How to train a 68-yr old hiker

Your client doesn’t need to feel wrecked to get ready for the trail. We walk through a real program design for a 68-year-old retired client who trains three days per week and does Pilates, with a primary goal of lower body strength and endurance for an upcoming hiking vacation and a secondary goal of longevity, mobility, and overall health. 

We start with how to think like a coach from minute one: warm-ups that respect an older adult’s response to volume, how to watch breathing and fatigue, and why “just add more rounds” can backfire. Then we dig into smart circuit construction using core movement patterns, with a big focus on sequencing. If your accessories are too demanding (think step-ups placed where they crush the next squat set), you can accidentally compromise force production and turn a strength builder into a slow grind. We share simple fixes that keep the main lift strong while still building hiking-specific endurance. 

From there we review the rest of the three-day split, highlight what’s already solid, and add practical ideas for hiking performance: trunk work, frontal-plane stability, carries, and optional drills for reacting to uneven ground. We also explain how to progress the plan with progressive overload, how to keep sessions fresh by rotating accessories, and when to use linear periodization vs daily undulating periodization for real clients. If you coach active older adults, build hiking workouts, or want better personal training programming systems, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a trainer friend, and leave a review with your biggest programming question.

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Transcript

Client Goals And Program Context

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Had a y'all, welcome back to the Show Fitness Podcast. Today we're gonna help you design a program for a 68-year young lady client, retired, personal training three times a week, Pilates one time. Primary goal is to build lower body strength and endurance for upcoming hiking vacation. Secondary goal, longevity, maintaining strength, mobility, and overall health. This is the program you need to submit within the SUF CPT to become a qualified personal trainer. You have to submit videos of movement competency and the eight-core movement patterns, showcasing that you know how to move because that's gonna give us a better indication of how you move to teach your clients. Most trainers read a textbook, take a multiple choice test, and that is it. You submit videos and programming when you go through show up. So let's take a look at this program. Great submission right here, three day split for the client who wants to train full body. I'm gonna break down some suggestions, nothing crazy. We base it off of core movement patterns. So you're gonna see right here, you will have three exercises per circuit.

Warm-Up Caution For Older Adults

SPEAKER_00 1:05

So what that would look like is a warm-up, rower, some toe touches, hinging, rotations, neck circles, three rounds. For someone who's 68, I would always encourage you to urge on the side of caution. If you do too much in the beginning, glucose levels shoot down, muscles taking in all the glucose, a good little lightheaded and woozy. It may not be optimal when you try to sign them up for training. So start out slow. If they really have been training as a 68-year young individual and they had that capacity, maybe after the first round, notice how they're doing. Are they huffing and puffing after a minute of rowing? Because for a lot of folk, that may even tax them. So you may only need to do one round of that. You're the professional, do what's best. Getting into the first CCA lower body emphasis, that

Fixing Circuit Order And Fatigue

SPEAKER_00 1:55

first core pattern is going to be a squat. We're doing a seated goblet squat into an incline push-up three by 10 and weighted step ups. Now, this is where I would challenge doing a multiple joint as the accessory. Yes, she wants to get better at hiking. So A, you could put that as the first core, as the unilateral, or B, what I would do is I would just take the second circuit where she's doing seated bicycle crunches, and I'd move that up here for the accessory. So we're doing a lower body squat, upper body push into an accessory for the core. Not doing too many multi-jointed exercises because that may be too taxing. Legs, push back into legs. I think you'd be surprised at how taxing that could be. So after three rounds of that first CCA, you move into the second circuit. Floor bridge for 12 to 15 reps, chest supported dumbbell row. And then I would add in another variation of an ab plank, side plank, frontal plane stability. If you want to do some touchdowns, that's fine because the frontal plane stability for hiking, that would be a good option there. The accessory shouldn't compromise force production. So what I mean by that is by doing a squat into a push and then the step up, the next time you come into that second round of the goblet squat, your force is going to be compromised. So if she does 25 for 10, push-ups for 10, weighted step-ups for eight to 10 per side, rest for a minute. By the time you get into that second round, 10 reps for the 25 is going to be very challenging. She may only get six to eight. So we're compromising force production. Why? Yeah, yes, you need that for the endurance aspect for hiking, but I prefer that to be down here. So again, for the second one, you could do the step ups there. I would actually prefer that because of the weighted variation versus a floor bridge that's just more body weight, chest supportive dumbbell row. So we're pushed on the first circuit. Now we're going to get into pulling for the second circuit, add in a core variation. And then for this third circuit down here, we have carries into a dumbbell press, into tricep extensions. That's fine. You could take out the tricep extensions and do some type of cardio in there. Again, just small little suggestions, especially because the intent behind this was endurance for hiking. So if you chose not to do the step up in the second circuit, you could throw that one down here for just a cardio variation. I'd be okay with that. It'll be a lot more specific to optimize in that first circuit.

Reviewing Days Two And Three

SPEAKER_00 4:25

So the third one, it's going to be more cardio based. Second day or the non-consecutive workout full body, we have a dumbbell Romanian deadlift, narrow grip lap pull down into plank. That's a great circuit. Love that. Second circuit being pull-ups into lateral box step ups into lateral rays. I think that one's pretty darn good as well. And then the third one being shoulder press, kettlebell rows, and the flutter kicks. Awesome job there. And that third workout, we're going to do a back squat into a landmine press into a forward line hop. You know, if you wanted to have a day that's more metabolic, that's fine. I'm not too concerned with that as long as there's a why behind you doing it. And in this case, she wants to get better hiking. So again, I wouldn't see that as a negative thing. Yeah, you might be compromising that back squat, but the intent is to improve the hike. The second CCA, we're doing a reverse lunge into some push-ups into some single-leg hip thrusts. Again, this would be more of a hinge pattern. Not the end of the world if you were to do that, but your lunge is going to be affected because of that hinge pattern. So I might want to do maybe like a side band walk, something that's not multi-jointed, less taxing, so we can optimize that reverse lunge. In the third circuit, we have abandoned overhead press into air squats into jumping jacks. I think that's a great circuit right there.

Progressive Overload With Fresh Accessories

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Things that I would like to see for week two. Same program, day one, seated goblet squat. Then we're going to do the push-ups. You can change up the accessories. So we want to improve and progressively overload from that first week into the second week. So if you're using 25s, as I mentioned earlier, for that first set of 15, let's move to 30 for week two. And then I would change up the accessories every time. And that's what keeps the novelty there. Your clients are never going to recognize the program being the exact copy and paste because accessories are changing. If you felt like she did really great that first week and you wanted to do more isolating lower body stuff, that would be fine. You could do like a farmer carry there. You could do it on their toes. So the accessories are a great way to throw in exercise they've never done, challenge any injuries or potential injuries that may happen specific to what they're trying to do. So for hiking, you know, you could get a couple pulls and have them do little fall drills, reaction drills. So they have to touch a cone, they have to fall forward because of the unstable ground that they're going to be experiencing when they're hiking. If you want to throw in like a Bossu ball walk around, I wouldn't think that's the end of the world because again, that unstable environment from the Bose ball would be pretty specific to hiking. Yeah, you're not walking on Bosey balls, but the ground is not very stable. So you could do something like that. The main thing with programming is their consistency to it. Are we progressively overloading week to week or day one versus day three? And do you have some type of methodology

Periodization Options And Final Notes

SPEAKER_00 7:20

behind that? So this would be more linear periodization. DUP or daily undulating periodization would be doing a specific rep scheme on day one, say sets of 15, 12, 10. And then on day three, you're gonna do 12, 10, 8. And then day five, you're gonna do 20, 15, 10. So you're changing up those variables, those acute variables within the weekly program in that daily micro workout. Overall, great program for a lady who's 68, wanting to get stronger and improve her hiking skills. I just thought this would be a great teaching moment for just a couple small variations. And as you progress as a professional, if you wanted to do body weight as the accessory, even though it is a core pattern, such as push-ups and pull-ups or bridges, or in this case, step ups, that's fine. But for the first time you're working with someone, I would like to see those step ups be as a main core pattern. And then for the accessory, do something that's just gonna complement the workout but not tax that first core pattern. Great job, Jamie. Looking forward to your success as you go through the program. And remember, great hikes are better than bad hikes and keep showing up.