Get fit for a walking vacation
Prepare for a walking trip with the realbuzz.com training plan
Walking vacations can be social and scenic trips that allow you to develop your health and fitness while having a break from home. However, in order to take a walking vacation, it’s important to first assess your current fitness levels and whether you will be able to last the pace on a tough foreign walk.
Here’s realbuzz.com’s guide on how to train yourself up to meet the demands of a walking vacation.
A walking vacation doesn’t necessarily involve trekking to the ends of the earth carrying all your worldly goods, or tramping huge distances for 12 hours each day against a rigid schedule. A walking vacation exploring national trails or a supported tour where your luggage is transported between hotels is far more common and an increasingly popular way of enjoying a walking break. If you’re planning something along these lines, it is important to be fit enough to enjoy your vacation; which is where realbuzz.com comes in. To help you get the most from your vacation, we’ve designed a step-by-step program to help you get in ‘walking shape’ so that you’re not left nursing aching muscles after the first day.
This guide includes advice on:
- How to assess your current fitness
- Building your walking fitness — sensibly
- How to strengthen key muscles for your walk
Where are you going on your walking vacation?
The first stage is to accurately assess the level of fitness that you need for your walk, so do as much research as possible. Factors to consider include duration of your vacation, rest days, terrain, climate, time of year, whether you’re carrying a load and distances covered each day. Walking vacations can vary considerably from completely supported tours with rest days, where all your equipment and baggage is carried; to unsupported, much more challenging adventures in more remote locations. From this assessment you will have an idea of how soon you need to start your training program.
Where are you now in your walking progress?
Next, you need to honestly assess your current fitness levels. Without an idea of where you are now, you can’t measure progression or start at the correct level. From the activity levels described in the following table, check out which one is the nearest match to your current level of fitness and then follow the training program best suited to you and your goals.
| Activity levels | Cardiovascular training (walking or more vigorous activity) |
Resistance training | Training program category |
| Frequent | 3 or more times per week | Once or twice per week | A |
| Regular cardiovascular (CV) training | 3 or more times per week | None | B |
| Regular resistance training | None | Once or twice per week | C |
| Occasional | Once a week | Up to once a week | D |
| Haven’t exercised for some time | None | None | E |
Simply consult the following table to match your fitness level with the most suitable training program. After that, follow the specific guidelines on CV and resistance training and away you go ...
| Training program category | CV training | Resistance training | Training notes |
| A | Make sure your current program includes plenty of walking and add in some back-to-back sessions. | Change your training focus to concentrate on leg exercises. | You’re in good shape. Continue with your training, including the recommended adaptations. |
| B | Make sure your current program includes plenty of walking and add in some back-to-back sessions. | Start with a single leg exercise session each week, building to two sessions as your fitness improves. Use light weights to begin with, only adding weight when you are both comfortable with the exercise and capable of stepping up. | You have a good foundation, look to factor in the resistance training to fully prepare for your walk. |
| C | Start a gradual walking program. Build up to a minimum of three sessions each week to eventually match the duration of a single day’s walking. | Continue with your current program concentrating on leg exercises. | Your resistance training background should ensure that you have good all round strength. Your primary focus will now be CV exercise. |
| D | Build your CV session frequency to at least three sessions per week. | Build to two weekly leg exercise sessions as your fitness improves. Use light weights to begin with, only adding weight when you are both comfortable with the exercise and capable of stepping up. | You will have a double focus, CV and resistance training. Allow yourself sufficient rest to allow your body to adapt to the increase in training volume across both disciplines. |
| E | Start a gradual CV walking program. Build up to a minimum of three sessions each week and of the duration of a single day’s walking. | Start with a single leg exercise session each week, building to two sessions as your fitness improves. Use light weights to begin with, only adding weight when you are both comfortable with the exercise and capable of stepping up. | Have a check-up with your doctor before you begin so that you have the all clear to start exercising. After that, look for gradual progression. Start your training as early as possible. |
Getting started walk training
Look to begin your training as early as possible, to give your body the maximum amount of time to adapt and strengthen in readiness for your walking vacation. Avoid trying to cram several months of specific training into a couple of weeks because as well as arriving totally unprepared, you are likely to end up injured and having to postpone your walk. By starting in good time, you can factor in plenty of rest days as you build your fitness and easily incorporate your training into your life, as opposed to beginning late and trying to fast-track your fitness — at the exclusion of everything else.
Cardiovascular walking training
This should form the foundation of your walking-fit training program. Without good CV fitness, you will be unable to complete each day. Look to carefully progress your CV fitness so that in the final weeks, you are comfortable with the maximum daily distances that you will encounter. Any CV exercise will help but walking is the most suitable discipline because it completely replicates the actual requirements of your vacation. Additionally, if possible, try to train on similar terrain.
For example, for a more mountainous walking vacation, try and get off-road onto trails and into the hills. Off-road training is more challenging than purely road walking but you will strengthen both your ankles and knees which will better prepare you for the demands of your vacation.
A minimum of three sessions per week should be your aim, including some back-to-back sessions later on in your program, similar to your walking days.
Resistance training
Training with weights will build specific strength in the key muscles that you will use when walking. The main focus area is the legs, but exercises for the arms (biceps and triceps), back (particularly if carrying a rucksack) and core are extremely beneficial. Aim to build up to two sessions per week and try to get correct instruction so that you carry out the exercises correctly, get the maximum benefits from your training time and most importantly, avoid injury. A program focusing on these key areas and including a warm-up and cool-down should only take 30 to 40 minutes, so it can be fitted into your life without too much difficulty.
Ready to go
After following the realbuzz.com walk-fit program you will be ideally placed to get the absolute best from your vacation. CV, strength, all-round fitness and body awareness will be the benefits you enjoy, in addition to general improved health through being fitter.
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