Walk Up HIlls More Easily...

Walk Up Hills More Easily!

Walking on the flat or downhill is basically easy - strap on a heart rate monitor and you'll see that your pulse doesn't even reach what runners would think of as a 'training zone'. Heading up hill's a different matter altogether. On steepish climbs and, particularly, with a big pack, you'll be working hard enough to push your heart rate up through the roof, to running levels in fact.

Why? If you think about it, you're lifting your bodyweight against gravity with every step so it's a bit like resistance training. That's a big difference from flat walking where loads are significantly less and a big problem if you only get out on the hills occasionally. So, if you find walking up hills hard, what can you do about it? Here's a few tips that could help you motor up that hill next time out.

Pace Yourself

Don't be tempted to go screaming into things. You want to choose a nice, steady pace that you can sustain over a long-ish period. Whatever you do, don't push yourself until you become breathless and your legs are burning as you'll be asking for trouble later. What happens then is that you use hard-to-replace glycogen reserves and build up lactate chemicals in your muscles that will make you less efficient for the rest of the walk. Better to stop and have a quick breather than push yourself into the physiological death zone....

Walking Technique

You'd be surprised how many people try to take huge steps going uphill. It's actually more efficient to lean slightly into the slope and shorten your stride a little. If you find a spot with a really big step up, look for an intermediate foot hold so you can do it in two paces instead of one and ease the load. Think of stairs - it's easier to breeze up closely-spaced steps than to go striding up huge, widely spaced ones. Watch where you place your feet as well, unsteady foot plants waste energy and make efficient walking more difficult.

Trekking Poles

Poles can be a useful aid to an efficient walking technique. They won't make you fitter, but they can help stabilise your upper body, improve balance and give you rythmn. I don't believe that your arms are actually helping to pull you up - that's what legs are for - but they make it easier to use your legs efficiently. On steep slopes you need to adjust poles to a length where you can plant them comfortably in front of you so you get maxiumum purchase.

Getting Fitter

The best way of getting good at walking up hills is, surprisingly enough, to walk up lots of hills. Unfortunately not all of us are lucky enough to have hills on tap, but there are other ways of improving your hill climbing prowess. Here are a few:

Running

The best training for walking up hills is running up them. You're using the same muscle groups in a very similar way and the intensity of hill running will actually improve your ability to operate at a lower level too. Don't fret if you don't have many hills to run up, even running on the flat will help improve your general hill fitness as you'll be working significantly harder than you would be walking over the same terrain. If you do take up running, buy proper running shoes from a specialist running shop and don't increase your mileage too quickly. A great source of basic information is the Runners World web site.

The Gym

You can train effectively for walking uphill without even going outside. If you have access to a decently equipped gym, several of the cardio-vascular machines can help build climbing efficiency. Ideally you're looking for exercises which simulate the action of lifting your bodyweight against gravity using your legs.

Treadmills are great, but you want to adjust the gradient so you're effectively walking or running up a steepish slope. Also excellent are stair climbing machines like Versaclimbers and Stairmasters as, again, you're lifting your bodyweight against gravity. Steppers are okay too for the same reason. Don't be tempted to cheat by abbreviating the movement, you'll negate the point of being there in the first place and it's hard to cheat on a real hill ;-)

Work at a pace where you're going relatively easily - if you start panting and your legs are burning consistently, you're going to hard so drop the speed a little. Start off with 20 minute sessions and build up till you're doing around an hour at a time. Ideally three sessions a week with at least a day's rest between each one would be idea. Remember the gym staff are there to help you, so tell them what you're training for and ask them to draw up a specific programme for you. It'll help you train more efficiently.

Our hot tip for avoiding boredom is some sort of personal stereo or MP3 player and your favourite tunes. Close your eyes and dream of mountains...

Hit The Stairs

If you work somewhere with a good few flights of stairs, walk up instead of taking the lift. If that seems a bit daunting - hey, maybe you're on the 60th floor of Canary Wharf, build up gradually by walking up a few floors then taking the lift and increasing the number of flights you walk every day. Do the same if you're commuting by tube, evey little helps.

It'll Be Worth It

Put the effort in and hill climbing in the mountains will be that much easier. It still won't be a breeze, but by preparing, you'll suffer less and enjoy yourself more and hey, isn't that why you got to the hills in the first place?

Happy hill climbing

Yours barkingly

Woof!

The Butcher's Dog