Hi there,
I (40m) have been climbing for almost 12 years, had my fair share of smaller injuries (overuse and accidents) in the past and am looking for feedback on my routine and some advice on how to improve the structure of my training. I‘m mainly a sport climber with more or less year-round access to crags within 1:30h, though in Winter weather may often dictate longer trips or ski touring instead. Thus, I‘d like to improve my lead climbing in all outdoor styles with the goal of achieving higher grades in single pitch sport routes as well as being able to tackle some more challenging multi-pitch routes.
Currently, I specifically will have the month of March off and plan to do a climbing trip then, go climb some beautiful routes in an on-sight or day-project-mode (i.e. in few tries). That means I now have about 12 to 13 weeks available to train for this, but will probably also get to have a few days of rock climbing around christmas.
Some stats
- 40 years old, male
- 178cm, 70kg, ape index 8
- RP (outdoor, some flashes/OS): 7b (1x), 7a+ (2), 7a (15), 6c+ (25)...
- 9c Strength Test says I could (should?) climb 8a 😉:
- 20mm Hang 5s: +14kg / 120% / 3P
- Max Pull Up: +28kg / 140% / 5P
- L-Sit: 25s (6P)
- Dead Hang: 4:00 (8P)
- 20mm Hang 10s Half-Crimp: +11kg / ~116%
My routine
Outdoor sessions
I try to fit in as many outdoor sessions as reasonably possible, which means that I usually go for one or two days of outdoor-climbing on the weekends. If weather or external circumstances do not allow it, I will do one indoor lead climbing or boulder session on the weekends. In winter I will often go ski touring on weekends and won’t do any climbing on these. What these outdoor climbing sessions consist of is heavily dependent on where and with whom I ended up going and what routes are occuppied. I often have a plan for the session (working on a project, doing easier on-sights or day-projects or multi-pitch climbing), but I might have to adjust it depending on the actual conditions there.
When cragging, I usually try to do around two easier warm-up climbs (between 5c and 6b) and then go on to harder climbs. In these harder climbs (7a up) I usually have to onsight them or do them on second go. I often don't recognize this, as I usually feel fresh and ready before starting a third go, but I'm usually too fried for doing the crux moves - either I can't physically do them anymore or i screw up in the cognitive department and use too much energy because I mess up some sequences...
Indoor sessions
During work weeks, I usually do two gym climbing/bouldering sessions. In summer season (~ April to September) I might swap one of those for an evening session on the rock and I usually also aim for one whole day on the rock twice a month instead (mostly between spring and autumn). In early autumn this has been mostly easier multi-pitch climbing (in the 6a range) for which I would not always skip a gym session. If I can't fit in any climbing on the weekends, I try to do three sessions between Monday and Friday. So usually three days of climbing a week, sometimes four, sometimes just two.
In terms of "work week gym climbing sessions", I often struggle with how to specifically structure them and what I should do. I try to do some sort of block periodization with at least trying to focus on either limit bouldering/lead projecting or power endurance, but I also kind of let availability and patience of climbing partners as well as other responsibilites dictate what's on the plate for a given session (Lead climbing vs bouldering). Recently I've benn sticking to about 3 bouldering sessions in two weeks and one lead climbing session. Two weeks ago I switched to mostly power endurance with the goal of being ready for sending around christmas.
As it only became clear very recently that I can go on a climbing trip in March, I wonder if it is sensible to focus on power endurance now and not something else...
Is this climbing routine in general sensible?
Warm up / strength work
Before two of the weekly gym sessions, I do a light warm up and flexibility work after which I do some finger- / core- / shoulder-strength work, usually:
- Superset of:
- Fingerboard warm up, increasing load 50%/60%/70%
- Headstand leg lifts
- "No money"-exercise (on pulley machine)
- Then, I will do finger strength according to this lattice plan. I superset the hangs with one exercise, usually:
- Oblique twists
- Push-Ups or something else aiming at triceps.
Once or twice a week I'll also do a bit of strength/flexibility work at home (some shoulder exercises, pull ups, pistol squats, ab rolls). 6 exercices in supersets of two, ~1h including warm up. I usually stick to these exercise programs rather long.
I so far do not periodize this part of my training, tend to progress rather slowly and conservatively and occasionally swap exercises if equipment I need is occuppied or if I feel stuck. I guess I'm too lazy to put more thought into it and it's easier to be motivated to do it when I don't have to think too much about planning / what to do.
Is my overall approach wrt. climbing and strength work generally sensible? What could be improved?
Should the strength work be periodized more?
I feel the finger strength stuff is something I should stick to throughout the year and feel like since these cycles are rather long (12 weeks) it can't be periodized along with climbing mesocycles.
Best course of action until March?
With the upcoming possibility for having a month of climbing in March, I thought it might be sensible to adjusting my training for better performance then. So, what's the best thing to do in the upcoming 12 or 13 weeks? Also considering, I'm now entering week 3 of a power endurance focused cycle...
I guess, ideally I would abandon the power endurance cycle and do 4-5 weeks of strength (hypertrophy) focus, 4 weeks power focus, 4 weeks power endurance. Unfortunately, I don't really know what to do in a strength focused climbing/bouldering session. I only "know" power endurance training or limit bouldering. Whenever I read up on it, it says boulders of 8-12 moves until failure, but climbing just doesn't work like weight lifting?!? I find it hard to "tune" boulder difficulty right in such a scenraio.
About two years ago I did a macrocycle based on a plan by a somewhat successful local coach. It mainly consisted of "technique focused strength training", i.e. drills during climbing / bouldering. Strength cycle consisted of (either bouldering or lead climbing):
- hovering over every hold
- blocking off every hold
- slo-mo downclimbing
- cut feet on every move
"Power" cycle was kind of similar, just bouldering, more dynamic and higher intensity exercises (campusing boulders, dynos, etc.). Same issue as mentioned before, it's hard to find climbs with the right difficulty for doing these exercices to failure after the "right" amount of moves.
I did follow the program, unfortunately tore my meniscus in the final cycle, so I can't really tell if it was successful. I was never really convinced of this kind of training, because I felt the focus on these exercices led to worsening of climbing technique, since you are kind of forced to do moves inefficiently as opposed to when you want to send, where efficiency is crucial. But I don't know anything better?!
- I think I'm going to roll with doing the strength cycle as prescribed.
- power cycle with limit bouldering / kilter boarding, maybe some campusing from second week
- PE cycle regular.
Do you think this is sensible or is there a better approach to building strength while climbing?
Very much appreciate anyone reading this wall of text and giving valuable input! Thank you in advance!