[monkoffunk]

That doesn’t quite make sense though. Yossarian gave reasons there why it would be difficult to stick to a training program, but you say you stick to it 100%. So either it was so miserable that you weren’t motivated to actually try your projects, or not suitably specific to your goals, or you overtrained and were always exhausted at the crag.

I’ve always assumed that if you are doing ‘something’ consistently (even if it can’t really be considered ‘training’) that is better than doing nothing. In my mind it would be quite hard to do ‘something’ and get worse.

I have had two trips that stand out for me in recent years. One bouldering where I didn’t do anything focused, but bouldered a lot and had a great trip with a huge improvement in my personal best. One was a sport trip where I tried to actually ‘train’ really struggled, got demotivated and ended up doing nothing. I wished after that I had just done the same as I had before the previous trip. At least being strong and unfit would have been better than weak and unfit for a sport trip.

The problem there was not that my training program sucked (although it probably did to be perfectly honest) but that I just didn’t do it.

[monkoffunk]

And I was fat as well.

[user deactivated]

I really don’t want to dig myself in any deeper speculating why it didn’t work.

[nai]

Did you just lose your rock climbing skills while you were putting so much time into training?  Happens with some people I think, spending all their time indoors to get stronger & fitter but find they've lost their touch on the rock.

EDIT: sorry, that's just hading you a spade inviting you to keep digging

[mrjonathanr]

Personally, what I liked about doing structured endurance training for cycling was that the results were positive / easy to quantify / and (over the duration involved - a couple of years) pretty much continuous (though obvs at a reduced rate over time).

However, I can see how, particularly with climbers who have progressed through the grades on talent / movement / mental game, etc might find that a load of regimented activities that feel quite unlike what you actually want to do

Hi Yossarian, that comparison is between a very repetitive activity versus one with very varied movement, technical complexity and a massive psychological component.


So what's easy to measure and apply to the former gets impacted by lots of other factors in the latter. I can see why following a programme of fitness  for climbing, focusing on only one of the big components, doesn't always yield results.

[Yossarian]

I totally agree. I meant it more in the sense that certain personality types relish the prospect of quantifying / following a structured system. Or perhaps, might be initially daunted by it but, when presented with some positive feedback (returning to a route and shaking out on a section that previously felt desperate, for example), find themselves converted.

Whereas there are plenty of climbers who have an inbuilt (or affected) aversion to that sort of approach and, for the reasons you've rather elegantly described, are still able to move forwards.

[petejh]

I really don’t want to dig myself in any deeper speculating why it didn’t work.

You're like a top-roping version of JB. (Not a bad thing to be).

[user deactivated]

Trying to hard, that’s what went wrong. Different to over training. I just wanted it to work and tried to hard at the expense of fun.

[user deactivated]

You see it all over the place. But most intensely at popular sport crags like Malham.

[Sasquatch]

Trying to hard, that’s what went wrong. Different to over training. I just wanted it to work and tried to hard at the expense of fun.

I think this is pretty key.  I find that if I lose the fun, then I lose the edge needed to both relax and try hard at the same time.  Which for me is key to climbing hard.  There's an odd balance to be had.

[user deactivated]