Can flat terrain rucking help with backpacking in high elevation areas?

[Joey G]

I like in Texas. I do live close to the Hill Country, but it’s still pretty flat here. I’d like the bulk of the workouts I do be to prepare for the backpacking trips I take.

So far I do:

1. Leg workout that includes step ups with a weighted pack

2. I have a peloton tread that I do a walks on at a 12.5% incline with and without a pack sometimes.

3. I also do rides on the peloton bike for cross training.

4. I’ve used rucking as my zone 1 workouts. Sometimes without a pack for recovery workouts.

I say all that because I am just wanting to know specifically if rucking with a pack around your backpacking weight on flat terrain help with backpacking?

I ask this because for these z1 / low z2 workouts I’d like to go outside. I could just use my tread and make the incline like 5% but I’m trying to get variety in my workout plan and if the majority of my workout plan is z1/z2 I’d like it to not only benefit my aerobic capacity but also the connective tissue, endurance, and max strength needed for backpacking.

Thanks

[Josh J]

Yes, but strength training is really going to be helpful. Depending on what your goals are you may need muscle endurance as well as cardio endurance. Take a look into uphill athlete they are pretty much the authority when it comes to mountain sports.

 

What area your goals for hiking? Trails you want to do?

 

Btw I’m a flat lander as well

[Joey G]

I usually backpack in Washington State. Last year I did a section of the Wonderland Trail. I felt fit enough to do it but there were parts where there were long sustained uphill that I would need to stop for like 10-20 seconds after a bit to catch my breath. TBH, this is what I want to improve. Not having to take these stops on long sustained uphill climbs. It’s not a big deal, because I never bonked or anything because I kept enough fuel in me. It’s just something I want to improve.

[Josh J]

Is just your breathing or how do your legs feel? Either during after or end of day?

[Joey G]

Breathing. My legs felt great. It was just during the hiking itself.

So, I thought it was because I hadn’t done enough exercise at that heart rate. Like my heart rate would start to creep up to 160. Once it got that high, I pulled off the throttle a bit ( slowing down or taking a 10-20 sec break ). I thought I would try to train more around that level this year so that I can not feel I need to slow down.

I found when I didn’t feel I need a break my heart rate would stay around 135 – 145. Just so happens I measured my aerobic threshold at 135  last month. It’s when all of a sudden we had a harder push that it would creep up to 160. This all may be normal and this is what a lot of other people need to do, but I just thought I’d work on it this year.

[Joey G]

Is it :

1. I need to train at that heart rate more

2. I need to train going on hard pushes uphill more

3. I need more z1 / low z2 so that my aerobic threshold will get higher to that heart rate.

[Josh J]

Now I’m no expert but it sounds like you’re cardio base is weak. Strongly recommend uphill athlete.

To increase your cardio base you need a minute of 45min or longer training in Z2 based off a heart rate drift test (ideally) if not then nose breathing able to hold a conversation. The longer the sessions the better.

Uphill athlete is a great resource and your treadmill needs to be 10% or greater

[Joey G]

I’ve done a lot of research on uphill athlete and maybe I’m not interpreting the research I’ve done into solving my problem specifically correctly. I’m thinking of doing one of their coaches so that they can kind of point me in the right direction.

[Josh J]

#3, you need a huge cardio base, shrink the gap between z2 and z3 to less than 10%

[Joey G]

Thanks for all your responses Josh!

[Josh J]

No problem, the bigger cardio base will help with the uphill but you’ll also have to train that as well. Once your lungs can handle it, the muscles need to handle it as well

[Joey G]

I do have one more question. Going back to my original question, do you think it matters if this Z2 needs to be at an incline? Like could it be flat rucking with a pack as long as I’m getting my HR into Z2?

[Josh J]

Z2 is Z2, flat or hill, just be sure your HR is in Z2. Hilly is obviously preferred bc it’s more specific to hiking and training the muscles used. But as I mentioned I’m a flat lander as well and before I injured my hamstring I was running flat land in Z2, I also have a peleton bike that I bike in Z2, when I started I was doing treadmill at 10% walking for over an hour, watched lot’s of TV and movies…. Lol it got the job done, now I’m trying to get back into it while recovering my hamstring.

[Dan]

Don’t forget the downhill. That can really beat up your legs and feet. Even in flatland, you can sometimes find some ups and downs, e.g. parking garages.

[David D]

A piece of advice I came across that really helped for me was to focus on longer deeper exhales during inclines.  The advice was that your exhales should last as long as your inhales.  Its not going to replace a training regimen but I find this definitely helps on sustained inclines.

[Josh J]

There’s also a whole thing about how well you can handle CO2, which you can improve as well.

[Josh J]

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