[Krank]

Ok so i was wondering, i got my first 7a on grit on tuesday and it made me think. I have a desire to be able to climb to 8a, now i have done no training at all so far except climbing, how far do you think it would be possible to progress if i gained no more technique but got stupidly strong. Im not gonna do this cos i want to improve my technique rather than muscle through everything. Anyone know anyone who has bad technique but climbs really hard through strength alone?. Im not talking girly slabs either, cos its all about steepness .

[Stu Littlefair]

Congrats on your first 8a. Power vs Technique is a perennial argument on here. It does depend somewhat on what you call "Technique". Learning fancy slab skills and getting good at grit aretes is technique, but not the kind of technique you'll need to beast font 8as.

For this you will need (in order of importance):

1) Very strong fingers. Get on the finger or campus board.
2) Good core strength. For climbers this means shoulders, lower back, abs. Wide press ups, dips, "supermen" and
situps with rotation are your friends.
3) Learn how to use the two above.

Part 3 is where "technique" comes in, but many people fail to realise that good technique (on steep rock, at least) is about building the kind of body you need to transfer weight to your feet. Without the right muscles, you can't learn technique because your body isn't capable. The final thought: as paul said in his letter to the corinthians - but now abides finger strength, endurance and technique; and the greatest of these is finger strength.

[Krank]

It sadly wasnt 8a just 7a. But i hadnt thought about the fact that you need to be stronger in order to gain the technique for steep stuff. Quite often i think i am in the right position or doin the right move but need that little extra to actually hold on. This means i may now have to get of my lazy arse and start gettin stronger. Cheers Stu

[SA Chris]

Strength may come and go, but good technique is forever. Decide whether you want short term big gains or long term gradual ones.

Stu's biblical words are true, but just don't injure fingers. They are fuckers for healing properly.

[Krank]

Tell me about it, i was inspired by Fiends churnet valley vid and his statement "this is my favourite move in the peak" (the mono problem left of 50p at gentlemens). Safe to say it aint my fingers favourite problem .

[Paul B]

Strength may come and go, but good technique is forever.

Strength may come and go, but GLORY lives forever...

This topic should be entitled "Can of worms"... where's JB?

[Monolith]

For finger strength, try and get to the stage whereby you are calibrating your crimps to the nearest micron not mm.

Arms, as everyone will tell you, are the easiest weakness to work and will soon improve no end once you put in some simple bar/weights sessions.

[SA Chris]

simple bar/weights sessions.

I do simple bar wait sessions. Don't help at all.

[Monolith]

Less bar waits, more bar/weights.

I like the maxim you've spawned Chris.

[Richie Crouch]

Improved finger strength is probably what most people climbing around V6-V8 could do with (in order to start progressing towards harder grades).

Make sure if you begin fingerboarding John, start off slowly and try not to do too much too soon or you will end up with niggling tendon/pulley/joint injuries! I use my own routine taking bits from the one posted on 8a.nu with a bit of my own stuff thrown in for a 20 minute session, doing wide pressups and bicycle sit ups in-between each set of hangs/pull ups/dips..etc.

It can get quite boring, so make sure you have some decent tunes on and warm up properly such as going for a run, then doing some pull ups/press ups and get the blood flowing (assuming you are at home and not training at a wall where you will have the option of some light traversing/bouldering to warm up on). Don't forget to stretch!

After a couple weeks or more, you may want to change things up a bit such as the order of your sets, reps, time on hangs..etc to keep your body working/guessing and avoid it becoming used to it.

Campusing is probably the next stage once you have a fingerboard routine in place.

[Jim]

I recon the best things to do to improve your grade upwards from 7a training wise is

• pull ups - lots of pull ups
• bachar ladder - if you have access to one
• campus board

also worth doing some push ups to avoid getting haunched shoulders if you go down this line

the other alternative is to go out climbing loads, preferably with people who are better than you and never don't try something cos its too hard for you.
with that mindset you'll never improve

visualize the geometeries and simply rest between them, this is the key to getting up hard problems

[GCW]

In ascending order of importance:  Power---->Technique---->LANK   

[Krank]

cheers Richie sound advice i will start some light finger boarding work, but running disaster, i spose sacrafices must be made , I'm thinking training twice a week would be OK as i guess once wouldn't be enough.

Jim, cheers for that i will pop out and get a pull up bar and begin the fun, i boulder most days at the moment but its on my tod and climb trad at the weekend so i do quite a bit, but feel some training would be good.

In ascending order of importance:  Power---->Technique---->LANK, Hhmmmmmmmmm where to find a rack?

Cheers all