Essendon players completed a solid first day of their high altitude camp on Tuesday in Boulder including a hike, core session and some time in the gym.

Michael Hibberd, Michael Hurley, Cale Hooker and Jobe Watson kicked off the morning with a hike up Green Mountain in fine conditions and clear skies.

With temperatures hover from 10 to 15 degrees, there was little snow for the players to contend with but the altered condition to the air proved its own challenge.

Hibberd said it did not take long for the lowered oxygen levels to have an affect on their performance.

“The two and a half hour walk was pretty taxing on the legs and I had a bit of a blow out all through the hike,” Hibberd said.

“The altitude hits you pretty hard, about 15 minutes in we were all blowing pretty heavily and our heart rates were around 160.”

“You felt like that pretty much for the whole hour and a half so it was a really tough walk.”

“The calves were burning and the quads were burning most of the way up but we helped each other out and got through it all.”

Hibberd, Hurley and Watson have been on the club’s last two altitude trips with Hooker attending with a larger contingent of teammates last year.

With the hike complete the players had some lunch before heading to Colorado University’s newly refurbished gymnasium to partake in a core workout.

Following the work on their abdominal muscles the players each took part in a light upper body weights session.

Watch vision of today’s session above on BomberTV or click here to view a photo gallery from the hike up Green Mountain.

The schedule for the second day of training is jam packed with a running session in the morning, followed by a skills session and some heavier weights at Colorado University.