It’s the question we get most after “do I need experience?”: okay, I don’t need to have climbed before, but then how do I prepare? You search online and find a thousand different routines, contradictory advice, 6-month plans copied from one site to another — and end up more lost than when you started. If that’s you, this is for you.
Training to climb a mountain isn’t the same as training to be fit. You don’t need to run a marathon or lift heavy at the gym — you need a body that can move for many hours in a row, day after day, carrying its own weight, and keep functioning well when oxygen runs short. These are different skills, which is why a generic “get fit” plan almost never prepares you for what you’ll actually face.
- Long-duration cardiovascular endurance — slow, not fast. This is the most common mistake we see: people insist on going faster instead of putting in more time. Your training volume needs to sit mostly in Zone 1-2 — the comfortable pace where you could hold a conversation without gasping, not the one that leaves you wrecked in 20 minutes. It’s counterintuitive, but training slow for longer builds the aerobic base you actually need on the mountain — where you’ll spend 6-10 hours at that same comfortable pace, not flat out. Walking, hill climbs, the stair machine or treadmill on an incline, always in Z1-Z2, is what really prepares you.
- Full-body strength, with real load — and never skip it. You’ll be carrying a pack for days, so training full-body strength (legs, core, back, upper body) with squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, or loaded stair climbs prepares you for what you’ll actually feel on route — you’ll need your back and arms too, not just your legs. But don’t do it only for the mountain: fit in at least two strength sessions a week, always — it’s one of the things that protects your long-term health most, expedition on the horizon or not. Muscle mass, bone density, joint stability… it isn’t an extra for the mountain, it’s a foundation for life.
- Practice with your own gear, before you arrive. Boots, pack, poles — all of it needs to be broken in before the trip. Many problems on route aren’t about fitness; they’re blisters or chafing from untested gear at the worst possible moment.
It depends on the objective, but as a reference: for something like Kilimanjaro or Everest Base Camp, with a reasonable starting fitness level, 8-12 weeks of specific training is usually enough. For Aconcagua or Ojos del Salado, being more demanding and longer, it’s best to start with a 4-6 month lead time. The earlier you start, the less you have to cram at the end — and the lower your injury risk from rushing.
Most of the content you’ll find on “how to train for X mountain” is written by people who’ve climbed the mountain, not people trained to design a training plan. I’m a certified Personal Trainer and Sports Nutrition Coach, as well as the person who designs and guides these expeditions — so when I tell you what to train, it isn’t copy-pasted from another site. It’s exactly what I ask of my own clients before I take them to 6,000 metres.
Not sure where to start? Tell me which expedition you have in mind and your current fitness level, and I’ll build you a training plan tailored to you — free, before you even decide to book.
Ask me for your training plan →
And if you want to see where that training can take you: Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, Aconcagua, Ojos del Salado, or the Kyrgyzstan mountaineering course.