Getting my body ready
Planning, preparing, and scheduling a 1200 km hike on paper is one thing — getting into the physical condition to actually do it is a completely different story.
While I’ve always — at least from age thirty onward — kept myself in decent physical shape, I’m far from an athlete. I’ve never been one for competitive sports, team sports, or really any type of sport where exercise is primarily fun or social. I don’t even watch sports to get excited about others doing them, like most Dutch males my age. For me, sports and exercise have always been purely functional: as long as I can run 5 km within 30 minutes without collapsing and lift something over 20 kg without wrecking my back, I’m good.
Earlier this year, when I decided I wanted to do a long-distance hike, I realized I needed to change my approach. A bit of swimming, jogging, and the occasional push-up or squat wasn’t going to cut it. If I wanted to walk 1200 km with a 10 kg backpack in two months without getting seriously injured, I needed to get serious. So I dove into research — reading tips, training schedules, and preparation strategies from experienced pilgrims and thru-hikers. Most programs boiled down to a balance of full-body strength training and weighted hiking. Those became my two focus points.
To build strength, I’ve been doing weight training once a week, mainly targeting legs, back, and core. On top of that, I do calisthenics three days a week — squats, push-ups, crunches, and similar exercises. I also add yoga and stretching to maintain flexibility and range of motion. Once a week, I throw in either a 5 km jog or a 2 km swim. It might sound like a lot, but after a few months the benefits became clear — especially during the next part of my training.
To get my legs and back used to long-distance walking, I started hiking trails across the Netherlands. I began with shorter distances — between 5 and 10 km — and gradually increased to hikes between 10 and 25 km. I also trained with the actual backpack I’ll be using during the pilgrimage, increasing the weight from 5 kg to the current 10 kg. The heavier load is necessary because I’ll be carrying a tent and camping gear (more on that in another blog entry).
Lundhags Padje Light
When I first started hiking with weight, I really felt it in my legs, back, and neck after just 5 km. The strain made it difficult to enjoy the longer hikes. But after about three months, that started to change — and now 15 km with the full 10 kg load feels completely manageable. It’s still a balancing act: training too hard and getting injured before I even get to Japan would be a disaster. So every 4–6 weeks I schedule a lighter recovery week.
One of the unexpected rewards of all this training has been rediscovering the Netherlands. I’ve seen beautiful places in every season, and I’ve grown so fond of certain routes that I’ve walked them multiple times — sometimes in both directions. Since I live close to the coast, most of my hikes have been along the north-western dunes and beaches. At this point, I consider the entire coastal stretch between Amsterdam and Den Helder my personal training ground — I’ve likely walked at least 1000 km there over the last six months.
It has already been quite the physical journey — and I still have more than three months to go. I’m stronger, fitter, and I feel much better than I did at the start of the year. I’ve also lost 15 kg since January — so technically, my 10 kg backpack is now minus five kilograms. 😄 I feel confident that by March I’ll be ready, and that I’ll be able to enjoy the hike without being overwhelmed by the physical challenge.
The only thing I still worry about is elevation — because the Netherlands isn’t exactly known for its mountains. We really could use some Dutch Alps…
