Training for Adventure

5 tips to help you prepare for a summer of epic adventures

Training for adventure means you need to be ready for anything! Your body is capable of amazing things when properly prepared. Whether you’ve crushed epic adventures in the past or are just getting started, if you haven’t been intentionally training, you might not be ready for the physical and mental demands.

Life is more fun when you have the confidence in your physical abilities to do the activities you truly enjoy without holding back. Whether hiking rugged mountain trails, conquering technical singletrack, or paddling whitewater rapids, being prepared both mentally and physically allows you to savor every challenge and moment in nature.

Here are 5 tips to help you prepare for a summer of epic adventures!

1. Get Your Steps In – If you want to be ready to adventure all day, it starts with making sure your body is conditioned for constant movement. Gradually build up to getting 7,000-10,000 steps or more in each day to develop a solid base of physical and cardiovascular endurance.
2. Work on Full Body Strength – Out on the trail, you’ll need total body strength to power up steep inclines, scramble over obstacles, and manage heavy packs. Focus strength training on compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups like squats, deadlifts, pushups, and rows.
3. Build Endurance with Easy Cardio – Steady state cardio prepares your body for endurance activities and helps build that “hard things are easy” kind of mindset. Aim for 3 sessions per week of at least 45 minutes like hiking, biking, swimming, or using cardio machines.
4. Improve Movement Ability – If you have limited range of motion in areas like your hips, other parts of your body like your back and knees are going to feel it. Make sure to work on mobility and stretching. Add some mobility exercises as a warm up, cool down, or rest between strength training sets.
5. Practice High Intensity Intervals – Sometimes you’re going to have to work really hard out on the trail, honestly the easy cardio mostly prepares you for the hard stuff. High intensity interval training with short bursts of max effort like sprints, rowing sprints, or biking hills will help you be ready when things get spicy! Try 8-10 sets of 15-60 second hard intervals followed by 1-2 minutes of rest.

Adventuring in the great outdoors is amazing for the body, mind and soul. Most of the time, it is a strength endurance endeavor – you need to have well-rounded strength, excellent mobility, great muscular and cardiovascular endurance, and the power to make it up even the toughest climbs and rapids! With proper adventure-specific training, you’ll be prepared to boldly go explore wherever your passion leads.