Feet on Campusing/Fingerboarding

UKBouldering.com

Help Support UKBouldering.com:

Luke Owens said:
2 x (30 moves 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 5 minutes)
3 x (40 moves 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 5 minutes)

Took about an hour in total.
So doing the backwards math to figure out rest/work ratio, this comes out to about 45 minutes of resting and 15 minutes of work over the course of an hour? And the 15 minutes of work is broken into 15 different segments, meaning you're doing 30-40 moves in a minute followed by 2 minutes rest? Was this on a hangboard or campus rungs? If so, go to timed instead of moves as the moves are very fast due to no or very little foot movement. If not, then my math/understanding must be off, because 30-40 moves a minute is wicked fast climbing.

From a generic standpoint, anaerobic capacity should be long work at hard intensity followed by long rest. I would say generally a 1:1 to a 1.5:1 work to rest ratio, with the work being between 2-5 minutes depending on fitness, and the rest being 2-3 minutes depending on fitness. As you get fitter, you can decrease the rest to increase the workload or increase the work.
 
Sasquatch said:
Luke Owens said:
2 x (30 moves 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 5 minutes)
3 x (40 moves 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 5 minutes)

Took about an hour in total.
So doing the backwards math to figure out rest/work ratio, this comes out to about 45 minutes of resting and 15 minutes of work over the course of an hour? And the 15 minutes of work is broken into 15 different segments, meaning you're doing 30-40 moves in a minute followed by 2 minutes rest? Was this on a hangboard or campus rungs? If so, go to timed instead of moves as the moves are very fast due to no or very little foot movement. If not, then my math/understanding must be off, because 30-40 moves a minute is wicked fast climbing.

From a generic standpoint, anaerobic capacity should be long work at hard intensity followed by long rest. I would say generally a 1:1 to a 1.5:1 work to rest ratio, with the work being between 2-5 minutes depending on fitness, and the rest being 2-3 minutes depending on fitness. As you get fitter, you can decrease the rest to increase the workload or increase the work.

Thanks Sasquatch, I was wondering this regarding 40 moves only taking a minute on a hangboard. Didn't seem like enough.

Last night I did:

5 x (40 moves 2 mins rest x 4 - Rest 6 minutes)

Took an hour and a half to complete. 20 minutes actually hanging and 70 minutes resting!

When you put it like that it seems like I'm doing hardly anything but it definitely was hard work and I really had to fight at the end. I stayed pumped from the 3rd set onwards so surely this must be doing something beneficial?

I guess I'm not using the training time as efficiently as I can. What would you recommend from a time point of view? Something like the guys above have mentioned like:

2 minutes on 2 minutes rest x 3

This results in 6 minutes hanging and 6 minutes rest. Would this be more beneficial than what I've been doing as it seems a lot less work?

Cheers
 
My bit...

With feet-on campusing (FEC) I'll pause breifly before taking the hold, slow down the movements, better simulate climbing.

With AnCap I always thought long rests were best. so if you on wall for 5mins then rest for 5-10mins (this is also what binney says). This is obvious when you think about it, you are simulating a RP (sort of) so you want the intensity to be high. The longer the rest the higher you can keep the intensity. It's a trade off between getting in lots of high intensity stuff and how much time you've got. If you have the time to take really long rests then you can keep the intensity high and possibly repeat the exercise more times.

If the rest becomes too short then you might start crossing over into AeroPow or Cap.

How fit you are will also affect the length of rest required.
 
I wsn't really trying to say you had it right or wrong, or that you could be more effecient with your time. Just to be careful using moves as a barometer if you're on a hangboard. Go to timed instead as you really can't cheat it.

As Highrepute says, if you look at Binney's work he indicates a work rest ratio between 1:1 and 1:2. I generally aim for a 1:1.

The #1 thing I would probably change would be the time on the wall. I would go for 1:30 to 2:00 minutes as the shortest duration, so maybe more like:

5 x (1:30 on, 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes or longer if needed to depump)

or

5 x (2:00 on, 3 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes or longer if needed to depump)

Anyway, I do think what you're doing will help. As you improve aim to increase the hang time.
 
Sasquatch said:
5 x (1:30 on, 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes or longer if needed to depump)

or

5 x (2:00 on, 3 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes or longer if needed to depump)

Sounds good. I think I will try this :)
 
Doing a predetermined number of reps, with timed rests etc, certainly has its merits.

Maybe just doing as many reps in one set to a certain level of fatigue is more beneficial? And starting the next set when you feel ready to go, rather than watching the clock, is best? Especially from a training perspective.

Letting go when you know you're tired ensures that technique can be optimised, and minimises the risk of injury. No one wants to get a strain training on a campus board. Total energy levels before a training session will differ each time, due to sleep, food, life stuff etc... I reckon it's best to focus on efficiency, momentum and technique. Increased reps and better performance, over time, will be a by product of this approach, and will leave you more redpoint ready, as climbing a route is a lot more than just banging out reps.

You can still record numbers of reps, and resting time, and chart your improvement.
 
Hi Luke
the website rock climbing uk has a couple of workouts for foot on fingerboarding
by matt birch. Think basically you hold each position for 10 seconds then the last three sec of the 10 you take the hand off your moving and slowly pull up with your other hand.
I tried this when i was working broccoli but i also tried to replicate the moves and rests on broccoli, and tried to visualise the climb. I also trid this holding for 20 secs more like trad and the pump is awful. when you do the foot on fingerboarding i think you have to make it pretty steep to be effective or use crap holds. another thing im trying at the mo is encores but for 2 mins instead of one on the 25's and good slots and building to 3 hopefully( feet off ) hope that makes sense cheers matt
 
Just did this yesterday on a fingerboard(no campus board available unfortunately). it feels like hell near the end, you really have to fight for it.

I started off with half crimp and transitioned to dragging when my fingers just couldnt maintain the position any longer. definitely a proper work out. just thinking about it gives me a flash-back pump.

Compared to 4x4s I've done it's not nearly as much a full body workout, but it's great training not just for PE in the forearms but also forcing you to breathe while maintaining body tension(f-in hard!) and climbing through a pump. It is amazing how deep into pump you can go doing this.
 
Sasquatch said:
5 x (1:30 on, 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes or longer if needed to depump)

Attempted this just now and it's the living end...I've never felt pump like it, I feel physically drained!

Managed:

3 x (1:30 on, 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes)
Then had to change to
2 x (1:00 on, 2 mins rest x 3 - Rest 6 minutes)

I'd like to aim to complete the full 1:30 on all sets, I'm guessing the best idea would be to increase the 6 minutes rest?

krymson said:
Just did this yesterday on a fingerboard(no campus board available unfortunately). it feels like hell near the end, you really have to fight for it.

I started off with half crimp and transitioned to dragging when my fingers just couldnt maintain the position any longer. definitely a proper work out. just thinking about it gives me a flash-back pump.

Compared to 4x4s I've done it's not nearly as much a full body workout, but it's great training not just for PE in the forearms but also forcing you to breathe while maintaining body tension(f-in hard!) and climbing through a pump. It is amazing how deep into pump you can go doing this.

I feel your pain...!
 
Great to hear someone watched those finger board videos, especially after the site was wiped off the search engine map by Google :-(

The finger board PE sessions allow a much greater burn that any other PE work I have come across. For me they worked best when I did hard circuits first (at redpoint limit with long rests), followed by feet on campus boarding and then the finger boarding.

The key from what Steve McClure said was to use the smallest finger holds possible, that you use that still allow a long enough period of work. If the holds are to big then the burn isn't as great. The pullup motion was added to increase the burn. As I got better I played around with the fingers I used. So varied each time the hand came back on the board.
 
A followup on the above. Instead of shortening the session to 1:00, use bigger holds and aim for the 1:30 if possible.

Other tricks I've found to make the session more "climbing-like" are to do a foot movement after every hand movement. If I'm doing the session on a fingerboard and feet on a chair, I'll raise one foot to the top of the chair back and set it back down, then do a hand movement. This creates a different contraction interval for the muscles which more closely mimics climbing. Similar idea if you are actually on a campus board with feet.

If all possible do the same hold size or sequence of holds throughout the 1:30. That way you have a consistant workload. So if you are moving on and off better holds, copntrol the time spent on the beter holds, so that the workout is consistent.

As part of a warm-up, I'll do a 30 second sequence followed by 2 min rest, then a :45 sequence followed by 3minute rest, then a 1:00 sequence followed by 5 minute rest, then on to the workout. That way you hopefully don't get a flash pump in the first set which you never really recover from.
 
Sasquatch said:
A followup on the above. Instead of shortening the session to 1:00, use bigger holds and aim for the 1:30 if possible.

Other tricks I've found to make the session more "climbing-like" are to do a foot movement after every hand movement. If I'm doing the session on a fingerboard and feet on a chair, I'll raise one foot to the top of the chair back and set it back down, then do a hand movement. This creates a different contraction interval for the muscles which more closely mimics climbing. Similar idea if you are actually on a campus board with feet.

If all possible do the same hold size or sequence of holds throughout the 1:30. That way you have a consistant workload. So if you are moving on and off better holds, copntrol the time spent on the beter holds, so that the workout is consistent.

As part of a warm-up, I'll do a 30 second sequence followed by 2 min rest, then a :45 sequence followed by 3minute rest, then a 1:00 sequence followed by 5 minute rest, then on to the workout. That way you hopefully don't get a flash pump in the first set which you never really recover from.

This is some great advice, thanks Sasquatch! Will definetly incorporate the foot movement into the workout. Your warm up sounds good, think I might currently be doing too much during my warm-up.

The only problem I have currently is I can't switch to bigger holds to complete the 1:30 in the 4th set as I'm already on the biggest holds!

I currently have a 20mm campus rung on it's flat (not incut) side under my Beastmaker 2000 and doing:

(Sort of relaxed half crimp/open grip throughout apart from the sloper)

Match 20mm Rung
Left Hand up to 20 Degree Sloper, Match.
Left Hand down to 30mm pocket
Right Hand down to 20mm Rung, Match.

Then repeat leading with the Right Hand.
 
That's only part of the warmup, I'm a big believer in a solid warm-up.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Throughout the individual workout, the hold pattern should be the same, but change it up each workout if at all possible to reflect a wider range of grips and hand positions. Periodically come back to one that you've used before to test yourself.
 
So I haven't been doing anything remotely related to endurance besides this foot on fingerboarding thingy 3 times in the past 2 weeks. (the moving your feet around suggestion is brilliant btw.)

Went to the lead wall yesterday and hung on longer than I've ever had! Very cool.
 
krymson said:
So I haven't been doing anything remotely related to endurance besides this foot on fingerboarding thingy 3 times in the past 2 weeks. (the moving your feet around suggestion is brilliant btw.)

Went to the lead wall yesterday and hung on longer than I've ever had! Very cool.

That's awesome! Good to hear your benefitting from it already!
 
OK, so the feet on stuff is going well although it's draining me of life.

Only managing one day a week at the moment. Do people really do this at the end of a session?
 
For an added burn you might want to consider cutting loose after some of the hand movements, placing your feet back on and then continuing to work through your sequence. Alternatively, you could cut loose after every hand movement - puts a bit of interest into it.
 
Luke Owens said:
OK, so the feet on stuff is going well although it's draining me of life.

Only managing one day a week at the moment. Do people really do this at the end of a session?

Not the one you're doing. You're doing 15 sets of this in a session which is insanely long. I probably should have mentioned it earlier. When I've done these, I generally do 5 sets of 2min at max intensity so that I'm failing on the last set at about 1:45-1:50ish. My preferred workout for these is: warm-up, boulder hard for a bit, then foot on campus (2on, 5off) x 5, cool down.

This brings up a different point for training though. Everyone's body responds differently to training and recovery. Some people do well training smaller volume everyday, some do better with longer workouts and a day off. It's key to figure out for yourself how maximize the amount of quality training you can fit in a given time period.
 
ran up against one major issue with the fingerboard version of this training so i think it needs to be supplemented with some other more sports-specific form of endurance training as well --either 4x4s or route intervals.

Basically, it's very hard mentally for me to make long moves while pumped!

I think this is down to there being very short to little movement with the fingerboard version.

It may also be partly due to another issue like fear of falling -- but while i can climb through a pump like crazy when i have short to medium moves, when i encounter a long move(which i feel fine doing without a pump) while pumped, it will totally throw me for a loop!
 
krymson said:
I think this is down to there being very short to little movement with the fingerboard version.

I go from the 1st rung to the highest I can reach (usually 4) when feet-on campusing, then ladder back down - might help you?

When I get too pumped - leave out the big move and just ladder - to get really pumped.
 


Write your reply...

Latest posts

Back
Top