UKC

Hey folks, after some advice from the fitter folks on UKC

I want to sort myself out a training plan for the coming weeks, and was after some guidance

I want to increase my Cardio fitness & Stamina, so I can cope with long scottish walk ins, and nice long grade three routes.
I also need to increase my strength, to allow me to climb that bit harder (winter climbing, so Axe use, no crimpy holds!!)

now, I could Google that, but here's the tricky bit..time & Motivation!

I don't particularly enjoy training, so it can't be too boring, gotta keep me motivated, and I've got to fit it around work, and weekends climbing, and other evening commitments...so, I've got about 30mins to spare in the morning (thought maybe a session on the exercise bike?) and then maybe an hour or two when I get home from work. Trying to keep it all indoors too, weather's not exactly great at the moment!

So, anyone want a programme writing challenge? I've got 6 weeks to change from a 14st unfit fat wank*r, to a slightly lighter, slightly fitter wank*r

cheers

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): Read my post just up from yours titled insanity workout it did wonders for me.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

If you live or work in a high rise you could stomp up and down stairs carrying a full sack to get the legs going? The more relevant you can make the training the better.

You could do ice axe pullups off a bar or something, do sets of them with timed rests, since you probably want to aim for volume rather than improving your max pullup strength to survive long pitches of moderate effort - you won't be cranking one armers on the routes you're aiming for. I found that doing "on the 30 sec" sets means you can pack a very intense workout into only about 5-10 minutes, it takes surprisingly few pullups every 30 secs to really start to burn after a while. That combined with a 20 minute bike ride in the morning could be a good way to set you up for the day.

I assume you've got the usual calf raise exercises already scheduled in somewhere - something to do each day maybe?

Try and eat clean when you're doing this stuff as between a clean diet and a boost to the exercise volumes it will reap double benefits in knocking the weight off.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):


The problem with training is, it's generally boring and repetitive. You have to enjoy this side of it, or at least to be able to continue to train through it. Once you can accept this, anything else is secondary but will fall into place.

The one thing you've really got to do is.....stick with it.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): I'd second the 30 second set training. I'm trying to get my general fitness back up and I've started walking/running to work more and doing some simple exercises in the evenings...

Push ups, sit ups, pull ups, push ups, lock offs, knee/leg raises. 30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest. 5-10 minutes break and then repeat it 2 or 3 times.

I'm surprised how much fitness I had lost so doing this alongside climbing. Only takes approx 35 minutes and you can log how many you can do in each time set and try to increase it.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

You won't need to do pull ups until you are well up the grade ladder - certainly not grade V, so I'd just concentrate on the cardio. Get a road bike and a good light and ride it up some hills - builds the sort of strength you need in your legs for walking up a hill with a winter pack far more effectively than running. (Commutes are a good time to do this - when you get home you've already done your training!)

In reply to Fraser:

this.

training is rarely fun. boredom is part of it. suck it up.
ways to minimize the boredom are to make it harder and/or more complex. or train somewhere with lots of girls.
by making your training matter, ie only doing what works, not doing what is just filler, keeps the edge sharp.

pretty much, if youre starting now your gains will be minimal. 6 weeks is enough to pull together coordination, lose a bit of weight and find what you can do, but its not enough to make serious gains - that should have started 6 months ago.

all is not lost tho: coordination, weight loss and refining what you have are all good things and much better than nothing.
you can optimize all that with climbing-oriented exercise done in fairly high repetitions per set but at lowish weight, with a dew sets of higher weight now and then to work on recruitment (recruitment being something you can get a lot out of with your time frame).
so pullups, squats, complex sets all good. chase them with 3min bouts going hard at something high cardio (weighted step ups, run, rowing, whatever).
its standard conditioning training and shown to have effects.

what you probably shouldnt do tho is get into a heavy conditioning routine that demands a lot of recovery. the gains will be minimal and the chance of injury higher.

when boredom creeps in its a sign youve succumbed to mediocrity so sharpen it up - push harder, make things more complex, find better scenery.
or maybe go harder at it for less time. 30mins of hard training is worth more than 1hr of boring middle ground at this point.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

One further thought: it helps a lot if you can find a like-minded person to train with. Motivation, mutual support & encouragement can go along way to personal improvement. They need to be as keen as you are, so that when the enthusiasm starts to wane (as it inevitably will), there's someone there with you, going through the same doubts and despondency at lack of rapid or immediate improvement.

You don't want to be the first to give up and jack in the training - the same goes for your partner hopefully!