Antarctica 2000 Web Site

2) TRAINING IN SINGAPORE

Even with today’s GPS receiver, satellite technology (most expeditioners carry a small device to beam up a short message to their base via the satellite every day), ski expeditions are not without life threatening danger. There are large regions full of crevass – big fissures resulted from Polar ice cap slowly going over uneven land underneath.

These crevasses could be as wide as several tens of meters and deep as who knows how much. Some of the crevasses are covered by snow bridges, and are not easily identifiable. But when one steps on them, they could collapse. Vigilant training for all team members is but a minimum criteria.
The technical skills required for a safe polar travel are:

Sledge pulling

Navigation

Cross country skiing

Survival in extreme cold environment

Medical skills in treating cold injuries, for example, frostbite and hyperthemia.

To survive the arduous 1100km walk in the cold and severe condition, the members MUST possess the following characters:

Strong will to survive

Mental toughtness

Single-mindedness

Adaptability

Teamwork

To prepare for the challenges of the Antarctic, the team is on a training regiment to build-up their fitness and strength.

The team’s training programme is also instilling a sense of camaraderie and kinship among team members, and fostering a strong team spirit.

The training programme, has been designed in THREE distinct phases by Dr. Ben Tan, an Asian Games gold medalist who is now with the Singapore Sports Council, Dr. Mok Ying Jang, Expedition Doctor and David Lim who is a senior Outward Bound School Instructor.

Each phase focus on delivering a comprehensive and controlled training regiment which will see the team reach peak fitness and strength levels when they set out for their expedition.

Before the start of the training programme, each team member underwent two tests - a Max Power Test to measure muscle strength and a VO2 Max Test to determine fitness levels.

PHASE I (Completed)

The first phase concentrates on increasing the general fitness levels and muscle strengthening of the members.

The team spent three days going through repetitions of nine WEIGHTS exercises in gym sessions.

To increase their cardiovascular fitness, the team had two days of intensive aerobic sessions.

At the end of this phase, the team members underwent the Max Power Test again to determine their increase in strength. All the members achieved the desired power of 1.5x their body-weight.

PHASE II (Completed)

The second phase is the "Hypertrophy Phase", with the aims to increase muscle bulk and increasing the strength .

The training increases to six days a week with three days of gym and three days of intensive aerobic sessions.

The number of exercises increases to 12 and the repetitions are intensified.

Upon the completion of Phase II, the team members underwent the Maximun Muscle Strength Test again to determine their increase in fitness level. Again the members achieved more than the desired 1.5x body-weight.

PHASE III (Current)

This phase is the "Power" and "Specific Muscle" training.

The team maintains their training frequency at six days a week. The Gym sessions is reduced to twice a week with heavier weights but fewer repetitions and sets, with the primary aim to maintain strength and increase power.

Individual members concentrate on building up specific muscle groups and techniques.

The training programme is combined with a diet programme to increase their weight by at least 10 percent. This is to minimize the effect of muscle loss that occurs with prolonged exertion during the expedition.

[The Expedition & Training Essentials]

[Training in Singapore]

[Training Oversea]