UKC

Climbing for a month; suggestions on training structure?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
as646 29 Sep 2012
I started climbing 4 weeks ago, at my local indoor bouldering wall (The Arch, Bermondsey if any of you know it). Completely and utterly addicted now beyond any hope of redemption.

I can now do more or less all of the V3s at the wall, some V4s and the odd V5. What I feel is stopping me from doing more of these harder routes is predominately my crimp strength, certainly to a lesser extent than my open hand grip strength or balance.

Every time I ask people how I can get better, I seem to just get the response "just climb as much as you can". Not the most helpful advice... I am climbing as much as I can, but I've always liked to apply a little bit of thought and structure to the way I train, regardless of sport - I find I progress exponentially faster this way.

I already have an excellent level of fitness and base strength that comes from a combination of boxing and compound lifting, and my grip strength is half decent from deadlifts (though this doesn't entirely translate to climbing), so I'm not necessarily worried about training injuries from trying to implement climbing specific supplementary training eg on fingerboards and the like.

Essentially what I'm looking for is some advice as to how I can start structuring my training to a) be more efficient, and b) best make me a stronger climber.
 kyle_wilson01 29 Sep 2012
In reply to as646:

My advice is don't rush things.
 turtlespit 29 Sep 2012
In reply to as646: Here's Neil Gresham's tips for those starting out - http://www.climber.co.uk/categories/articleitem.asp?item=728

Also, there's Dave MacLeod's online climbing coach blog if you want to look through the posts he has on there - www.onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com

One thing to be careful of is getting injured. Rotator cuff injuries are apparently common for guys who get hooked on overhangs without doing and supplementary exercises. Also be careful of ankle strains/breaks from awkward falls off the boulder wall. Also, if you're just bouldering at the moment it can be quite intense on the body, so switching one of your weekly sessions to ropes would be beneficial to avoid injury and also develop more climbing endurance.

Watching good climbers is a good way to improve. Most climbers are quite approachable as well - they'll happily give you tips on how they did a move if you ask.

 biscuit 29 Sep 2012
In reply to as646:

Fill your boots:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502

You sound like you have a structured background in sport so i am sure you'll be able to understand it.

Although you are fit ( and climbing to a very high standard after only 4 weeks )you will have to take care of your finger/elbow/shoulder tendons. The best way to do this is to learn good technique in the first instance which will help prevent this.

Although you sound very sporty and fit how much time have you spent hanging most of/all of your bodyweight off your fingertips ? Climbing is very specific in this and jumping on a fingerboard or campus board at this early stage is what most people would ( quite rightly ) warn against. Some people say leave it 2 yrs etc. but everyone is different and i am sure you will find your own way and what is right for you. Just watch out for muscle/tendon lag. Your muscles will increase in strength much quicker than your tendons, especially in your hands,and before you know it you will ping a tendon while crimping down hard.

So the best way to improve at this point is to climb more. All angles, all hold types and with good technique. Learn your body and how it climbs.

There is a book called self coached climber that 'shows' good technique and dvd's from neil gresham that do the same. However nothing is better than a session with a good coach to set you off on the right tracks before you get into bad habits. there are plenty of walls in London that provide this service - sometimes in groups for beginners to keep the cost down.

Or watch people who are climbing decent grades but make it look like they are gliding up routes/problems. They're the ones with good technique.

Good luck - and get outside as soon as you can, it's not all about the plastic.
as646 29 Sep 2012
In reply to as646: Thanks for all your responses!

Yeah, the climbing community in general seems to be incredibly open and friendly to everyone regardless of ability. Stark contrast to boxing, where people are friendly to a point - if and only if you've proven that you're dedicated to the sport.

The wall I climb at does "improvement sessions" with groups of inexperienced climbers. I've generally avoided them, as it seemed to be mostly complete beginners, and it didn't look like it involved much climbing per person, mostly people queing up to try a problem an instructor demonstrated, but I might give them a try!
 biscuit 29 Sep 2012
In reply to as646:
> (In reply to as646) Thanks for all your responses!

> The wall I climb at does "improvement sessions" with groups of inexperienced climbers. I've generally avoided them, as it seemed to be mostly complete beginners, and it didn't look like it involved much climbing per person, mostly people queing up to try a problem an instructor demonstrated, but I might give them a try!

I can't comment on your wall as i've never been but the session you describe sounds like a technique session. Coach demonstrates the technique and then people attempt it and watch others attempting it. This is actually much more valuable than it sounds. Watching others and critiquing against the demo makes for good learning. You are then obviously expected to go off and practice yourself. Ask for their advice, they could watch you for 5 mins and see if you would benefit from this session or maybe a private session.
You can always team up with someone else ( put an ad up at the wall ) if it's too expensive for a 1:1.
If you apply your dedication to boxing ( i am assuming you are/were as all the boxers i've known are ) to climbing then i am sure you will go far.
Good luck and enjoy.
 Fluvial 30 Sep 2012
In reply to as646:

Like the others have said really learn technique by either one to ones or by watching people doing the climbs you can't

Try a session on a fingerboard (After warming up) learn to do it properly - most walls have them. Look on the Beastmaker website for a workout and follow that, this should help improve your finger strength and finally just keep trying - get outside as well - real rock does make you improve as well as teach you where your shortcomings are.
 Pete Dangerous 01 Oct 2012
Surely just find out what type of problems you're weak at and practice on those grades/circuits. If you're bad on crimps, practice on crimps. Nothing will help you get better more than just doing more and more problems so 'climb as much as you can' is pretty good advice. Climb as hard and as long as your body will let you without screwing yourself up.
 Alun 15 Oct 2012
In reply to as646:

If, within a few weeks of climbing, you are really climbing up to V5 indoors (a level way above most people at this stage in their climbing career) then strength is almost certainly the least of your worries.

The "just climb as much as you can" sounds annoying but it really is a good response. I would imagine the reason you are likely not progressing any further is that you are relying on your natural strength, and not paying nearly enough attention to footwork or body position. And the only way to improve this is to climb more.

Perhaps more useful advice would be to climb more varied stuff. Indoor climbing is great for getting stronger but bouldering outdoors will introduce subtleties of technique and balance that you just can't learn elsewhere - your typical gritstone boulder is very different to pulling on overhanging plastic holds. When bouldering outside, footwork becomes a much more subtle art - the handholds are pretty obvious to find, but choosing which microedge or smear to use for your feet, and how the different options affect how hard you can pull on your hands, becomes an excercise in problem solving which makes bouldering so fascinating.

If you really want to get stronger, then there are plenty of books and web-pages to help you. But I honestly doubt that strength is your weakpoint right now.
 jkarran 15 Oct 2012
In reply to as646:
> I started climbing 4 weeks ago...
> I can now do more or less all of the V3s at the wall, some V4s and the odd V5.

Astonishing progress, that took me ~10 years.

> What I feel is stopping me from doing more of these harder routes is predominately my crimp strength, certainly to a lesser extent than my open hand grip strength or balance.

Be really careful or you'll be back asking about fingers that won't curl up properly soon enough.

> Every time I ask people how I can get better, I seem to just get the response "just climb as much as you can". Not the most helpful advice... I am climbing as much as I can

In which case it's still good advice but should probably be rephrased: "Patience".

> but I've always liked to apply a little bit of thought and structure to the way I train, regardless of sport - I find I progress exponentially faster this way.

Maybe it's time to focus on improving your technique. Get a good book, partner, DVD or a session with a coach, drop the grade back a bit and really focus on learning how to better exploit the strength you've already developed.

> Essentially what I'm looking for is some advice as to how I can start structuring my training to a) be more efficient, and b) best make me a stronger climber.

My advice would be don't look to be stronger, you're probably strong enough, look to be better, they're quite different things.
jk
 alooker 15 Oct 2012
In reply to as646: astonishing progress, really. If you can climb v5 in about 4 weeks then your strength is certainly not holding you back. Bear in mind that climbing can be quite specific too and your tendons might be weaker than your muscles, probably not a good idea to jump onto a fingerboard/campus board yet! Tendons take a while to strengthen up and if you rush it you're going to be out for a while...

Most likely what is holding you back now is technique which more than likely isn't as developed as your strength if you've been climbing for less than a month. If you're getting up v5 without much technique then when you start to really think and use it naturally you're gonna have a massive shoot up in grades I reckon.

The self-coached climber book has some great advice, take it slow and it's probably best to keep climbing rather than doing any specific hangboarding etc just yet
 RockSteady 15 Oct 2012
In reply to as646:

I would focus on varying sessions between volume (i.e. doing as many problems as possible in your time at the wall, focusing on doing easier problems very smoothly but with little rest between them) and intensity (so taking proper rests and working problems as hard as you can, and trying to do moves harder than you can do).

Combination of those should see you right while you develop your skills. And second the recommendation of 'The Self-coached Climber'.
alex_nrth 16 Oct 2012
In reply to as646: I went to the Arch a couple of weeks ago, the grading there is very soft, as are most places in London, probably a couple of grades lower than they say they are, my advice would be go somewhere else, biscuit factory is a bit better, or mile end. And take it slow, build up your tendons before you damage them!!
as646 18 Oct 2012
In reply to RockSteady: The past few weeks I've been doing a lot of work on endurance -- keeping a very high intensity throughout the entire session -- and I've been trying to move away from relying so much on upper body strength. I'm now consciously slowing everything down and trying to make all my movements as smooth/efficient as possible.

It's the biscuit factory that I'm climbing at, I think the grading there is definitely a bit soft (not that I have much to compare it to, but I think the fact that I'm able to consistently do a few of the V5s says more about their grading than my ability!).

I'm heading out to Southern Sandstone for a session outdoors this weekend, will see how I fare there.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...