From Sea to Summit Part 4: Strenth & Cardio

Here's the deal. P90x does a lot of different things really well.  The primary emphasis though is really on your core and what I call your stabilizer muscles.  Don't get me wrong this is very, very helpful. But it is not and should not be your only workout; especially if you are going to climb a mountain.  The other two types of workouts needed are strength and cardiovascular.  Let's start with strength.

I have a simple workout that I can complete in about an hour (sometimes less, sometimes more). This workout has three different days of  programed workouts.  Ideally I do these on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to allow my body to rest between.  This is a 10-12 week cycle with the sets and reps changing every 6 workouts in order get your muscles to work on "slow and fast" twitch muscle.  Now I could drown you in the steps and specifics but here is a basic run down.  For every 2 arm or upper body exercises there is one for your lower body or legs.  Each of the workouts also has about 5 min of abdominal work in them.  For each day of the workout I attempt to focus on 2 different muscle groups for the upper body.  This combination of upper body and lower body helps to keep me in balance and proportional.  There are also ways to easily measure and see your improvement with each cycle.  Goals are very important and this program keeps you moving forward.

If you want the specifics of how this works please comment with your email address.

Next let me address the cardio.  This is most peoples least favorite component, but it may be the most important. At the beginning of each work out I run 2-3 miles. This pushes my heart rate up, gets the blood circulating to all of my muscles and I can easily do it on a treadmill without getting bored.  Start by walking a quarter mile then kicking up the speed to a comfortable clip (for me about 7 miles/ hour).  I usually run a mile at this pace then bring the speed up more for the remainder of my run. Then I do another quarter mile walking just to bring the heart back down slowly while still moving.  Start with the walk 1/4 mile, run 1 mile, walk 1/4 mile and gradually increase the middle mile to 1.5, then 2 then 2.5... you get the idea.  That leaves time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays for more extended cardio work.

Those extended cardio times were really difficult at first, but I came to enjoy them.  Usually one of them would be open road work from 3-8 miles worth at a comfortable speed.  The key is doing it without stopping.  I began to add a bike ride on one day as well. This can be short (8-10 miles) if done a a fast speed, or longer 20+ miles if done more leisurely.  Then I also throw in some trail running (speed here is not the key; time and distance are what's important).  If you are already doing the P90x and gym workouts with a run, these extended cardio times are bonus.  Don't get down if you miss one.  Catch the next one the next time you have a chance.

Between all three of these workouts I was averaging somewhere around 8-10 workouts per week.  I know that sounds like a lot, but when you are coming from sea level and the expectation is to carry a 50 pound pack on your back in high altitude, then you have to over prepare.  Again if you want more info on any of these workouts or how to prepare for you next adventure, just email or comment and I would be happy to help out.

Don't forget the journey is the destination!

From Sea Level to 14,508 feet- Part 1

I live in north Houston elevation around 220 ft above sea level.  I have to travel 5-6 hours to hit any kind of "altitude" training, and more like 12 for anything worthy of "climbing".  So I have a lot of people asking me how I prepared for my Mt. Whitney climb, the highest peak in the lower 49 states (outside of Alaska).

Over the next few days I'll give you some of my training and some of my trip...interspersed a bit so you don't get overloaded with training advise or with "boring stories" that no one cares about except me.

Here's your first training segment:
I already had a base line of fitness, I was working out 2-3 times per week.  Simple jog for a warm up and 7-8 strength training and ab exercises. Nothing super vigorous, just maintenance.  So keep that in mind as I explain what I began in January to prepare for this trip.

1) I knew I had around 90 days (closer to 15 weeks) before I left for the adventure. That gave me just the right amount to start a cycle of P90x.  I have modified P90x in order to fit it into a 5 days a week schedule rather than a full 7 days.  I find that I do better if I have a weekend off from it.  We also invited a couple of friends to join us every evening.  That helped keep all of us accountable.  They thought we were expecting them to come over, and we knew they would come knocking on the door, so it kept all of us coming back.

2) I intensified my morning workouts at the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I know that means some days I was getting two workouts in a day, but lets be honest, a good hiking trip is in the 4-8 hour range.  Just working out for 45 minutes wasn't going to cut it.  In my work out I always start with a run to get my body pumping blood to all of the extremities.  Then I hit the weights for about an hour.  More specifics on this in a later post.

3) Running...not my favorite or most others, but very necessary.  I began with a simple mile run and increased from there.  Early on I could do this along with my workout, but as the miles increased I had to add specific running days.  My goal was to add about 1/2 mile each week, culminating at around 8 miles.  Again I'll give more specifics later but it was an important piece of the training.

Here's a little taste of what I was able to accomplish...through dedication and a discipline.