Training for a High-Altitude Hike When You Live at Sea Level
By Melanie Michaelchuk, NASM Certified Personal Trainer & Hiking CoachFounder of Just Hyke | Co-Founder of Sidewalk to Summit You have a big hike on your bucket list. Maybe it’s Kilimanjaro. A Colorado 14er. Mount Whitney. A trek in the Andes. Or another adventure that will take you higher than you’ve ever hiked before. But there’s one problem: You live nowhere near the mountains. How do you train for 10,000, 14,000, or even 19,000 feet when most of your training happens close to sea level? The good news is that there is a lot you can train before you ever reach altitude. You can build endurance. Strengthen your legs. Train for hills and downhills. Practice carrying your pack. Prepare for long days and back-to-back hiking days. You can even use stairs, bridges, treadmills, and hot-weather training to add extra challenge. But there is one thing you cannot completely reproduce at home: Acclimatization to altitude. Understanding that difference is one of the most important parts of preparing for a high-altitude adventure. Training prepares your body for the hike. Acclimatization prepares your body for the altitude. You need both. What Is Considered High Altitude? You don’t have to be climbing Mount Everest before altitude matters. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), travelers who are not acclimatized can be at risk for altitude illness when they reach a sleeping elevation of around 8,000 feet (2,450 meters) or higher. Some people may experience symptoms at lower elevations. The Wilderness Medical Society gives similar guidance. So if you’re planning a Colorado 14er, Mount Whitney, Kilimanjaro, or another high-elevation adventure, altitude needs to be part of your preparation—not just mileage and elevation gain. Why Does Hiking Feel Harder at Altitude? As you climb higher, air pressure drops. That means your body gets less oxygen with each breath. At approximately 10,000 feet, the CDC reports that inspired oxygen pressure is only about 69% of what it is at sea level. Your body notices. You breathe faster. Your heart works harder. A pace that feels comfortable at home may suddenly feel difficult. You may walk more slowly and need more breaks. That’s normal. Expect your pace to change at altitude. Walking more slowly doesn’t mean your training failed. Your body is doing hard work with less available oxygen. Fitness and Acclimatization Are Not the Same Thing This may be the most important thing to understand about high-altitude hiking: You can be extremely fit and still get altitude sickness. The CDC states that physical fitness does not determine your risk of developing altitude illness. But fitness still matters a lot. Research involving Himalayan trekkers found that people with greater sea-level fitness experienced a lower sense of effort while trekking at altitude. However, being fitter did not protect them from acute mountain sickness. In simple terms: Fitness can make the hiking easier. It cannot make you immune to altitude sickness. That’s why your preparation needs two parts. Train your body before the trip. Then give your body time to acclimatize once you reach elevation. How Do You Train for Altitude When You Don’t Have Altitude? Don’t worry about perfectly reproducing 14,000 feet at home. Instead, train for the parts of the hike that you can reproduce. 1. Build Your Aerobic Base Walking and hiking should be a big part of your preparation. Gradually build the amount of time you can comfortably stay on your feet. For a long trek, being able to walk steadily for several hours is often more useful than crushing one extremely difficult workout. Walking, hiking, cycling, incline treadmill work, stairs, and other steady aerobic exercise can all help build endurance. Not every workout needs to leave you exhausted. You’re building an engine that needs to keep running for a long time. 2. Train for Hills Even If You Don’t Have Any If your goal hike includes thousands of feet of elevation gain, flat walking alone isn’t enough. This is where Hill Training comes in. If you have hills, use them. If you don’t, get creative. Stairs, parking garages, bridges, incline treadmills, stair-steppers, and repeated step-ups can all help prepare your legs for climbing. Your body doesn’t care whether the uphill came from a mountain or a staircase. It recognizes the work. Start where you are and gradually increase how long you can climb. 3. Don’t Forget the Downhill We spend a lot of time training to reach the summit. But there’s something easy to forget: You have to come back down. Downhill hiking can be hard on your legs, especially your quads. Each step asks your muscles to act like brakes, slowing your body as gravity pulls you downhill. Controlled step-downs, split squats, lunges, squats, and other lower-body strength exercises can help prepare your legs for descending. Strong downhill legs can make a big difference late in a long hiking day. 4. Build Practical Strength Strength training should support your hiking—not compete with it. Focus on movements that look and feel like the work you’ll do on the trail. Think step-ups, step-downs, squats, lunges, calf raises, loaded carries, and exercises that strengthen your core. You don’t have to train like a bodybuilder. You’re training your body to step up, control the descent, stay balanced on uneven ground, carry weight, and keep moving. 5. Train With Your Pack If you’ll carry a daypack on your adventure, don’t wait until the last few weeks to start wearing it. Begin with a lighter pack and gradually build. Whenever possible, use the pack you’ll take on your trip. Training with it gives you time to adjust the fit and discover rubbing, pressure points, or other problems before you’re halfway up a mountain. 6. Practice Back-to-Back Hiking Days If you’re preparing for a multi-day trek, you aren’t just training for one big hiking day. You may hike all day, eat dinner, sleep, wake up and do it again. Occasional back-to-back training days help your body learn what it feels like to move when your legs aren’t
