By Derrik, MTI Athlete Team
I completed the MTI Alpinist Fitness Assessment on February 16th as the first day of the Alpinist Fitness Assessment Training Plan. I expected it to be tough, but not quite like that, it was brutal. I entered the pain cave on the step ups and the final run very quickly and pushed through on mental fitness alone. I haven’t completed any assessment that had me moving at medium to high intensity consistently for almost three hours. For reference I’ve completed the Operator Ugly, Relative Strength, Endurance, and Work Capacity MTI assessments and finished well above the excellent category in al tested areas. Therefore, I expected to score similarly going into the workout; but I was definitely surprised. My training cycles over the past year have been much more focused on strength training and hypertrophy vice cardio and work capacity events. To be more competitive in this assessment I think dropping about 10 pounds bodyweight would be helpful.
Lessons Learned: Firstly, I am brand new to bouldering so my scores there were dismal. I’ll be able to bring this up substantially. Additionally, I completed far fewer step-ups than expected and sprinted a bit slower than expected. I believe I can improve most in these areas over the next 5 weeks, and likely marginally improve on the upper body strength areas. These are my initial scores:
- 30 dips (15 points)
- 685 step-ups (3 points)
- 25 strict pull-ups (12.5 points)
- 1:10 300m shuttle run (15 points)
- 6 – 50 min bouldering sum (6 points)
- 66:15 min 15K ( 27 points)
Overall score: 78.5 (Poor)
“Alpine climbs have several fitness demands including basic endurance, mode-specific endurance for uphill hiking, under load, upper, lower and core strength, climbing-specific fitness and proficiency. Work capacity for short, intense, events, and stamina for long pushes.” According to this definition of what an Alpinist needs, I can’t imagine adding or removing anything from this comprehensive assessment. I’ll update with progress at the mid-point and post my final scores. I’m optimistic to reach a “good score” of 105. Additionally, this week I will be completing an unloaded time trial hike to the top of a local peak that I expect to take around one hour with 2000 ft elevation gain. I’ll complete this hike again following the program completion to provide additional data comparison points.
Derrick is an Air Force Officer and MTI Athlete based out of Santiago, Chile
Try out our Alpinist Fitness Assessment and let us know how you compare! Details below, and email coach@mtntactical.com with your results.