Training for Kilimanjaro
Start today. A climb on the calendar is the best reason you will ever have to get fit, and every week of training makes the mountain easier, safer and far more enjoyable.
Our free training plan builds your weeks around your date, your fitness and what you can get to, then times your sessions, counts your food and keeps your record. It’s free to everyone, whoever you climb with, and it works on your phone like any other app.
- FreeFor every climber, with anyone
- Your dateCounted back from the day you climb
- On your phoneWorks without a signal too
- 14,000Summits behind the method
Not another plan pieced together from the internet
There is no shortage of Kilimanjaro training advice online, most of it written by people who have read the same websites. This plan comes from the mountain itself.
It was put together by John Rees-Evans, who founded Team Kilimanjaro in 2004 and still coordinates every one of our climbs: around 14,000 climbers have reached the summit with us over 22 years. In July 2026 he made the first complete ascent of Kilimanjaro from its true geographic base, from 777 m to Uhuru Peak and back down in under a day, and ten days later the fastest recorded human-powered circumnavigation of the mountain.
At its heart is the 12-week programme we send our own climbers, built on what we have watched happen on the mountain, night after night on summit day: who arrives strong, who struggles, and why.
- 22 yearsCoordinating climbs on Kilimanjaro
- ~14,000Climbers on the summit with us
- 23:58:01777 m to the summit and back, 7 July 2026
- 15:50:04232 km round the mountain, 17 July 2026
Why train for Kilimanjaro?
You don’t need to be an athlete, and almost anyone in good health can be helped to the summit one way or another. But a fit climber adapts to altitude better, recovers faster each evening, is much more likely to reach the summit, and still has the energy at the top to look around, take photographs and remember it.
The remarks we hear most often from tired climbers are “I wish I’d trained more seriously” and “I didn’t realise it would be this hard”. The usual cause is not a lack of ability but putting it off: waiting for the right kit, or for a friend to start too. Don’t. Start today, even if that means just eight minutes of press-ups and sit-ups.
And if life gets in the way and your climb moves, nothing is lost: every improvement you make stays with you, in your health, your strength, your focus and your sense of purpose.
What training gives you on the mountain
- Adapting to altitudeBetter
- Recovery each eveningFaster
- Chance of the summitHigher
- Energy to enjoy itFar more
- Value to your lifeLasting
What your free training plan does
Everything below is real: these are screens from the plan, filled in for an example climber, Sarah, six weeks into her training.
Six questions, and the plan is yours
Tell it what you’re training for and when, then answer three quick questions about your fitness now and two about where you can train. The plan does the rest.
- Any goal. A Kilimanjaro climb on any route; a speed climb, gate to summit and back in a day or two; the complete mountain on foot, about 117 km; the 232 km circumnavigation by bike; or another big event altogether, from a marathon to a Tough Mudder or military selection.
- Wherever you start. Four levels, from getting started to already strong, and the plan always makes you stronger than you are, even if you’re already fit enough to climb.
- Whatever you can reach. No hills or wild country nearby? The long walks become loaded hill or stair repeats with a heavier pack. No pool? The swims become rides, rowing or the cross-trainer.
- Your days. Choose the days you never train, and the sessions move to the rest of the week.
Your calendar, counted back from the day you climb
Every session is on the day it should be, by week or by month, with a tick for each one you finish and a count of the week’s distance and time.
- Change anything. Tap a session to move it, lengthen it, plan a run by distance or by time, or swap a run for a swim if you’re carrying a niggle: the swap keeps the effort about the same.
- Add your own. Your own exercises, in your own colours, and archive any you can’t do.
- Your date moves, your plan moves. Change your climb date and the plan rebuilds around it, keeping everything you’ve done.
It does the counting, so you just work
Start a session and the screen becomes a timer built for hard work: huge numbers, and a button you can hit with shaking hands and a foggy head after the last set.
- The circuit: each exercise in turn, three rounds, with what comes next.
- Intervals and hill sprints: the clock and the beeps tell you when to go and when to ease off; the sprints count your reps.
- Runs and walks: time them, and your best-effort runs become a record of how much quicker you’re getting.
Eat for the training you’re actually doing
Switch on the food diary and every day gets its own target, worked out in front of you: what your body burns at rest, plus your everyday life, plus that day’s training, less a deficit if you want to lose weight.
- Shown, not hidden. Your BMR from your height, weight, age and sex, or from your lean mass if you know your body-fat figure, then each step added on, line by line.
- Lose weight at your own pace. Choose from a quarter of a kilo a week to nearly a kilo, and the target never drops below what’s safe.
- Photograph the label. Over 12,000 foods to search, and anything missing can be added by photographing the nutrition label on the packet. New foods are checked and shared, so the next person finds them.
- John’s 12·9. The cycle John used to go from 17% to 5.4% body fat while preparing for his records: 12 days in ketosis, then 9 of recovery, with the carbohydrate limit worked out from your weight. It comes with the medical checks to have first, and who it isn’t for.
See it working
Nothing keeps you going like seeing how far you’ve come. Your record shows any stretch you choose, from a week to the whole plan:
- Sessions done against those due, and your training week by week, by type, against what the plan asked for.
- Your timed runs, getting quicker.
- Your weight, with a trend line that one heavy morning can’t spoil, and your body fat.
- Food against your target, and every day in a table that prints or saves as a PDF for your doctor or dietitian.
Your kit list and checklist, with dates
Tick off your kit as you buy, hire or find it, and work through everything else a climb needs, each with the date by which to do it: the deposit, your passport, flights, insurance, the visa, new boots worn in, and a visit to your doctor.
Climbing with another operator? It works just the same. We’d rather you arrived healthy, fit and prepared, whoever you climb with.
An app on your phone, without an app store
Add the plan to your home screen and it opens like any other app, and keeps working without a signal: on a run, in a gym basement, on the mountain. Create a free account with your email and a four-digit PIN and everything follows you to any phone or computer.
How the programme works
Your plan works back from your date. However far away it is, you start now, and you get stronger every month. Tap i for more on each stage.
| Stage | When | What it involves | Longest session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base building | While your climb is more than the build-up away | Get going, and keep growingRuns and swims three times a week, each week a little more than the last, with an easier week every fourth. No one waits months to start, and no one stands still. | A monthly long walkFrom 10 km with 5 kg to 24 km with 12 kg, by level, growing month by month |
| The build-up | The last weeks before your climb, up to 12 | The programme itselfEasy runs, swims, John’s circuit, hill sprints and intervals, with timed runs to measure your progress; in the final weeks, long loaded walks in the hills. You join it at the week that suits your fitness now. | 19–24 km hill walkWith a pack of 5 kg, building to 20 kg |
| Saturday long | Every Saturday of the build-up | Your goal’s own long sessionA long run or ride that grows week by week to what your goal demands, at half length in the final week. Anything else the programme had on that Saturday moves earlier in the week. | Up to 45 km runOr 140 km by bike |
| Taper | The last few days | Arrive freshThe work is done. Nothing is planned in the final days: stretch, sleep well, and leave 48 hours of rest before you fly. | Rest |
John’s circuit
Four exercises, three rounds, a little less each round: the strength for the legs, back and core that carry you up the mountain. Can’t do a pull-up yet? Do what you can, or swap it in the plan for band rows; you can change every number.
- Press-ups25 · 20 · 15
- Sit-ups35 · 30 · 25
- Dips15 · 12 · 8
- Pull-ups5 · 4 · 3
Saturdays, not Sundays
Long sessions are on Saturdays, and Sunday is left free. For the more demanding goals, the Saturday session grows to:
| Goal | Saturday session |
|---|---|
| Speed climb | Long hill run, 10 to 30 km |
| The complete mountain | Long run, 15 to 45 km, and a steady midweek run |
| Circumnavigation | Long ride, 40 to 140 km, and a midweek ride |
| Another big event | Long run, 8 to 21 km, or what your event needs |
Before you start: if you are over 50, have any heart condition, or anyone in your family has had heart trouble or died suddenly when young, see your doctor for a thorough cardiac check first. Why this matters
Measure where you start
Set yourself a benchmark you can repeat every few weeks, so you can see your progress. Our own basic fitness test is a 1.5-mile run, 2.4 km, on the flat: we suggest 15½ minutes or less before you climb. The plan’s timed runs include it, and plot your pace in your record.
The most thorough test is the multistage fitness test, the “beep test”: 20-metre shuttles against a recording that gets steadily faster. Your score gives a good estimate of your VO2 max, the most useful single measure of endurance fitness.
Never too late, never too much
We have guided climbers to the summit who had the use of only one leg, and quadriplegic adventurers too. If you are able-bodied and willing to train, the mountain is within your reach.
Questions about training
How fit do I need to be to climb Kilimanjaro?
Fit enough to walk for six to eight hours with a light pack, two days running.
You do not need to be an athlete, and you need no climbing skills. What makes the climb easier, safer and far more enjoyable is the ability to walk steadily all day and recover overnight. A climber who can do a six-hour hill walk carrying 8 kg, and do it again the next day, is well prepared.
How long should I train for Kilimanjaro?
Start today. The programme’s build-up is up to 12 weeks; before that, you build a base.
If your climb is more than three months away, the plan starts with base building: three sessions a week that grow a little every week. The build-up then takes the last weeks before your climb, joined at the week that suits your fitness. If your climb is close, the plan starts where it can and keeps the essentials. Even a fortnight of regular walking helps.
What is the best training for Kilimanjaro?
Long walks uphill, carrying a pack, in your climbing boots.
Nothing prepares you for a mountain like walking up hills for hours. Running, cycling and swimming build the engine; the circuit strengthens the legs, back and core that carry you; and the long walks teach your body, and your feet, what a mountain day feels like.
Is the plan only for Team Kilimanjaro climbers?
No. It’s free for everyone, whoever you climb with.
Use it whether you’ve booked with us, with someone else, or not at all yet. We would rather every climber on the mountain arrived fit, healthy and prepared. If you’d like us to guide you, we’d be glad to, but the plan doesn’t depend on it.
I don’t live near hills, or a pool. Will it still work?
Yes. Tell the plan, and it adapts.
Everyone can find a short hill or a flight of stairs. Without wild country for a long day out, the long walks become loaded hill repeats, or stair climbing in a tall building or a stadium, for much the same time, with a heavier pack. Without a pool, the swims become rides, a rowing machine or the cross-trainer.
Can it train me for a speed climb, the complete mountain or another event?
Yes. Choose your goal and the plan adds what it needs.
A speed climb, the complete mountain on foot, the circumnavigation by bike and other big events, from marathons to military selection, each add their own long Saturday session, growing through the build-up, and some a midweek session too. See speed climbs for climbing Kilimanjaro in one or two days.
Do I need to train at altitude?
No. Your acclimatisation happens on the mountain.
Altitude training at home is not needed, and altitude-simulation masks do not acclimatise you. A route with enough days, and a guide who sets the right pace, takes care of acclimatisation. What you can do at home is arrive fit, rested and healthy.
Can I train for Kilimanjaro in a gym?
Yes, but get outside for the long walks.
A gym is fine for the endurance sessions and the circuit: an incline treadmill, stair machine or bike all work. But the long walks matter most, and they are best done outside, on uneven ground, in the boots you will climb in.
I am over 50, or overweight. Can I still climb?
Very likely, but start gently and see your doctor first.
Many of our climbers are in their fifties, sixties and beyond. Answer the plan’s questions honestly and it starts you gently, then builds. Have your heart checked before you begin. Why the heart check matters
Do I have to count calories?
No. The food diary is there if you want it, and off until you switch it on.
If you want to lose weight before your climb, or just to eat enough for your training, the diary gives you a target for each day that counts that day’s sessions. Search the food list, repeat yesterday’s meals in a tap, or photograph a label. If you don’t want it, leave it off.
What is 12·9, and is it safe?
A cycle of 12 days in ketosis and 9 of recovery. Safe for most people, with checks first, but not for everyone.
For the 12 days, carbohydrate stays under 0.4 g for every kilo you weigh, with plenty of protein; for the 9, under 1 g a kilo, eating what you burn. Either can be lengthened. Run it in blocks of up to 12 weeks, then eat normally for at least three.
See your doctor before you start, and at the end of each block, for your blood pressure, a fasting blood test (cholesterol, blood sugar, kidney function and salts), and, if you’re over 40, a resting ECG and a coronary calcium score. 12·9 is not for anyone under 18, pregnant or breastfeeding, or with type 1 diabetes, kidney disease or a history of eating disorders; and if you take medication for diabetes or blood pressure, talk to your doctor first, as doses often need changing within days.
My climb is only days away. Is it worth training now?
Gently, and rest before you fly.
With two or three days to go, just stretch and warm up: do not risk an injury by trying to make up for lost time. With a week or more, two runs are worthwhile, the first around 20 minutes and the second a little harder but no more than 30. Leave a clear 48 hours of rest before you fly.
Where is my information kept?
On your phone, and on our server only if you create an account.
Without an account, your plan lives only on your device. With one, it is kept on our own server so that it follows you to other devices; it is never sold or shared, and you can delete your account at any time from the account menu. Label photos are read to fill in the figures and are not kept.
Start today
Your free plan takes two minutes to set up. And when you’re ready to put a date in the diary, tell us when you’d like to go and we’ll help you choose the route and length that suit you.
