HikeStrong Podcast
The HikeStrong Podcast is where I share practical guidance on hiking, backpacking, and trekking preparation. Each episode blends fitness insight with real-world training strategies to help you build strength, endurance, and confidence for any trail.
I sit down with guests to break down how to train for demanding hiking, backpacking, and trekking goals using smart strength training, endurance training, and conditioning approaches. You’ll hear clear advice on altitude training, uphill training, and injury prevention, all woven into training conversations that support preparation for major destinations such as Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, Rim to Rim, Tour du Mont Blanc, the Camino de Santiago, Patagonia, Machu Picchu, the Alps, and the Dolomites.
Because training is never one‑size‑fits‑all, I also bring listeners inside real programs. In select episodes, I interview clients in a deep‑dive format that reveals week‑by‑week training details — real data, real challenges, and real solutions — offering a clearer picture of how people actually prepare for hiking, backpacking, and trekking goals.
A cornerstone of my approach is elevation‑gain training. I believe that consistently building weekly elevation gain is one of the strongest predictors of success on any major adventure. In each episode, I share clear, actionable ways to develop that strength — even if you don’t have access to hiking terrain — so you can stay on track whether you train on hills, treadmills, stair machines, or step‑ups.
If you're preparing for a major trip, gearing up for a multi-day backpacking route, or building a long-term plan for tougher hiking or trekking challenges, you’ll find episodes that support every step of your training.
Beyond training, some episodes feature voices from across the hiking, backpacking, and trekking worlds — guides, operators, storytellers, and industry experts whose insights can shape how you think about adventure. These conversations broaden your perspective and influence your outdoor experiences, even when the focus isn’t directly on training.
Listen, train with purpose, share with your adventure partners — then take on at least one unforgettable hiking, backpacking, or trekking experience each year. Train | Hike | Repeat
I’m Marcus Shapiro, a hiking strength and conditioning coach and an early pioneer in online training for hiking, backpacking, and trekking, helping adventurers get physically ready for everything from local elevation goals to high-altitude expeditions.
HikeStrong Podcast
Hiking the White Mountains vs Colorado Rockies, Training Tips, Best White Mountains Trails, Mount Washington | Hike Strong Podcast | Ep. 03
Marcus Shapiro is joined by Dave Fatula, White Mountains hiking expert and founder of Guineafowl Adventure Company. Dave successfully makes a strong pitch for why hiking in the White Mountains (in New Hampshire) is one of the most fun, beautiful, and rugged destinations in the Lower 48. Your challenge is to listen and then ask yourself how long you can resist before having to experience hikes in the Whites for yourself. He calls the White Mountains, Boston’s Backyard. Marcus and Dave talk fitness, trails you should hike, spectacular views above the treeline and much more… Below is a sampling of discussion topics:
- Why is it important to feel, see, challenge, and immerse yourself in nature and what’s unique about the ruggedness of the White Mountains?
- Make your pitch to the Northeasterner to hike in the White Mountains.
- Make your pitch to the hikers out West who will belittle the 4000-footers vs 14,000-foot peaks.
- Talk about the challenging trails that sometimes go straight up and down without switchbacks and why that is.
- Hiking in the White Mountains vs Adirondacks vs Mahoosucs.
- Discuss the overwhelming number of stunning views above the tree line in the unique alpine tundra.
- Talk about the iconic Mount Washington hike and important safety measures you should take.
- Discuss peak bagging the 48 peaks within New Hampshire and one in Maine, over 4,000 feet, known as the four-thousand footers.
Let’s discuss the technical nature of the White Mountain National Forest and how a proper fitness level makes hiking much more fun, rewarding, and safe.
- Favorite musical band for Musical Trekking.
- Discuss some beginner, intermediate, and challenging hikes in the White Mountains.
- Discuss that the White Mountain National Forest is home to some of the most formidable terrain on the entire Appalachian Trail.
- What is the most common positive thing people say about the entire experience when hiking with the Guineafowl Adventure Company for the first time?
Dave Fatula / Guineafowl Adventure Company
https://guineafowladventure.com/
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