UKC

So now that I'm officially a fat barsteward, I seem to be struggling after about an hour on the hill (not that I'm particularly impressive for the first hour...) Just wondering what the best ways are to improve hill fitness in between trips, which I hope will be much more frequent now.

Thanks in advance. Oh, and I'm just under 20 stone if that makes a difference.

Cheers

Rich

In reply to rich in wales: Get into a fitness regieme doing cardio every other day. Running will get you fit quickly but i also find those stepper machines brilliant (could be emulated by walking up and down stairs). Start off at 20-30mins a day and then just keep upping the difficulty and the time you take.

In reply to rich in wales:


Depends on how tall you are, at my 5'7.5" I would be clinically obese at 20 stone!

In reply to rich in wales: Be careful with what food you keep in house. Lots of big veg stews. Don't think about keeping cakes cheese biscuits chocolate in cupboards. Keep something harmless at arms length if you get tempted. Then get out and excercise as well.

In reply to rich in wales: Oh and snack on things that speed up your motabolism to loose weight quicker.

In reply to rich in wales:

Be careful not to do too much right away to avoid injury like shin splints. Take your time and build up the tempo.

In reply to rich in wales:

Thanks for the advice guys. (I'm 6' 1" by the way, Al) I've got an eliptical machine which is quite good. Trouble is, the leg things just swoosh backwards and forwards, so it doesn't really simulate walkinh up hills as I thought it would. I'm seriously crap at running (was always a sprinter at school, so I don't do long distances! I guess it's time to bite the bullet though!!

In reply to rich in wales: Good tip to start running is to run for 1 min then walk for 1 min. Then step it up to 2 min running 1 min walking etc.. till you no longer need to walk.

I did this over 3 weeks with 3 sessions a week and can now do 20+ mins non stop. I have never been a good runner but i am getting there.

jim

In reply to rich in wales:

Walk more, eat better.

Eat big breakfast, medium lunch and small tea with fruit for snacks. Don't eat after 8pm regularly and keep the beer quantity down. Eating before bed adds weight.

In reply to rich in wales:

I'm trying to lose about half a stone to a stone and improve my hill fitness. My knees are a bit iffy so I've started getting out on my bike as cycling's low impact on joints compared to running but still good cardio vascular training.
Nothing beats walking up hills as training for err, walking up hills but I'm hoping that getting used to longer periods of leg exercise by cycling will improve things when I'm walking.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to start getting out once a week and walking on some local hills with a heavy rucsac on as well as the cycling and at the same time I'm cutting out the crap that I've been eating.
If you're fairly heavy you might do better to start with cycling so you don't over stress your knees while you drop a bit of weight and then start doing some more intensive stuff when your joints will get an easier time.
Don't go at it like a bull at a gate though, watch out for your ticker.

In reply to rich in wales:

To be honest, keeping generally fit helps but nothing really helps hill fitness like time in the hills When you do get into the hills, make sure to maximise your days out - no whimping off because of a bit of drizzle and no lazy 11.00 starts !

In reply to rich in wales:

You live in Lancashire - find a hill, even a short steep one. Walk up it as fast as you can, as often as you can. When you go climbing for the day, pick a crag with a half hour uphill walk-in, rather than a roadside quarry.

Eat porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, and cut out the beer and pies. When you go out climbing, take an apple, banana and a pitta rather than a load of Mars Bars etc.

I've lost around 10kgs over the past year using this method. And I'm rather a lazy bastard, really.

In reply to rich in wales:I heard somewhere that your metabolism is supposed to stay working at a faster rate for either 24 or 48 hours after exercise, going just for a gentle sort of walk on rest days might help with slowly burning off excess fat along with more intensive exercise. Being diabetic i've noticed that i'm more likely to have low blood sugar the day after a big cycle or walk, so I think it's true, and can possibly be quite pronounced if you've done a lot of exercise.

Cheers
Tim

In reply to rich in wales:I suppose doing lots of small things like jogging up and down the stairs at home or at work instead of walking might help a little bit, along with whatever else you're doing.

Tim

In reply to Eddie1234:


Such as?

OP: If you want to get fit for walking then some more walking is probably not a bad starting point even if it's just 15min here and there during the day then plenty of walking at weekends. If you can fit in more exercise then great but you may as well do what you enjoy first and foremost, fit the rest in around it. Perhaps combine with a change in diet if you want to lose some weight along the way. Losing a bit of weight will probably make quite a difference to how fit you feel since you wont be working as hard getting up the hills. Then again, maybe you're a big guy and there's not much to lose, you don't mention your height or build.

jk

In reply to Timmd:

Just curious Tim, how do you manage your blood sugar levels during a long day on the hill?? I went to alecture a few years ago by a woman from a diabetic mountaineering group and was well impressed with some of the stuff they've been achieving. I imagine it's a bit of a logistical nightmare isn't it??

In reply to rich in wales: hi rich...i did a trek to everest base camp in 07...to get fit for it the only training they recommended was walking...lot and lots of walking..so thats what i did..i did a 2 and half month walking training program...starting with 30 mins 3 times a week..and just building on that every week..at the end of this i could walk 25 miles in 7.5 hrs..the curcuit of rutland water in fact....also i lost nearly 2 stone in the process.....i was well ready for the trek and felt great...until the altitude kicked in that was..!!! ;/ .. but my general fitness was great...so get walking mate..lots and lots of walking..!! i got into rockclimbing when i got back from napal so that trek changed my life..!!

In reply to andi taxi:

Nice one Andi. Thanks for sharing that with me. Sounds very positive indeed! I've been walking every day this week actually, just a couple of miles around the town, but already I feel tonnes better for it, and even thought about going for another walk tonight!!

In reply to rich in wales:

Hi Rich, having been in a similar position to you some 5/6 years ago (though I was only 16 stone, but at 5'8" that's still rather hefty), I found the best way was to eat reasonably healthily and take daily exercise. Even if that exercise was as simple as a half hour walk of an evening. I now maintain my considerably less 'insulated' body with walking some rather exciteable dogs, climbing as often as possible, and healthy eating...not to mention, getting out into the hills as much as possible (with said dogs in tow).

It takes time, and effort, but it gets there eventually. The trick is to not get demoralised and give up because you don't feel it's working. As far as actual hill fitness goes, well, I find it doesn't matter how fit I am in the burbs; the only way to get hill fit is to get fit on the hill.

Regards,

JoS

In reply to rich in wales: Don't over do it at first. Your training must be progressive at 20 stone it might be better to learn to walk before you learn to run. Others very right about diet - cut out booze (or cut down), avoid manmade sugery things like chocolate/cake etc switch to natural type stuff like fruit dates nuts etc. Don't starve yourself but take it steady.

Exercise I would suggest finding walking routes you like but find testing distance wise and walk at least every weekend. Altough I hate them walking poles will be very useful to take the strain from your knees and help you maintain posture. Shorter walks or Jogs if you can during the week. Try basic yoga stretches (nowt gay about yoga these days) will help your core fitness. As the walking gets easier - carry more weight or walk further or walk up steeper stuff.

If you want to try running/jogging get a cheap heart rate moniter and it will prevent overtraining and pointless strain.

Take it easy. If you overdo it you will get injured/get bored and stop.

Ultimately if you intake more clories than you burn you will get fatter, I find the best way to think of beer is as a mars bar in a glass. Love mars bars and beer so do quite a lot of walking!

Good luck.