BootsnAll Travel Community

What kind of exercising to people do to get ready for traveling especially for high elevations? I am planning on trekking in Nepal and Tibet (5500m). I have been jogging on hills but I am pretty close to sea level. There is nothing around me that is near high. I am just hoping that being in good cardio shape will help me at higher elevations.

i think that's pretty much all you can do, unless you plan on taking along some diamox, and planning for extra time for acclimitization.

Well, there are a few things you can do to get ready for the trek. In order of importance:

1. Get Experience at Altitude.
Obviously, based on your location, not much you can do about this so I’ll move on.

2. Gaining Altitude
When gaining altitude up to a new elevation you haven’t been to yet, take your time. Go as slow as conditions will warrant, which for trekking is generally as long as you want. This is often a problem for people who are in good cardio shape. They lack the patience to slow down and let their body adapt slowly.

3. Pre-trip Conditioning
If you are going to be traveling for more than 4-6 weeks or so before you get to the trekking part of the trip, any training you do probably won’t matter too much. But the simplest, easiest training routine would probably be to put on a pack with a little more weight than you will be carrying on the trek and hit the hills. If there are no hills around you go to the gym and hit the stair master or a treadmill with the slope maxed out. I wouldn’t do it more than every other day to let your body recover. And wear the same shoes/boots you will use on the trek. Then, once a week go for an off-trail run/hike with low top shoes to make sure you are giving your ankles enough lateral conditioning.

Of course there is always this training methodology:

"I suggest going out to the nearest pub and getting completely, and utterly, wasted. Make sure you smoke at least 1 pack of unfiltered Camel's. Get the full ashtray, pour a drink in it and then pour the mixture into a water bottle. When you get home (ideally around 3:30am) stick the vile mixture into your freezer. Put on your best goretex and thermal layer. Climb in. At 5:30am, get out, drink (chew?) the mixture and go run the biggest flight of stairs you can find. Run until your heart threatens to explode. Your dehydration caused by the alcohol should adequately simulate what you may experience at higher altitudes. Your lung capacity should be sufficiently impaired by the smokes to simulate a oxygen poor environment. The freezer episode should adequately replicate a bivy. Drinking the booze/butt mixture should simulate your lack of appetite..... Oh, once your finished your workout, go to work (to replicate the long walk out)." – Greg Hamilton

Do 3 sets of 10 dumbbell arm curls daily to prepare yourself for all the drinking you’ll be doing. You wouldn’t want a case of tennis elbow ruin your trip.

Have fun!


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hike for miles with a pack on. Imagine what you would carry in your pack on these hikes and simulate it with weight. To train for Kili, I hiked around central Texas (which is not very high at all) with a pack ranging from 30-45 pounds and in extreme conditions (100+ degree days). But definitely make sure to acclimatize!!!

Training? I going to attempt to climb Kili and all I've done the past 5 years is sit in bars and shoot the shit with geezers.