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Good day, Eric! I thought a lot about your advice for quicker sends, and I keep on reading and analyzing you book “Maximum climbing” (it’s my tabletop book, staying next to bed, really!). Anyway, yesterday I send my project (5.12c/7b+), and I didn’t really feel a pump—proof, in my opinion, that my previous constraints were more mental than physical! Your advice to project less and instead to send some easier stuff (I recently sent 50 routes in the range 5.12a/b) Anyway, I’d concluded that I still suffer from lack of motivation and will power in certain situations—every day is different and some days I create more motivation and will than others…and I try to figure out way. This is so strange, considering that I dedicate my life to this sport. I understand that when I go under the rock I feel like a kid, who needs a push. How can I change this? – Stanislava (Bulgaria)
Hello Stanislava, Your analysis and understand are good, and you now know what you must do—amp up your motivation! You need to create compelling reasons why you MUST push harder outside, in order to gain leverage on yourself. You need the “eye of the tiger”….as expressed in the old Rocky 3 movie.
One think to consider—sign up for an 8a.nu account. It’s a free website, on which you log your redpoints and onsights. This way you can track your ascents, as well as get scored and ranked in your country. This process of logging and scoring your ascents will create some motivation, I believe—it does for many people, as their competitive spirit comes out. Also, you need to set compelling goals—both for each day of climbing outside, but also for each month and season—you need something to shoot for…to think about and dwell on…and to train smartly for. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Eric, I’m curious as to your take on progression of reps and load. Recently I’ve been listening to Christopher Sommers (of the gymnastics community), Pavel Tsatsuline (strength training community) and have also been on Steve Bechtel’s site. There are a lot of parallels with developing strength. For static holds, in his book Sommer’s recommends holding the position for 1/2 of your maximum hold. For strength endurance Pavel and Betchal recommend doing 1/2 your max reps and adding more sets rather than training to failure each set. My question: What are your thoughts on training to failure? If your always doing 1/2 the reps like these prescriptions, when should you employ a 15-rep protocol as described in a stabilization or strength endurance portion of one’s periodization plan? –Micah (Oregan)
Micah, There’s a lot of dogma passed down through various strength-training communities—some of it good and some not so good. There are a lot of recent studies, so we can now train in more proven ways. Of course, matching the right program to the right person (and their goals) is the art of exercise prescription. Without knowing what you’re up to I, of course, cannot give you firm instructions. But I’ll answer a few of your questions.
Training with heavy weights to failure is hard on the nervous system—it can take 4 or 5 days to fully recover, so do this infrequently. Doing a few less reps, but keeping the weight heavy (80-90% of 1RM) you get most of the stimulus, but create less central fatigue—this way you can do another workout in 48 to 72 hours. These are max strength protocols for things like deadlifting or weighted fingerboard training. As for strength endurance, you obviously need to do more volume with less weight—but you must be careful not to do hypertrophy protocols (unless you want to body build); therefore, I prefer doing 5 to 8 reps, numerous sets with reduced rest between sets. For smaller muscles, like the stabilizers and cuff, you should do higher reps with much less weight—15 to 20 reps for two sets per exercise.
Hope this makes sense! Of course, Bechtel, Pavel, etc. are super high-quality resources, so I’m sure you’re on the right track already!
Hi Eric, I am an over enthusiastic beginner—I began climbing just over three months ago. For the record I am 30 years old have been a decent athlete my whole life, and I’ve improved rapidly at climbing (flashing 5.9s and bouldering V3). Unfortunately, I developed climber’s elbow, which I am trying to recover from. I normally spend 3 hours at a time in the gym—I often do 8-10 climbs near my limit, and bouldering for an hour or more at whatever level I can. At this point, it seems like I’m doing way too much….and my elbow is starting to hurt. I figured the pain would subside if I rested for a weekend; however the pain isn’t going away at all, and it’s been over 3 weeks. I’ve self-diagnosed tendinosis, inside left elbow. I am taking the healing regimen more seriously: rest, stretch, tendon gliders/finger flicks throughout the day. Started incorporating some easy forearm exercises with frying pans and hammers. I have never been injured before, and I am just sick with anxiety. Any advice for this frustrated climber?! –Paul (Philadelphia, PA)
Hey Paul, Sorry to hear about your elbow; but I get this same email every month (or more)—very common among enthusiastic climbers. The problem (as you know) is that your intense efforts at climbing have made your forearm muscles stronger at a faster rate than the tendons that connect them to the medial epicondyle. This condition can become chronic FAST, so you must cut back and avoid doing any exercise or climbing that causes pain above about a 2 out of 10 (basically anything other than the mild pain during rehab exercises is a bad sign). This tendinitis can turn into tendinosis…which is failed healing—once you get to this point, the diseased tissue can take months or years to heal. Sad, but true. Remember, you’ve spent 30 years doing nothing like climbing, in terms of the impact on the forearm muscles and tendons—at age 30 your tendons just aren’t ready for any kind of power training—you should NEVER touch a campus board or fingerboard. It’s for these reasons that I recommend new climbers spend the first 1 to 2 years mostly climbing (3 days per week) in order to learn movement skills and NOT do any intense specific training (although antagonist and stabilizer training is important).
Anyway, do lots of forearm stretching, strengthen your pronator muscle (do nothing that hurts), and invest in an ARMAID…to provide a targeted trigger point release (muscles on both sides of forearms, but don’t use on the tendon, of course.) Long-term ibuprofen use may impede healing, so go easy or avoid completely. in the morning and evening to help quiet down current pain, but never take it to allow you to climb through pain (another common mistake). If you nip this in the bud now, hopefully it won’t become an issue that plagues you for years (as it does some climbers). Focus on climbing vertical routes that develop footwork and technique, and do no hard bouldering that causes pain. If you love climbing, then think long term! Hope this helps. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
Hello Eric, Need some advice. I have started climbing again after a 20-year hiatus (formerly could lead 5.10+). I am now 63, but quite fit–just not climbing fit. My training now consists of easy bouldering 3 times per week. I am also in the gym doing pullups, Frenchies, hangs, etc. I also do some flexibility training and easy running, but I’m thinking about easing up on the running and doing more light endurance-strength type work. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. –Gary (China)
Hey Gary, Welcome back to climbing–I’m sure you have many great climbs ahead of you! You sound like you have a good sense of things, and understand the importance of regaining specific strength. Equally important, however, is antagonist (push, rotator cuff, scapular stability) training so as to stay uninjured. Many older climbers have injury issues limit their climbing, so it’s paramount to not do anything that tempts injury (like campus training). Powerful movements are the most concerning; but as you gain strength and fitness, you can push harder on those powerful boulders and routes. Take it one step at a time, and don’t rush the process. Of course, if you want to rope climb, then you should try to get on a rope once or twice per week to develop local (forearm) endurance. Consider checking out the new edition of my Training for Climbing book (just released in August) as it will arm you with the latest techniques for training climbing-specific strength, endurance, and injury prevention. Good luck, and happy climbing!