[User deactivated.]

Hi, new member here. I have a week long sport climbing trip to Sardinia booked, flying September 19th and am looking to train as efficiently as possible over the next few months.

Relevant background:

I went to mallorca around the same time last year and sent 7a+ as my hardest route in just a few goes. Other than a few days out on rock in the UK (and I mean literally 3 occasions) I've done no sport climbing since and instead concentrated on bouldering and power for the last 9 months gaining around a V grade or 2.

My regular wall for training is the depot in leeds which has a decent circuit board. For my mallorca trip last year I did a combination of trying single or double lap circuits at my limit and also doing the easiest (6a) for as long as possible, which improved from 5 minutes to 20 minutes in about 10 weeks. Obviously this was good progress but after reading up on the different energy systems used for climbing at different intensities I'm left unsure as to whether climbing for 20 minutes until my arms are so pumped I want to saw them off is the best use of my time.

With the primary goals to increase endurance and maintain strength this is my proposed plan:

Generally 2 days on, 1 day off, but will aim to get out 1 day a week and rest the day before.

1. Warm up, 3 max hangs on 18mm edge (strength), 15 minutes on 45 degree board, 15 minutes on 30 degree board (power + technique), 5 sets of 2 to 3 lap circuits (5 minutes climbing ish) at my limit (endurance).

2. Warm up, 5 sets of foot on campusing time on = time off (power endurance? - can only do about 1 minute!), 2-3 sets of 20 minutes light pump climbing (arc?)

3. Rest

4. Repeat


I've put strength and power first due to the intensity but at a much lower volume than what I've been doing. Hopefully someone can tell me if this is any good or all a load of rubbish and has a better method. Cheers. 

[spidermonkey09]

Hi Liam,

Its Jim from the Depot. Here's what I did to train for a trip to Chorro last winter which seemed to do the job for me, although no doubt I could have tweaked it slightly.

Working on two training sessions a week, with the weekend normally being one day bouldering outside and the other day a fingerboard session (it was autumn by this point so two good days a rarity!).

I didn't have anywhere near as structured a plan as you but essentially used to do one session of circuits and one session of foot on campusing each week on the medium rungs. This seemed to provide a good balance of ruining my forearms and actually doing some climbing. I also did some board climbing/bouldering around this as my UK goals were gritstone boulder problems. This definitely helped in terms of retaining some strength for hard cruxes on routes.

Circuit wise, a good initial one to do is 6c into 6b into 6a without getting off. The trick is to keep changing it up so you don't get the circuits too dialled I think; also keeps it interesting. Theres a lot tor ead out there but the basic building blocks of doing a shitload of moves will pay dividends! Make sure you don't completely ruin yourself in the first 20 mins though as theres often no coming back from the initial power out in my experience.

Something I've introduced at the start of this summer's route training was an aerocap warm down; 1 min on 1 min off x 10 on the easiest circuit. Savages your hands though; next time I'm wearing gloves for this.

[jwi]

I don't know enough about your goal or your abilities to judge if your program is appropriate. But guessing from your RP grade foot on campusing for endurance sounds crazy. Learn to climb (=do lots of moves on steep terrain) instead.

[User deactivated.]

Hi Liam,

Its Jim from the Depot. Here's what I did to train for a trip to Chorro last winter which seemed to do the job for me, although no doubt I could have tweaked it slightly.

Working on two training sessions a week, with the weekend normally being one day bouldering outside and the other day a fingerboard session (it was autumn by this point so two good days a rarity!).

I didn't have anywhere near as structured a plan as you but essentially used to do one session of circuits and one session of foot on campusing each week on the medium rungs. This seemed to provide a good balance of ruining my forearms and actually doing some climbing. I also did some board climbing/bouldering around this as my UK goals were gritstone boulder problems. This definitely helped in terms of retaining some strength for hard cruxes on routes.

Circuit wise, a good initial one to do is 6c into 6b into 6a without getting off. The trick is to keep changing it up so you don't get the circuits too dialled I think; also keeps it interesting. Theres a lot tor ead out there but the basic building blocks of doing a shitload of moves will pay dividends! Make sure you don't completely ruin yourself in the first 20 mins though as theres often no coming back from the initial power out in my experience.

Something I've introduced at the start of this summer's route training was an aerocap warm down; 1 min on 1 min off x 10 on the easiest circuit. Savages your hands though; next time I'm wearing gloves for this.

Cheers Jim, your training seems to be paying off so i'm taking notice. Perhaps i'm overthinking it then and just doing a variety of duration and intensities will be sufficient!

I don't know enough about your goal or your abilities to judge if your program is appropriate. But guessing from your RP grade foot on campusing for endurance sounds crazy. Learn to climb (=do lots of moves on steep terrain) instead.

I wouldn't say I can't climb. I've can sometimes onsight 7a+, i've just never spent much time redpointing yet. Having redpointed 7b a few months ago in a few tries, I suspect I could do 7b+ or perhaps 7c with a bit more time and effort. Of course this is nothing too spectacular, but certainly at a level where specific training for endurance has some merit, no?

For context, i've been regular campusing for about a year, so foot on campusing will be much much less intense.

[highrepute]

I think your plan looks pretty good. I've done similar things in the past and I'd certainly hope to be a bit fitter come the trip if I managed to keep that up for 4 months.

I like warming up and down with some light AeroCap/ARCing - I find smaller holds on less steep 10-20 degrees helps stop the skin savaging - if you have access to this.

I'd be tempted to adjust my work on the 45 and 30 boards so that the focus was on longer problems (8+ moves) to help with longer sequences of hard moves sometimes found on routes.

jwi is right about feet-on campusing being dangerous - you may develop finger fitness but not the technique to use it effectively. If you can do routes (indoors or out) then you'd be working technique and getting fit. Failing that doing a lot of boulder problems in a short space of time can be a good substitute. Conversely I felt like a i got good gainZ from feet-on campusing when I was redpointing around 7c-8a, very little matches it for the level of pump that can be sustained while doing it.

[spidermonkey09]

I presume you've read the Barrows Training for Sport Climbing document by the way? Pretty much everything I do is based around reading that and bodging it to suit my route goals. Specificity is the name of the game when time is a factor I think.

I've no doubt someone who knows what they're talking about could overhaul what I do and make it significantly better, but the bottom line is if you get yourself savagely pumped on a steep wall week in week out you will get fitter. Sometimes theres a temptation to overthink these things!

I think you're easily 7c strong so its simply a matter of adding fitness without sacrificing too much strength. To that end, I really rate foot on campusing and credit it with fairly dramatic improvements in my fitness, as highrepute said theres not a lot comes close to the elbows out savage pump you can sustain doing it. If you do start doing it regularly (its strangely addictive) just make sure you do circuits as well as otherwise you'll forget how to climb properly when boxed!

[User deactivated.]

Jim,

I read the barrows PDF last night and it was exactly what I needed. In fact it even gives an example routine for someone in my situation with 3 months to a trip. Of course it's not tailored to my strengths but I think I understand the concepts and it actually makes the training less rigid and complex knowing this.