Group Conditioning Sessions (GCS)

Trekking / Hiking can be strenuous, especially with a heavy back-pack. Climbing the hills take strong legs, and balancing the pack weight over tricky stretches on the trail takes a strong back. All things being equal, the stronger that one comes into the trip, the more fun and enjoyment one will have, the more one will be able to achieve and the safer one will be. Being fitter also means a faster recovery after a hard day's exertion and higher resistance to illness while on the trail.

We do not advocate training with the intensity of a marathoner, but usually, conditioning oneself for about 1- 4 months (depending on the difficulty and nature of the trek) prior to the trip will definitely help. Sometimes, it takes very much longer - years, for that matter - especially for high level trekking/mountaineering trips.

Adventure Quests' GCS is designed to provide an elementary tri-component incremental conditioning system consisting of :-

• Cardiovascular / Cardiorespiratory Conditioning
• Flexibility Conditioning
• Resistance Conditioning

Building a good cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory level with strong hearts and lungs is the foundation and goal of most complete fitness programmes. In our GCS, we also aim to work at this aspect which will assist our trip participants to achieve a generally fitter self.

Developing flexibility before one goes on a trek reduces the chances of injury and will add to one's agility.

Resistance training builds muscle mass, which will give one more power and help prevent injuries. Here, we endeavour to do perform exercises that strengthen the entire body - either by using weight machines or own body-weight.

Our carefully planned programme is on an incremental basis, to gradually condition participants who have been performing little or minimal exercise over a period of time, to improve on their cardiovascular, strength and flexibility fitness. It is rarely intensive, as it spans a maximum of 2 hours every session. Participants are advised to upkeep the training on their own, outside our GCS.

Objectives:-

As with World Health Organisation's definition in 1980, "TOTAL fitness is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not an absence of disease." In effect, it refers to the ability to meet the demands of daily life including the ability to function well within society.

As such, our GCS set out to achieve a three-fold objectives of achieving a TOTAL fitness concept:-

• SOCIAL : To encourage team bonding and rapport-building amongst our trip participants, which will contribute to a successful team-oriented trek;
• MENTAL : To provide a platform for sufficient mental conditioning for individual participant so that each will be mentally and emotionally prepared for the trip;
• PHYSICAL : To facilitate a specially tailored progressive physical conditioning programme for participants so that they will be prepared for the arduous and physical demands of the trip.

Our local GCS are conducted fortnightly at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and complimentary for our registered trip participants.

To expand the training grounds, we conduct one overseas GCS in Malaysia every two months at a nominal fee.

Acknowledgement of our GCS Indemnity Agreement before joining the sessions is mandatory. Concomitantly, you are assumed to have understood and accept wholly to our agreement, if you turn up for any one of the sessions and participate at any level, in one or any of the exercises. It is also your own responsibility and imperative that you must previously verified with your own doctor that you are in not in any critical or chronic medical condition and is fit to join our GCS or any other strenuous activity organised by Adventure Quests.