r/HikingEssential

Video By: jess ferri

Did Laugavegur for the third time last summer and wanted to share the training approach that got me through it comfortably - no gym membership needed, just a stairwell.

Why stairs: Trekking effort really breaks down into two things, sustained monotonous walking, and climbing. Didn't matter how strong my bench press was, it wasn't going to help on a long uphill grind. Legs and aerobic base were what mattered.

The plan I followed (roughly 5 weeks, every other day):

• Started by climbing 85 floors of stairs (up + down), no pack. If your stairwell is continuous, ~16 steps per floor.
• Once I could do that in under 30 minutes, I added a pack with ~7kg.
• Once I could do that under 30 min too, I switched to taking stairs two at a time, closer to the rougher, boulder-y terrain you actually hit on trail.

For anyone curious about the math: 85 floors ≈ 260m of elevation gain. I started calling every ~260m an "Eiffel Tower," just to estimate climbs in my head. That mattered a lot for day 1 specifically - the climb from Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker is one of the toughest sections on the whole trail, with roughly 650-680m of ascent up to the highest point around 1,050m. That's basically 2.5 "Eiffels" right out of the gate, and it's widely considered the steepest day on the route. Having trained for that number specifically made a huge difference mentally when I hit it.

The other spot that gets talked about a lot is the climb up Brennisteinsalda, between Hrafntinnusker and Álftavatn, the main trail there is steep, rocky, and narrow, definitely a "two-steps-at-a-time" kind of stretch. And even though most of days 2-3 are flatter, don't sleep on Mælifellssandur, the black sand stretch before Emstrur, it can seriously slow you down just from the terrain, even without much elevation involved, so the walking-endurance side of training matters just as much there.

For the walking side (simpler):

• Stair-training days: at least 4,500 steps.
• Rest days: 8,500+ steps, ideally 13,000+.
• Last two weeks before leaving: pushed to 18,000–22,000 steps at least once, on uneven/dirt terrain where possible, not just pavement — simulating a full trekking day.

Pack weight only really seemed to matter on the stair/climbing days for me, didn't notice it doing much on flat walking days. Ankle weights, though, actually made a noticeable difference.

Consistency (every other day, ~5 weeks out) mattered way more than intensity in the end. Worked well enough that I'd do it again for a fourth.

Anyone else have any useful tips on how to get in shape for longer hikes?