[ian h]

i can gather that the people on here are well into there climbing and go out on rock / to the wall regularly.

but how much extra training do people do?

things like yoga/stretching, wieghts, running, bar work, sit/press ups etc, etc, etc.

i usually attempt to incorporate these things in my training and do well for the first month or so, but in the end it allways slips. maybe i just not that dedicated or just enjoy the climbing side more, even though i acknowledge i would be far better if i did some regular other stuff.

[hongkongstuey]

but how much extra training do people do?

i currently hit the bouldering wall on Tues (playing around bouldering) and Thurs (more specific training like campusing, arm isolation etc) evenings for a few hours and the gym (1/2 hour on cross trainer / bike + up to 1 hour on machines and heavy bits of metal - upper body and abs only, sod those leg things) on a Mon and Weds evening

on Fridays i rest and abuse my body with alcohol to undo all that good work and at weekends i hit the crags / boulders

i hate to think what i'd do to fill my time without climbing................

[dave]

through the winter it generally indoor bouldering 2 or 3 nights a midweek, then 2-3 evening sessions on fingerboard +weights etc, most often rest on friday for the weekend, then generally 1 day on weekend weather permitting. of course this gets upset if i get particularly bad skin one weekend.....

in summert its generally climbing every other night post work so tend to do less fingerboard and no indoors cos i'm constantly resting.

[cofe]

my annual post...

my training regime consists of dosage on mondays, rampage on tuesdays and thursdays, with hard grit, stick it or the real thing on wednesdays.  i take it easy on fridays with a snowboard vid - something like vivid. i'm then as fresh as a daisy for the weekend.

love your tendons kids.

[ian h]

so no yoga/stretch demons amongst us.

do people stretch prior to climbing outdoors/indoors :?:

how long do you lot spend warming up indoors and outdoors.

personally i spend around 1/4 - 1/2 hour warming up indoors but outside i only normally manage a few easy problems, which dont really do the trick. :roll:

[dave]

do people stretch prior to climbing outdoors/indoors :?:

how long do you lot spend warming up indoors and outdoors.

stretching is almost the first thing i do in my warm-up routine, indoors and out.

on a typical indoor session, from arriving it generally takes me up to an hour to be feeling 100% warmed up adn able to pull as hard as i can on shit. sometimes can get it quicker then that, but varies.

outdoors its all depends on the crag, problems/routes i wanna try etc. But generally i warm up well, in fact i have a trauma if i'm somewhere where i feel i can't warm up on easy shit (like when i first went to the sheep pen main wall in a blowing gale.)

[paul h]

Well,

my current regime is:

Monday:    3*60 press ups, 80 crunches, 180 ordinary situps, 3 * 3 bicep curls max weight, 3 sets 4 curls max weight - 10% ish, 10 mins yoga stretching

Tuesday: Boulder for 2-3 hours down the wall

Wednesday: 3*60 press ups, 80 crunches, 180 ordinary situps, 3 * 3 bicep curls max weight, pull ups /deadhangs on various holds on the finger board, 10 mins yoga stretching

Thursday: Boulder for 2-3 hours down the wall

Friday: Rest

Saturday: If good weather go climbing outside otherwise repeat
Monday

Sunday If good weather go climbing outside otherwise go down the wall and boulder for a few hours

REPEAT



somebody please help me (see rowing thread)

[Bubba]

Stretching is great as part of a warm up, but I try not to do it as the first thing these days. Do some gentle activity first, then start stretching is the way to go for me.

[ian h]

have tried stretching loads of times but just cant make the habbit stick, i just find it soooo boring

climbing on grit in cold weather. is undoubtedly the best conditions for that rock as everyone knows

but the flip side is it is fucking hard to warm up and even harder to stay warm :?

i fucked my shoulder so bad at higger tor because of this. guess everything has a downside.

i am tinking of investing in a rab himalayan suite do you think it will help?

[hongkongstuey]

so no yoga/stretch demons amongst us.

i used to do yoga for a while - good for general flexibility, balancing muscles out and perving at totty in tights (i'm sure HK is considerably better than the UK for this) - but not gonna boost your grade much

[T.H.]

As you can probably tell from my posts I'm totally obsessed with my training.

In fact sometimes I think I like the training more than the bouldering. :?   I just love getting better at whatever I do.

I try and climb every other day, when it rains al ot this usually involves a couple of visits to the indoor wall each week, and a couple of sessions on my own woody.  After about 6 or 7 sessions I usually need a longer rest period.

Sessions usually involve warming up.  At home I'll go for a twenty minute run, at the wall I'll do a load of really easy probs.  Then about 1 and a half hours of bouldering followed by;

Weighted chin-ups with the weight set so I can only do 6 sets of 4 reps.

Weighted one hand dead hangs on a small metolious campus board rung with the weight set so I can only hang it for 5 seconds.

Weighted hand stand press-ups with the weight set so I can only manage 6 sets of 4 reps.

Front levers for as long as I can hold them.

And then usually a bit of campusing, although sometimes I'm just too knackered.

Always stretch after training, but none of that crazy Yoga stuff.

[dave]

Weighted one hand dead hangs on a small metolious campus board rung with the weight set so I can only hang it for 5 seconds.

i'm pretty sure that my meduim fingerboard rung is the same size as this, but at the moment i couldn't manage a 1-arm hang unweighted for any length of time, and i consider myself to have fairly strong fingers - how are you hanging then? seems very hard to me - what standard to you boulder at then (truthfully!)?

[dobbin]

Power Midget Ru Davies can hang on one hand off a matchstick in the rain. Whilst an army of pygmies swing from his pubes. Font 7b+ apparently.

[dave]

he has pubes?

only kidding.... :wink:

[dobbin]

i dunno dude, I'm always face down when they're on show...  :shock:

[Bubba]

Get a mouthful of pillow, bitch!

[T.H.]

Dave wrote:

i'm pretty sure that my meduim fingerboard rung is the same size as this, but at the moment i couldn't manage a 1-arm hang unweighted for any length of time, and i consider myself to have fairly strong fingers - how are you hanging then? seems very hard to me - what standard to you boulder at then (truthfully!)?

(sorry still don't know how to do that quote thing)

I don't really know how I hang them, I just can, and am still improving.  I'm thinking of making a smaller rung to train on, as they feel pretty easy now.  Just ask Mr. K, I can hang his (rungs) quite happily.

However, I'm no elite climber.  If anything I'm quite shit.  Never done anything that you would have heard of above the low font 7s.  Have worked harder stuff, but usually in obscure places (the price of living where I live unfortunately).

Proof that 'technique' (whatever that is) has a real impact on what you can climb.

[paul h]

have tried stretching loads of times but just cant make the habbit stick, i just find it soooo boring  

The best way to get into stretching, it is to stretch something that you can easily improve on, get some quick gain for your pain.

I couldnt touch my toes for ages, then i started stretching my legs out and it didnt take long until I could get palms flat on the floor.

it definitely helps your climbing to be a bit flexy

[dave]

I couldnt touch my toes for ages, then i started stretching my legs out and it didnt take long until I could get palms flat on the floor.

for years i was convinved i cun't touch me toes, not by about 8inch too short - i remeber at uni someone assumed i would be able do it in a bouldering session, so i set to prove them wrong by attempting it, but found i actaully could do it! then i twigged that it must have been cos i was all stretched out and warm, se kept doing it every time and now i can generally get hands flat on floor, which is a 300% improvement on before.

T.H.: do you hang em locked straight armed then, or wid some bend?

[T.H.]

I hang them totally straight, I even let my shoulders and back relax.

We're definitely talking about the same things right?

http://www.rockrun.com/shop/prod.html?d=2&t=23&p=1699&sid=56118033d88779a8fa31ed698008994b

Size small - 3/4 inch.

Two things got me doing dead hangs.

The first was a disastrous trip to Ailfroide this summer.  I noticed that the other guys I was with, who were climbing harder than me, had much stronger fingers, so I started focusing on training them.

Also I saw some video where a load of top climbers gave their tips on how to get better.  One of them was dead hanging the small rungs on a campus board.  Someone said to me that I would never be able to do, and I hate being told I can't do something.

I got hold of a 3/4 inch rung, fixed it to a rafter in my garage and started just trying to hang it with one hand.  At first I could barely do a second or so with my right stronger hand, and couldn't do anything with my left.  But being a stubborn little git I perservered and was able to hang my right for about 5 seconds and my left for about 2 seconds within a few weeks of training every other day.

The most noticable difference was that I went to one of my local bouldering spots, and was able to flash a load of problems that just weeks before I'd only managed a couple of times with loads of working.

4/5 months on from starting doing dead hangs I can now hang for 5 seconds on my right  with 12kgs, and my left with 8 kgs.

It has definitely made a massive difference to my ability, but like I said, there's a lot more to it than just being able to pull hard.

[dave]

yes i think my middle rung is 3/4 inch thick, althought its not incut, and the whole fingerboard has sagged to about 3degrees overhanging....

might explain something that i've always tried doing 1arm hangs with some bend in the arm. i think i could probably hang it totally straight, but i never do this on a fingerboard cuz in one of those marius morstad articles in ote it said hanging straight was why loads of people got injured doing hangs in the 80s, or words to that effect i recall.

[T.H.]

Yeah, the incut really helps.

I'm not to sure about the differences between bent arms and tensed shoulders and all the other variants.  The reason I do mine absolutely straight is because that's what I find the hardest.

I can't find any info backing it up (apart from my own experince), but your mate Paz told me that a physio told him that having a straight back makes it harder.

Are you going to give it a try?

[dave]

yeah paz told me something about that.

probably won't try it straight arm, its locking out the elbow that worries me, and i don't think i've got strong enough arms to hold it just bent. especially not on an outward-sloping rung....but i'll let you know :wink:

[Kim]

I thought the thing was that hanging straight armed doesn't involve as much muscle effort in your arm, as all the weight is through the tendons/ligaments/whatever in the elbow and shoulder, rather than the muscle - which is why it can lead to elbow/shoulder injuries. Although the benefit is you can get brutally strong fingers without having to get your arms strong first. If you hang bent arm you are using muscles in your arms as well as your fingers, so protecting your joints, but requiring you to be able to lock off to get your fingers stronger (if you're using one arm).

[dave]

yeah thats exactly it Kim - and i'm not that desperate to do 1arm hangs and risk any further elbow shit. what marius says goes.