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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.
32 Episodes
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Thinking about a Swiss Alps hut-to-hut hike but don’t know where to start? How do you actually plan it—and what do most first-timers get wrong? In the final episode of this series, Marcus and Alex, founder of The WanderWeGo Co., dive into the practical realities of hiking in Switzerland. Alex shares what makes the Swiss Alps different from hiking in the U.S., including cultural norms, trail design, and the Swiss trail rating system—an area that often surprises American hikers. They break down...
After months of training, what is it actually like to hike hut-to-hut in the Swiss Alps for the first time? This is the reality of a first Swiss hut-to-hut experience. In Part 2, Dave is joined by Alex, founder of The WanderWeGo Co. and the consultant who designed his Swiss Alps route. Together, they move from preparation to lived experience—talking honestly about what surprised Dave on the trail, what challenged him most, and where his training showed up when it mattered. They discuss why Al...
What does it really take to train for a Swiss Alps hut-to-hut hike at 63—especially if you’re new to multi-day hiking? For Dave, it became a path back to strength, confidence, and independence. In Part 1 of this three-part series, I sit down with Dave, a first-time hut-to-hut hiker, to talk about the training journey that prepared him for the Alps—and how that process became much more than physical preparation. Week after week, our training check-ins evolved into deeper conversations about ag...
In Part 2 of this conversation, Blake Hansen returns to Mount Rainier with lessons learned from his first attempt. This episode focuses on what changed the second time — particularly around gear, systems, and on-mountain decision making. We talk through how Blake refined his pack, clothing, hydration setup, food strategy, and break efficiency, and how those adjustments made the climb feel more controlled and sustainable. Blake also shares what he learned about layering, managing temperature, ...
In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, I sit down with Blake to walk through the beginning of his Mount Rainier journey — why the mountain became a goal, how his first training cycle unfolded, and what happened during his initial summit attempt. We talk through the early training data, the challenges that showed up both in preparation and on the mountain, and how travel fatigue, limited sleep, hydration mistakes, and respiratory symptoms factored into the climb and ultimately led him to tur...
In this episode, Michele shares how one miserable backpacking experience in Yosemite — a trip that began with a rolled ankle and a 5,000-foot descent — nearly pushed her away from backpacking altogether. But instead of giving up, she decided to try again. With structured training and a clearer understanding of how to prepare for a heavy pack, she returned to the trail for a four-day trek in Death Valley and had a completely different experience. Michele talks about rebuilding confidence in mi...
In Part 2, Hilary and Alexis take us through the final weeks of training, their milestone breakthroughs, and the moments on Mount Kilimanjaro that revealed not just their physical readiness — but their resilience, mindset, and bond as a mother-daughter team. We talk about how they balanced real life with peak-phase training, including graduation, a full-time job, and a family bike trip that forced them to consolidate workouts and rely on discipline rather than perfect circumstances. Hilary de...
When Hilary and her daughter Alexis signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, they each trained on their own schedule but stayed connected through shared goals, encouragement, and a deep commitment to see the journey through together. In this first half of their story, Hilary shares how her customized training plan—and especially the lunge progression—transformed the knee she’d struggled with since ACL surgery, leaving it stronger and more stable than it had felt in years. Alexis talks about some...
In Part 2 of this conversation, Marcus and Lisa pick up where they left off—digging into the peak phase of her 20-week training plan leading up to the Tour du Mont Blanc. They talk about how Lisa managed higher mileage and tougher elevation goals, how she kept her body feeling good and avoided overtraining as the workouts got tougher, and the mindset that carried her through the final stretch of preparation. Later in the episode, Marcus brings in Travis Wardell, Program Director for Europe at...
I had a pretty ambitious goal going into this conversation with my client, Lisa. The idea was to cover all 20 weeks of her Tour du Mont Blanc training plan, and my hope was that each week you’d learn something you could apply to your training — or at least walk away with a little inspiration. And the good news is — it turned out great. I’d never done this format before, and it ended up becoming a two-part series. Part 1 focuses on Lisa’s base training phase — the foundation that built her str...
What does it take to climb Kilimanjaro when you don’t live near mountains? And what happens when you decide to do it all over again for the Inca Trail? In this episode, I sit down with Alicia—a self-described “non-athlete” who trained on 23 stairs behind a building and a treadmill with a pack on her back to summit Kilimanjaro. She’s funny, self-deprecating, and brutally honest about what it really feels like to take on a trek of this size. Expect a few laugh-out-loud moments mixed with some h...
Most travelers walk away from a guided trip thinking, “That was amazing”—but they have no idea what it actually took to make it feel that way. In Part 2 of my conversation with former REI Guide of the Year Chris Anderson, we go behind the curtain to uncover what guides really do: How REI tried to flip the script and treat guiding as a real career—and why that model didn’t surviveThe long hours, behind-the-scenes prep, and emotional labor that guests never seeThe broken tipping culture—and why...
When REI announced it was shutting down its Experiences Division, the internet exploded with outrage. For many, it felt like the company was abandoning one of the most meaningful things it offered - a way to actually get people outside, not just sell them the gear. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Anderson, Former director of Risk Management & Guide Training at REI - a key leader behind the Experiences Division - to unpack what really happened behind the scenes. We cover: Why REI ac...
In this exhilarating episode, I talk with Alex Harz, creator and star of the captivating documentary "The Quest Everest." Alex shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories of his meticulous year-long training regimen, intense mental preparation, and unforgettable experiences climbing from Lukla to the summit of Mount Everest. Listen in as Alex reveals: The surprising challenges he faced, including unexpected toe injuries and the infamous "Khumbu cough."The reality of the Everest climb—navigati...
Tia Banks never laced up hiking boots until her mid-30s—after a career as a pro basketball and flag-football athlete was cut short by a Grade 5 cartilage tear in her right knee. In this 41-minute episode, we explore: Reinventing yourself after injury: How she pivoted from court and field into totally unfamiliar trails, rediscovered her identity and went on to summit Kilimanjaro while battling illness, whipping winds and half the oxygen she was used to.Why “too late” is a myth: How a total nov...
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, to...
I’ve been a fitness partner with Thomson Safaris since 2009. So when I finally got the chance to interview someone from their team, I didn’t waste time on the usual fluff—no “best time to go,” no “how high is the mountain,” and no softball questions to promote their brand. We went straight to the real issue that every Kilimanjaro trekker talks about: altitude. Carolyn Hardy, Senior Safari & Kilimanjaro Consultant at Thomson Safaris, joined me for a candid, behind-the-scenes conversation ...
On today’s episode of the Hike Strong Podcast, I'm talking with Matthew, who shares his inspiring journey from feeling unhealthy and unmotivated to successfully completing a Kilimanjaro summit—his very first multi-day trek. Matthew used my FREE 12-Week Hiking Training Plans from FitForTrips.com to get fit, lose weight, and build the essential leg strength needed for steep descents, rocky terrain, and intense stair sessions. You'll hear firsthand how structured, realistic training helped Matt...
In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Renee—one of my amazing clients living in Montana at the time of her successful summit, now living in Alaska. Even if Kilimanjaro isn’t on your radar, you’ll find plenty of motivation and training nuggets here for anyone who’s ever felt overwhelmed by a big, iconic hike. Renee was 40 when she tackled the 19,341-foot summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and later braved a demanding Alaskan backpacking trip. I’m Marcus Shapiro, hiking strength and ...
I sat down once again with Will Burkhart, founder of Badass Adventures, to dive into a new topic: non-technical high-altitude mountaineering. Will was my very first guest on this podcast, and his episode on Rim to Rim hiking is a must-listen for anyone tackling the Grand Canyon in a single day. But today, we’re going even higher! We define non-technical high-altitude mountaineering as climbing between 14,000 and 19,400 feet without the use of ropes or belaying. Will has created a tiered appro...
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