[(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.