Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

What’s the best surface to use when doing hills?

I thought I found a goldmine when I came across a dirt hill but
I ended up pulling a hip flexor (could it be because I lose
traction when driving through the ground?)  Should I use spikes?

thanks…

i would say grass would be the best surface.

hscoach - 08 March 2008 09:46 AM

i would say grass would be the best surface.

I would say sidewalk or parking garage (seriously).  Even if the surface is hard, its incline makes for a lessened impact so I think surface traction is more important than surface softness.

I’m with Mortac on this one.  I’ve pretty much always done my hills on a paved surface with no problems.  The incline offsets any effect the pavement may have.  Pavement insures that you’ll find a flat, even hill with a consistent incline.  If you can find such a grass hill great, but pavement is ok.

Thanks for the input.

I did switch to pavement, though using spikes on dirt seems to work well for me too.

I’m with Mort too. The best “hill” I ever had was in Louisiana…..where there are no hills. There was a great ramp that led up to the basketball stadium that was evenly surfaced, had a consistent incline, provided great ‘return’, and had enough length for us to do anything I wanted. Also, because it was on the side of a sporting facility, we didn’t have to worry about oncoming traffic.