Any training program alterations for an avid hiker

Hey guys,

As the title states I am wondering if you would make any changes to your powerbuilding program for an avid hiker such as myself. I frequent the Canadian Rockies and last year easily surpassed 500km of distance and 20000m of elevation gain(in roughly 3 months of summer). These aren’t gradual slopes and wear down the legs pretty hard when climbing.

That said I plan on doing the same or going even harder this year. The program will have extra off days since I usually do 3-4 day trips, but I plan to do the program normally, and then just have extra “rest” days when I go out in the mountains.

In your opinion should I back off on the squat volume, keep it the same, or just base the volume off my fatigue level. I’m not lifting heavy yet - 1RMs of 162kg DL, 140kg Squat, and 105kg Bench. I was lifting heavier as a teenager(500lb squat, 405 dl, 250 bench), but that was ten years ago. I expect to advance quickly and have goals to hit a 185 DL, 185 Squat and 130 Bench by the end of June.

With all that said, would you consider those weights and the volume required from the program to be acceptable with my hiking/peakbagging lifestyle, or should I make some changes to the plan?

I would start out by keeping things the same and adjusting the load to hit RPE targets. Based on how you do over time you may experiment with manipulating overall training volume through a process of trial and error.

Sounds good to me. I’m not too worried about it right now, still finishing up the beginner program and will probably run it again, so have a couple months yet before this happens. Ill track how my RPE and fatigue fails and maybe make a more informative breakdown when I see what it looks like.