Fitness for Glastonbury 2025

[gigpusher]

So hope those who made efforts with their fitness for the festival reaped the rewards. If anyone has come back thinking they'd like to be fitter for next year or just want to continue what they are doing this is a thread to shout about all your fitness achievements or for help and support with trying to get fitter.

 

Everyone is welcome in this thread whether you are an ultra marathon runner or just trying to make sure your feet don't ache as much at the end of it all.

 

I for one still returned home broken but I very much enjoyed breaking myself.

[Meerkat]

I went to Glastonbury from 2014 to 2017 and thought I was ready to “retire” with not getting tickets in 2019 and 2022 but seeing this weekend has really made me want to go back.

 

I need surgery on my foot this winter that’ll require 12 weeks in a cast/boot and then physio, so am slightly afraid of whether I’ll be recovered by then (and whether I’ll get a ticket or course!).

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, Meerkat said:

I went to Glastonbury from 2014 to 2017 and thought I was ready to “retire” with not getting tickets in 2019 and 2022 but seeing this weekend has really made me want to go back.

 

I need surgery on my foot this winter that’ll require 12 weeks in a cast/boot and then physio, so am slightly afraid of whether I’ll be recovered by then (and whether I’ll get a ticket or course!).

Should hopefully be good if you follow all instructions/physio. I think the key thing to remember is have an idea of your level of fitness when you get there and don't try to do much more than you are capable of in the first few days so you can last the distance.

[CaledonianGonzo]

The journey for 2025 begins shortly - just not today.

[Sitruc97]

During my first Glasto in 2022 I was probably in the worst shape of my life, I was dealing with some health issues which didn't help at all but I was absolutely wiped out when I got home to the point where I was thinking was it worth the damage.

 

Complete contrast this year, much fitter and also mentally feel much more dialled in, even coming back to work yesterday didn't feel too much of a ordeal. First day back in the gym this morning went pretty well all things considered.

Edited July 3 by Sitruc97

[gigpusher]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The journey for 2025 begins shortly - just not today.

Yes I'm still a little broken but I thought I'd create the thread with my broken body in mind.

[dotdash79]

I was back in the gym yesterday, need to lose the carb weight I put on at the festival.

 

I felt so much better for having been a lot lighter than last year, my feet weren't as sore and i coped with the heat a lot better. Good luck to everyone trying to get fitter, my plan is to maintain.

[Crazyfool01]

Fitness was surprisingly ok although I took it fairly easy on doctors advice … will be hoping my smile returns shortly though . My only real complaint at the festival … my back also help up remarkably this year … touch wood 

[Mark E. Spliff]

I've considered making the following point on previous 'fitness for Glastonbury' threads, but decided against pouring cold water on people's efforts whilst they were in the midst of arduous training programmes.

 

Fitness for Glastonbury has bugger-all to do with fitness to run a marathon.  Every person who's ever trained for a marathon would be able to whip my arse.  Yet amongst my crew I've got the reputation of being the idiot who'll think nothing of walking from one side of the site to the other because he's forgot his pen.  And since getting back, my feet, knees and back have all been absolutely fine - as they are after every Glastonbury.  There is no complicated secret to this - all you need to do is make walking your primary mode of transport, i.e. walk to work, the shops, the pub etc.  No driving, taxis, public transport or Deliveroo.  Weight training or CV training are just 'nice to haves' on top of this - e.g. I do weight trainingn for aesthetic reasons because a beanpole like me will always look better with a bit of bulk.

 

There is a bit more to it of course.  E.g. if you need to lose weight, the credible science is now all in agreement that this is primarily down to diet, rather than exercise, and ultra-processed foods are a major issue here.  (Basically, you're pouring gunge down your throat which the human body wasn't evolved to recognise or process, which leads to over-eating and the storage of more fats/sugars/etc. than is good for you.)  But if you don't burn enough calories through exercise, your body will still burn the same amount of calories but this will be on other bodily functions (primarily on the immune processes) which will lead to inflammation and all the conditions associated with it - i.e. all the ones that end with 'itis.'

 

If you wait until January to start doing park runs, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of hard work which might not do achieve what you want come June 2025.  If you want to look into for yourself, there's a good radio series by TV Doctor twins 'Chris and Xand.'  I was surprised by how good it was, as I find them to be nauseating smug bastards.  Here's a clip which refers to the fact that our bodies burn the same amount of calories whether you're exercising or not: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h9539t

[CaledonianGonzo]

Strength and core training's got to help with being on your feet all day though, right?

[nikkic]

17 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Strength and core training's got to help with being on your feet all day though, right?

It 100% does. 

 

All other things being equal, those who are stronger will find getting up hills and the general terrain of Glastonbury much easier. 

 

[CR77]

I'm middle-aged, consider myself fairly fit, and average 8,000 steps a day, so can't understand why the soles of my feet were sore and burning on Saturday and Sunday!  Same last year.  Anyway... most of these "steps" are generated by cycling... so I've come to realise I specifically need to walk more - LOL!  Was wearing Karrimor walking boots - wear them on and off during the year, not just at Glasto.  And was averaging 35,000 steps a day at the festival - steep hills etc were fine for me.

Should I just make sure I walk more leading up to Glasto... or are they any other tips..?!

 

 

 

[nikkic]

23 minutes ago, CR77 said:

I'm middle-aged, consider myself fairly fit, and average 8,000 steps a day, so can't understand why the soles of my feet were sore and burning on Saturday and Sunday!  Same last year.  Anyway... most of these "steps" are generated by cycling... so I've come to realise I specifically need to walk more - LOL!  Was wearing Karrimor walking boots - wear them on and off during the year, not just at Glasto.  And was averaging 35,000 steps a day at the festival - steep hills etc were fine for me.

Should I just make sure I walk more leading up to Glasto... or are they any other tips..?!

 

 

 

If your step count increases by 400% your feet will notice! 
 

I was fine this year, I train 4-6 times per week anyway, but I did go for more long walks in the build up which helped for sure. 

The dog was also happy, so win win. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Maybe some lighter footwear for a year where boots weren't really required?

[Mark E. Spliff]

Re. core strength: it's one of those critical things to being fit/healthy in general, yet isn't particularly called upon for walking around a field all day.  For hoiking your rucksack and crates of beers on the way in/out, it's very helpful.  It is, however, something that you don't really get to train that much in day-to-day life - I do a lot of kayaking, which is the perfect core workout, but doesn't exactly fit in with my ethos of getting exercise through common, everyday activities.

 

Re. strength: Glastonbury's not actually difficult terrain, despite what's written about getting up to Worthy View and the campervan fields.  Where I live, walking around is much more arduous, but if you live somewhere flat, you might have to do some lateral thinking about how to make your daily activities a bit harder, e.g. walking with a heavy rucksack of shopping on the way home from the supermarket rather than using a bike with panniers?  (NB - I'm only talking about 'fitness for Glastonbury here.  Outside of that, I'm a huge advocate of strength training as it's one of the things that you lose as you get older, and all the research is saying strength training is really important to staving off decrepitude.)

 

Re. cycling: I'm in the same boat, i.e. I never use my car, so longer trips realistically have to be done by bike.  Cycling tightens up your hamstrings and cyclists who don't do much walking/running are at risk of leg injuries when on 2 feet, e.g. if they have a go at 5-a-side one evening.  However, solving this doesn't require visits to the gym - so long as you always travel everywhere under your own steam, you'll get enough walking in doing the incidentals - gong to the pub, corner shop or using stairs rather than lifts etc.

 

Re. step count.  Ignore it.  To do Glastonbury successfully, you just need to be able to walk around all day, so that's all you need to aim for, regardless of what your watch is telling you.

[Spindles]

3 hours ago, Sitruc97 said:

During my first Glasto in 2022 I was probably in the worst shape of my life, I was dealing with some health issues which didn't help at all but I was absolutely wiped out when I got home to the point where I was thinking was it worth the damage.

 

Complete contrast this year, much fitter and also mentally feel much more dialled in, even coming back to work yesterday didn't feel too much of a ordeal. First day back in the gym this morning went pretty well all things considered.

I was concerned in the run up to 22 as I'd been sat on my arse for 2 years and surprised myself that it didn't affect me as much as I'd feared.  This year I was probably a bit casual about my fitness, having spent another 2 years sat on my arse.  I handled it all, but this is the most broken I've ever felt after the festival.  Yesterday I could barely move, ached everywhere and just sat around reading/posting here and reddit and ripping iplayer sets.  I at least managed to unpack and get everything washed and put away, but was too ruined to do anything much else.

 

Next year I'm determined to get back to my old ways of spending a few months doing plenty of walking and cycling from the start of the year to be on full form.

[Fearless_Fish]

It's not the walking at Glastonbury that kills me (though it is tiring), it's the standing. Some headline sets over the years have had their enjoyment significantly reduced by the amount of discomfort in the legs/feet/lower back - which dissipates as soon as I start walking away at the end.

 

To counter this I tried to do some Pilates this year to strengthen up my core. To no avail. Although I'm aware that my efforts were not great (struggling to find time with a toddler at home!).

 

Determined that next year I'll be an absolute beast - but don't know how to focus my minimal time effectively.

[gigpusher]

I only really do walking for exercise and have an average step count of over 25k for this year so in that respect I am very active but Glastonbury still always breaks me and it's the standing around for sets that does that more than the walking. My plan for this year is to do some more strength/core training to hopefully help with that and having being diagnosed with an ITB issue I'm also going to a podiatrist so hoping that my feet won't be quite so dead after next year's festival (obviously successful ticket day dependent)

 

That woodchip is a killer as well so hopefully less time at stages that have it.

[Pipine]

I’m relatively fit, cycle to work, walk everywhere, run, do some HIIT occasionally but last year I found my legs running out of energy to the point where I just couldn’t carry on anymore,  so had to go to bed at 1ish every night.  This year I thought I’d head that off with loads of squats in the months leading up to the festival - and that worked!

 

However, my lower back ached from all the standing / walking / dancing and I still had to stop by 1-2am as standing was just too painful.  I did cover 130k over the festival so it was a lot of being on my feet. 

So I think I do need to work on my core as well as my legs for next year. I disagree that you don’t need to train specifically for Glastonbury.. I don’t drive so I walk every day, long distances often and I run and cycle.. but I’m not on my feet 8am til 2am like I am at Glastonbury so I need to train my core to be stronger to support me for longer periods of standing.

 

I’m 50 now and what I used to get away with when I was 40 or younger just isn’t working anymore, I can’t just rely on cycling and running to keep me fit.  50+ people have to specifically do strength training just to retain the core that younger people take for granted (I definitely took my core stength for granted!).  
 

 

Edited July 3 by Pipine

[dulcificum]

I live a sedentary lifestyle and had no issue going from 500 steps a day to 40k steps a day. Only issue was almost doing my knees in trying to bring everything in with one car trip not two. Luckily decided against it after 50 metres.

[CR77]

A big thanks to everyone who replied... all really helpful!

 

I'll be sure to get more walks in next year... and maybe better footwear...!  Went with Karrimor this year, and Converse last year - both had same results!

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, CR77 said:

I'm middle-aged, consider myself fairly fit, and average 8,000 steps a day, so can't understand why the soles of my feet were sore and burning on Saturday and Sunday!  Same last year.  Anyway... most of these "steps" are generated by cycling... so I've come to realise I specifically need to walk more - LOL!  Was wearing Karrimor walking boots - wear them on and off during the year, not just at Glasto.  And was averaging 35,000 steps a day at the festival - steep hills etc were fine for me.

Should I just make sure I walk more leading up to Glasto... or are they any other tips..?!

 

 

 

As I mentioned I average 25k steps a day and I still had the foot burn by the end of the day albeit better than previous years. Some small tips is in dry years take off shoes every so often when you can to let your feet breathe, some cooling foot gel at the end of a night can re-invigorate your feet as well but you were doing more than 4 times more than you usually do and coped with it pretty well so well done.

 

I personally find the standing still part in crowds the hardest on the body and you'll no doubt have done a fair bit of that as well.

[CR77]

22 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

As I mentioned I average 25k steps a day and I still had the foot burn by the end of the day albeit better than previous years. Some small tips is in dry years take off shoes every so often when you can to let your feet breathe, some cooling foot gel at the end of a night can re-invigorate your feet as well but you were doing more than 4 times more than you usually do and coped with it pretty well so well done.

 

I personally find the standing still part in crowds the hardest on the body and you'll no doubt have done a fair bit of that as well.

 

How is 25k steps a day your average?!  That's amazing! 

Standing still... yes, not much fun for me either (lower back!) but the sore feet were the worse thing.  Also, thankfully I didn't have much standing-still-waiting time this year as most acts I saw didn't need a stupidly early arrival!  Worst one for me was McCartney in 2022 - got there two acts before, and the hour-long changeover after Noel Gallagher, with little room to move, was torturous! 

Thanks for the reply - will certainly try foot gel next year if I get a ticket!

[rubenz]

Was all going ok until I put my back out removing my heavy rucksack for a security check! Wouldn't have minded but he opened the zip about an inch and didn't even search me properly!

Just need to drop a couple of stone for next year and will be all good I think!

[LoraMaze]

7 hours ago, Fearless_Fish said:

It's not the walking at Glastonbury that kills me (though it is tiring), it's the standing. Some headline sets over the years have had their enjoyment significantly reduced by the amount of discomfort in the legs/feet/lower back - which dissipates as soon as I start walking away at the end.

 

To counter this I tried to do some Pilates this year to strengthen up my core. To no avail. Although I'm aware that my efforts were not great (struggling to find time with a toddler at home!).

 

Determined that next year I'll be an absolute beast - but don't know how to focus my minimal time effectively.

I found any standing concerts to be a nightmare in my 20s, my lower back would immediately start complaining and I’d have to keep bending forward to counteract it. I’m now in my 30s and don’t seem to have that issue anymore because I make sure I do core exercises every day as a bare minimum! It definitely helps!