The Uphill Athlete 12 Week Limited Training Time and Availability Plan is designed for climbers heading for a 2 day up to 2 week mountaineering objective who have very limited time to train. The plan progresses over 12 weeks and tops out at 7:40 hours of training in the final week. It does not include any technical training components so is best for those with either a good technical skill set or for those bound for non-technical objectives. The focus is 100% on climber fitness which in our experience is most amateur climber's biggest limitation on these sorts of climbs. This plan does not include a taper/easy week, so it is important to plan one very light week after completing the program before tackling your main objective.

This plan sacrifices the aerobic base building period because of the time constraints. As such this plan should not be considered a short cut to fitness. It is a plan of compromise for those with strictly limited time to train or a short time horizon. While it is a stand alone plan, it will give better results if it comes on top of a solid aerobic base. If you plan to stack two of these plans back to back it is important to separate them with a 4-6 week strictly aerobic base building period. This aerobic base period is fully explained and outlined in our book, Training for the New Alpinism.

This plan is based on your RPE, or Rate of Perceived Exertion. Workout intensities are guided by how hard you are working based on your perception of effort (how hard the workout feels to you) rather than by heart rate. This is an adaption of the original plan for those who want to learn to calibrate their effort levels in their workouts. It's also a great option for those who don't have a smartwatch or prefer not to train using technology. For the heart rate based version of this plan, click here.

Whether you use an RPE based or heart rate based training plan, we recommend that you use a chest-strap heart rate monitor and GPS watch to log all your training.

For those with more time available each week we strongly recommend using our 16 Week Big Mountain Training Plan or our 24 Week Expeditionary Mountaineering Training Plans. Following these longer, higher-volume programs will result in a bigger fitness base.

Key Points:
-Ideal for the busy professional with limited time
-Buy it once, own it forever
-Structured workouts available on your GPS device
-Structured progression for climbing fitness
-Mountaineering specific strength workouts
-RPE chart included

Send us your success stories! You might also want to visit our free forum at uphillathlete.com where you will find answers to the most common questions about our training plans.

Happy Training,
The Uphill Athlete Team