[Willriseley]

So used to climb about 5 years ago and have gotten back into it heavily for the past 4 months (now going 3/4 times a week).

I seem to have aquired most of my technique but am lacking in strentgh

Currently as well as hitting the wall 3/4 times a week im doing the following to help increase strentgh.

- Press ups, sets of 20 until failure, currently around 180
- Sit ups, sets of 20 until failure at around 120
- Pull ups/chin ups both wide grip and close grip, can do around 40 of each in sets of 10
- Powerball with both hands, have hit 10,000 so far at peak
- some free weights as well when i can

All of that i do every night even if i have hit the wall which leaves me feeling tired but I am fine the next day. Have been doing this for around 2 months now but not really seeing any gains

Any help would be great cheers, Will

[erm, sam]

er, perhaps a bit less volume and a bit more intensity? Though I don't really know what improvement to your climbing you expect from beasting pushups, sit ups and powerballs etc..
Improvements in technique will make much more of a difference than improvements in strength anyway, so don't sweat it. Enjoy going climbing again and the rest will follow.
Do you do any movement drills?
Perhaps some rest?

[Willriseley]

Movement drills? I climb the same having done the exercise or not which is odd, seem to recover quickly, maybe weights could be added to press ups, sit ups and pull ups?

[erm, sam]

Movement drills are talked about in The Self Coached Climber
http://www.davemacleod.com/shop/selfcoachedclimber.html
They are basically a way of training actual cimbing skill rather than training climbing related strength..
I think doing extra peripheral excersises eg pushups, sit ups etc will not directly help your climbing, and as long as your technique can be improved they are an inefficient way to persue getting better.
You should also read http://www.davemacleod.com/shop/9outof10climbers.html as this might set you on the right path to improving at this early stage...

[Ged]

Forget press ups and weights, just not at all specific to climbing.  It's all about going bouldering, or at the very least fingerboarding

[shark]

This is a comprehensive strength workout routine that I have been experimenting with although the sets/reps structure is a bit loose at the moment :

Dumbell Warm-up complex 
Offset pullups on edges 3 sets each side (a kind of training for campussing)
Assisted one arm deadhangs on 1st joint edge/door litel with sanded edge (I pinch the architrave with the other hand) 3 sets each hand
Assisted one arm pull-ups on 1st joint edge (bungee on pullup bar for assistance) 3sets each arm building up to trying 3 reps.
Barbell Clean & Jerk 3/4 goes
Barbell Power Clean 5/6 goes

Deadlifts 6goes (great core exercise)
Bicep curls 1/2 sets
French Pullups 1 set
Dumbbell Complex 1 set to warm down

[slackline]

Forget press ups and weights, just not at all specific to climbing.  It's all about going bouldering, or at the very least fingerboarding

Until you fuck your elbows up from fingerboarding and have to do some antagonistic press-ups to remedy the problem. 

[chris j]

Movement drills? I climb the same having done the exercise or not which is odd, seem to recover quickly, maybe weights could be added to press ups, sit ups and pull ups?

I think you might be missing the point  slightly. The press ups and sit ups probably aren't helping your climbing much so doing them with extra weight isn't going to be much use. I'd make sure to do enough shoulder exercises to keep your rotator cuffs and posture in good shape, beyond that, get the two books mentioned below and have a read of them.

Talk to friends and find out where think you have weaknesses. Maybe have one of them shoot some video of you bouldering and see if you climb how you think you do (I used to think I climbed with straight arms on steep rock until I saw some video and they were about 30° bent) - your technique might not be as good as you believe.

Otherwise lots of bouldering, but if you feel any soreness/achieness in your finger tendons then take it real easy on the small holds and don't get heavily into the campusing yet - tendons develop a lot slower than muscle and take a long time to heal - it's better to take things a little slower than take 3 months off because you've popped a pulley (having done one last year and another this year, both after a winter's heavy bouldering, just in time to mess up a planned spring of project crushing  )

[Paul B]

really, really (I can't quite banging this drum enough) work on everything else before you get caught up in the downward spiral that is more strength = progress. Retro learning anything is ridiculously difficult, climbing technique when you're already strong is extremely difficult, demoralising and unnatural.

This week I climbed with someone and it was evident that on rock overs etc. he was much closer to the rock and required less strength. I was hanging out a bit and locking like a hero but it was all just wasted energy. I'm fairly sure that if we did a side by side strength test I'd come out on top but in reality it doesn't translate into widespread ability, more a one trick pony (or shire horse).

[shark]

Paul.

I appreciate what you say is hearfelt and from your personal perspective but as general advice I couldnt disagree more. Progression can be on one or many fronts. More strength is progress. It might lead you into a cul de sac in terms of climbing progression but is not of itself a downward spiral.

[slackline]

Yes, more strength is progress towards getting stronger, which as you acknowledge and is the point that Paul is making, doesn't necessarily equate to improvements in climbing.

[Paul B]

but as general advice I couldnt disagree more.

Maybe as you and I have exactly the opposite problems? (I'll be Samuel L you can be Bruce)

[shark]

Bruce Lee ? Cool. But who the fuck is Samuel L Bennett ?

[JamesD]

Will....you are doing too high a volume of training mate, I would cut down to 2-3 times a week, and seriously cut down the amount of push-ups/sit-ups you are doing, and just up the intensity.
Rest is one of the most important factors when it comes to building strength and power, you need a lot of recovery time.
One thing I noticed when we went bouldering together is that you have very very strong fingers, which was quite obvious quite quickly, however you seemed to be relying more on out and out arm strength and not using your legs as much as you could, for instance you could throw a decent enough heel hook, but then instead of pulling hard with your foot you appeared to be using it a bit but pulling predominantly with your arms.
You'd probably benefit in doing some leg strengthening work, Shark's routine looks great, but I would add in some front barbell squats and/or overhead barbell squats to balance things out a bit, plus some leg extensions if possible; and then of course the required rotator cuff work.
I have been doing a lot of this for the past 3 months and found it hugely beneficial.

[JamesD]

P.S.

I have the opposite problem it seems, my legs and lower back are way way stronger than my arms/fingers, so I can often launch dyno's easily but fail to hang the hold when I catch it haha, oh the irony!
Saying that, the one I found at Bowles had a nice flat incut, my first ever outdoor dyno that was 
I'll stop drifting off topic now

[Paul B]

Bruce Lee ? Cool. But who the fuck is Samuel L Bennett ?

Bruce Willis / Samuel L Jackson - Unbreakable

You might see the humour if you've seen the film, if not go and read IMDB.

[robertostallioni]

Waddaya mean?

[Serpico]

This is a comprehensive strength workout routine that I have been experimenting with although the sets/reps structure is a bit loose at the moment ....

I've created a monster - FrankenShark lives!

[shark]

I've created a monster - FrankenShark lives!

"You are my creator, but I am your master—obey!"