[IS2]

I bought my force plate (Entralpi) a couple of years ago before Beastmaker or climbro brought out their products and it was around about  £150 including import tax from Canada.  Basically it is bathroom scale with a fast Bluetooth connection to a reasonably useful app. The Bluetooth and app make it much easier to use but there is no reason you couldn’t replicate the system with just a bathroom scale… calculator and note book. I was aware of tindeq but couldn’t find out much info so this was a cheap ish complete solution. I was also fed up with hanging weights off me to do my hangboarding. Being weak, one handed pulls work for me but obviously strong people will need to add weights so they don’t lift off the scale.

[IS2]

Not just weak but doddering. Checked and I already said all of this in the Tindeq thread.   

[teestub]

Can similar be achieved with a fingerboard and a set of bathroom scales?

I guess like in the same way you can grind coffee with a mortar and pestle if you want to, but the burr grinder is nicer to use and will give better results 😄

A couple of kilos would be a lot of difference for a one arm hang, and I’m not sure you’d get that sort of accuracy whilst attempting to try hard and look down at your scale!

[teestub]

Not just weak but doddering. Checked and I already said all of this in the Tindeq thread.   

I think that Tindeq thread was during one of the lockdown periods, so I’m sure there are people who purchased Tindeqs and have forgotten about them, let alone forgetting posting in a thread 😄

[Rocksteady]

I think the most important thing to be aware of as a climber is general fitness.

I know young climbers with very strong fingers and bags of power but poor overall fitness.
I know a climber in their late 40's who can come out of a full summer/spring of one repeaters session a week on top of lots of running and cycling to climb 8a routes and 7Bs in a session.

This is a crucial point. Look at any old boy performing well and they will almost always have a consistently good level of general fitness and relative leanness-per-height, do a lot of CV activity (running up the Ben for a "rest day", eh Dave Mac?), and have a background in athletic activity.

I've yet to see any evidence, anecdotes, or rationale to suggest it's possible to maintain physical climbing prowess without that fitness.

I'm going to bite with a personal anecdote. My dad climbed his first 8a aged 63. He had dodgy cartilage in his knee (subsequently replaced) which meant that other than dog walking and walking to the crag he did no cardio whatsoever. He improved gradually through his 50s and then got a board in his garage which he used 'little and often'. He didn't just do problems but sometimes would practice holding hard positions with one hand, and would do endurance laps progressing to laps with a weight belt. He did press ups and kettlebells in a pretty gentle way in the mornings. He did short punchy routes and boulder sessions outside (he hated bouldering because of his knee but did V8 in his early 60s). He always focused on redpointing at his limit more than onsighting lots of stuff.

With my dad I have some suspicion that he was very strong as a young man - he was climbing E5 in the late 70s early 80s and said he once did 50 pull ups. I'm not sure how strict they were but he could still do one-armers in his 60s. So when he got strong in his 50s and 60s I don't know how much of that was recruiting strength that previously existed vs building new strength.

I have just turned 40 and have not been able to replicate my dad's climbing ability yet, despite climbing pretty regularly for the last 14 years. I still have ambition and would love to get stronger in my 40s. I worry I am way more injury prone than my dad - that more than anything has stopped my progression in the past, I'll make gains then have to stop because of shoulder, elbow or finger woes. So my main aim now is to keep training consistently but try not to get injured!

[SA Chris]

Good for him, hope for us all. Curious, was he retired at that age?

[Rocksteady]

Good for him, hope for us all. Curious, was he retired at that age?

Not fully retired but he moved to Dorset and had certainly wound down work and was able to climb very flexibly rather than being stuck in an office 9-5 or worse.

[Fiend]

So if you're very strong, climbed E5 back when it was properly hard, once boshed out 50 pull-ups, can do one arm pull-ups into your 60s, boulder V8 in your 60s, and focus on redpointing, you can get by without training cardio and still do F8a??

Okay, that's cleared that up then!! 
(I suppose I could have said "or a background in being bloody strong and climbing consistently hard")

[webbo]

I don’t know whether anyones mentioned it. (I have had several sleeps and naps  since this thread started) some of us train cardio because we are naturally fat bastards.

[SA Chris]

Good for him, hope for us all. Curious, was he retired at that age?

Not fully retired but he moved to Dorset and had certainly wound down work and was able to climb very flexibly rather than being stuck in an office 9-5 or worse.

Nice strategy. I in Dorset.

[TobyD]

Reading this thread with interest, since I've had an extended break from climbing since the start of the pandemic and am getting keen to get back into it more. (and am 43)
I'm depressingly weak at the moment compared to before, although I've never had that much power. About ten years ago I could get up 8b, and on a trip in spring 2019, I could still manage 7c+, albeit one that suited me. At the moment it almost feels like a lost cause, as 6b feels hard, is there any hope?

[petejh]

Of course there's hope, you're only 43 and you climbed 7c+ 3 years ago! 

As you probably know, aerobic fitness comes back quickly and is the easiest thing to improve, up to a point, by virtue of just going climbing (at least in my experience). Beyond that point of natural improvement, fitness is still the easiest element to train by doing circuits or autobelay laps.
On the other hand if you aspire to be smashing out bouldery 8bs prepare to suffer disappointment, aging angst and likely injury! But I doubt you do aspire to those types of routes.

For someone with your previous level, aerobic grade 8s and/or E5/6 onsighting could be back within range within 6 months provided circumstances and motivation align. Both are probably as important as a functioning bundle of muscle fibres.

[mrjonathanr]

I worry I am way more injury prone than my dad - that more than anything has stopped my progression in the past, I'll make gains then have to stop because of shoulder, elbow or finger woes. So my main aim now is to keep training consistently but try not to get injured!

I am extremely injury prone. I’d estimate being injured up to 2/3 of the last 4 years. Last September I focused on 2 things: strengthening rotator cuff and shoulders and just being consistent. Even if it’s just a 40 min session here and there, maintain a regular training habit.

I have not had any climbing related injury 😀 (injured hip, but not through climbing)

Toby, I’m a good 10 years older than you, put on about 7kg this year through work stress, so eating lots of sugar to keep going, and last week I flashed a route of a standard that used to be normal for me.. except the last one was in ‘93. So if I can lose the lard, I’ll be climbing ok I reckon.

Age isn’t the problem, it’s continuity of climbing. It’ll come back if you keep at it.

[Eddies]

I don’t know whether anyones mentioned it. (I have had several sleeps and naps  since this thread started) some of us train cardio because we are naturally fat bastards.

I'm interested to know more about what sort of cardio you do

[SA Chris]

At the moment it almost feels like a lost cause, as 6b feels hard, is there any hope?

As others have said, lifestyle is more of a factor than physical age. I have had several breaks over the last 10 + years, due to numerous reasons; small children, injuries, waning interest, other pursuits. Each time it feels despairingly like starting from zero again, but if you accept it and just get on with the game again and are sensible with what you do and don't hope for miracles / try to overdo it and get back too quickly and end up injured, it always returns if you stick with it.

[Rocksteady]

At the moment it almost feels like a lost cause, as 6b feels hard, is there any hope?

As others have said, lifestyle is more of a factor than physical age.

Yeah I think this is the trouble with your 40s, for me it seems like peak hard-working and small children care all at the same time. Difficult to get enough sleep, difficult to spend time away from desk etc. I need to make lifestyle changes but these things are hard to do when you have responsibilities etc.

I was going well until 2016, did my first 7c then injured my finger training 2 finger hangs. Never quite got back to that level before having my first kid in 2018 and since then have been well below that, finding 6b hard sounds familiar, particularly when I had a complete climbing/training and almost total exercise layoff in the first bit of the pandemic and put on 5kg.

Have managed now to get down to my previous weight and improved at deadhangs (carefully). Becoming an endurance weasel appeals to me but I worry I don't have enough finger strength to get into the higher grades too.

[webbo]

I don’t know whether anyones mentioned it. (I have had several sleeps and naps  since this thread started) some of us train cardio because we are naturally fat bastards.

I'm interested to know more about what sort of cardio you do

Cycling I ride 3 or 4 times a week. Usually a couple of interval sessions with a ride distance of about 20 miles and one or two longer rides of 60 to 100 miles.

[Paul B]

For someone with your previous level, aerobic grade 8s and/or E5/6 onsighting could be back within range within 6 months provided circumstances and motivation align. Both are probably as important as a functioning bundle of muscle fibres.

Also, Toby you were hardly a technical dunce (!) so I think form will come rapidly as fitness returns. It's also interesting to read other people have drifted away from climbing a little since/due to the pandemic, especially those like yourself who I would've classed as 'lifers'.

[Fiend]

Reading this thread with interest, since I've had an extended break from climbing since the start of the pandemic and am getting keen to get back into it more. (and am 43)
I'm depressingly weak at the moment compared to before, although I've never had that much power. About ten years ago I could get up 8b, and on a trip in spring 2019, I could still manage 7c+, albeit one that suited me. At the moment it almost feels like a lost cause, as 6b feels hard, is there any hope?

You've had good form in the past, a solid history of hard climbing, have been out of climbing more for circumstancial / motivational issues rather than physical deterioration, have identified an area of weakness, and are so lean you need to be tethered down to stop floating away. Of course there's bloody hope. Take it steadily to avoid injury, keep fuelled up, rest enough, etc etc.

[seankenny]

I’d trade a smallish not too important body part to be in Toby’s position!

I’m very interested to see how I will respond to climbing and training once I’m no longer sick from long covid. Naturally I’d love to make some strength gains again but I’m both 49 and have a chronic illness so absolutely no idea what the future holds.

A few months back I was hit by a bolus of frustration and did both a pull up and a fingertip pull up just to see if I still could. For context I can’t walk more than 1/2 a mile in a day without being really sick. The pull ups were just fine but I fell asleep for an hour and a half afterwards… kind of suspect that I’ll be able to get back to things assuming I can tolerate physical activity of any sort. 

[User deactivated.]

I’d trade a smallish not too important body part to be in Toby’s position!

An open goal if I ever saw one

[Eddies]

I don’t know whether anyones mentioned it. (I have had several sleeps and naps  since this thread started) some of us train cardio because we are naturally fat bastards.

I'm interested to know more about what sort of cardio you do

Cycling I ride 3 or 4 times a week. Usually a couple of interval sessions with a ride distance of about 20 miles and one or two longer rides of 60 to 100 miles.

Thats great, thanks a lot. Do you know how many calories you burn during your interval sessions?

[webbo]

Mondays session of 20 seconds on 40 seconds off one set of 14 and set off 9. Riding time of 1hr 14 mins 20.32 miles. Average heart rate 128 max 164 calories used 608.
The calories used won’t be that accurate as it’s based on my age, sex, max heart rate via my heart rate monitor. Also I probably haven’t  altered it for a couple of years so the baseline is out.
Last Fridays 65.15 mile ride in 3 hrs 42 mins used 2,135 cals.

[Eddies]

Awesome, thanks.

[SA Chris]

If you purely want to exercise to burn fat, unless you have a lot of time for very long rides or runs, go for short high intensity sessions; speed intervals or hill intervals. They will hurt (by that i don't mean injuring yourself) but they will work.