built yourself. The winter wind in the Shawangunks is particularly chilly when it is the only sound you hear as you step up to the edge...
But that is a story for another day...
As always, please forgive me if I sometimes focus more on the struggle than the beauty and discovery of it all. I only do so
so that your journey is a safe and pleasant one should you happen to try this for yourself.
May you be happy.