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
94K Feet Up, 88 Pounds Down: 30-Day Upper Dolpo Nepal Trek at 67—Stairs, Treadmills & Deadlifts | Hike Strong Podcast | Ep. 17
I’ll never forget the email that landed in my inbox last November. “Failure isn’t an option,” Trudy wrote. “How do I get in tip-top shape for a 30-day Upper Dolpo trek?”
Fast-forward five months: Trudy—67 years young and 88 pounds lighter—had logged almost 275 miles and 94,000 feet of elevation gain training, half of it on real stairs and mountain trails, the rest on treadmills between deadlifts and trap-bar sessions. She showed up in Nepal ready for twelve high passes (six over 16,500 ft, topping out at 18,250 ft) and the cultural immersion she’d been craving since her Peace Corps days.
In this episode, I pull back the curtain on the program we built together: how we ramped weekly goals from 12 miles/3,000 ft to 18 miles/4,000 ft, why a 25-pound training pack and forty-lap stair grinds became her secret weapon, and how she toed the line between over-training and optimal conditioning.
Trudy joins me to share the human side, chatting with curious neighbors during two-and-a-half-hour staircase sessions, balancing powerlifting meets with summit prep, and using Diamox along with smart acclimatization days to keep altitude sickness at bay.
If you’re eyeing Everest Base Camp, Kilimanjaro, or your own backyard epic hike, Trudy’s journey proves that meticulous prep and a rock-solid mindset trump age, altitude, and doubt every time.
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