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Hey Eric! I’m currently working to climb 5.11a, but I have noticed a plateau in my climbing. I’m back from a 6-month hiatus from climbing, and I’m now consistently climbing a few days per week for the past two months. My goals are to climb 5.11s on sport lead and 5.10s on trad lead. What advice do you have for helping me get over the 5.10d hump? Let me know if you need any more info. –Eric (Illinois)
Hi Eric, If you are climbing regularly (2 to 3 days per week), then I assume your technique and movement skills are pretty good (although you always want to strive to improve further in this area). Anyway, it seems to me that strength and power may be your limiting factor. How often do you do bouldering and other supplemental training for strength/power?
Breaking your plateau demands that you do things different than you have up to this point, so consider how you can change your typical workout to make it harder, more progressive, and more targeted on your weaknesses. I’m guessing that more bouldering and some targeted strength training (in addition to roped climbing) will help you achieve the next grade this season. Consider adding some weighted pull-ups, weighted fingerboard hangs, and additional core training to help you break into the 5.11 grades. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
Dear Eric, First, I want to thank you so much for writing the book Maximum Climbing! It helped me–and still helps me–get over an extremely significant and important period in my life. And now the question: My training plan for the next month or two is 2 days per week endurance-oriented training on easy routes on a steep wall and the third day hard routes on a smaller overhang (routes that I can RP from the 5th try or so). I am doing complex training (4 times fingerboard hangs + campus laddering) as a cool down after the endurance days and core training after the hard routes day. My idea of mixing different main and cool-down trainings is to exercise at least a little everything. However, it might be more beneficial to cool-down with core exercises on the endurance trainings and do power/strength on the harder days only. What are your thoughts about it? –Asparuh (Netherlands)
HI Asparuh! Thanks for your kind remarks about Maximum Climbing! Sounds like you are doing great, and overall I think your training plan sounds good. Doing one strength/power workout per week during endurance phase is actually a good idea for advanced climbers (to preserve high-end strength during an endurance phase). The one thing not clear to me…is how intensive your endurance sessions are. If they are very intensive (very deep pump), these are hard on muscles and nervous system–so I would NOT do additional fingerboard or complex training at the end of them. However, if your endurance session are lower intensity (light to moderate pump & fatigue), then you may be okay doing the extra training at the end. You need to monitor how you feel and cut back on volume if you feel you are not recovering between sessions.
Hi Eric, I’ve never really had injuries before, but now I seem to be injuring my fingers as I move into the 5.12 grade. My ring finger on left hand is a little swollen. Is this the beginning of a greater injury if I don’t take a break? Should I be icing and should I be resting for a certain amount of days? I’ve still have been training at the gym, just been taping and avoiding using it as much as possible. My gut tells me this could be a mistake. Thanks! –Chris (California)
Hi Chris, That’s the classic injury–the left ring finger (for right handers) is at greatest risk. Yes, do ice it after any workout that it’s swollen or hurts. Basically, you don’t want to climb on it if it hurts (pain of more than a 1 or 2 out of 10 on a pain scale). Slight discomfort may be okay to climb through, but acute pain is not. Do tightly tape it when you climb and avoid small crimps or pockets that might hurt it again. I’ve had the exact injury a number of times over the years—I’ve just learned to dial it back (or take a couple weeks off) to work through it; and then climb carefully to avoid re-injury. Good luck!
Hi Eric, I hope you can help me with this problem. First of all, I climb to excel in hard alpine climbing. I have a hard time figuring out what type of climbing training to do? Besides climbing, I do adventure racing. It is like a triathlon, just with more disciplines and for a couple of days. I think it works well with alpine climbing, because the activities look alike. My biggest worry is injury. I snapped a tendon in my groin from running so I am very careful now. Do you think I need to do specific training to prevent injuries in forearms and shoulders? In my racing I train kayak and therefore also some antagonist training, so my forearms are my biggest worry. I hope you can give my some advice on my general situation. Thank you. –Mikkel (Denmark)
Hello Mikkel, Sounds like you have some very interesting activities and goals! Unfortunately, I’m not an expert on training for Alpine climbing—you should check out Steve House’s new book Training for the New Alpinism. Anyway, training to avoid injury is always important—and so, yes, I do think regularly flexibility training (dynamic warm-up and static stretching post-workout) and antagonist training can help you a lot. Maybe spent one hour twice per week and do focused training on the pushing muscles, rotator cuff, forearms, core (lower back, abs, hips)….and even doing some squats. Hope this helps, and do check out Steve’s book. Good luck, my friend!
I recently transitioned from endurance training to strength training, and immediately injured my finger! I’d been doing laps leading and down-climbing easy (10+/11-) sport routes 3x/ week for a month, feeling tremendous improvement. Within the first week of doing laps bouldering (v3/v4) I started feeling a lot weaker, and finally my second knuckle on my ring finger audibly popped quite loud statically holding a half-crimp. It didn’t exactly hurt, it just felt weird, but I stopped climbing and iced it (I began 3x/day icing it and taking ibuprofen for 3 days). It never swelled, never bruised, and has full range of motion. It is not sensitive to the touch. It just feels slightly soar and weak and a little stiff. Did I rupture a pulley? My real question is, what popped? Please get back to me! I’m gonna lose my mind worrying about this! I need to know if I need an MRI or just a rest. Thank you so much! BTW, your books are incredibly helpful! –Drew (California)
Hi Drew, Sorry for the delay writing back—I hope you are feeling better! If there’s no swelling, then that’s good news–it’s not likely a ruptured tendon or serious ligament injury (both of which would hurt and swell). It’s hard to say exactly what caused the pop (usually it is a tendon or ligament). If there’s no pain and only slight discomfort, then you can probably begin climbing/training…being careful what you do with that hand. I should add that with only about 2 years of climbing, you are right on the margin of being ready for serious strength and power training—which will often injure people with less than 2 or 3 years’ experience. For now, focus on technique and endurance training and try to get fully healthy for next climbing season. Good luck! P.S. Do see a doctor if your condition gets worse…more pain and less strength.