[Monolith]

Being at a total plateau in the mid V grades, I'd just like to hear peoples experiences of their time spent within a similar plateau. My scenario - Male, 23, obsessively climbed from when I was about 13 until 19. Took 3 years off, coming back to the sport within the last 2 years.

What I'm finding most difficult to sustain actually, is motivation. It's hard to stay continually optimistic when you know you have the strength to do many of the things above you, but just can't seem to pull through them. I've read many an article in the past focussing on the neccessary measures to ascend beyond your current potential, but I think I'd prefer to hear of peoples individual stories than spend another night in with Gresham and a notebook.

[andy_e]

Similar scenario for me, really. Would be good to hear people's thought on the matter.

[Paul B]

I'm sure I've had more than two plateau's since I started climbing however its two that stand out the most, about two years ago I had a seriously inbalanced body (at this point I had been training a lot down the woodie and although I was making gains they seemed very slow), after my chest started causing me a lot of pain at night I decided to sort it out and joined a gym, mainly to sort out the lack of triceps, chest etc that I had, my climbing instantly picked up afterwards. I'm pretty sure you can only make your body imbalanced to a certain degree before all development of that muscle group is stopped by other problems.
I had reached another plateau at the start of last summer (for the first time though I didn't mind as I was climbing at a level that I was more than happy with, mainly on limestone) I had been climbing at WCJ cornice a lot and was fairly fit (Power end?) but fairly weak, I started climbing at the board (which is steep and fingery) and my power levels, finger strength all shot up.
I think changing things about a bit seem to help you break a plateau or really looking at your climbing objectively and working on a known weakness which is sometimes hard to do (stretching anyone?)  Maybe get someone else to take a look?
In terms of your low motivation levels: If your not motivated to do what your doing then do something else. At the end of the day your going to be more productive at anything if your enjoying it....

[account_inactive]

......as they say change is as good as a rest.  I've found that most of my plateaus are infact motivationally based.  Physically 2 of the main breakthroughs I've had involved developing stronger fingers and better core strength.  Both are essential in problems above the mid V's.

Travelling to new areas helps to maintain motivation and can help develop more skills (nunchaca skills/light saber skills....ye know skills).  For example I thought that my ability to pull on pockets was poor so spent a while climbing in Suirana.  This is way more fun and motivating that developing "all round" ability on a board or the gym.

It is worth getting someone to examine your climbing and giving you some feedback.  Its almost impossible to be objective about it yourself.

On the psychological side of things I found this helpful http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011207

It does have some awful Americanisms to that made me squirm, but it did make me examine my attitude to climbing and especially how my ego effected success!  There's lots of "what have I learned from this experience of failure" that makes a load of sense.  Rather than reading it cover to cover just pick the bits you think apply.

Hope this helps

[Monolith]

Thanks for the insightly responses guys. Paul, I particularly see a lot of personal parallels to what you were saying regarding your first plateau. Last summer, from doing a lot of gym work on opposing muscle groups, I did manage to make some gains which I hadn't anticipated. I think that's probably a key thing for me to get back into being quite tall and lanky. Objectively speaking, I know my crimp strength is my strong point and my body tension has improved no ends since climbing on the board a lot more - perhaps some time spent away from continually placing emphasis on the development of these areas is a good thing.

And travelling to new areas as you mention Dylan should probably also be prioritised.

[Nibile]

i think some wheights are helpful. bouldering can be pretty brutal on your body and being a bit tougher has helped me alot, esp on overhangs and slapping moves, when you hit the rock with hundreds of kilos pressure.
climbing in many different areas is top for both motivation and technique.
also trying to make your training schedule very varied and different.

alot of rest may also help and trying not to over-concentrate on your objectives. letting a bit things go.

hope this helps.

oh, and i also find useful to climb in different gyms when i can, cos the setting style is always different and you have to adapt.

[Richie Crouch]

I hit a plateau a couple of weeks back called "full time hours"   

I am happy to trundle along keeping up a similar level for a few weeks until we have a decent training medium setup... then pushing the envelope of what is achievable can begin 

[(woz)]

I hit a bit of a plateau (read no improvement for a year) at about 16, so I went to font for two weeks, climbed on limestone a bit, and went from my hardest problem being font7a to font 7b+ in a couple of weeks. I guess this has to be mainly a mental plateau.
Then at 18 I got totally disillusioned, and sick of everything to do with climbing - so gave it up for a year. But since coming to uni, and having lots of new people to climb with etc, I've been more motivated than ever, and got quite a lot done. There has been a pretty steady improvement since then.

My advice would be to have as much variation as possible: go to different walls with different people when it is raining, and go to lots of different crags with lots of different people when its dry. The stuff about working other muscles sounds like a good idea too.

[Monolith]

letting a bit things go.

I wish I could Nibile, I wish I could. Maybe when you roll up for the forthcoming masters at the works funded by UKB donations, I will feel a much more relaxed! Seriously though, are you coming over for it? You really should.

[Nibile]

will you be competing? thats why youre under pressure?

yes i would really like to come north. its time.

[Monolith]

Not competing sadly no. Yes you really ought to come North!

[GCW]

Nibs- The Wirral region is rubbish.






Brownstones is pure quality   

[Mike Tyson]

Nibs- The Wirral region is rubbish.






Brownstones is pure quality  

The Lakes beats them all.......

[Monolith]

 

GCW how dare you! Yes you are quite right. If you're at a point in life whereby you are looking to spawn some offspring, it is a beautiful place. If not, it is dire. Nibile, you're welcome to come and sleep on my park bench anytime you are in the UK.

[Nibile]

im arranging things, i would like to take it easy and come for a few days if g/f doesnt work and joins.
its nice the idea of coming up and not worriying about weather. c'mon theres the comp, the party and the works anyway to pull down the beer in excess...
seriously, as always just the idea of a small (and in this case strange) climbing trip has already awakened my body and im sure ill have to struggle tomorrow to take some rest and dont hit the campusboard!!!

[Monolith]

Nibile, I have a possible trip lined up in the coming months going to Mannheim in Germany and then through Austria to Sienna. Perhaps see you along the way?

[Mike Tyson]

im sure ill have to struggle tomorrow to take some rest and dont hit the campusboard!!!

Amen to that Nibs, I had a good day at the Bowderstone today and would love to go back tomorrow. Thing is, I have the baby and I don't think its the best place for her to be, a bit cold and damp really.

She will get intorduced soon though!

[Nibile]

Nibile, I have a possible trip lined up in the coming months going to Mannheim in Germany and then through Austria to Sienna. Perhaps see you along the way?

hey lemme know more, i live in siena!!!
what youll be about for? i hope its not work!!!
fancy a little bit of bouldering?

[Monolith]

Oh god no, a work trip! NO way!

My aunties best friend lives in Mannheim and is a hotel owner. After that, I want to go to Austria and then to Sienna. I would very much like to do some climbing! Shall keep you posted on things my friend.

[Nibile]

yes yes (fucking yes).
we have a plan!
as soon as you know more, let me know so we can arrange things to let some pulling into the trip!!!
nice.

[Monolith]

I eagerly fucking await it!

[saltbeef]

love found via the interrnet!

[unclesomebody]

don't you know that James and I met through the internet. I think it was love at first rendezvous... 

More seriously, I would like to backup woz's point on mental approach. Being strong is always important, don't get me wrong, but believing in your ability to climb things makes such a difference. My mentality has shifted somewhat from knowing I'm strong enough to do hard moves to knowing I'm capable of getting to the top of things if I try hard. It's also not important to get intimidated. Often times you'll see someone do a move easily and you will find it easier because of this subtlely different mental approach.

Motivation and goal setting also plays a big part in the mental side of things. If you have a goal that you are psyched out of your mind for you will go into your woody on cold evenings and train even though it's easier to sit in a warm living room eating and drinking. Simpson wrote some stuff about goal training that I'm sure will be of interest (over on moonclimbing).

On the physical side it comes down to training your weaknesses which will often reveal the fastest gains.

[Monolith]

Wise words Uncle cheers. All this talk of motivation makes one incredibly motivated. P.S I still have a neon gift for you

[Fiend]

It's hard to stay continually optimistic when you know you have the strength to do many of the things above you, but just can't seem to pull through them.

Well if you can't pull through, you're obviously TOO WEAK 

Seriously, I echo the stuff about a change being as good as a rest. Or indeed a rest being as good as a rest. The motivational side is crucial.

[(woz)]

Being strong is always important, don't get me wrong, but believing in your ability to climb things makes such a difference. My mentality has shifted somewhat from knowing I'm strong enough to do hard moves to knowing I'm capable of getting to the top of things if I try hard. It's also not important to get intimidated.

Yep, never be afraid to try things at higher grades than you have done before. It sounds obvious that you need to try hard things to do hard things, but lots of people either don't try things that are 'too hard' for them, or don't give them a proper go.
i.e. you might surprise yourself!

I don't want to speak out of place, but Paul B climbing Voyager seems like the perfect example. No Fear!

[Paul B]

Did your recent success in Hueco give you the confidence to try harder problems on grit?
I think they did yes. It is always difficult to try a hard boulder problem if you don't have the confidence. Hueco was a good trip for me because it opened my eyes up to what was possible for me. When I returned, I found I had the confidence to try the problems I had always wanted to do and surely enough, I was in good enough shape to do them.

[Doylo]

i felt like i plateaud through most of my recent trip to hueco, in the end i dropped my grade a bit and did more climbing (and also got more ticks) and then in the last week felt stronger and was able to do a few of the projects i had been trying. The motto of the story is don't give up, just keep climbing and trying hard and things should come good.

[Monolith]

Also thought that perhaps devising a list of problems suited to one's strong points might be a good way of goal setting? But yes, good words guys.

[Paul B]

I remember reading this a while ago:

http://www.cragx.com/articles/issue16/profile/index.htm

I think the weaknesses section may have some relevance here.

[a dense loner]

doylo used hueco as training for the orme, in both his movement on rock and his naming selections

[Doylo]

yer not wrong it was money well spent 

[joeisidle]

Objectively speaking, I know my crimp strength is my strong point and my body tension has improved no ends since climbing on the board a lot more - perhaps some time spent away from continually placing emphasis on the development of these areas is a good thing.

Hopefully people don't mind me reviving this, but I haven't found anything else that definetly answered this point. I'm currently in a similar situation to where Monolith seemed to be when he posted this; ie. I've spent a lot of time on a steep and crimpy board over the past couple of months (though I always favoured steep and crimpy stuff before, I just didn't spend as much time on it). I have definetly noticed certain gains from really concentrating on this, but recognise I have certain weaknesses that aren't being trained by this. So obviously I need to make a change to my training to balance myself out.

My question is this; do I ditch the board training completely for a while rather than having one steep and crimpy session a week and training weaknesses for the rest of it? Whilst I can see this would help me address my weaknesses quickly I'm reticent to do so, for fear of loosing the finger strength and core tension I've built up over the last few months. So what would people recommend; bite the bullet and have no steep and crimpy stuff or still do a little but only once a week or so?

Ta in advance for any replies

[Paul B]

Dave Mac recently posted along these lines making the point that its mainly your ego that will take the hit if you start working your weaknesses.

[shark]

; bite the bullet and have no steep and crimpy stuff or still do a little but only once a week or so?

Ta in advance for any replies

The latter. Maintaining most of the strength gains you value will probably need a full session but only once every 10 days or so.

[Charles]

I have definetly noticed certain gains from really concentrating on this, but recognise I have certain weaknesses that aren't being trained by this.

What weaknesses have you recognised? I mean, if it is a grip weakness then doing isolated grip training on a fingerboard 3 times a week can be done alongside other training (board or otherwise).

If it is a weakness in technique then just climb outside on real rock as much as poss and continue to train on board.

I think I'm just justifying my own current (over)use of the board.

[joeisidle]

I have definetly noticed certain gains from really concentrating on this, but recognise I have certain weaknesses that aren't being trained by this.

What weaknesses have you recognised? I mean, if it is a grip weakness then doing isolated grip training on a fingerboard 3 times a week can be done alongside other training (board or otherwise).

If it is a weakness in technique then just climb outside on real rock as much as poss and continue to train on board.

I think I'm just justifying my own current (over)use of the board.

Thanks for the replies. For me it's more that I've recognised the rest of my strength not develop at the same rate as my steep crimp strength (as the board is filled pretty much solely with crimps and pinches). I get outside as often as my situation allows at the moment, so whilst my technique's not perfect it's not really the area that I see being the most constructive to focus on.

With regards to fingerboarding, I would be tempted to do that, but the board is located in a reasonably large centre so I would have thought sticking to a volume of slopey problems of various angles would be the solution for me? 

Although, if it's any comfort, I didn't notice the inbalance as much when the board had a wider variety of holds. You may not need to worry as much Charles as it's  probably more the lack of hold variety (and the types of moves it allows) that's causing the issue for me.