Hill fitness through the non-summer months

[bluebug32]

Absolutely. You can vary your stance for squats to hit different areas. Keep your feet closer together to hit the outer glutes & quads. Wide stance with toes out will hit the inner thighs (squeeze on the way up.) The lower you go the more you hit your glutes but be sure to keep a normal curve in your lower back. If you don't have a lot of flexibility, you might need to keep your squats shallow for awhile.

Low reps with weights build more strength (4-8 reps). Higher reps (12-20) will build endurance. Do both.

Lunges are good too. You can do stationary or walking. Steps ups are great for quads & glutes.

Thanks!

In terms of the low/high reps and doing both. Do I do them both in one session or do high one day, low the next time I do legs?

[gnat23]

Yes, I know, San Francisco does not touch the real winters that I grew up with in Wisconsin, but...

I do know not to push it when I'm not having fun, and commuting in the pitch-dark with full-rain gear and a headwind is about when I call it a day, never mind any hills on top of that. Just looking for alternatives that are close enough to keep the fitness rather than earn hardcore points.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

-- gnat!

[Misandal]

I definitely recommend the Spinervals DVD "Hillacious" - I'm one of the cyclists in the workout. I'm the one stuck in the back on the stationary bike. That is a great workout and Evil Coach Troy is actually very nice.

[Dogmama]

Thanks!

In terms of the low/high reps and doing both. Do I do them both in one session or do high one day, low the next time I do legs?

High one day, 48 hours later do low. Rinse and repeat.

[malkin]

When I lived in the bay area, I didn't own any real winter stuff. It seems like there's no point in it because it is hardly ever cold enough.

I spent a miserable week in Honolulu (ok, really still lots of fun) because I only had clothes for 85 degrees and it was in the high 60s, drizzly and windy.

[OakLeaf]

When I lived in the bay area, I didn't own any real winter stuff. It seems like there's no point in it because it is hardly ever cold enough.

That's weird. Now that we go south for the winters, the only time I wear my winter stuff is when we go to Monterey every year. In July.

Like I said, 40 below is nothing compared to 45 above and 90% humidity. Brrrrrr!