Saturday, January 2, 2016

Finger Strength, Core, and Movement: The new cornerstones of my climbing training.

As a full-time math teacher plus graduate student, it's impossible to take the prescription of so many top climbers-- to get better at climbing, climb a lot!  Further complicating my ambitions of sending my goal V7's and 5.12's is the fact that climbing is not the only sport I do, as trail running is and equally important focus of mine.

Through reading the Rock Climbers Training Manual and articles such as this one by Sonnie Trotter, I've come to realize that given my limited training time for climbing, I need to focus on the highest priorities-- 1)Finger Strength, 2)Core Strength, and 3)Efficient and precise movement.  Connecting these priorities, it is important to decide on the climbing style I enjoy most, and keep training specific to that.  For me, this means terrain with small holds up to slightly overhanging.

Over the last year and a half, I've settled on a training routine for climbing that involves the following:

  • A new garage climbing wall with a 30-degree overhang and a slight overhang which is full of smaller holds, especially little feet that demand precise foot movement and core tension.
  • A hangboard with a pulley weight system to remove weight as I work holds which are too small for my full body weight.  Additionally, I also add weight to my harness as I exceed body weight.  I stick to smaller holds, and less weight, as those are characteristic of my goal routes.  
  • Variations of leg lifts (hanging and on floor), working towards a front lever to build core strength.  

The routine roughly goes like this:
  • A few weeks of light lapping on the wall for a bit every day, focusing on precise movement, good body positioning.  I tend to pepper in some harder moves these days, but don't get to power crazy.  
  • A 3-4 weeks of hangboarding.  I do 7 second hangs with 3 second rests. I rest 3 minutes between sets, and do a set of 7 reps and a set of 6 reps for each grip.  Then I take 2 days off between workouts.  Generally, I follow the prescription in the Rock Climbers Training Manual.  I really like how systematic it is and how easy it is to progressively push to new loads while controlling to prevent injury.  I do about a 30-minute warmup of light lapping and lifting before.  I stop hangboarding and shift onto the next phase when my weights plateau.
  • A few weeks of limit bouldering and some occasional campusing to build power.  Strength is only so useful in climbing, as quick recruitment of muscles (aka power) is key to actually sending hard moves.  I do these power workouts about 3 days per week.  
  • A few weeks of power-endurance-- which is basically just making my forearms burn as much as possible.  I try to pick holds similar (or smaller!) in size to the 5.12's I want to send, and climb until I fall off, take a short break, then get back on!  I vary time between sets to mix up the stimulus, and I also practice clipping as I do these workouts.  

Though I don't make specific mention, I tend to use a 4-5 mile run, some lifting, and some lapping to warmup for these workouts.  The "lifting" also includes regularly core work which I do a few times per week.  I try to position my longish runs so that they are not before a strength workouts, as more endurance-related activities diminish returns from strength training, and they take the edge off of the maximum strength I can recruit during the workout (unfortunately, I know my 5 mile "warmup" runs are hurting my strength gains... still working scheduling this into my training routine!).  Also, whenever possible, I take my climbing workouts outside, although with graduate school, getting out has been a bit more challenging.

As a final note, I'm very curious to see how my new Olympic and power-lifting routine will affect my climbing.  So far I've been surprised by the level of core recruitment in barbell lifts, and the quality opportunities to work on good movement position.  My plan will be to run a bit less, expand the workout slightly, and hopefully get a more durable and powerful physique.




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