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.
