AMC Outdoors, May 2002

By Michael Lanza

It happens every winter. I vow to train regularly in the climbing gym, so that I'll be fit when I first grab real rock come spring. Then, well, life kicks my best-laid plans in the keister. When I hit the cliffs the first few times in the new season, I find myself wondering what happened to the strength and confidence I had in August.

Whether you're a rock climber, kayaker, bicyclist, or hiker and backpacker — or, like me, juggle various hats and helmets — your sport makes very specific demands on your body. Spring catches many of us working to get back into shape for beloved outdoor activities. If you favor any of those I've mentioned, take a look at the advice of five experts below for getting into shape and avoiding injury. Some common recommendations they offered: There's no better way to train for any physical activity than by doing that activity, and no faster route to improvement than practicing with people who are better than you. Read on for their other specific tips that may help you have a little more fun this summer.

Hiking
Mark Fenton, the author of The Complete Guide to Walking and host of the PBS program "America's Walking," knows something about preparing the leg muscles and joints for climbing mountains. His first tip: Get into your hiking boots early in your training cycle. "Many of the problems occur early with your feet. It's about conditioning your body to having that weight on your feet."

Start out early in the season with short hikes, he says, gradually increasing the distance and amount of elevation gain and loss.

"The knee is a really vulnerable joint," Fenton says. "One of the simplest preventive exercises is a straight knee leg lift." This balances the strength in the two big muscles of the thigh: the vastus medialus, or larger muscle on the inside of the leg above the kneecap; and the vastus lateralus, or outer thigh muscle. When the latter is stronger than the former, it can cause a slight misalignment of the kneecap, resulting in discomfort. The lateralus is also the braking muscle, slowing the bending of the knee, so its proper conditioning helps prevent knee pain when going downhill.

To do straight knee leg lifts: Sit on the floor with one leg straight out in front of you, the other bent at the knee with that foot flat on the floor. Contract the thigh muscles of the straight leg. Lift that foot several inches off the floor and hold for a five-count, keeping the knee straight. Lower the leg, rest a moment, then repeat four more times before switching to the other leg. Gradually increase the number of reps and length of time you hold each leg up.

If you don't have regular access to hills, devote some time every week to step-ups. Start with three one-minute reps three times a week, gradually increasing step height (to two steps) and duration, and eventually wearing a pack while doing step-ups in your boots. Alternate the foot you lead with.

Cycling
Brian Fiske, senior editor at Mountain Bike magazine, has competed in numerous 24-hour bike races and the Iditasport 100, a 100-mile race along Alaska's Iditarod Trail. "With cycling, as with most sports, there are two key aspects of fitness — endurance and power," Fiske says.

As little as 30 minutes of weight training a couple days a week can improve muscle tone, make your shoulders and neck less prone to stiffness, and give you more control and power.

Early in the season, build base strength. Get your body used to being on the bike through long, medium-intensity rides. Two-hour spins at least twice a week will improve your heart rate and respiratory endurance, making your body better able to deliver oxygen to your muscles.

Then build power through two types of interval training. First, develop overall power by pushing a hard gear up a moderate-grade hill for five to 10 minutes, two or three times each workout, with a recovery period in between. Second, do multiple short, intense intervals. Pedal 120 seconds all out, followed by a 120-second recovery of easy spinning; decrease the interval by 15 seconds each time until you're down to a 30-second effort/30-second recovery. Ride easily for several minutes to recover, then repeat the series once or twice, but no more than that. Intervals are hard on the body.

Paddling
Kent Ford was on the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team from 1977 to 1991, national champion twice, and on the world champion team twice. He runs Performance Video, producing instructional videos in whitewater and sea kayaking and canoeing.

Ford's top training tip? Paddle as much as possible, even if only on a local pond for an hour twice a week, to build up the stroking muscles.

If you do yoga or martial arts, these develop great flexibility. If you don't, include light warm-ups and stretching. For kayakers, the weak link is often the hamstrings — when they're too tight, they rock the pelvis backward when you're seated in a boat, forcing the spine into a hunched position, contrary to good, upright kayaking posture. Once that happens, "all of your upper torso range of motion is compromised, [including] your ability to twist," says Ford. "If you can't rotate well, your shoulders take more strain of the paddling." To stretch buttocks and hamstrings, he recommends lying on the floor in a doorway with one leg extended flat on the ground in front of you, and then raising the other leg straight up against the door frame. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds on each leg.

In early season, remind yourself to maintain a light grip on the paddle shaft, Ford says. A tight grip transmits tension through your body and makes you prone to overuse injuries in your forearms and shoulders. Open the fingers of the hand that's punching forward on the stroke.

Rock Climbing
Brad White, co-director of the International Mountain Climbing School in North Conway, N.H., has climbed for 26 years. He says there's no getting around this fact: as in other sports, the best way to train for climbing is to climb. Get outside on rock as early and often as possible. Still, White offers this advice for training to push yourself on the cliffs:

Do laps or reverse the route on indoor walls, until exhausted.

Increase your power by bouldering — an intensive workout of hard moves on outdoor rock or an indoor wall without being tied into a rope or going up high, so that falls are safe. If outside, use a crash pad and have a friend spot you.

In a health club, do reverse and forward wrist curls to strengthen opposing muscles. White uses a pull-up machine called the Gravitron, which allows you to counter-balance an adjustable percentage of your body weight, enabling more repetitions and sets than one could do pulling up one's full body weight.

Stretch the fingers and forearm by holding one hand straight out in a "stop" gesture and using your other hand to pull back on the fingertips of the straight arm, bending that wrist backward to a comfortable limit and holding it. Then stretch in the opposite direction, pulling the wrist forward.

—Michael Lanza is the extremely fit author of The Ultimate Guide to Backcountry Travel, from AMC Books.