[Willem Silver]

Good Evening Everyone,

Is there a case to be made for backwards walking uphill with a front loaded pack for Descend training?

I have a history of injuries on big mountain while descending and my ME workouts up and down a hill with x meters elevation loss and the strength training session just doesn’t seem to prepare my muscles enough for a descend with the same drop in meters on scree for example.

Thank you in advance to anyone willing to dedicate 5 minutes of their biological lifespan to share their thought.

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[Scott Johnston]

Willem:

Thanks for your question and I apologize for my slow reply.   walking backwards uphill is actually a clever idea, although I’m not sure if carrying the pack on front or back really makes much difference. But, hey I’ve not done it and it sounds like you might have played around with it.

We do use backward walking on inclined treadmills and dragging sleds to strengthen the VMO (vastus medialis oblique) muscle.  That’s the teardrop shaped muscle just above your knee on the inside of your thigh.  It gets heavily involved in descending when you knee goes out over your toes.  To train it you do need to step well back (uphill) so that the toe of the upper foot is behind the downhill foot and the knee has a significant bend in it.

Descending scree is always going to be tough due to the instability and balance issues and I don’t think this backwards walking should be tried on scree.  I think you will end up falling a lot. 🤦‍♂️

I hope this helps.
Scott

[Willem Silver]

Evening Scott,

Thank you so much for your response, please no need to apologize.

 

You hit the nail on the head. Its my VMO as well as my Gastrocnemius (Outer Calf Muscle). I tested today like you suggested by stepping well back to really get a proper knee bend and its as you said just wonderful levels of fatigue around the lower vastus lateralis\medialis.

Thank you.

P.S. The Book club Sessions are fantastic, thank you for the time you spend preparing and presenting them.

[Author]

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