Training
The view changes every day. Your legs need to keep showing up. A simple, repeatable training rhythm for a multi-day Alpine trek.
Nathan Gee, Peaksted Coach
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3 min
The climb earns the view. The descent earns the dinner. Then the next morning asks you to do it again. That is the quiet challenge of a hut-to-hut journey: not how impressive you look on day one, but how much of the mountains you can still enjoy later.
Train the rhythm: climb, descend, eat, recover, repeat. Match your preparation to the daily ascent, descent and pack load on your actual itinerary—not kilometres alone.
A week you can actually repeat
This is a coaching example for someone already exercising comfortably, not a mandatory schedule. Reduce it if it exceeds your current capacity.
Monday: rest or an easy walk. Let the weekend settle.
Tuesday: a short strength session: step-up, hinge, calf raise and carry.
Wednesday: conversational-effort hills or incline walking.
Thursday: strength, with controlled lowering work.
Friday: rest or gentle movement.
Saturday: your longer hilly walk, with familiar food and your expected pack.
Sunday: recovery. Occasionally add a short easy walk after the long day, once you tolerate the workload.
The bit that gets forgotten
A treadmill can build climbing fitness. It cannot fully rehearse a rocky descent. Find manageable downhill terrain and practise small, controlled steps before fatigue makes every foot placement a negotiation. Increase the descent gradually; finishing destroyed is not proof of a productive session.
Peaksted photo archive: ridge walking as training inspiration, not a photograph of the Tour du Mont Blanc route.
Why keep strength in the plan?
Schumann and colleagues’ review of 43 studies found that combining aerobic and strength training generally did not compromise maximal-strength or muscle-size gains compared with strength training alone. Explosive strength was more sensitive. That supports using both tools; it does not validate this exact week or guarantee trek performance.
Make the weekend a dress rehearsal
Before your next walk, check three things: where food sits in the pack, which layer you can reach quickly, and whether your footwear stays comfortable downhill. Afterwards, note energy, soreness and how you feel the next morning. Adjust the following week around that feedback.
The win: enough preparation that your attention can return to the place, not just the effort. Leave space for the long lunch, the changing light and the view you did not expect.
Progress from your own baseline. Persistent pain, unusual fatigue or a medical condition needs individual advice, not a harder training week.
Keep exploring
Research behind the advice
Ready to put this into practice?
