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| Training
for our courses to climb
| trek | ski |
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pages have been written by qualified Personal
Trainers, exclusively designed
for Icicle clients, to help get you into the best
shape for your course. It has been written to dispell
many training myths, and if you are likely to get
a bit upset by having to admit some home truths,
then reach for the Kleenex now! Having said that,
we aren't expecting you to become a mountain machine,
but the fitter you are, the more you can and will
achieve. Lack of training is the key cause of failure
to reach a summit or to complete a tour... |
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Key
ideas and points to note about our training pages
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Worried?
If you are in any doubt about your training, then
you should visit your GP in the first instance,
or then a Personal Trainer to ask them to help you
develop a personnalised training planner for you. |
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Advice?
If you still have any queries after reading these
pages, get in contact with us and speak to one of
the guiding team. Speaking
to someone who is in the mountains every day can
be a real help. |
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Icicle
training? We offer a range of Alpine trail running
courses, for those who seek specific hill or fitness
training. See the Alpine
Trail Running courses and Personal
Training sessions for a mountain
fitness assessment.
We also offer UK mountain skills weekends, in
the Lake District for just £99 per person.
For more information on these training weekends,
please visit the course page; click
here. |
So what are the next steps? (excuse the pun)
Take stock of what
shape you are in at the moment, and also what shape you
need to be in for your course, be it a climbing ascent
or maybe a multi-day ski tour. You then have the start
and end points and your training requirements need to
be tailored to join them. The key error that most people
make, is that they are over-optimistic about their fitness
level, or take confidence in the fact that there are some
well publicised ascents of mountains by people who are
clearly not in the best shape. It's not a case of training
to the minimum level. It's about training to a good level
to give you a good margin for success, and the fitter
you are, the more likely you will be to enjoy your course
too.
Before
you start any training, please ensure you read this
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If
you are starting at a very low (or non existant)
level of fitness, you need to get yourself checked
by a doctor before you start any of our training
programmes. It cannot be stressed enough that these
training planners are designed to build people up
to good levels of fitness, and that there may be
a high risk of injury or even death to those who
follow these without getting medical advice beforehand.
Don't put yourself at risk by ignoring this. Get
a check up as soon as possible! |
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The
fast and light alpine philosophy is an approach
honed and adapted to the environment. The
sheer scale of the mountains, the changeability
of conditions and the altitude demands fitness,
experience and speed for safe passage. Thus
early starts and a steady relentless pace
with few stops is the norm. I could see now
that Icicle were not over-playing the fitness
aspect and why most of the guides in Chamonix
are small and skinny
Nigel
G , Alpine Introduction course
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Which
mountain sports are these Icicle training pages aimed at?
We run a wide range of
mountaineering, skiing and trekking courses, all of which have
different training needs, but all share a common requirement
of a good level of aerobic fitness. These pages have been developed
to build up your fitness to a good enough level for the course.
For more advanced training some specific muscle and tendon training
is required, but for the majority of our courses (e.g. Mont
Blanc, Off Piste Skiing, or Alpine Trekking) no specific training
is needed above a good level or aerobic fitness. These pages
talk you through the planners to choose which are the most suitable
for your course, as well as the general principles of training,
the holistic approach, diet and hydration, and the types of
exercise that you could consider using. Just remember... |
Training
isn't about joining a gym, putting on fancy trainers and jogging
with your iPod looking good.
It definately isn't about being really strong with big muscles,
able to bench press huge weights.
It's about getting very hot, sweaty, smelly, out of breath,
and feeling like you want to stop!
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FREE
Podcast: Training for Mont Blanc...
view
website course page
This really is a no holes barred podcast, where
we explain exactly what an ascent entails physically
and technically too, and give examples of good UK
hill training...
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FREE
Podcast: Getting into trail running...
view
website course page
Trail
running is a fastgrowing sport, and this podcast
explains what it involves, how to get into it, and
also goes through all of the equipment that is required...
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