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A few percent more... (Read 3428 times)

mde

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A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 12:52:09 pm
Let's assume you have a project. Power endurance like, something in the 12-15 move range, with maybe easier climbing before or afterwards. You can't send it, because you just power out on the last few hard moves. What is the short-term solution to get it done?

Typically, I would say, increase the efficiency. Use better beta, climb faster, improve clipping positions and reduce anxiety, i.e. do not overgrip. That all helps without physically getting stronger. However, let's assume that this potential is fully exploited but you still power out a bit too early.

Are there any further tricks (especially for enhancing ones physical potential)?!?

- not eat or drink for a few days to be light?
- climb without wearing underwear to be light?
- bring along a ghettoblaster and climb to your favorite music?
- PEDs?

I'm not very serious with these suggestions. But really, I don't have a good solution for the problem. Usually I keep trying until the day comes where I have a few percent more in the tank and get it done. However in retrospect, I usually cannot say why it worked on that day, but not previously.

Linked question: apart from the physical side where the aim is to get a short-term boost in capacity, what would be a sensible mid-term strategy on the project? Just keep going on with trying it, i.e. going to failure after sufficient rest. Or might it be better to dedicate a session (or a few) to training on the project with incomplete rests in order to enhance power endurance?

Would be happy to get some insight!

SA Chris

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#1 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 01:03:07 pm
Wait for good connies.

Dexter

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#2 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 01:04:48 pm
coffee and a shit?

SA Chris

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#3 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 01:06:24 pm
2 in 1 - caffeine colonic

Oldmanmatt

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#4 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 01:51:49 pm
Climb faster! (TM)

36chambers

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#5 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 02:32:13 pm
Could it be a psychology issue?

Perhaps you're psyching yourself out too much mid or pre-attempt. My hardest bits of climbing have all been around 12-15 moves and I have to tell myself that I'm just "having a play" and that each attempt is simply money in the bank. Whenever I've driven to the crag thinking "today's the big day" I always climb abysmally. Of course this may just be me.

thekettle

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#6 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 07:32:36 pm
I'd experiment with the psychological side of things, or take 6 weeks off it to rebuild yourself into better physical shape for it.
On the psych side I've seen very fast improvements (under a week!) with using visualisation strategies. The more detailed and realistic your mental rehearsals are the more effective they can be (google the PETTLEP model for 'maiximsing functional equivalence' if you're curious). If you get really good at visualisation it can be bordering on self-hypnosis! You'll need to know exactly what every limb is doing at every point on the climb to make a good job of it.

finbarrr

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#7 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 08:46:27 pm
two good rest days beforehand?

bendavison

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#8 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 09:25:50 pm
Max hangs before you head to the crag?

mde

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#9 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 09:39:09 pm
Thanks to all who replied so far. A few comments:

Conditions: should have factored these out as well. Sure they can make a huge difference. It's even likely that when you think that you felt in great shape on a particular day you might only have been lucky with the conditions. Still, I'm more interested in the physical and psychological aspects.

Coffee: I always take a small espresso machine (Bialetti) to the crag and prepare myself in this regard. Very good advice, but already exploited in my case.

Climb faster: yes, obviously. But let's assume I climb as fast and efficient as I can on that given route. Sure, there is always room for improvement. But again, that's relatively obvious to me (though not at all easy to implement). However, I feel I don't have any control/ideas on short term physical and maybe psychological aspects.

Restdays: I can (resp. could, in the meantime I sent that little F8a+, but I'm up for the next project...) only visit the project 2x a week (work, family, ...). So I get there more or less well rested. On the other hand, there's always the trade-off between more tries, more rest and staying in shape (supplemental  training).

Max Hangs: also very good advice. I usually take a 45-60min break between tries - do a general warm-up before the next and some recruitment with a few max hangs. I really find this helps a lot.

The psychological aspects, very interesting what is brought up here. The "psyching yourself out too much" aspect - yes, maybe. As long as I can I focus on efficiency, good breathing , small shakeouts and not overgripping. But at some point (because the moves are hard) I somehow switch into a mode where I somehow lose control of what I'm doing exactly. I got the sequence wired and do not make dump mistakes, but I might be overgripping, not climb in a good, dynamic and efficient style anymore, things like that. But it's just so hard that I somehow lose the focus on these things and get some tunnel vision. I don't have that if a project is not at my limit or not important for me personally - but it's probably hard to avoid if it's hard and important. Maybe mental training (more and/or better that I currently do) might help in this regard.

The "just having a play" aspect - I don't know whether I can trick myself into that situation if I want to do a route so urgently. But I agree it might work. Last season I had a strange experience with a long term project. I finally sent it the day after I went alpine climbing and felt pretty tired, despite warm, humid and hence poor conditions. Actually, I wouldn't even have gone to the crag if not my family had urgently wanted to go. Since I had nothing better to do I still decided to give it a go, but without much thinking I found myself after the hard section...

Would still be interested to hear any wizardry in physically getting a few extra % short-term. But that's just maybe completely unrealistic. The mental side may be more promising.

moose

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#10 Re: A few percent more...
May 15, 2017, 09:45:09 pm
Max hangs before you head to the crag?

That worked for me when I was working my main projects last year - I needed less of a warm-up and would get an extra good go every session.  Also, it was reassuring to feel I had already crimped down harder that day than anything required on the route.

In the alternative....



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