UKC

Whats the best way to train to increase performance below your anerobic level?

Do you?

1) Get on a bouldering/ traversing wall and stay on for intervals of up to 30min.

or

2) Get up loads of easier boulder problems with no rest time between problems.

or

3) None of the above, you have your own fiendish methods which involve badgers.

I'm thinking about the limitations with 2 being your arms get a rest between problems which is kind of defeating the object.

What do you guys do?

In reply to Lbos:

The best way is to build your core aerobic fitness by undertaking regular aerobic exercise. This is any exercise at an intensity level sufficient to raise your heart level to 60-80% of your maximum heart rate (220-your age)

From there, you can apply specificity by working on increasing your endurance on the wall (or rock face).

See Dave Mcleods blog page for more detailed info. He knows what he talks about!

In reply to rusty_nails:


Care to elaborate?

In reply to Lbos:

You're more likely to increase your muscles ability to work with high levels of lactic acid by doing that, rather than improve aerobic endurance. And 1 sounds best, can't beat a quick tea break!

In reply to smithy:

Maybe aerobic endurance is the wrong term. Increasing the ability of the forearm muscles to perform with high levels of lactic acid is what I meant (Local Endurance).

What I am wondering is whether option 2 can be as good at increasing capilarity if times between problems can be kept to a minimum. For example, it was nice outside and you knew a bouldering area well and you could fire off 30mins of easy probs, would you still get the same effect as option 1 produces, or would the gaps between problems offer too much rest?

In reply to Lbos:

Basically, build up your general aerobic fitness by doing good general exercises (running, biking, rowing, whatever), then apply specificity by targetting the muscular endurance of the specific muscles, in this case your arms, hands and fingers.

Make sure you start off on relatively easy holds/routes etc and do them until you can't do any more. have a break and then do some more. Keep a record, and gradullay you will see an increase in how long you can go. Also, you should try to gradually increase the difficulty level.

best of luck

In reply to Lbos:

1 - Staying on the wall (or crag) for 30-45 mins is great (specific) aerobic training - put the i-POD on; place a bottle of water within reach and then climb continuously for that length of time; up, down, sideways, round and round. You can vary the intensity but the important thing is not to get pumped or just take on a light pump. Over the winter last year I did this once a week and it helped to maintain stamina (not endurance).

2 - Doesn't work so good for aerobic endurance in comparison with 1 and doing Easy problems isn't going to help with anaerobic endurance. But, doing hard problems that are "doable but at your limit" on the minute (60 second rest betweeen) is a good for anaerobic endurance and an alternative to circuits.

2a - Circuits pretty good for building anaerobic endurance. Link 3 or 4 problems together to form a circuit that you can just about do. Repeat 5-6 times with 5 mins rest in between.. You'll be surprised how tough it gets.. you should aim to feel sick, pumped and shagged out by the end of the session.

3 - Doing routes 'pyramid' with 5 mins rest between each one is another good anaerobic method.

Anyway, it's all there in the training books...

In reply to Lbos: From what I've read, power-endurance is boosted by doing 40-move circuits that give a light pump on 1st go (with moves about 2 or 3 grades below your max), then repeating the circuit 5-8 times (with say 2 minute rests between) until, by the last rep, you are totally pumped at the end.

In reply to Marc C:

That's pretty much true (I've read it, tried it and yielded results) except:

40 moves is probably a little too long. Ideally you want a couple of circuits - one shorter and steep (say 25 moves) and one longer and less steep (say 35 moves).

2 minute rests is too short - you need about 3-5 mins between goes.

It's pretty unpleasant - mentally and physically exhausting and painful - but it does work.

In reply to Derbyshire Ben: Thanks. So what's a typical session then, Ben?

In reply to Marc C:

If it's a circuit session then I would normally warm up for 30 mins or so and then do a few harder problems to get the power up. Then it's just a case of doing 6-8 reps of the circuit every 5 minutes. Warm down.

1 1/2 hours approx.

In reply to Lbos:
Any fitness/training activity that you do will have a cross over effect to your climbing fitness.

However the main thing to realise is that 'you will get good at whatever you do' ie Sport specific training.

Climbing involves coordination, balance, control, explosive power, technique, and a clear head!!

My best tip, keep hydrated, remember a 2% loss in body fluids results in a -25% drop in strengh, stamina and co-ordination.