[spidermonkey09]

Are to take from this that campus boards are actually an anachronistic waste of space in most walls then? They are pretty ubiquitous; is it as much about their image as their practical use for wall operators?

[jwi]

I like the campus board in the gym we've been going to lately. Sloping rungs, and feet jibs. So it can be used for strength endurance training when the walls are to packed, or there are no appropriate linkups of boulders to be found. And it is deserted 100% of the time.

[Bradders]

Are to take from this that campus boards are actually an anachronistic waste of space in most walls then?

Yeah, they're mainly just a fast-track way for punters (myself included) to injure themselves. The space in the Leeds Depot for example would be far better utilised with a load of fingerboards.

[galpinos]

I thought the matt under the campus board was the dedicated stretching/yoga/climbing avoidance area?

[T_B]

I feel like I should defend the humble campus board, as it's getting some stick on here.

Campussing develops explosive power, shoulder strength and finger contact strength. It is not as effective as deadhanging for developing your finger strength, unless, you are campussing with crimped fingers perhaps (madness).

That explosive power comes in handy, even if the moves on 'real' climbs are not exactly like the movement during campussing.

I've found that I am strong on shouldery stuff when I am doing a lot of campussing. A Peak example would be Powerband.

Campussing is good for benchmarking power in the same way that you can benchmark finger strength via deadhanging.

You can replicate the level of explosive power on a steep board by, er, doing campus moves on it.

There is more than one way to skin a cat and those who favour big campussy moves are probably not as good tick tacking up a steep climb on crimps. E.g. Ben's OG sequence on what was to be Northern Lights, versus Ste's.

[TobyD]

Like most training methods, I feel that the campus board has considerable value if it is appropriate to your goals and level.

As TB and Ged have attested if you want to do Tuppence or hard problems at the tor it's appropriate. If you climb say sport 7c and want to do a non specific 8a as a totally hypothetical example my opinion is that you're wasting your time.

[gollum]

I tend to find them exceedingly useful for a whole host of things and at one point had a really good one on the side of my house built by Al Manson that allowed me to swap rung size etc. At the time I was climbing better than I ever had before or since.

The two biggest things that they improve for me are contact strength and oooomph.

Latching small holds at speed via long moves or bumps and then tensing the entire body to hold it and move on seems to have helped me develop stronger fingers that can react quickly and the associated core strength.

Looking up, thinking “that looks a long way” and then pulling through works my mind really well and builds the process for when I am actually climbing. It unleashed my inner ooomph.

It brings its problems. My footwork is infamous for how lamentable it is and I do tend to campus moves when others would do something much more efficient, but it does kinda work for me.

Campus training is much closer to physical training methods that are common in most other sports. I think of it a bit like running intervals or compound exercises. It is actually more technical than it would appear.

Finally, building on the achieving 1-4-7 mentioned earlier, I would also advocate 1-3-6 as a progression but then 2-4-7 which I found much harder but once I cracked it 1-4-7 came quickly as the aim and the body position were identical and I believed in reaching the seventh rung.

If you think it works do it, if you don’t do other things.

[T_B]

As TB and Ged have attested if you want to do Tuppence or hard problems at the tor it's appropriate. If you climb say sport 7c and want to do a non specific 8a as a totally hypothetical example my opinion is that you're wasting your time.

I don’t think it’s as simple as this. I would argue if you want to get good at trad on-sighting  either get stupidly fit or have some excess power to power through the sequence without dicking about. Sure if you want to redpoint a stam plod with the most refined sequence at your limit, no doubt you can achieve that on efficiency and technique. Boring though!

[monkoffunk]

If you climb say sport 7c and want to do a non specific 8a as a totally hypothetical example my opinion is that you're wasting your time.

So on that hypothetical theme, what if I sport climb 7c and I hypothetically want to climb an 8a that breaks down 4 bolt 6b+ to a good rest followed by a hard, technical, tensiony 12 move sequence (with a hard clip at move 4), followed by another good rest and 6a to the top, and the thing that is stopping me is a move off two crimps where you really have to generate a lot of power at move 11, is there any merit then? Given that in this hypothetical situation I’ve been doing a shit load of PE training and am a lot fitter than ever before, not feeling even a smige of pump at the first rest, when previously I’d been getting there slightly pumped, recovering and then feeling strong to the crux but trying whack beta?

I just wonder if having a bit more top end power might just help on a basis of being reasonably fit, as this seems to be what has dipped since I sorted out the beta to something possible. I don’t know though, I’ve kinda always been in the camp of ‘it’s not more helpful then other training methods before you get to 8c+’ before.

[spidermonkey09]

If you climb say sport 7c and want to do a non specific 8a as a totally hypothetical example my opinion is that you're wasting your time.

So on that hypothetical theme, what if I sport climb 7c and I hypothetically want to climb an 8a that breaks down 4 bolt 6b+ to a good rest followed by a hard, technical, tensiony 12 move sequence (with a hard clip at move 4), followed by another good rest and 6a to the top, and the thing that is stopping me is a move off two crimps where you really have to generate a lot of power at move 11, is there any merit then? Given that in this hypothetical situation I’ve been doing a shit load of PE training and am a lot fitter than ever before, not feeling even a smige of pump at the first rest, when previously I’d been getting there slightly pumped, recovering and then feeling strong to the crux but trying whack beta?

MoF, I may be late to this but thought I'd just mention something that might help as I recall this feeling of frustration well from last year! For me it went something along the lines of recovering well at the rest, doing well over half the long PE crux sequence feeling totally fine and suddenly experiencing a dramatic powerout towards the end of the second third of the PE sequence. The thing I established was that I'd been fit enough for a long time but the problem was in my head; I'd failed there so many times that my body sort of expected it. Several times I experienced an amazing sense of flow through the first bit of the PE section, barely trying, before falling off without really understanding what happened.

The key to it for me was hammering the crux while totally, totally boxed at the end of the session, trying as hard as I possibly could, and discovering how much improvement could be made when I climbed quickly, efficiently and had the belief that I could do the moves when tired. I came back the next day and boshed it out, and remember feeling good halfway through the sequence and knowing I could do it because I had experience of doing it totally boxed the previous day.

Campusing might help but you sound close so you're probably already physically capable! Just thought worth mentioning. Apologies for the opp topic; interesting thoughts above and I'm going to continue messing around with campusing as its something new and gives a good benchmark indicator at the very least.

[Duma]

Finally, building on the achieving 1-4-7 mentioned earlier, I would also advocate 1-3-6 as a progression but then 2-4-7 which I found much harder but once I cracked it 1-4-7 came quickly as the aim and the body position were identical and I believed in reaching the seventh rung.

????

1-3-6 is the same thing as 2-4-7 no?

[monkoffunk]

If you climb say sport 7c and want to do a non specific 8a as a totally hypothetical example my opinion is that you're wasting your time.

So on that hypothetical theme, what if I sport climb 7c and I hypothetically want to climb an 8a that breaks down 4 bolt 6b+ to a good rest followed by a hard, technical, tensiony 12 move sequence (with a hard clip at move 4), followed by another good rest and 6a to the top, and the thing that is stopping me is a move off two crimps where you really have to generate a lot of power at move 11, is there any merit then? Given that in this hypothetical situation I’ve been doing a shit load of PE training and am a lot fitter than ever before, not feeling even a smige of pump at the first rest, when previously I’d been getting there slightly pumped, recovering and then feeling strong to the crux but trying whack beta?

MoF, I may be late to this but thought I'd just mention something that might help as I recall this feeling of frustration well from last year! For me it went something along the lines of recovering well at the rest, doing well over half the long PE crux sequence feeling totally fine and suddenly experiencing a dramatic powerout towards the end of the second third of the PE sequence. The thing I established was that I'd been fit enough for a long time but the problem was in my head; I'd failed there so many times that my body sort of expected it. Several times I experienced an amazing sense of flow through the first bit of the PE section, barely trying, before falling off without really understanding what happened.

The key to it for me was hammering the crux while totally, totally boxed at the end of the session, trying as hard as I possibly could, and discovering how much improvement could be made when I climbed quickly, efficiently and had the belief that I could do the moves when tired. I came back the next day and boshed it out, and remember feeling good halfway through the sequence and knowing I could do it because I had experience of doing it totally boxed the previous day.

Campusing might help but you sound close so you're probably already physically capable! Just thought worth mentioning. Apologies for the opp topic; interesting thoughts above and I'm going to continue messing around with campusing as its something new and gives a good benchmark indicator at the very least.

Thanks for that! Yeah I think at least some is in my head for sure. I’m sure I’ve had sessions when I was at top form and could have done it, no more training required.

[gollum]

Finally, building on the achieving 1-4-7 mentioned earlier, I would also advocate 1-3-6 as a progression but then 2-4-7 which I found much harder but once I cracked it 1-4-7 came quickly as the aim and the body position were identical and I believed in reaching the seventh rung.

????

1-3-6 is the same thing as 2-4-7 no?

You’d think so but for me it definitely wasn’t. Same physical movement but different body position and swing, as your body doesn’t go under the board. Took me a couple of weeks when I returned to campusing after a long time off it to be able to do 2-4-7 consistently.  1-3-6 I could do off the sofa.