---
title: "Training: arriving fit"
description: "An 8-12 week plan to arrive fit: building the kilometres up, breaking in your shoes, preventing blisters and tendinitis, without forcing the stages."
url: https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/training
locale: en
---

# Training: arriving fit

Preparing for the Camino

You do not need to be a marathon runner, but you do need to have walked before you walk thirty days in a row. This is what genuinely helps in the first stages.

[By Cesar Rodriguez · local guide](https://santiago.es/en/author)

![Mojón del Camino de Santiago con la concha amarilla junto a un par de botas de senderismo gastadas](https://santiago.es/img/botas-camino.jpg)

[© Anila amataj · CC BY-SA 4.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cammino_di_Santiago_2013.jpg)

The commonest injury on the Camino does not happen at kilometre 500. It happens on the second or third day, when somebody who has not walked more than an hour at a stretch in months decides to do twenty-five kilometres with a pack they have not tried out either. The body copes reasonably well if you give it time; it copes with nothing if you ask for everything at once.

## The plan: 8 to 12 weeks of building up

You need neither a coach nor a complicated programme. The progression that works best, and the one that comes up most among people who prepare for the Camino in advance, is a simple one: start with walks of **5-8 km** two or three times a week, and build up gradually to around **20-25 km with the pack loaded** in the last weeks before you leave. The point is not the final distance but the regularity: the body adapts far better to four medium walks a week than to one long one and three days on the sofa.

**Indicative build-up plan**

| Weeks | Distance per session | Pack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-3 | 5-8 km, 2-3 times a week | Empty or with 2-3 kg |
| 4-6 | 10-15 km, 2-3 times a week | 5-6 kg |
| 7-9 | 15-20 km, including one long walk a week | Real travelling weight |
| 10-12 | 20-25 km with some climbing if you can | Real travelling weight |

## Train on consecutive days, not in one long outing

The Camino does not test your longest day: it tests the second and third day in a row, when your legs are already carrying yesterday's wear and there are still weeks ahead. A single long weekend walk trains endurance, but it does not prepare you for that. Stacking **two medium days back to back** —a Saturday and a Sunday, say, 15-18 km each with the pack loaded— beats chasing a one-off 25 km walk once a month and resting the rest of the week. If your training never includes a second day of walking on already tired legs, the first time you really feel it will be on the Camino itself.

## The 10% rule

The pack should not go over **10% of your body weight**, water included. Training with that real weight —not with an empty pack— is what actually prepares your shoulders, your back and your balance for the first stages. Train light and set off loaded and you will feel it on every step up on day one.

## Stairs and climbing: do not leave it for the Camino

The hardest stages of the Francés have serious climbing from day one: the crossing of the Pyrenees between Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Roncesvalles climbs more than 1,200 metres, and the ascent to **O Cebreiro**, already in Galicia, is the last big wall on the route. Putting stairs, hills or any climbing into your training —even the steps in your own building, many times over— makes a real difference to how your knees reach those stretches.

## Footwear: broken in, not brand new

The figure that comes up most among experienced pilgrims is clear: **break your shoes in for at least 100 km** before starting the Camino. Wearing trainers or boots for the first time on the day you set off is, by a distance, the number one cause of bad blisters in the first week. If the shoes already suit you in training, they will suit you on the route. Which model to pick —and what divides pilgrims, from Gore-Tex to sizing— is in [our guide to shoes and socks](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/footwear).

## Preventing blisters

- Technical socks, or the thin double-sock technique, to cut down friction.
- Vaseline on the usual rub points before you put your shoes on, not only once it hurts.
- Compeed-type patches or preventive tape (leukotape) on the spots you already know rub.
- Switching to sandals or flip-flops as soon as you reach the albergue, so your feet breathe.
- Short nails, and drying your feet properly after every shower.

That is only the summary. The dedicated guide — [blisters: prevention and treatment](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/blisters)— gathers what dozens of pilgrims say about footwear, socks, when to tape and what to do with a blister that has already formed, with the nuances and exceptions that do not fit here.

## Preventing tendinitis

The causes that come up again and again when somebody develops tendinitis on the Camino are always the same: putting the kilometres up too fast, carrying more weight than the body tolerates, and not resting when you should. Strengthening legs and core in the weeks beforehand helps, but the factor that weighs most is not forcing the pace in the first days, when the temptation to «prove» you can do it is at its strongest.

## Calves and cramp

Tight calves tend to show up from the third or fourth day, once the body has kilometres and heat behind it. It helps to stretch the soleus as well as the calf, to watch your hydration and electrolytes —magnesium and potassium, not just water— and not to push through: a rest day, loosening the leg with a good massage. The full detail, including a warning about which anti-inflammatories do not work for this, is in [our guide to blisters and foot care](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/blisters).

When NOT to do a 30 km stage

At the start of the Camino, before you find your rhythm; with a pack heavier than the one you trained with; in extreme heat in the middle of the Castilian summer; or without having slept well the night before. The average recommended for not overloading the body is around **20-24 km a day**, and the longer stages are far more enjoyable when they come after a week of settling in, not in the first days.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should you train before the Camino de Santiago?**

Between 8 and 12 weeks of gradual preparation is usually enough for most people with average fitness, combining regular walks with increasing weight in the pack.

**How many kilometres a day can you walk without training?**

Better not to force it: with no previous training, starting with stages of 12-15 km and building up gradually greatly reduces the risk of blisters and tendinitis in the first week.

**How do I avoid blisters on the Camino?**

Already broken-in footwear (at least 100 km before you leave), technical socks, preventive Vaseline on the rub points and switching to sandals as soon as you reach the albergue are the measures experienced pilgrims mention most.

**Do I need to train with the pack loaded?**

Yes, it is one of the keys. Training with the real weight you are going to carry —not with an empty pack— is what genuinely prepares shoulders, back and balance for the first stages.

Keep reading

**[The pilgrim's backpack](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/packing)** — Gear — What to take, what to leave at home and the 10% of body weight rule. — Read the guide

**[Camino calculators](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/calculators)** — Tools — Check your backpack weight and estimate your daily budget. — Open the calculators

**[Blisters: prevention and treatment](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/blisters)** — Foot care — Footwear, socks, tape and what to do the moment the first one appears. — Read the guide