[Teaboy]

I am on a mission to increase my shoulder strength. I am not particularly focused and so far it consists of:

One arm hangs- Hanging from a jug for 5s per arm repeated a few times. I do this after finishing a problem at the wall that is steep with a jug at the top.

I did think about this but really I'm just dangling with a straight arm on bone, tendon whatever and not really engaging any muscles so wondered what it was training.

[Fiend]

Rows, deadlifts, maybe shrugs. Core work. Antagonist work (bench / shoulder press, dips).

I've never injured myself doing low reps high weights even at my 1 rep max, but have lots of tweaks from climbing. YMMV.

[reeve]

Hi Teaboy. I've just finished three months of doing weights for climbing (first time doing weights at all).

I've quite enjoyed it for its sheer physicality and for being quantifiable. As for how effective its been - I'm certainly stronger at lifting weights than I was before, but also at climbing. As for if just climbing would have been superior is hard to tell. My intention was to do it for three months (alongside fingerboarding and climbing) then exclusively boulder / climb on a board when indoors with the hope that the weights would have laid a good foundation of strength for me to then apply / turn into climbing-related power. We'll see.

As for exerises, I did weighted pull ups, dead lift, overhead press (as a generic oppositional / antagonist exercise) and bicep curls (my biceps are the smallest muscle in my body so I wondered if they don't recruit as well as other muscles). If you feel like you're struggling to control your shoulders whilst pulling up, perhaps try scapula pull ups (progressing to one-armed version)?

As for number of reps and sets etc, I based it on this https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/531-how-to-build-pure-strength I suspect that for any hardened weight lifter this wouldn't have enough volume at high intensities, but for a punter like me it seemed to have a nice progression through the weeks without risking injury. It took me about an hour to complete 3 sets of 4 exercises including a warm up and a few hanging leg raises etc at the end.

I'm not sure if I've answered any questions you had, and I didn't read the preceding pages of the thread prior to you resurrecting it so I may have repeated things from there. Anyway, I hope something in there is useful and of course feel free to ask if you have any specific questions about what I did.

[erm, sam]

I did think about this but really I'm just dangling with a straight arm on bone, tendon whatever and not really engaging any muscles so wondered what it was training.

This does need to be done with all muscles engaged, shoulder down and other shoulder not totally slumped. I guess the obvious thing is to do it with the other hand offering enough help that you can hold a good position and then over time reduce the help etc..

[Nibile]

I did think about this but really I'm just dangling with a straight arm on bone, tendon whatever and not really engaging any muscles so wondered what it was training.

It was training an injury.

[siderunner]

I've been doing the 5x5 program for about 5 weeks, and am pretty happy with that. There's a great site describing it, just google 5x5. Much of the philosophical approach echoes the t-nation link posted by Reeve, but it's a lot simpler and perhaps better suited to beginners to the lifts (me!).

The workouts I'm doing are:

Workout1: squats 5x5, bench 5x5, deadlifts 3x5, lat pull downs or pull-ups 5x5 (this last added by me).

Workout2: squats 5x5, press (standing barbell shoulder press) 5x5, bent over row (standing w barbell) 5x5.

Main feature is that I started with 20kg Olympic bar only, and add add 2.5kg every session on a given lift (started w 30kg for DL & rows). All 5 sets w the same weight (plus warmup sets on top).

The good thing about this is that at the start it was mostly piss, and I could climb the day after, but at the same time I was subconsciously experimenting w form etc safely. Now some lifts are getting heavier it's nice that I do the lift quite consistently, and I know where my feet go, how much I arch my back (or not), where I look, how I breathe, etc - I can focus on the effort. This seems to echo what t-nation (Wendler) was saying, albeit maybe in a punterish way.

The other thing I like is it's quick and easy to record. Plus seems to be enough to get stronger (from a low base I confess) without exhausting or injuring me.

If you want to get strong enough shoulders for one armers etc I suspect you need strength in all the complex planes of that shallow ball joint, and to me pull-ups + bent over rows + shoulder press + bench press seem to cover pushing and pulling in the main planes of motion possible, plus are all proven and safe.

The squats are controversial in a climbing forum but weight lifters seem to think they're king. I think the hormonal benefits (aged over 40) probably outweighs the risk of treetrunk legs, though I am monitoring this, and my weight. I have noticed that I'm squatting quite deep, due to the light starting weights and the advice on the 5x5 site, at least compared to many I see doing heavy squats with a small range of motion (where their thighs only get halfway to the horizontal).

Am interested to hear what others think of this regime. I'm currently planning another 4-6 weeks of it, combined with mainly aero climbing, as a long base phase. After that I'll gradually transition into fingerboarding and weighted pull-ups instead, maybe doing 3x5 on all the lifts once a week as maintenance.

[Nibile]

This is probably the best bang for buck shoulder excercise I've ever done.

It works the whole range of motion, plus traps, rhomboids, and core.

[slackline]

  Proto-Functional Pattern exercise?

[Nibile]

 
To be a real Functional Patterns excercise, first of all it should be performed barefoot on a Bosu Ball.
Then, at the end of every rotation, you should perform a 360° jump landing half-kneeling and simlultaneously grabbing a 36 kg kettlebell that's been thrown at you by a willing partner, and throwing it back while juggling the plate with the other hand.
That constitues one rep.
It getz you swole bro.

[Teaboy]

Thanks all for the replies. It seems like Reeve and Siderunner have both benefited from something similar (albeit with fewer reps) so I'll have a look at both your suggestions (I had a quick look at 5, 3, 1 but I got confused!). Nibs' suggestion for shoulder plate rotations looks the most applicable but with my shoulder mobility I'm worried I'll knock myself out. It also lacks the measurableness (?) I require, it seems hard to add small amounts of wieght or do to failure.

Anyway, I've resisted the urge to go to the wall tonight in favour of dead hanging so hopefully the weights will help with the focus.

[finbarrr]

I did think about this but really I'm just dangling with a straight arm on bone, tendon whatever and not really engaging any muscles so wondered what it was training.

It was training an injury.

haha, i was gonna say something similar, along the lines of "finger strength, elbow mobility and shoulder dislocation"

[finbarrr]

I would just do some bar work for 1. and one arm hangs for 2. but I can only manage about 10 good style pull ups so it would make for a very short session (by my third set I'm down to about 7 reps). Likewise I need so much assistance to do a one arm hang it seems pointless, I'd like to give myself a weight training boost before doing this.

honestly, read eric horst's "training for climbing (third edition)" and understand about the years of progress it takes most people to progress to one armed anything. i believe eric horst says to progress through to more than 50 percent bodyweight added with good form for any hang before you start one armers.

[Oldmanmatt]

A personal best. 140kg (2xBW) ring press-up.
10 reps. I feel a little stoked by this. [emoji56]

Untitled video by oldmanmatt, on Flickr