[MischaHY]

Because he had bigger legs? 

Not sure if I'm missing some tongue in cheeky here - but no, it'll be because he's got better fat adaptation than JWI so could sustain better with less dietary glycogen replenishment.

@Jwi I've found that I can resolve the issue by consistently eating a mix of macros throughout the day but it just has to be a fair bit more than seems expectable. I don't do well with sweets though, better things that have a blend of carbs and fat in that case.

[mrjonathanr]

it was facetious.

[Fultonius]

If you want to do the tests, I'm happy to analyse the data and send you a brief summary. The easiest way to do this test is probably to devote a full day to it. Warm up well and then do the following:

1) Find your maximum two-arm hang weight on the edge you use. Rest 10+ mins.
105kg BW 80kg
2) Do 7:3 repeaters to failure at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of your max weight*. Rest 20+ mins between these efforts.
3) Send me the times from each hang and your max weight (incl bodyweight).
50%: 280 (inc rest time, so 196 TuT)
60%: 180 (126s TuT)
70%: 140 (98s TuT)
80%: 90/100  (I did 9 reps, but my wrist wasn't too happy - I suspect I could have pushed 10 but was getting pretty powered out) 63 TuT.

[cheque]

Leg fitness, strength and (to a lesser extent) flexibility are hugely underrated by climbers. I guess because we develop them as a byproduct of what we do in our daily lives as much as our climbing and unless we’re into other leg-heavy sports or pastimes we never deliberately train them.

I didn’t realise they were attributes I even had until I didn’t have them any more and everything felt very hard. An absolute bastard to build back up again too.

[Fultonius]

So, this week I took Stu up on the offer of doing some Critical Force testing, to see if it could shed any light on what's going on with my current level of energy systems.

After my ambiguous lattice assessment ( I broke the system) I was actually unsure as to where I was. I figured from my background (plenty trad, onsight sport trips, winter) and what the assessment seemed to point to, that my aerobic fitness would be ok, and that I should focus this winter mainly on AnCap (short endurance / base work), strength and general conditioning.

I've been doing that now for 10-12 weeks, (with focussed AnCap only since Christmas). I had planned a long block of 12-14 weeks of AnCap, as I hear it's got longer adaptation times.

Anyway, long story short, having now done the crit force test it seems like my Anaerobic Capacity is actually quite high* and my aerobic base endurance is pretty low. Initially this was surprising, as I just generally assumed my aerobic endurance would be ok; but reflecting back on the last trip to Margalef, I was strong on crux sections but struggled on longer, more sustained efforts (i.e. Magic Festival). Also thinking back to the last few years in general, I've probably neglected doing much base aerobic work and only really ever done 4 weeks of "top up" prior to trips etc. My summer trad climbing has been too limited to really make any steady gains.

I was initially a bit displeased with the slightly ambiguous lattice result, but now having done the crit force test *I think* that:

My initial "max moves" was constrained by poor aerobic conditioning, but was still not far below what was expected due to high anaerobic capacity. Then, because my 75% effort was relatively easy for me, it didn't drain the anaerobic tank meaning my subsequent 2 laps could both still be completed.

My takeaway (and Stu's recommendation) form all this is that I need to shift over pronto to some base aerobic work for 4-6 weeks, followed by some quality power endurance work closer to when I'm aiming to "peak".

I've got 3-4 weeks in europe at the end of March where I'm really just aiming for mileage, skill practice and onsighting, but is there a good way of "getting fit on the routes"? Throw some back to back laps at the end of the day?




*Stu did caveat that the data on that bit is not the strongest, but it also ties in somewhat with my inability to drain the anaerobic tank in the lattice 75% tests.

[jwi]

Stu, are you using that CF should be 41% of the max 7s hang with a standard deviation of 6.2% as in the first of the two papers of Giles and co authors? N=12 seems small

[Stu Littlefair]

From the larger second paper (around 120 participants), and my own less formal sample of friends and people I’ve tested.

The larger paper uses a different methodology (an all out test) but the results are similar, if not totally identical.

I’ve seen CF range from mid 20s for boulderers to mid 50s for very fit sport climbers.