A Realistic Laugavegur Training Plan for Inexperienced Hikers (No Mountains Needed)

Let's talk about the part of the plan that worried us the most: getting physically ready. It wasn't just the 55 km (34 miles) distance that was daunting, it was the elevation changes of over 500 metres (1,600 feet) on terrain we had never experienced. Standing in relatively flat, tropical Singapore, we knew our preparation would be the difference between an incredible adventure and a miserable slog.

This isn't a guide from elite athletes, but we're no couch potatoes either. We started with what we’d call an average fitness level and a lot of questions. This is the real journey of how we trained for this challenge, including the mistakes we made and the lessons we learned. We'll share our exact 6-month training schedule, how we simulated mountain conditions in a city, and how we solved the aches, pains, and blisters that popped up along the way. Let's get you ready!

Our Training Philosophy: Enjoy the Journey, Don't Just Endure It

Before we list a single exercise, let's begin with the end in mind. Our goal was never to finish the trail fast. It was to finish it safely, and actually enjoy the otherworldly landscapes we came all this way to see.

This simple shift in mindset is your most important training tool. It focuses your preparation on building sustainable endurance, not on speed. You want energy left at the end of each day to appreciate the moment. Your training should prepare your body not just to survive the hike, but to truly experience it.

When to Start Training? Our 6-Month Story (and Why You Need a Buffer)

We gave ourselves six months to prepare, which felt like plenty of time. We were wrong. It turned out to be just enough.

Early in our training, disaster struck. During a routine hike, I took a bad step and severely sprained my ankle. Thankfully there was no fracture but the swell took over six-weeks to recover. During which, I could not train - no hiking, no stair climbing, nothing. If we had started training only three months before our trip, this injury would have derailed everything.

This is the single biggest lesson we learned: start your training as early as you possibly can.

Life happens. You might get injured, catch a nasty flu, or have a busy period at work that disrupts your schedule. Starting six months out builds a crucial buffer for these unexpected setbacks. It turns a potential trip-ending disaster into a manageable delay. Don't wait. Start today.

The Core of Our Plan: Training First, Perfect Gear Later

It’s easy to think you need the perfect gear before you can start training. Our advice? Don't wait. The most important thing is to start building your fitness foundation today, using whatever you already own.

In fact, when I sprained my ankle, I was on a practice hike carrying nothing and in my regular running shoes and gym clothes. You don't need fancy equipment to begin. Your initial goal is simply to get your body moving. This can be anything from swimming to sessions at the gym. Focus on activities that get your heart rate into Zone 2 (about 60-70% of your maximum) to build a strong endurance base.

That said, you must break in your key gear as you acquire it. We integrated new items into our training as we bought them. Here’s the priority:

1. Your Feet Are Everything: Make hiking boots and quality socks your first purchase. Breaking them in is super important. Wear them on every training hike to identify hot spots and prevent blisters. A crucial tip: keep your toenails trimmed short! It will save you a world of pain on the downhills.

2. Get Used to the Weight: Start training with a backpack early. It doesn't need to be your final pack or fully loaded. Begin with 5 kg (11 lbs) and gradually add weight. This lets your shoulders, back, and neck adapt slowly, preventing aches on the actual trail.

The lesson is simple: start moving now. Integrate and test your essential gear as you go.

Building a Hiker's Body: Our 3 Core Focus Areas

Before creating a schedule, we broke our training down into three fundamental areas. Focusing on these pillars ensures you're building a well-rounded fitness base that can handle everything the trail throws at you.

1. Cardiovascular Endurance

   This is your ability to move for hours without getting exhausted. We built our endurance primarily through long walks, stair climbing, and sessions on the incline treadmill. The goal is to get your body efficient at sustained, low-to-medium intensity effort.

2. Functional Strength

   This is the raw power needed to carry a heavy pack and push yourself up steep climbs. Simple, effective exercises are all you need. We focused on squats and lunges for leg power to support the weight we are carrying.

3. Stability and Balance

   The Laugavegur trail is rocky and uneven. Good balance is crucial for navigating tricky terrain and river crossings safely. We incorporated simple single-leg stands into our routine, and exercises like planks to build a strong, stable core.

By consistently working on these three areas, we built the specific fitness needed for the trail. You can find countless free resources online for specific exercises, like bodyweight squats or different plank variations, that build these foundations. The key is consistency.

Now, let's look at how we put it all together into a schedule you can follow.

Our City Training Schedule: A Month-by-Month Guide

Disclaimer: We are not personal trainers or medical professionals. This is the exact training plan that worked for us, starting from an average fitness level. Please listen to your body, adapt this to your own abilities, and consult a professional when necessary.

Finding Your "Mountains" in the City

First, you need to find your training grounds. We live in Singapore, one of the flattest countries in the world, so we had to get creative. Here are the places that became our “mountains” in Singapore:

• For Elevation: The stairwells of HDB apartment blocks were our number one tool. We regularly climbed blocks, some over 20 stories high, to simulate steep ascents.

• For Hills: We hiked Bukit Timah Hill and its "Devil's Stairs" repeatedly to practice on terrain with steep inclines and declines.

• For Trail Practice: The trails around MacRitchie Reservoir and Rifle Range Road gave us experience on uneven, natural ground and some practice with hiking poles.

• For Long Walks: On most hikes, we kept to walkways and HDB blocks for shelter (Singapore is hot and humid!). When it rains, the air-conditioned walkways of Changi Airport were our secret weapon for getting in long, uninterrupted walks. And we fit right in with our backpacks 😂

Look around your own city for similar opportunities. You'll be surprised what you can find.

Phase 1: Building the Foundation (Months 6 & 5)

The first two months are about building a solid base of strength in your legs, core, and shoulders. This prevents injury later on.

Typical Training Week:

• 2x Strength/Core Sessions (30-45 mins): Focus on squats, lunges, planks, and overhead presses.

• 1x Cardio Session (45 mins): A brisk walk, swim, or a session on an incline treadmill is perfect.

• Gear Homework: Buy your hiking boots and backpack now. Wear the boots around the house and on your walks to break them in. You can see our exact gear recommendations in Part 2 of this series!

Phase 2: Building Trail Endurance (Months 4, 3 & 2)

Now, the focus shifts to endurance, and training with your gear. Consistency is key. We hiked every single Saturday for four months, rain or shine!

A Note on Intensity: Your goal is to keep your heart rate in Zone 2. A simple way to measure this is the "conversation test": you should be able to hold a conversation with some light panting. If you're too breathless to talk, you're pushing too hard. Using a heart rate monitor, like the one on this fitness watch, makes tracking effortless.

Typical Training Week:

• 1-2x Strength/Core Session (30 mins): A shorter maintenance session.

• 1x Long Weekend Hike (2-4 hours): This is your most important session. Go to one of your chosen training grounds and focus on time on your feet.

  • Month 4: Aim for 2-hour hikes with an 8 kg pack

  • Month 3: Increase to 3-hour hikes with a 10 kg pack

  • Month 2: Push for 4-hour hikes with your full pack weight of 10-12 kg.

⚠️ Remove all hand jewelry when you hike. We noticed during long weekend hikes that our fingers tend to swell and bloat. This is normal as the intensity meant blood flow is focused towards our lungs, heart, and legs, causing our fingers to swell to let as much blood through as possible.

Phase 3: Peak and Taper (The Final Month)

The last month is about hitting your peak and then letting your body recover fully.

• Weeks 1-3 (Peak Weeks): These are your final, big training pushes. Because of my ankle sprain, our schedule was compressed, so we were still training hard. Our longest hike was during this period, covering 20+ km each hike once a week to build our final confidence.

• Week 4 (Taper Week): In the final 7-10 days before your flight, dramatically reduce your training. We only did one or two light exercises. Your body needs this time to heal and store energy. Do not do any heavy training.

A Final Tip: Find a Partner. Training with a partner was the secret to our consistency. On days we felt lazy, we motivated each other. It makes the entire process more fun and keeps you accountable. Mixing in other sports with friends also helps keep things fresh.

Troubleshooting Your Training: How We Solved Blisters, Aches, and Pains from Hiking

Training for Laugavegur Trail is not a smooth process. You will get sore, and experience pain. This is normal. The key is to listen to these signals and solve the problems before they become serious. Here’s how we tackled the main issues that came up during our preparation.

1. Taming the Dreaded Blister

Blisters were our biggest challenge early on. We learned that the secret is prevention, not just treatment.

• Attack Hotspots Immediately: The moment you feel a "hotspot", that slight rubbing sensation, stop and deal with it. We tried many types of tapes and prefer using this blister tape.

• The Golden Rule: Never, ever burst your blisters. The risk of infection in a remote environment is not worth it. We cover and protect our blisters with hydrocolloid gel adhesives.

• Upgrade for the Trail: We found that regular blister tape often fell off during the actual hike. Waterproof plasters were a game-changer and stayed on longer.

• Check Your Gear: Good socks protect your feet and let them breathe. We also learned a new shoe lacing technique to give our toes slightly more room to expand, which helped immensely.

⚠️ Avoid gear or clothings made of cotton. Cotton takes forever to dry in Iceland’s climate. We had a wardrobe overhaul of gear made of merino wool and polyester.

2. Smoothing Shoulder and Back Aches

Carrying a weighted pack for the first time will reveal muscles you never knew you had.

• Strength is Your Foundation: Those shoulder and core exercises we mentioned earlier are your first line of defense. A strong chassis supports the load better.

• Adjust, Adjust, Adjust: Your backpack is highly adjustable for a reason. We spent time learning how to shift weight between the shoulder straps and the hip belt. How you pack items inside also matters. Every body and every pack is different, experiment until you find what feels right for you.

3. The Power of Regular Breaks

Long training hikes taught us the importance of pacing.

• Rest Proactively: Our number one rule is to take a short, 5-10 minutes, break every hour.

• Reset Your Body: During these breaks, we would always take our packs off to give our shoulders and backs a rest. It’s also the perfect time to stretch, hydrate, and have a small snack.

4. Preventing Cramps

Steep climbs, especially on stairs, can lead to cramps. We found a simple solution:

• Electrolytes are Key: We drop an electrolytes tablet into our waterbottle on our longer hikes.

• Pack a Snack: A snack high in potassium, like a banana, can also prevent your muscles from seizing up.

5. Most Importantly: Recovery

How you treat your body after training is just as important as the training itself.

• DIY Massage: We used a massage gun to work out specific knots and sore spots in our legs and shoulders. It was a lifesaver.

• The Pro Treatment: The full-body massages during our six months of training helped immensely with overall muscle recovery and soreness.

Your Body is Ready, What About Your Bag?

And that’s it. That is the complete, honest story of how we went from average city dwellers to being physically ready for one of the world’s great hikes. It wasn't about a punishing, military-style regime. It was about consistency, listening to our bodies, and solving problems as they arose.

By following this framework, you can build the specific strength and endurance you need to not just finish the Laugavegur Trail, but to truly enjoy every single step.

Now that your body is prepared for the challenge, it’s time to prepare your backpack. The gear you choose is your support system on the trail, and a well-packed bag can make all the difference. In the next post, we dive into our complete, budget-friendly Laugavegur Trail Packing List, sharing every single item we brought and what we learned along the way.

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