Ok, though this is off topic now, I would be happy to share my "training". Before I start, some of this is a bit more theoretical than actual.. it's what I would
like to be doing
First of all, being fat is the worst thing of all for your climbing, and I have weight to lose, for sure. I used to run until I hurt my knee, and it made a huge difference. People have commented that I actually look skinnier and more ripped, etc. Whether it helps my climbing or not, I am not sure, but common sense says yes. It's not a coincidence that olympic athletes have eating disorders. Being fat means slow and heavy. It takes alot out of you when you are running a lot, unfortunatley. Eric Horst in his book "learn to climb 5.12" or whatever it's called, recommends running (I think) two times a week (or three?) for 30 mins, light, just to eliminate excess uncessary muscle and fat. So I do that. I probably ran too much, but oh well.
I do weights.. I hit the gym quite a bit (ideally) and do lots of exercises.. I do some climbing specific ones like Lat-pulldowns, chin-ups, etc, but mostly I do other stuff like pushing exercises and shoulder exercises, for injury prevention, and legs because I like running. I think, to a certain extent, that all around fitness is pretty important. Again, I'm pretty beefy and I think it probably hinders my climbing to do too much weights.. but I'd rather be too built than injured, and I think that's the tradeoff. Plus I want to look big, and not have a gross un-proportioned body. I want to be Brad Pitt!
For climbing specific training I spend most of my time in the gym doing crimpy routes on mildly overhanging walls.. I don't spend much time on big overhangs because it's useless, even in Sydney (massive overhangs everywhere) it's usually my fingers holding me back. I used to do lots of chin-ups (100 per day, for a while) and other stuff like that, at the UNB gym, but I think chin-ups aren't that useful. Then again, I can do one-arms, so maybe it's just that
above a certain level, it's not helpful. Unsure. I rarely do finger board exercices, only because I climb so much outdoors these days. I used to do a bit, but it requires a weight-belt and other stuff, so it's not high on my list. Campusing I used to do a
lot, and that probably made a large difference. Contact strength and dynamic power are, I think, two of my strengths, and I think that campusing is great for these. However, in recent times I find that my static strength has suffered, as a result of my "dynamic" style. People who climb much more deliberately (Ghislain?) have much better static lock-off strength.. I mean, big static reaches, etc. So try to climb slow and in control, don't dyno.
I do tons of ab workouts (on the finger board: leg raises, knee raises (to the sides as well), "power knees", where you hold your knees up and get a friend to pull them down, "power leg raises", where your friend pushes your straight legs down while you try to raise them up) and I think this helps your core tension alot, and I know for a fact I can hike my legs up whenever required. My friend Mark told me recentely that he had to train leg raises specifically to do one of his hardest sends.. core strength is key. I can't do many sit-ups though, so I think it's quite specific to climbing. Learn to do sit-ups properly, and use varying leg positions to vary your targetted abs.
Endurance and flexibility are overrated, although I've recently been watching lots of my friends flail because they are just way too stiff.. it's frankly embarassing. Zig was always doing stuff I couldn't do because he was flexible, and I think it can help sometimes. "Froggy" type stretches and being able to heel hook near your nose are particularly important.
So that's my "thoughts on training".. what do I actually do? I climb mostly. Especially now I spend at least 3 or 4 days out per week, often a few in a row, plus nights in the gym (often climbing twice per day), so there's no time for training. Of course, it's the sending season. In winter things are different.
I take lots of rest (unless I'm climbing 3/4 days in a row) before trying my main projects, so that I can actually get stronger (you need to take time off to see gains in strength and tendon strength).
My thoughts on getting better at climbing are very simple: a) Travel lots, b) Hang out with people who are much better than you, and c) Climb things that are above your level. It takes people months of work to do their hardest projects, and recentely, as I have been doing harder stuff, I've found that most of hte really strong climbers I'm meeting aren't any better, just a lot more dedicated and tenacious. I know I was surprised.. try working something for 4 weekends, and see how hard you can climb. I know sometimes I can't even pull off the ground on some problems, or do a single move, in the first weekend, and by the third session I send them!
Wow, this is a long essay. I wish my thesis was this fun to write.
Finally, have a read through some of the training pages written on the UNB rock and ice website. They are pretty corny articles I wrote a long time ago, but contain good information that I took from several (neil gresham, metolius, eric horst) fairly good sources. Mostly common sense.
As far as a routine goes, it's hard.. a 7 day week doesn't really work well. Try to come up with a good 8 or 9 day schedule, I think that is easier. Take two days off ideally before a hard project day, and if you're really campusing/fingerboarding hard, take two days off after and one before, for maximum gain.
Note that I made absolutely
no mention of endurance.. because endurance climbing is so dumb: Do laps, endlessly.
No thanks!
Last thing: two fun games to improve your footwork and accuracy: Try climbing for an entire night without EVER adjusting your feet. Use the hold exactly how your foot first touches the hold. You'll be amazed. Second game is to try to traverse the entire wall without your friend hearing you. If they hear you (facing away from the wall) then you have to go back and try again. Your footwork will improve. Be accurate with your hands too.
That is all (for now)
by mitchleblanc » Sun Aug 14, 2005 2:11 am 
