How do I prepare physically for an Atlas trek?

The good news first: trekking in the Atlas does not require you to be an athlete. The classic routes are about endurance and steady plodding rather than technical skill or raw speed, so the most useful training is simply walking — a lot, on hills, carrying a daypack. I tell clients to start six to eight weeks out with one or two longer hill walks a week, gradually building the distance and the elevation gain. Time on your feet is the currency that matters; if you can comfortably manage five or six hours of up-and-down walking, you're in good shape for most Atlas days.

Train the specifics, not just general fitness. Atlas trails are relentlessly uphill and downhill rather than flat, and the descents punish unprepared knees and quads as much as the climbs tax your lungs. So seek out hills, climb stairs, and crucially practise going down as well as up. Walk with the daypack you'll actually carry, loaded to roughly the weight you'll have on the trail, so your shoulders and back are used to it. And practise consecutive days — two hill walks on back-to-back weekends teach your body to recover overnight, which is exactly what a multi-day trek demands.

Footwear is the single most common reason a trek turns miserable, and it's entirely preventable. Buy proper, supportive walking boots well in advance and break them in over weeks, not days — wear them on your training walks until they feel like old friends. New boots on day one of a trek mean blisters by day two, and a blister can end a trek faster than any lack of fitness. Pair them with good walking socks, test that combination beforehand, and carry blister plasters regardless.

For the high routes, altitude is the wildcard fitness can't fully solve. Mount Toubkal tops out above 4,000 metres, and even very fit people can feel the thin air as headaches, breathlessness and poor sleep. The defence isn't more gym work — it's a sensible schedule that climbs gradually and builds in time to acclimatise, plus drinking plenty of water and walking at a slow, sustainable pace. If you're prone to altitude issues, talk to your doctor before you go. Combine steady leg fitness, broken-in boots and a patient itinerary, and the Atlas opens up to almost anyone willing to put the weeks of walking in beforehand.