[quejada]

need some advice on the mentioned technique. Having very little time, and being my local wall closed for the summer (those buggers) I'm planning to fully devote to my fingerboard for the next few weeks, trying to follow a sort of 3 days routine:

day 1: lockoff + endurance (BM scheme of 7 sec on/3 off x 6 times)
day 2: finger strength + front lever
day 3: onearmer +  pinches
day 5: rest

now, beside comments on the overall regime (still very welcome) I'd need some inputs on how to best train finger strength, particularly on the assisted one arm deadhangs. I'm currently using a 18 mm edge with 14 > 4 kg off-load, but I'm wondering what is the best posture as far as the arm goes: fully locked (easier, but that would be another lockoff, thus repeating day 1 session, only on a crappier hold), 90° lock (feels harder and it's still partially a lock off), 140° or fully stretched? Instinctively I'd go for the 140° cause the fully stretch seems a bit dangerous on the shoulder tendons, but maybe some training experts here will know better.

also,would it be better to stay open, i.e. using a hold on one side of the board and attaching the pulley with the off load on the other side, or stay 'closed', i.e placing the pulley right above the hold so that you're kinda  perpendicular to the fingerboard with both hands facing the same direction?

thank a lot folks!
g

[Nibile]

Hey!
For one arm dead hangs I normally try to engage shoulders and elbows but not to a lock off.
Avoid full lock and 90° because the first one is an elbow killer and because both will tax your other training. I normally prefer to have my shoulders perpendicular to the fingerboard, there are many videos you can check.

As for the training, I think that three consecutive days of arm and back work (lock offs, levers and one armers) are too much. Each excercise needs a good amount of power and a well restes muscle to be trained with good result. You could play with intensity and volume, but it could prove a bit complicated, especially if you enjoy training and tend to overdo it.
I would skip the lock offs and stick to one armers and front levers, in this order, on non consecutive days.
HTH.

[quejada]

Thanks a lot for the thorough comment, nibs.

got your point on overtraining, probably you're right, maybe I'll need to re-think my training schedule...
how does this sound?

day 1   one armer (+ pinches)
day 2   fingers: only DHs
day 3   Lock offs + FL
day 4   rest

this way on day 2 I'd have a sort of 'rest day' as far as arms and back muscle are concerned (or at least I'd use them very little, focussing purely on fingers). I think I'll try this schedule and see how my body reacts (or breaks).

[Nibile]

Day 3 will be very heavy. Front levers are hard for me, and I wouldn't want to do them after beasting my arms and back with lock offs...
Personally, I haven't trained lock offs in ages, but never felt something missing while climbing. I think that FL are far more important: they work the core, and engage basically every big muscle of the body, so the overall activation is a lot bigger, both in terms of CNS and power gains.
Also, there was an interesting series of articles from Eva Lopez about the fact that we never really need to lock off.
First one is here http://en-eva-lopez.blogspot.it/2012_06_01_archive.html.

Also: one arm dead hanging is far more muscular than we think. It involves shoulder, bicep, and back muscles, so in my experience, it's very similar to a lock off session. After my usual one arm DH session I feel beasted for a couple of days, and I just do a total of 12 hangs per arm.

[quejada]

Eva's article is really interesting, and, what I like most, backed up by some serious-looking 'scientific' evidences. It's convincing me to leave the lock off aside for the time being.

And yes, you're probably right, even at 120° DHs involve arms and upper body muscles in general so maybe it's not that great idea doing them in a 'rest day' for the arms.

and I just do a total of 12 hangs per arm.

hey, could you briefly share your typical one arm DH session, in terms of # of reps, hang times, rests, hold types, overall session duration etc? who knows it might be beneficial for me, after having tailored it down according to my strenghts...oops I mean weaknesses ;-)
thanks a lot

[Nibile]

There you go.

 

Jokes apart.
Until last winter my usual one arm session was on just three prehensions:
- back3 on incut rung, half crimp;
- front3 on smaller 3 fingers slot, open handed, with added weight;
- half crimp on incut rung with added weight.
As of late, I sacked the front3. So now only two prehensions.

For back3 (and front3 before) I do three sets, each one consisting of a max and sub max hang with a little rest in between. The first hang is the most powerful one, the second a bit poorer but not always. Then a proper rest and on to the next set. So, 6 hangs in total.
For half crimp, I do four hangs with progressive weight for each arm, with proper rests.
I try to concentrate on maintaining a good half crimped position and not dragging.

When I trained also the front3, I would alternate sets (back3, front3, back3, front3, back3, front3, then all the incut rung sets) because I think it's better for skin tolerance and recovery between same sets. Now that I don't train front3 I do all the back3 sets and then the incut rung with weight.

All hangs are meant to be maximal.
Rests go with the feel, a short one in between same hold hangs, quite complete between different holds hangs. Let's say a 1,5/2 minutes and 4/5 minutes.
On the incut rung even more (6/7 minutes) because they are brutal. Never use a watch though so...
Overall duration is not much. You can do other things during the rests, I usually try to study. The longer you rest the better.
HTH.

[quejada]

can't play the video on this crap PC, but the explanation seems really exhaustive, and scary     with all that extra weight !?!
thanks a lot man, I'll get to work right away and see how I get on with a (much) lighter version of your routine.

do you happen to have a hard 'n fast schedule for one arm pull ups too?

then I'd be sorted for life

[Nibile]