Hiking Specific Workouts?

I came from a similar background, making the switch from semi pro road and track cycling to make backpacking my main hobby. An injury prevents me from racing, but it only affects my vision so I have no problem hiking.
I used a similar program of plyometrics and weights that worked for cycling, and adapted my regimen to focus less on "explosive power" and fast twitch muscle development. I now use plyometric exercises that incorporate slower, more refined movements, and focus primarily on muscular endurance. i.e. squat walking, exercises incorporating weights and calf raises.
Stair workouts are also part of my training, but I have found that adding extra weight isn't necessary. It will just put undue stress on your back, rather than improving core strength that could be achieved in better ways. be careful when climbing stairs in an office building, I've found that quite often in stairwells the air can be incredibly dry and dusty, and could hurt your lungs.
In terms of cardiovascular fitness, cycling should translate over well to hiking. Obviously cardiovascular efficiency at the lower heart rate ranges will be most beneficial here, i.e. the equivalent of base miles instead of sprints or intervals.

Yoga has been fantastic for helping with trail running, I agree. And I found that the trail running in turn made my endurance while hiking and my speed noticeably better. There are a couple of really specific yoga poses that I do for a workout geared towards strengthening for hiking; increasing core strength and increasing flexibility – I'll look them up later if I have time.

Lately because of a bad knee I've been doing a lot of exercises geared towards that. Lots of strengthening the area around the knee and working on my IT band, which is really stiff. I use a foam roller for the IT band. I do crunches, a couple different types of bridges, side planks and leg lifts. Also a few pilates exercises. I have another friend who hikes who has also used leg lifts to help combat knee issues.

I also just read an article not that long ago where Steve House described some of his training routine for conditioning for mountaineering – he'd carry 20% of his weight in water up a 1,500 ft hill, dump it at the top, run down, and repeat while keeping his heart rate between 135 and 150.

Focusing on maintaining heart rates while running is good and is probably what I'm going to concentrate on next.

I'm a big believer in the idea that the best training for hiking is hiking. I do a workout very similar to Steve House's starting in early spring, except on 4-5 mile 3000-3500' elevation gain mountain trails, only one rep, and do a fast walk/trot down. The idea is to get the heart rate up around 150 and keep it there for the duration going up, and let it return to about 100 or so on the way down. The advantage to hiking as a training tool, IMO, is that your range of motion is unpredictable and the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are stressed in ways that can't be duplicated on a cardio machine or stairs, and they adapt accordingly. Not mention it's a whole lot more fun. A variation of this routine is to skip the weight, take a fanny pack with a couple bottles of H2O, hiking poles, and put the petal to the metal going up. Heart rate target is 155-160. By the time backpacking season rolls around, it doesn't seem much of a shock to shoulder a pack and get movin'.

My focus in workouts is on endurance. For cardio, it's at least an hour on the treadmill, doing intervals(running 2 minutes/walking 2 minutes) or gradual ever-increasing incline to max incline (this simulates the uphill portions of hiking). This is followed by an hour spin class. I try to do this 2-3 days per week. For weight training, it varies from strength training with high reps/low-to-moderate weight with 30 second rests between sets, or circuit training, or pylometric exercises. I try to do this 2 days per week.

I'm with Tom on this one. But if you can't get out and hike up a hill, then find a building with a lot of stairs and get some simulated hill work. There is almost nothing you can do in a gym that will train your legs adequately for downhill work. For variation you can take the stairs two at a time, three at a time, etc…but real terrain is always best. I'm lucky, in that I live at the bottom of a 300m hill ;)

I have had trouble with my knees most of my life. Had both ACLs replaced years ago. Downhills killed me until I learned how to stretch my IT band properly.

Now I walk on the treadmill, do recumbent bicycle and light/moderate resistance training in the winter and walk nearby trails as much as possible in the other seasons. I find that I MUST stretch regularly and thoroughly all year or I'm miserable at the end of a day hiking if any hills are involved – even when my legs, cardio and respiratory are in good shape.

So do you have a link to how to stretch your IT band properly? And tells what an IT band is?