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Training
Created: 2020sep25fri
Updated: 2024jun28fri
The "Knee Pain No More!" video on Chase Tucker's "Chase Mountains" channel was recommended to me, out of the blue, by YouTube. I wasn't even signed in, or anything. Then I decided to link directly here, and elsewhere on this site, some videos from Chase's channel, which I thought would be appropriate. The videos linked here below might be Chase's best for any hiker considering doing the hikes listed on this site, and I've tried to arrange them in some kind of developmental order from easy to hard. Work your way down from the top. It's like reading from top to bottom: as simple as ABC, in order.
Chase does not know me. I did not ask his permission. These videos are not uploaded to this site. These are merely links to his YouTube channel. I am not stealing his views. I trust that he will appreciate the extra views, and perhaps some likes and subscriptions as well... ;) ;) (Yes, I'm winking at you, dear reader.)
I am not a physiotherapist, biokineticist, personal trainer, or any other such professional health-care practitioner. Read and understand the notice at the very top of the page. Consult your health-care practitioner before you hurt yourself (further).
Chase recommends repeating an exercise only until form failure, when the proper form of the exercise cannot be maintained anymore due to muscle exhaustion. Along with this, he also seems to recommend setting a timer sometimes, so that it's not always about achieving a certain arbitrary number of repetitions of an exercise, but rather perhaps merely spending some time gaining the benefits of some physical exertion.
He also discourages training through pain. Pain is a warning that something is wrong, which should first be fixed before continuing. Many people confuse mere discomfort with actual pain.
If you don't know the difference, the dull muscle-stiffness you experience the day or two after a tough hike, is not pain but simply mere discomfort. The sharp, stabbing pain in your knee every time you step down on a steep decline... that is pain. Discomfort is usually dull; pain is sharp. Learn to distinguish, and don't complain about discomfort; everybody feels it, and there's not much anyone can do about it, "embrace the suck!" ...But do let everyone else know about your pain, because pain is a problem that needs treatment sooner rather than later. "Prevention is cheaper than cure."
Exercises with walking and climbing movements similar to those employed during hiking, might be loaded, by adding a backpack (in stead of other gym weights) to make it more realistic and relevant.
It's taken me a while, but I think I've finally figured out the difference between what Chase calls a "hike" and a "trek". It seems that a "trek" is possibly a multi-day "hike". ...And a "thru hike" might be a very long "trek". These terms are apparently fairly interchangeable, but they do seem to stand in contrast to a "(mountaineering) climb" which seems to require climbing gear. So, while a "mountaineer" might have to do some "hiking" or "trekking" before they get to their climb, a "(thru-)hiker" or "trekker" will probably not be considered a "mountaineer" if they don't do some climbing with gear as well.
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...But... if you're not motivated, you're probably not going to do it. The first video talks about motivation. I'd like to add my take on it as well, sort of as a summary.
1. Motivation... vs. Enjoyment? If you don't enjoy it, it's probably not going to motivate you to keep on going. Find the thing(s) that you enjoy - find your ikigai(s). Because you enjoy it, you won't even notice how much you actually accomplish. A person can be motivated by the stick as well, but enjoyment is only about the carrot.
2. SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based. Don't go outside your comfort zone. Rather get to know your limits -- but then push them just a little bit more every time -- from inside the safety of your comfort zone. Inside your comfort zone, you're safe; outside, you're taking unnecessary risks that might be dangerous not only to you, but also to others. Expanding your comfort zone, safely and responsibly, from within, in order to include, eventually, experiences which were initially outside, will allow you to become more comfortable with things you weren't comfortable with before -- in a much more responsible way than just rushing out headlong without thinking things through first.
3. Clear Progression (Measurability): Take the trails in the developmental list on the home page of this site, and hike them from the top down. The list has just exactly been numerically, mathematically calculated specifically for this purpose. What prevents you from being SMART, and safe, and responsible about it?
Here's a measurability challenge, if you think that you might need or want one: Figure out how far your list goes, and then, ultimately, complete it. Your list is the list of trails which you have hiked, as they appear in developmental order on the home page of this site. You might not be able to complete or even attempt the toughest trails towards the bottom of the list (at first at least), but as long as there are easier trails that you have not hiked yet on the list before the toughest one that you've done so far, so long your list will remain incomplete. It's not about having a longer list, or setting speed records on your trails. It is about whether your list is complete or not.
The second video here below says:
'DO LESS THAN YOU CAN
MORE OFTEN THAN YOU WANT TO.'
...and then he shows you how to do just exactly that. Why haven't I started doing this yet? The 'how' is in the '5 Minute Maintenance' video here below. Five minutes. Just five minutes. Every day. What?! You don't have five minutes in a day somewhere? Then you need to go out, do some hiking, and get your head sorted out.
May Chase's videos empower us all to become more consistent, healthier, and more responsible hikers -- who love to Chase Mountains! Feel free to follow any other videos that he links in these videos. The "Hollow" video linked at the end of the follow-along "Core Stability Routine for Hikers" is particularly brutal. https://basecamptraining.com.au/blog/
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From the next video, I've taken some ideas, and started rambling and ranting... Chase might not necessarily endorse my interpretations.
There is no such thing as "fitness". There is, however, such a thing as health. When "fitness" starts compromising health -- mental almost more than physical health -- you're doing it wrong. Slow down!
Also: everybody's different. Stop trying to use someone else's solutions to solve your own problems. Sure, look at what they do -- and learn from their successes and failures. ...But, through it all, get to know yourself, what you're capable of, and what not -- and solve your own problems for yourself by yourself!
We seem to have this idea that "fitness" is a certain level that needs to be achieved before someone will allow us to do something. It seems we should perhaps rather start considering the concept of ability instead.
"Fitness" = minimum requirement/restriction/permission.
Ability = minimum allowance/freedom/invitation.
Everyone's ability is different. Don't wait to achieve minimum "fitness" someday. Start with what your ability allows you to do now already.
If it's killing you, then go sit down and think of how to change your daily routine/schedule, your lifestyle and/or your job (in this increasing order of least disruption first) -- and then actually make that change! Slavery and the mindset of karoshi (in work and in sport and - belief it or not - even in relaxation) is alive and well in modern society, but it is still your choice. Determine your own priorities, and then deal with the consequences.
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https://basecamptraining.com.au/2020/04/22/how-to-find-your-aerobic-training-zone/ is an excellent read for establishing an aerobic training-base! Here are some summaries and extrapolations that I take and make from it for myself.
Towards the end, Chase makes a brilliant definitive distinction between experienced and inexperienced hikers in terms of their ability to read and respond appropriately to any trail on a step-by-step basis. He clearly speaks from much professional experience himself. (However, as far as "experience" is concerned in terms of predicting/forecasting how anybody else -- and even the hiker themselves -- will respond to any given trail on any given day, even Chase will still not classify himself as "experienced" as the term seems to be commonly misinterpreted.)
It seems, to me, that "experienced" hikers are those who seem to handle themselves well on trail, being confident in what they can do, and knowing what they can't do, being able to move and step with certainty, ease and even grace, light-footed over heavy terrain, with an almost transcendental sense of balance. I think the ultimate, physical manifestation of "experience" is through a sense of balance, which also translates into emotional, psychological and mental balance and endurance, and acceptance, patience and adaptation to the trail, and accommodation of others, and gentle, kind encouragement to expand their capabilities from within the safety of their comfort zones, so that they don't even realise how easily they grow and develop into more "experienced" hikers themselves.
I've recently come to the conclusion that, as far as physical balance and movement confidence on trail is concerned, it seems to depend to a large extent on the hiker's ability to squat comfortably, and deeply, and on one leg as well. I can't squat deeply on one leg, but the hikers who are able to go down a little bit lower on one leg, seem to be the ones who move with more strength, stamina, power, control, grace and confidence.
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Aerobic Training Exercises:
1. Hike with a backpack
2. Stair climb with a backpack
3. Treadmill walking with a backpack (5 to 15 degree incline)
4. Trail running
5. Elliptical or cross trainer
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Aerobic In-Zone Indicators:
1. Light to Moderate Nose-Breathing
2. Conversation Pace
3. Light Sweating
4. Feeling of Maintenance Indefinitely
Who doesn't want to train and burn fat as comfortably and enjoyably as this?!
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The example numbers in this section refer to heart rate, measured/expressed in beats per minute (bpm).
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tl;dr
Max. Healthy Heart Rate
MHHR = 220 - age
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| ZONE 3: Anaerobic Training
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Approximate Anaerobic Threshold
AAnT = 200 - age + 1.5Mod
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| ZONE 2: Middle Training
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Modified Max. Aerobic Threshold
MMAeT = 180 - age + Mod
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| ZONE 1: Aerobic Training
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minimum Aerobic Threshold
mAeT = MMAet - 10
***
Max. Healthy Heart-Rate (MHHR)
= 220 - age = 220 - 47 = 173
Max. Aerobic Threshold (MAeT)
= 180 - age = 180 - 47 = 133
Modify this MAeT number by selecting among the following categories the one that best matches your fitness and health profile:
a) If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or are on any regular medication, add Mod = -10 (i.e. subtract).
b) If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back into training, add Mod = -5 (subtract).
c) If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems in (a) and (b), keep the MAeT number (180 - age) unmodified, i.e. add Mod = 0.
d) If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems in (a) and (b), and have made progress in competition without injury, add Mod = +5.
Modified MAeT (MMAeT)
= MAeT + Mod = 133 + (-5) = 128
min. Aerobic Threshold (mAeT)
= MMAeT - 10 = 128 - 10 = 118
Approx. Anaerobic Threshold (AAnT)
= (average of MHHR & MAeT) + (1.5 x Mod)
= [(220 - age) + (180 - age)]/2 + (1.5 x Mod)
= 200 - age + (1.5 x Mod)
= 200 - 47 + (1.5 x -5)
= 146
MHHR = 173
AAnT = 146
MMAeT = 128
mAeT = 118
Aerobic Training Zone 1: 118 - 128
Middle Training Zone 2: 128 - 146
Anaerobic Training Zone 3: 146 - 173
I did NOT read 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing' by Dr. Phil Maffetone. The 220bpm used in the MHHR formula is merely based on popular superstition. The Approx. Max. Anaerobic Theshold (MAnT) is my own concocted formula based on my ignorant attempt at an uneducated, conservative guesstimate somewhere in between MMAeT and MHHR with the goal of training in Zone 1, and playing in Zones 2 and 3.
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A chest-strap heart-rate monitor would've been nice, but all of them have to connect to a phone app, or similar, and none of them have little screens on the monitor device or the strap itself. So, I ended up using a finger-pulse oximeter bought from a pharmacy for much cheaper than a professional, sports HRM. At certain points during a hike, I will take a quick measurement, and try to adjust my hiking as necessary to stay within Zone 1. Eventually, I will learn how to regulate my hiking with fewer measurements along the way.
Eventually, though, it turned out to be more trouble and less enjoyment. So, I gave up on the measurement, and just do what feels good at the moment.
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A good, local test, here in the George region, Western Cape, South Africa, to determine whether a hiker is "fit enough", is to try to climb the mountain up to the cross. Ask around; pretty much everybody knows about it. On the George Peak Circle Anticlockwise page, the video at the bottom shows the shortest route from Arbour Rd. to the cross, and, in the list of waypoints, the cross is indicated as being 2.0km from the Arbour Rd. forest gate. The signpost at the cross itself indicates 2.2km. This trail has an elevation gain of a little more than 300m, according to the small signposts along the way. If a hiker can make it to the cross in an hour, or an hour and a half at most, and back to Arbour Rd. in another hour, then they might be fit enough for any day-hike recorded on this site. Keep on climbing that route until you can make it.
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1. Injury Prevention
The first video here below... Wow! Just, ab-so-lute-ly WOW! :D
So, you know I've had knee issues. If you didn't, now you do. Doctors and orthopedists and orthotists ... none of them helped. Eventually, I discovered Iliotibial Band Syndrome on the interwebz, and I thought that I had finally diagnosed myself. I started doing what I thought were appropriate exercises, and I seemed get some positive results.
However, not too long ago, I did the Groeneweide Red Route, and on the way back, I was in excruciating pain on the downhills because of my knees -- despite my personalised ITBS exercises. However, the next day I woke with lower back pain, and thought I might try Chase's 'hollow' core-exercises in the video below, to see if they will help with that. Two days later, the lower back pain was sorted. However, the next weekend, we did Groeneweide Red Route again, and this time my knees were absolutely perfectly fine as well! It was my weak core all this time, requiring my knees to compensate in ways that they were not meant to do.
IFFF my knees now ever give any hassles downhill, I simply walk with a pelvic tilt/scoop, and that sorts it out IMMEDIATELY! Also, I now try to remember to lengthen my paces a bit more, stretching my strides, in order to get the glutes/core to work more, in stead of the calves.
I started doing 4 reps, 45 seconds each, with 1min15sec rest in between, every morning after making my bed. It took me 6min, and my knees are now -- finally -- sorted. :D
Gradually, I started lowering my legs, and squeezing my glutes and quads during the hollows, and, then, a year or so later, my feet were mere centimetres off the ground, and I've extended the reps to 60 seconds each, with a 60-second rest in between, during which I do cross-body glute and hip stretch-holds. The whole set keeps me busy for 8 minutes each morning. Also, a few times a week, I do a "speed hike" up The Link trail, similar to that in the following video.
Ever since I saw the third video here above, about the "1 Stretch?", for the first time, afterwards, for about a week, I was thinking of including it here. The message just makes sooo much sense. I've tried it, and I could immediately feel the lasting effect. In that week, I had subtle prompts in various situations confirming that I should include this video here. Then I received a general newsletter email from Chase in which he, again, mentioned the difference between fitness and health, and then referred to this video, and I finally decided to get the job done, and link it here. I think that the probability is almost zero that this 30sec stretch, 3 reps, alternating sides, will do nothing for you.
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If you click the YouTube button at the bottom right of the video, the first link in the description below the video on Chase Tucker's "Chase Mountains" YouTube page takes you to https://basecamptraining.com.au/knee-pain-routine where you can get the Knee Pain Routine .pdf file sent to your email inbox FREE of charge. After that, he follows up with regular emails containing further details, info and advice to help you get the most out of the routine. Granted, some of it is advertising for his Mountain Proof Knees and other programmes, but, hey, the guy's gotta make a living, right? If you're interested in this, I recommend clicking the link, getting the file, and following the routine. The file also contains links to further FREE videos which demonstrate how to do the exercises properly.
Health-care practitioners adhere to the maxim from Hippocrates' "Epidemics",
Book I: "[...]: either help, or do not harm the patient." I do not see how Chase's Knee Pain Routine can be harmful. This is a complete routine to assist in healing the source of ITBS. It is not just click-bait. Chase is paying it forward. I believe that he has earned my respect and is worthy of my trust to the extent that I will even risk whatever little reputation I might have to promote his material as far as seems relevant.
2. Reasons
3. Warm Up Routine
4. Developmental Routines
5. Progress Measurement
6. Cool Down Stretching
P.S.: For myself, during C19, after two months holiday at the end of 2020/21, I've taken some of Chase's exercises (and variations thereof) in these videos here above, and set up the following list for daily purposes. At the moment, I need something that will facilitate at least some maintenance of hiking ability, but which does not take up more than half an hour a day. The more intense, the shorter, the better for my personal priorities. I feel that I can actually feel the following exercises, and they seem to offer the best summary of combinations of everything that I think I need.
Warm-up Stretching:
Hip Hinges/Air Dead-Lifts
Scapula Down-Dog Calf Pedals (flexing shoulders)
Side-Lying Hip Abductions (raise leg, and move it horizontally backwards)
Main Work:
Swinging-L-sits-to-Bridges
Hyper-Ups (like Reverse Hypers, but on the floor; "reverse hollows")
Scapula Push-Ups (there are so many possible push-up progressions...)
Single-Leg Squat-to-Seat (pack-weighted)
Lunges (pack-weighted)
Step-Ups (pack-weighted)
Hollows! ;D
Cool Down:
I might do some four-count water breathing or box breathing.
How many reps? How long? ... I like the idea of form failure, and trying to figure out how to progress the intensity when form doesn't fail anymore; rather earlier in the morning than later. It's like Maths: get it done when you're still strong. However, my focus is on slower phases with increased time-under-tension, and holding the final rep a little bit longer.
Also! Do you want to find out how strong/weak your feet are? Walk barefoot, or with socks, at home, and stand rather than sit. ...But do not wear shoes. I'm a Maths & Sci tutor. During C19, I do all my sessions by means of video calls online. So, I look like a TV news anchorman to my students on their devices: they only see my upper body. Below the waist, I wear shorts and go barefoot, especially if it's hot outside. I spend three or four hours at a stretch on my feet in front of the whiteboard. In shoes, it's fine. Barefoot, the discomfort is ... significant.
I did not know or realise how weak my feet actually were. However, after about three weeks now, I am consciously aware of diminishing discomfort. My feet are getting stronger. I can feel it. In winter, though, I'll probably start wearing shoes again, for warmth. ...But I'll try to stay out of shoes as long as possible. On the other hand, I've spoken to a barefoot hiker, and she admits that wearing shoes is now what causes her discomfort. So, it sounds like zero-drop, "barefoot" shoes might be the way to go, for the best balance of both worlds: warmth in winter without the weakening. Something like the following...
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