Description
The Mountain Elite Sessions are our year-round, day-to-day base fitness programming for multi-sport Mountain Athletes focused on staying fit during and in between mountain sport seasons.
Mountain Elite programming is designed for the year-round, multi-sport Mountain Athlete. Ideal for the kind of athlete who skis in the winter, whitewater kayaks in the spring, and mountain bikes in the summer. This programming intends to maintain a strong base of fitness year-round, with targeted mountain sports season preparation.
Training Priorities:
- Maintain and improve overall strength, endurance, work capacity, and durability so you get the most out of your sport seasons.
- Maintain and improve a base of strong uphill movement capability year-round
- Maintain and improve a base of climbing strength and endurance (optional)
- Prepare the athlete for the demands of common seasonal sports, such as trail running, mountain biking, ski/snowboarding, climbing, mountaineering, and backcountry hunting.
- Note: This is not a sport season or event preparation programming. Check out our individual mountain category plans for sport or event-specific training.
The sessions are designed as high-level, day-to-day-based fitness. They deploy the proprietary programming methodology we’ve developed over the years for mountain and tactical athletes, but with necessary modifications needed for busy mountain athletes.
General Fitness Attributes
- Relative Strength
- Work Capacity
- Climbing Fitness
- Endurance (running, uphill hiking under load)
- Chassis Integrity
WHAT MAKES OUR PROGRAM DIFFERENT?
1) We train for performance outside the gym. Our programming is focused on training which transfers to tactical performance and durability. Gym numbers are meaningless. All that matters is outside performance. This means we are not wedded to one programming theory or approach. Our programming is constantly evolving as we learn more and improve.
2) Strength Focus. The best thing we can do for our athletes is make them stronger. Strength is the foundation of performance and durability. We train full body strength heavy, hard, and often, using classic, proven barbell and strongman exercises. Beyond full body strength, we hammer the core and midsection daily and often dedicate whole training sessions to building our athlete’s core strength. Our strength training is aimed at the athlete’s “Combat Chasis” – legs, hips, and core.
3) We build durability. By developing overall strength, core strength, and hip and shoulder mobility, we aim to make our athletes more durable. Industrial athletes such as soldiers and mountain guides depend on their fitness and bodies for their livelihood. Avoiding injury from trauma or overuse keeps them on the battlefield and on the mountain. Strength + Mobility = Durability.
4) Our training sessions are periodized and programmed. We are uncomfortable with random training. We like to know where we are going.
5) We understand the “burden” of constant fitness, and program accordingly. Our programming cycles through emphasis on different training attributes, strives to introduce new exercises, and builds in both very intense depletion days and easier, recovery “unload” weeks to both challenge and protect the athlete.
6) Constant improvement. Our programming today is much different than 12 months ago and will be different again 12 months from now. The more we coach, the more we learn, and that increased knowledge is continually folded into training programming and training session design. We are constantly making changes to improve. We can always do better.
7) We’re our own “Lab Rats.” We do these training sessions too – ahead of when they are published on the website. We understand that programming and training session design are as much craft as they are science, and there’s no substitute for the coach writing the training sessions to do them also. We try and test it before we publish it.