[gruffalo]

I'm going to get some core mixed in with my training
There is a lot of core excercises out there. Was looking for something climbing
Specific, I don't have access to rock rings, but do have a steep board and a gym
Any ideas?.....

[TobyD]

My thoughts are: the more clmbing specific the better, especially if you have limited time to train.

Drills: climb steep problem at maybe 75% max, and cut loose after every move, replace feet, do next move....

plant feet on two awful footholds on board, do series of longer reaches and progress how far you can reach and keep them both on.

etc, try and mimic real situations / moves, and use imagination to keep taxing yourself / interested.

all the floor work / gym stuff is all very well, but if you want core for climbing i would not prioritise it unless my arms were  so battered i couldn't climb at all, or had stuffed fingers / broken bones etc etc.

[Paul B]

Walk downs on a board are pretty good: Take hold of two mediocre holds (large pinches or similar), then walk your feet down on tiny poor footholds until you're as stretched as you can go. Rinse and repeat.

For floor exercises I found dishes to be great (holding for a round a minute), and transfer well to steep routes.

The campus board at the Foundry allows you to get a double kneebar and do crunches and hold at the top, this is clearly relevant if you want to rest at Santa Linya (Barrows ain't shit at it), elsewhere maybe less so.

[Sasquatch]

Deadlifting 

Why do you want to do core? Better body tension?  better stamina? six-pack abs?

For floor exercises I found dishes to be great (holding for a round a minute), and transfer well to steep routes.

What are "dishes"?
 
Front/side Levers and ankles to bar have also seemed good to me.  I dream of being able to do an unassisted side lever.....

[gruffalo]

So you hang the rings off the edge of the top of your board?
What a great idea!!

[Grubes]

Tom Randell did an article for psyched magazine about core trainign for climbers a while ago see pages 50-53 http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Download.aspx?id=634

[Muenchener]

Tom Randell did an article for psyched magazine about core training for climbers

Presumably involves hundreds of sit-ups whilst bathanging from a "sideways double gay pirate" or some such?

[Tommy]

Tom Randell did an article for psyched magazine about core training for climbers

Presumably involves hundreds of sit-ups whilst bathanging from a "sideways double gay pirate" or some such?

You jest, but yeah... pretty much bang on 

Personally, I stuck to (for a large amount of the time) a regime of lots of High Vol, low intensity and very climbing specific Low Vol, high intensity. I worked it extremely hard for about 1 year and then all it needed was maintenance as it's never decreased too much.

[gcarmichael]

Hanging leg raises are really specific to climbing and i've found they really help core tension. I do 10 reps then have a 1 minute rest between each set and repeat 6 times. Once this feels easy get some 1kg ankle weights to increase intensity (big step up). Good luck!

[Stubbs]

Hanging leg raises are really specific to climbing

You often find yourself climbing with your legs in a L relative to your body?

[Oldmanmatt]

Hanging leg raises are really specific to climbing

You often find yourself climbing with your legs in a L relative to your body?

If you're Tommy, YES...

[lagerstarfish]

dips

no, not doing them, but remembering how pathetic Jasper looked when I last saw him trying to do them - gives my core a proper workout - they should be called "crumples" when Sharpe does them

*disclaimer*
I haven't been in a gym with him for a v long time, so he may well be a beast at them now, but I still have the memory...

[saltbeef]

You often find yourself climbing with your legs in a L relative to your body?

it's a good job Paul B doesn't

[Paul B]

the place is closed but the memories still last I see 

[rodma]

Hanging leg raises are really specific to climbing and i've found they really help core tension. I do 10 reps then have a 1 minute rest between each set and repeat 6 times. Once this feels easy get some 1kg ankle weights to increase intensity (big step up). Good luck!

Hanging leg raises help you raise your legs whilst hanging    which is useful, but does not help you keep your feet on in any kind of a body-tensiony move.

[slackline]

Perhaps useful if you fail to keep your feet on and need to regain contact.

[rodma]

Definitely helps you get them back to the wall, but won't help you make them stick when they get there.

I was thinking more about this last night, unless you have hams like Barrans or Springer, leg lifts are the equivalent of doing bicep curls with pint of shandy 

[mr__j5]

LOL. Yes, it depends on your body proportions.

I can do situps quite happily for quite a while, but leg raises are a real effort.
But then I've got 36" long cyclist legs.

[Oldmanmatt]

I use 1kg ankle weights (on the floor, I don't do them hanging).

Makes life interesting and the exercise quite a challenge.

Still, I've always seen it as a volume, not intensity, exercise and I certainly feel it after 60 or so.

I also (and I'm not saying I'm right) thought of it as exercising the antagonist to balance against the development I seem to get throughout my back from more climbing specific training.

That's fishing for opinion, not stating a position.

[SA Chris]

So what is a measurement of good core muscles? I don't train with any specific excercises, other than the occasional set of situps when the mood grabs me (maybe once a week), yoga once a week, and bouldering down the wall on a variety of angles and surfing every second blue moon.

Curious as someone commented the other day that I had good core strength, but I've always thought mine was average / pretty poor.

[Fultonius]

Maybe they meant you had a good core strength for an unfit, oversized couch surfer?

 

[rodma]

So what is a measurement of good core muscles?

Dunno

good measurement of weak core is being unable to keep the lower back straight when doing the lowering out stuff this guy does, which is similar to those abdominizer rolly wheels or just rolling out using a barbell.

I find when i try it that i can't get all the way down without losing form, but I'm working on it

[SA Chris]

Maybe they meant you had a good core strength for an unfit, oversized couch surfer?

Haha hilarious. By oversize do you mean overweight, or just taller than you?

[Fultonius]

Maybe they meant you had a good core strength for an unfit, oversized couch surfer?

Haha hilarious. By oversize do you mean overweight, or just taller than you?

   Just taller, would never insinuate that you were overweight!     Seems like bloody ages since I've been climbing with you Chris!  Need to get up for a NE trip soon. Bella's surfed before, but wants to get better so we might have to come up for a climbing/flapping around like a drowning seal on a pointy piece of plastic in a rubber suit weekend. 

[SA Chris]

That's because you arsed off to Cham for the winter! Come up any time, might have some new bouldering spots for you to check out. We have a selection of boards you are free to use, and maybe spare wetsuits depending on fit.