I’ve been pack training for a long time now like 15 years. Over time I’ve shanked how I do it. When I’m actually hiking with the pack like climbing mountains etc, I keep it from 30-45 to avoid injuries and just have some extra resistance for the workout.
When I do really heavy training, I prefer to do it in a more controlled environment like box steps or some sort of gym machine like a treadmill. That’s when I’ll throw in 75-90lbs.
That has worked really well for me over the past few years.
I use a couple of bulky and heavy old sleeping bags to fill up the bottom 2/3 of the pack and various bladders and water bottles in the top 1/3. I have a couple of MSR 6-liter bladders and a bunch of old bpa Nalgenes that I don't drink out of any more, easy to add or subtract weight and dump the weight if I ever need to.
I stay around 45 pounds for training weight. I use bags of birdseed taped to maintain their shape. I might go heavier once in a while but only in the treadmill where I can keep the elevation steady. I find it’s not the uphills that get me sore, those downhills get the knees.
MM
Tell me the odds of putting grease on the same pancake? I Know they are there, well ice and house slippers. -Kawi
I use different sizes of plastic jugs filled with sand, and use old blankets for filler and space the jugs of sand out in the pack. Empty windshield washer jugs work great.
Appreciate the answers. I’ve managed to maintain some semblance of shape (of which round is one, right?). I’m nowhere near mountain-hunt shape right now.
The spacers and wraps are something I just didn’t think of for some reason. I was trying to avoid having a 50# pendulum of water jugs bouncing off my ass.
This gives me ideas, hence my OP.
Thanks, all.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
I use 2 liter pop bottles filled with water . Old blankets and shirts to separate and make up volume. They weigh about 5 lbs each which makes it easy to increase or decrease my training weight .
I have a bunch of homemade sandbags. I used a piece of painters drop cloth from Home Depot and bought some bags of gravel. I made them in 5lb & 10lb sizes. I use these to condition not only me but my llamas so I have over 300lb of them. There are several ways to keep them up off the bottom of a pack. Put them in side pockets, for example, or stuff something else in the bottom of the pack.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
A bag of pellets for a pellet stove weighs 40lbs and comes in a reasonably strong bag. They also take up a bit of space in your pack similar to a game bag filled with meat. Easy in and out.