How to Train for Hiking Season in Wanaka: Gym Exercises for Roys Peak and Beyond

Wanaka sits at the trailhead of some of New Zealand's best day walks. Roys Peak climbs about 1,200 metres over 8 kilometres. Isthmus Peak is a similar effort. Rob Roy Glacier, Diamond Lake, Breast Hill — none of them are technical, but all of them ask a lot of your legs. Every summer, plenty of fit-looking people turn back halfway up, or make the summit and then spend three days walking downstairs backwards. The fix isn't more hiking. It's a few weeks of the right work in the gym.

The short answer

To prepare for hiking season, do 4–6 weeks of twice-weekly gym sessions built around loaded step-ups, split squats and controlled step-downs, plus one longer incline cardio session each week and a weighted pack walk on the weekend. This builds the single-leg strength and downhill control that make long climbs feel easier and protect your knees on the way back down. That's it. You don't need to train like a mountaineer to enjoy a Wanaka day walk — you need single-leg strength, a bit of cardio base, and legs that can handle going downhill for two hours.

Why hiking fitness is built in the gym

Hiking is thousands of single-leg steps, often with a pack, on uneven ground, up and then down a big hill. Two things determine whether that feels good or awful:

• **Single-leg strength. **You're never on two feet at once on a climb. Double-leg exercises like the leg press don't carry over as well as step-ups and split squats, where one leg does the work.
• **Eccentric (downhill) strength. **Walking downhill means your quads lengthen under load with every step to control your descent. That's the movement that causes deep muscle soreness, and it's the one almost nobody trains.

The best gym exercises for hiking

**Loaded step-ups. **The single most specific exercise you can do. Use a box or bench around knee height, hold a dumbbell in each hand, and drive up through the top leg without pushing off the bottom foot. Build to 3 sets of 10–12 per leg. **Bulgarian split squats. **Back foot on a bench, most of your weight on the front leg. Brutal, and exactly what steep steps on Roys Peak feel like. 3 sets of 8–10 per leg. **Controlled step-downs. **Stand on a box, slowly lower one heel toward the floor over 3–4 seconds, tap, and come back up. This trains the downhill movement directly. 3 sets of 8 per leg. This is the exercise that saves your knees on the descent. **Romanian deadlifts. **Your hamstrings and glutes drive every step of the climb. 3 sets of 8–10. **Calf raises. **Long climbs punish your calves and Achilles. Do them off a step for full range, 3 sets of 15. **Loaded carries. **Walk the length of the gym holding heavy dumbbells, tall and braced. This builds the core and grip strength that a full pack demands.

Build your cardio base

Strength gets you up the steep bits; cardio stops you stopping every 50 metres. Once a week, spend 30–45 minutes on the incline treadmill or the stair machine at a pace where you can just hold a conversation. Our cardio floor looks straight out at the mountains, so it's easy to stay honest about what you're training for. Then, on the weekend, put on the pack you'll actually hike with — loaded to hiking weight — and walk hills for 60–90 minutes. Nothing prepares you for carrying a pack uphill like carrying a pack uphill.

A simple weekly structure

• Two gym sessions (e.g. Tuesday and Friday) working through the exercises above
• One incline cardio session of 30–45 minutes
• One weekend pack walk on real terrain, building distance each week
• Sauna afterwards — heat helps loosen tight legs and supports recovery between sessions. It's included with every W Fitness membership.

Getting started

If you're not sure how to load these exercises or where to start, every W Fitness membership includes a complimentary personal training consultation. Kate Plimmer and Shane Crowhen both coach locals preparing for the hills, and can build the plan around the specific walk you've got in mind. We're inside Oakridge Resort on Studholme Road, open from 5am to 10pm every day — so you can train before the trailhead carpark fills up.