[Will Hunt]

I have a project where the last move is a very long reach of two poor crimps. It's steep - your feet are at the back of a roof and you're moving leftwards. I tried the move in near isolation today and couldn't touch it. The difficulty comes from holding these two crimps whilst adjusting feet under the roof and then pulling up on them. The long reach isn't actually that long IF you can pull up and shift your body weight left but that is very powerful indeed.

I think therefore I just need to get very strong on crimps and probably get strong in the core to help hold the position. I hear that ab ripper x is the way to go for core these days but what can I do to massively increase my strength off tiny crimps? Will have access to a fingerboard at home soon so I was thinking of doing hangs and pulls off shit crimps with a few kilos of added weight. Maybe also some campussing (which I'm crap at)? However I don't think there will be too much explosive strength required so maybe not? Any tips?

[andyd]

Being tall makes it much easier for a 'mate of mine' 

[IS2]

I did lots of "core" at the gym ..loads of crunches, reverse crunches, twisting sit ups with medicine ball , reverse sit ups, planks etc etc and lots with an ab roller but found it did not transfer well to climbing.

So now I am: 1. using a hold at the top of a steep board to "fish" and use poor footholds ( 20)  2. Hang two big holds near middle of the board and lever my feet to the furthest corners and press out on footholds. 3. At the gym I've been  using slings as in "gimme kraft". 4. I've adapted one of the gk exercises ... hands in slings feet on gym ball ... walk the ball around 360 degrees... this is brutal.... ( started this using hands on a bench.)

Early doors but this seems to be producing results especially in getting force through my feet at full extension and controlling any sag or twist when I try problems on my board.
 
I think the unstable nature of the slings work is probably what makes the difference.

Might be something useful in there.

[Stubbs]

What's the project? Banging on the old drum but the best training will be what simulates your project the best, in this case climbing on small holds at a steep angle. A few weeks on the fingerboard doing repeaters on crimps should help the holds feel bigger too.

[Footwork]

Not enough protein shake/ hurricane XS 

[duncan]

I think therefore I just need to ... get strong in the core to help hold the position. I hear that ab ripper x is the way to go for core these days...

I did lots of "core" at the gym ..loads of crunches, reverse crunches, twisting sit ups with medicine ball , reverse sit ups, planks etc etc and lots with an ab roller but found it did not transfer well to climbing.

These are good illustrations of why the term 'core' is unhelpful. It's as precise as 'arm muscles'.  Different ‘core’ muscles have very different functional roles but grouping them together under a single term gives the impression that so-called core exercises will strengthen them all. This is incorrect. The trunk muscles stopping the middle sagging whilst keeping feet on on steep ground are the back and hip extensors, not the abdominals.

So now I am: 1. using a hold at the top of a steep board to "fish" and use poor footholds ( 20)  2. Hang two big holds near middle of the board and lever my feet to the furthest corners and press out on footholds. 3. At the gym I've been  using slings as in "gimme kraft". 4. I've adapted one of the gk exercises ... hands in slings feet on gym ball ... walk the ball around 360 degrees... this is brutal.... ( started this using hands on a bench.)

Early doors but this seems to be producing results especially in getting force through my feet at full extension and controlling any sag or twist when I try problems on my board.

I think the unstable nature of the slings work is probably what makes the difference.

What is making the difference is that you are now mainly exercising the back and hip extensors (in manner quite specific to climbing), whereas previously you were mainly exercising the abdominal muscles (in a non-functional, non-specific fashion).

Will, I suggest you do IS2's first and second board exercise or, better still, build a model of the crux and practice on that as Stubbs recommends.

[Richie Crouch]

Surprised you are struggling with razor roof Will!