In my opinion one of the most basic measures of useful fitness is the ability to carry a load. No smart ass not that type of load, LOL. What I mean is the sheer physical ability to carry something from one place to another, this is nothing fancy, it’s just about getting that whatever, from here to there. Infantryman , Urban and Wild Land Firefighters, SWAT guys, lumberjacks, masons, etc, all have to deal with moving weight around and there are many other jobs that require you to lift and carry weight.
This straight forward ability is a real measure of overall body strength, endurance and durability. It also has a tough mental component as it can only really be developed through hard grind workouts, however as a foundation of fitness it has no equal. Now having said all that what is the best way to obtain and maintain this component of fitness? In the military forced marches with heavy packs is the go method to for them. Firefighters and SWAT guys train with gear and workers that have to bear weight do so every day as part of their jobs. But if your a person that isn’t in one of these occupations you can still gain a lot of benefit from doing some training in this area.
For myself and others I’ve trained, I’ve seen the best results (in the shortest amount of time) from stair climbing with a weighted vest. Now while from time to time I do some long hikes humping a heavy pack, but for really digging into this, I find weight vest stair climbing is the best. I’m not talking about running up and down stairs, which without a vest is mostly an aerobic workout, but deliberately paced weighted walking up and down stairs. One good thing about stairs is that they are pretty much every where; indoor fire escapes are in every building and outside there are parks, sports stadiums and many other places that have some great places to climb stairs. Here on base where I work there are several places, but my go to is a 44 step outdoor fire escape on the base auditorium building. Once a week I throw on my 40lb vest and stair climb. I walk without holding the rails on the way up, but do so on the way down to keep from busting my clumsy ass. Normally I will do around 45 laps in an hour (51 is my PR). Now that may not sound like much but look at it this way. The standard amount of steps per floor in a new high rise is 12. So 45 laps of 44 step is 1980 steps (counting up only), or 165 floors. Look at it this way, that’s the equivalent of climbing the 104 floors of One World Trade Center with an additional 61 floors. It’s a tough workout and though I normally run 2-3 times a week otherwise, this hour of stair climbing is a much harder overall body workout than running or lifting weights. My legs, back and hips are always sore the next day. It’s not easy, and at times a little boring, but I do it asI know it provides me a level of conditioning no amount of just running or gym work ever would.
The weird thing is I’ve had more than a few people attempt to caution me as too the long term effect of this workout on my back and knees, but I’ve been doing this exact type of workout for many years and never had any injuries from it. In fact it’s been the opposite, I think it has helped me prevent injuries by strengthening the core muscles and other tissue around my joints. I feel the immediate benefit when I go backpacking with my sons. We are doing some rock climbing and backpacking in the Adirondacks and in Yosemite this summer and I know by investing an hour a week in this workout will have me in prime condition for those trips. I highly recommend this for those who want to take their conditioning to a higher level without a large time investment. Start with a light load and short time and increase as you get used to it. Be sure to warm up well prior to and stretch out thoroughly at the end. Be cautious coming down, you don’t need to rush and I would recommend never to run on stairs with a weight vest, to easy to fall and get hurt. Give it a try, it’s not easy but well worth it if you are looking for a way for you to amp up your core fitness.
Be Safe always, Good when you can
Semper Fi
MGunz
corpsstrength.com
