[Rocksteady]

So I keep picking up a lot of injuries not improving as I'd like, and I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.  I'd be interested to know whether I'm pushing too hard, doing the same thing too much, not getting enough rest or just a bit of a weak injury-gimp. I thought I'd try to get some specific replies to see if there's any correlation between people's lifestyles/climbing habits and how they get injured/improve.

So this is me:

Age: 28
Years climbing: 5ish
Prior sports: Mixed martial arts, mountain biking, most 'school' sports
Training or climbing: 3 years mostly climbing indoors infrequently, last 3 years training and getting outside more (but usually only once a month at most)

Hours climbing/training for climbing per week: Usually about 10-12 hours over 3-4 sessions, mostly indoors at the wall, 1-2 sessions bouldering, 1-2 sessions redpointing/routes, occasional cycles of doing endurance lapping

Hours doing other exercise (antagonistic/cardio/other sport) per week: 2-3 hours over 5 or 6 sessions. Exercise of some sort most days.

Climbing level (F or font or trad): Current and best is punterish - F low 7s, font high 6s, trad HVS (not done much)

Injury frequency: 1-2 non-major finger injuries per year for last 3 years (no pulleys going bang or bowstringing but A2 and A4 soreness and weakness in various fingers requiring tape for months), occasional elbow and shoulder and back twinges but nothing serious. Broke ankle falling off top of bouldering wall in 2005.

Diet: Generally try to eat healthily, not vegetarian, drink 2-3 nights a week, occasional binges
Sleep: Probs get 6-7 hours a night most nights
Work: Avg. 38 hour weeks, sedentary
Height/weight: 6', 70kgish, skinnyish
Special powers? Can do one-arm pull ups, not that this helps my climbing at all

Hmmm writing that out makes it obvious that I need to climb outside loads more. I wonder if supplementary exercises like fingerboard might actually reduce my instances of finger injury over repeated efforts on indoor routes.

I at least would be interested if others would fill out this sort of thing approximately to see if we can get any factors that correlate to improvement or increased incidence of injury. Others of course may find this immensely boring and pointless, and punter me accordingly.

Cheers.

[slackline]

Sounds like you need to climb outside loads more. 

(More considered post may follow at a later date, time for a  ).

[psychomansam]

So I keep picking up a lot of injuries not improving as I'd like, and I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. 


drink 2-3 nights a week, occasional binges

I'll assume your in the UK? I definitely know you're a climber:

That puts you in two cultures which have a clear difficulty with alcohol.

The UK in general has a national problem with alcohol abuse, and this transfers worryingly often to top sportspeople

Secondly climbing – an activity, a hobby, part of an outdoors lifestyle, and occasionally a sport. Climbing walls have increased the amount of people treating climbing like a sport, but very few people really take their climbing seriously as such. Nevertheless, to climb at a decent level, certainly in sport or bouldering, climbing is incredibly physically intense and very likely to cause injury. The solution, if you want to improve is to treat climbing like the intense athletic sport that it is... ...and it seems to me that you're doing what a lot of climbers do, which is to try and take improvement fairly seriously, but still making one major exception – alcohol 

Seriously though, might find it helpful to google some info on just how it hurts recovery etc. I find myself more likely to respond to science than hearsay. If you want some hearsay, then i've noticed definite improvements in my recovery and progress since I stopped drinking.


And if anyone thinks i'm on a high horse, you should bear in mind that I eat cake most days and I'm currently injured 

[TobyD]

Hmmm writing that out makes it obvious that I need to climb outside loads more.

I wonder if supplementary exercises like fingerboard might actually reduce my instances of finger injury over repeated efforts on indoor routes.
Cheers.

a) Yes, it sounds like you are overtraining. Do half as much and your level will likely improve. Quality not quantity, even if you are training endurance.

b) I doubt it very much. Examine your climbing style - do you slap a lot and climb quickly or dynamically? Do you climb until very tired when training at the wall? Either will leave you more prone to finger injury.  As, incidentally, does dehydration. In my experience a significant percentage of finger injuries occur when people are climbing dehydrated.

So, as you say, climb outside more. Fewer injuries, and it's better.

[douglas]

This is my rundown. I can't seem to get rid of injuries or get stronger. However I'm not complaining as such because I'm pleased with my progress.

Age: 24
Years climbing: nearly 5
Prior sports: running (gave it up due to sore knee/boring), rowing (gave it up, not fun scene)
Training or climbing: last 18 months been climbing often. Before that climbed about once a week (e2, 6b+)
Hours climbing/training for climbing per week:
Monday to Friday: usually climb indoors total 5-8 hours over 3 or 4 sessions. Mainly boulder but try to do routes or PE circuits of varying length because although I'm mainly a sport climber at the crag the local crag is short and bouldery.
Weekends: crag if it's dry, mainly redpointing, some onsighting. If it's wet, I'd do one or two short indoor sessions similar to a weekday.
Never fingerboard

Hours doing other exercise (antagonistic/cardio/other sport) per week: total 2 hours shoulder and elbow strengthening and pressups etc. ie 1/2 hour 4 or 5 mornings a week

Climbing level (F or font or trad): best redpoint is 8a. Should get 7c in a day. Used to climb trad at e4 but given that up temporarily. Don't boulder outdoors but I once went to parisella's cave and did that right wall traverse.

Injury frequency: 1 non-major finger injury per year for last 2 year (no pulleys going bang or bowstringing but A2 soreness and weakness in ring fingers requiring tape for months).
Rotator cuff tendonitis last year. Couldn't climb for 6 weeks. Weak shoulder with muscle atrophy and still on a shoulder strengthening program 14 months later. Bad posture
This has now led to tendon issues in the same elbow. No golfers or tennis but sore brachialis tendon (it's the one that does all the locking off near the bicep). Aches most of the time. Ice helps and it's slowly getting better.

Diet: Generally try to eat healthily, don't drink, try to eat lots of protein. i want to bulk up but it seems to take an age/I never will, try to minimise fat but not eliminate,
Sleep: Probs get 7 or 8 hours a night most nights, which doesn't feel like quite enough sometimes
Work: Avg. 40 hour weeks, usually sat at a desk
Height/weight: 6'4'', just under 70kg, skinny, lanky
Special powers: 1 arm lock off?

My climbing style is really static. Probably due to lots of trad when I was starting out and being generally pretty gripped above gear. I think this hammers the elbows more than climbing should. However it really frustrates me that I haven't been injury free since I started training. I'm hoping a year down the line my body will be more used to the stresses and should ache less. Or is this attitude likely to cripple me?

[Rocksteady]

Thanks for your replies so far guys.

I think I will task my climbing partners to assess my 'style' of climbing more often. I think I find it hard to self-assess. I've been told to slow down before, suggesting perhaps that I do climb too dynamically - but watching Ondra and Sharma etc encourages fast climbing. That said, I definitely stall at crux points, which probably is tied into fear of falling, which I am struggling to overcome by taking lots of practice falls.

I doubt I have a problem climbing dehydrated, as I make a conscious effort to drink a lot of water. But I may well climb too long, and into exhaustion. In the week I generally climb at the end of the working day, without having the chance to eat dinner until afterwards (10.30pm ish). I try to have a snack like a Powerbar or summat before I climb and straight after, but this isn't always possible.

I have the idea that I am not good at supporting my hands with my feet. I think I drive with my feet to reach holds, but then incline to relaxing my core, so that the weight ends up mainly on my hands again. This probably results in shock-loading my finger tendons quite often. It's probably a pretty hard habit to train myself out of, and my be linked to inherently weak core. Probably climbing outside more often on slabbier stuff will help me use my feet better.