[Rocksteady]

So I've had a bit of a layoff from climbing following other shizzle taking over for a while (we're talking a couple of months with only intermittent sessions, and about a month with no climbing at all) - my first few sessions back at the wall and outside have shown that I've lost a fair bit of everything you need to climb well: strength, technique, endurance, head skillz...great.

Thus, I've been wondering how to get back into it, and wondered whether a good approach would be to start from first principles, and start training as if I was brand new to climbing, but laying the ideal foundations.

When I first started climbing, in my first year I climbed almost exclusively on indoor walls, never climbed with anyone better than me, and did a lot of top-roping on routes - I think these were very poor foundations on which to build.

I'd like to go back to basics, and try to lay some good groundwork that will set me up for later on.

If you had your time again, how would you start out? What advice would your older, wiser climbing self give to your 'just starting out' self in order to set yourself up for a better climbing career?

For example, should I start out doing a bunch of technique drills, should I do a lot of bouldering, should I build up endurance etc.?

I'm London-based, so one of my main objectives is to try to get outside as much as I can, though not always easy. What can I do at the wall to set me up for sending success further down the line?

Will be interested to see your responses.

Cheers.

[slackline]

When I first started climbing, in my first year I climbed almost exclusively on indoor walls, never climbed with anyone better than me, and did a lot of top-roping on routes - I think these were very poor foundations on which to build.

Do the opposite of this, get outdoors lots, climb and boulder with people better than you, but don't do lots of top-roping (seconding is far better, as you still have to hang around and get gear out).

[Jaspersharpe]

Spot on. Plus if you can't get out then at the wall do volume (not volumes) and variety rather than getting stuck in a rut of just doing stuff that suits you...............oh shit.

[erm, sam]

Just go climbing is it. If you have a useful amount of climbing behind you then I don't think a few months of intermittent climbing makes much difference at all. It will just take a little while to get the engrams back up to speed. Try to do a lot of different stuff and go outside as much as possible.
If I had my time again I wouldn't do anything different except not getting so excited trying to push myself training and then getting injured.

[erm, sam]

Oh, and buy The Self Coached Climber, it has loads about movement training and stuff that is not about getting stronger, but is about getting much better.
http://www.davemacleod.com/shop/selfcoachedclimber.html

[Rocksteady]

See, I've been climbing for about 3 years regularly, and I seriously find that if I have 2 weeks with no climbing my strength, endurance and skills all get very rusty very quickly. It seems to take several weeks to come back.

I'm not great even at the best of times, but I don't understand how I can go from onsighting F6c+ then to falling off F6b just by virtue of having a few weeks off. I've often had to take a few weeks off too as I seem to be pretty prone to twinging fingers.

I feel that either I'm going to resign myself to the idea that I am fundamentally weak, injury prone and rubbish at climbing, or try to overcome it and 'unlearn what I have learned' in order to get better.

I think probably laying a base of a lot of volume of climbing at levels quite easy for me (with an emphasis on bouldering), then upping the finger strength training will get me where I want to be.

Yeah, I've got the Self-Coached Climber, but I find it very difficult to self-analyse body position problems, which is the main way for improving technique. I suspect that as a legacy of having a dodgy back, I don't activate my core properly and thus rely much too much on upper body rather than using all my muscles together.

[slackline]

Yeah, I've got the Self-Coached Climber, but I find it very difficult to self-analyse body position problems, which is the main way for improving technique. I suspect that as a legacy of having a dodgy back, I don't activate my core properly and thus rely much too much on upper body rather than using all my muscles together.

Go to font for a week or so, this is by far-and-away the best way of improving your technique.

[JamesD]

If had my time again i'd not mess up my elbows as a teenager overtraining, I would have taken up climbing earlier in life, and I would have started training explosive power earlier on rather than going on an endless quest for pure static strength....which I gave up a while ago.

[Fultonius]

If I was starting again (which I will hopefully be doing in about 9 - 12 months) then I'd try and get outside as often as possible and climb in many different areas. I'd start of with a really big block of sport climbing, starting off easy, trying to learn how to move efficiently again. I'd then move on to doing bouldering (if my knee allows). I would climb with people who are better than me, but maybe not people who I climbed with before as I think this would be de-motivatng until I was back up to speed.

If I found I couldn't do a problem/route that I used to be able to do, I wouldn't just assume it was lack of strength, I'd try and solve the problem with footwork/technique.

All the time I'd put in decent amounts of work in antagonistic training (mainly shoulder and core work on the non-climbing muscles).

This is all in a perfect world... In reality I'll probably go down Dumby and try and power up all the old problems.   

[SA Chris]

I feel that either I'm going to resign myself to the idea that I am fundamentally weak, injury prone and rubbish at climbing, or try to overcome it and 'unlearn what I have learned' in order to get better.

Sounds about right. You get used to it.

[Falling Down]

but I don't understand how I can go from onsighting F6c+ then to falling off F6b

Get used to it. I've been climbing for 20 years and that happens regularly....

[SA Chris]

but I don't understand how I can go from onsighting F6c+ then to falling off F6b

Get used to it. I've been climbing for 20 years and that happens regularly....

It was a 6a wasn't it?

[Falling Down]

  HVS... plenty of times.

[erm, sam]

Yeah, I've got the Self-Coached Climber, but I find it very difficult to self-analyse body position problems, which is the main way for improving technique. I suspect that as a legacy of having a dodgy back, I don't activate my core properly and thus rely much too much on upper body rather than using all my muscles together.

How have you got on with the movement initiation exersises? I found them pretty useful in working out how I was er, initiation movements, which has helped me think a lot about hip position etc.
I felt a bit of a nork working on them at the wall, but I think I learned from them.

[saltbeef]

i would buy dave macleod's book. i wish it was available when I'd first started.
climb lots on a variety of rock type, angles.
whatever dense does

[Paul B]

I would have climbed more and trained less so things happened in a natural progression. Retro-learning anything is a ball ache.

I stopped doing trad what seems like an age ago because doing so on grit I linked upping the difficulty with upping the potential for serious injury. I should have looked further afield and climbed on more rock types.
All in all just make sure you're enjoying it, the amount of training sessions where I sacrificed good conditions convinced that doing one problem the time I did actually go out was quite frankly ridiculous.

and should you happen to fall into the training pattern once again just hang off a fingerboard sod everything else off.

ps - I wouldn't have bought Horst

[Moo]

i would actually have tried to improve my hip / hamstring flexibility from the age of 16 instead of just talking about for the last 9 years and spent half as much time on big holds and put that into finger boarding to develop open handed strength earlier.

[Rocksteady]

Thanks for responses everyone, food for thought.   

[Bonjoy]

Stuff done different? After 22 year of climbing I’d say:
Learnt to drive at 17 instead of 30. Just makes life easier.
Bought a decent rack as soon as possible. For years I made life hard by having a shit incomplete rack.
Picked funner, easier degree, with fewer hours in lectures, seeing as I did a hard work degree which I never ended up using. May has well have gone climbing more and done film studies!
Drank and smoked less in my twenties and taken more party substances instead (cheaper, more fun and less damaging to climbing/health in general).
Gone into rope access earlier and fully milked its potential for earning a lump sum then going travelling. Ended up doing my travelling as an office bod with a mortgage which was infinitely more hassle than it would have been as an itinerant access worker.
Generally do more big trips. These have always seen the biggest improvement in my climbing.
Volume, volume, volume.