Shed Training

It has been a long time since I've done any blogging or even writing, well at least for something other than school.

In my few posts I've talked about training and what has worked for me. Since last post I've seen the benefits of some types of training and down sides of others. I've learned a lot from my friend Theo Merrin about training and the science behind it when done well. Theo's belief is that being consistent in your training is the most important part of any program. I've been training with him since October, a large part of that time was spent on campus training from another friend David Mason, which was tremendously helpful. But after Thanksgiving I started to follow Theo's advice about finger strength and health.
I have had a lot of finger injuries in the past, (I think I've mentioned this?) and look for ways to get my fingers stronger all the time. But after talking with Theo I decided to bullet proof my fingers and not worry so much about making them stronger. The result so far has been healthy fingers and a bonus of stronger fingers then ever. For example I was never able to one arm hang the big edges on the Beastmaker 2000. But after a month or so of Dave MacLeod inspired hangs I can hold this edge for 5 seconds with half crimp (4 fingers) and 3 seconds front 3, both arms. This has been a goal of mine for years.
Another recent development has been the return to the 9 week cycle. This is only temporary and I may not do more than this one cycle. Not because it does not work, but because it does have its limitations. So far in this cycle I'm 4 weeks in, which means I've done two test days. The first test day showed a Weighted Pull-up ORM(one rep max) of 320lbs, which is my weight (195lbs) plus 125lbs. The second test day showed my ORM for Weighted Pull-ups to be 330lbs, a 10lbs gain in 3 weeks. So it does have an impact but I am curious to see what a non-linear program could do. And I think Theo and Shed Training are great guides for this adventure.

Training

            Even when healthy, training is a large part of my climbing. I enjoy it. I like the structure and visible gains one can achieve if it’s done right. This is not to say that the “just climbing” approach will not help you get stronger, but either alone will only have limited results. So in this post I plan to talk about what training systems have done for my climbing.

Training is great in my opinion for several reasons. First, training is structured (if it’s done right) Second, training is basic, its not like getting stronger on a project but it provides you with a greater base strength that can be applied to many boulders. When you plan your exercises you can clearly see your weaknesses in power or hand strength. That allows you to breakdown the weaknesses to their basic form.

For example if you lack power, the basic way to gain that is a weighted pull-up. It’s a simple exercise that can translate easily into climbing.

            But, if you just randomly do weighted pull-ups it may not help as much as if you use a structured program such as a periodization system (link to a great system to follow). With this system http://training4climbing.blogspot.com/ you are directed by your One Rep Max, ORM for short. This sets out your weights, reps, and sets clearly making weekly progress a simple feat. Granted you will still have off days since that’s just how it works, but the overall trend is up, which is what we want.  

            As for it training being basic, I am referring to hand strength in particular. When you climb there are no doubts you gain hand strength. But it’s often a particular type of hand strength based on your style. By this I mean if you crimp everything, your sloper strength will suffer, and vice versa. You may send the problem by crimping the pinch but you lose out in the end. Because what happens when your lifetime project has an inescapable crux pinch or a hold that must be grabbed with your back 3 fingers? (They’re out there; just wait till you try Golden Harvest in Rocktown or Yabo Roof in Yosemite.)

            This is where the hangboard comes in. And none are better than The Beastmaker 2000 (found here at www.beastmaker.co.uk). This board helped me overcome my fear of pockets and is the reason I was able to finish my longest Hueco project. It was a long process to be sure, taking about two months of dedicated Repeaters (to be explained later), which gave me a base of hand strength I never had. And the training is simple.

Step 1. Pick 6 grips on the Beastmaker that you can hold for about 30 seconds. These can be anything from front 3 fingers on a bad sloper to middle 2 in a pocket. But make sure you pick 6 different grips.

Step 2. Arrange them in order from hardest to easiest. Now get a stopwatch and hang 6 times on each grip for a total of 60 seconds. Do this by hanging for 7 seconds and dropping for 3; and resting between grips for 2 to 3 minutes. These are called Repeaters After you have finished all 6, rest for 8 to 9 minutes and repeat until you can’t hold on.  You should be able to through 2 sets in the beginning and when you reach 4 to 5 completes sets its time to move on.

Step 3. Now that your base is built up its time for some short but intense sets of hangs. This time pick 2 grips and do them 3 times each. I chose front 2 and middle 2, do your hardest 3 first and the easier 3 last. But this is the big difference; you should be failing on the last hold of each 60 second set. Do this twice a week and after every week add 2.5 pounds. And do this for 6 weeks; eventually you’ll have an extra 15 pounds on. I should make this clear, START SLOW! If you can’t hang the pockets in your Repeater sets DO NOT add weight and try these, keep doing repeaters or stick to bigger holds and more fingers.

            Now here is the important part, don’t just hangboard for 2 or 3 months and expect to crush. Make sure you are doing core work and pull-ups to keep up your stamina and most of all technique, or better yet do the periodization training mentioned above. You don’t want to go outside and find your arms rusty or your core lacking. Also a good warm up and cool down of climbing is great as well.

            In the end the key to seeing the most gains outside is to transition the strength you gained to rock, and I find the best way to do that is mileage outside. Go out and climb as much as you can every free day. Or if you trained for a trip spend the first few days doing everything in your mid range. By this I mean if you climb V8/7B+ climb every V4, V5, and V6 you see for the first few days. After you’ve climbed a good number of boulders step it up and start projecting, but even on those days its good to try and do one new boulder a day. That way you keep up a good base and continue to transition your new strength from training. I also find it mentally rewarding to add a new problem to my tick list each day I go out.

            For myself I got the most gains out of these two systems. When I used the Beastmaker exclusively it was a great boost to my hand strength, allowing me to hold grips I never thought I would touch. But I lacked overall fitness and dynamic strength. And when I used the periodization system I gained greater fitness and power. With the drawback of having my hand strength stay somewhat stagnant, compared to the rest of my progress. In the end I believe that combining the two systems would a great way to see large gains in the hands and large muscle groups. The trick will me combining the two systems into one time efficient system where doing this training will not cause over training. Hopefully it works and I’ll be posting about it in the fall.      

             

           

           

             

             

             

              

Royal and Yabo

This what Royal looks like. 

                                                                                    Photo: Sam Davis


                                   This is how Royal is. He fears pugs and other small dogs.

The reason I bring this up because it is a constant source of embarrassment and entertainment. That being said I do love him more than anything, even when he is the reason for much of my daily worrying. I think it's the same personality trait that lets me love climbing, even when its not going as I would like I can't be mad at it. Well with Royal I end up being mad if he's, lets say panicked during a thunder storm, torn of a window screen, and jumped into the house to hide. But that's on principal. Climbing has a strange effect on me, a failure can follow me for months. As well a success can keep with me for just as long.

Example: In the fall of 2008 I was lucky enough to be living with my good friend Justin at his ranger house in Yosemite. It was a weird time in my life, I was very depressed, but that story is for another post. I had one climbing goal while I was in Yosemite, it was a problem called Yabo Roof. To me this is the perfect boulder, I give it 5 stars. It is the number one boulder problem in the world that I want to climb. To be honest I am a bit obsessed, at one point I had it as my phones access code. I spent days working on Yabo that fall. I would walk the road to it carrying my two pads, one balanced on my head the other on my back and try it for as long as my body would allow. I did this for days, with little progress until one day when I started linking moves and doing those moves consistently. I was close and one night in the company of my good friends I caught a break. I was sticking my crux every time, but I was still unable to finish. Something was missing, until Randy suggested a beta change. I won't go into too much detail but he told me to adjust my left hand then try the move I had failed on. It worked, and it felt good but I had spent hours trying the other beta and was gassed. So I called it a night. Thinking I would one more day I looked at the weather to see my best chance. I was horrified to see that night was to bring 8 inches of snow and the following day another 6. But their was still hope, there were two days of no snow and it would be cold enough to keep the snow in the trees from dripping on to Yabo. So I came back after the snow had stopped with a backpack full of dish rags, propane, and a blow torch. To be clear I didn't blow torch the rock, just the sheet of ice on the top out. I brushed snow off holds, cleared ice and got soaked in the process. But it was climbable, I had gained one more day. The next day Justin and I walked out to Yabo and I tried one more time. I made it back to my high point bumped my left hand once and again to the good spot Randy had told me about, but something was wrong with my hands angle and I missed. I dropped in position and was horrified, I blew it. That was my shot and it was gone, temps were so cold that it drained my of my normal energy to keep trying and I called it. This was three and a half years ago and it still haunts me. Every year I go back and try it but the knowledge of the problem is gone and one day isn't enough to regain it. I'm still going back in November and going to try don't misunderstand me, I just have to get a lot stronger. Hopefully my three months of hand and core training will help.

Positive Example: This past fall I was trying another dream problem of mine. Both Sides of the Spectrum, I just call it Both Sides for short. I was also using the training program on the Links section of this page. I was training hard and could feel it on the days after a session, but I was psyched and had a good day on it earlier that week. I had fallen of the move to the jug. That go also took a good amount of skin from me. I was a little bummed thinking I'd lost another dream climb but I decided to hike out to it after my next training day and clean it. We were going to get snow and I didn't want it to ice over. I told my friend Phillip about my plan and he persuaded to try it when we went out that Friday. My skin was still really thin and I thought I would be trying with tape, so I wrote off any chance of a send that day. We got there and cleaned the snow from it then warmed up as it dried. It started off bad for both of us, Phillip got a mini split and decided on one more burn. He fired it, it was great, everything had clicked and he did it with good style. He then told me the micro beta, bring your ear to your left hand. Three Hours later I finally listed and it worked for me too. I latched the jug and was on top, I had done it, one of my dream climbs down, and it was after a training day with a hole in my finger the size of a pencil eraser. I still carry the feeling of that send with me, and even in my down times I try and think about that success to keep me psyched.

Also you should check out Sam Davis's  photos at blimpbouldering.blogspot.com/ and www.sammyDavisPhotography.smugmug.com/

Starting a blog while healing an ankle.

Well I guess there's no formal way to start a blog, but I think I'll begin with a mission statement of sorts.

My aim with this blog is to keep myself sane by writing about the ups and downs of a devoted climber. I plan to talk about what has helped me in my climbing life and what has helped keep me psyched when injured, which is a lot of the time for me.

I recently dislocated my left ankle and in the process tore two ligaments, the talofibular and calcaneofibular ligaments, leaving me immobile for most of this summer. Which I had planned to spend climbing in the alpine areas of Colorado. But it turns out that I'll be spending much of my time on my Beastmaker 2000, the worlds greatest hangboard and thinking of boulder problems.

On a side note if you're feeling like you have hit a plateau in hand strength get one of these boards. Its a little costly since they are an British company and shipping and all, but its worth it. Here is the website. www.beastmaker.co.uk/

I digress, on my blog you'll see updates to my recovery, random photos and videos of areas I've been, and unsolicited training advice. Maybe a few motivational speeches if I'm feeling good.

Kevin Cuckovich

P.S. I will also work on making this blog look better.