UKC

Is this a good way of increasing muscle strength power endurance or is it best avoided to prevent injury?

In reply to Pesda potato:


My understanding is that this is the best way to increase strength, however sufficient rest and fuel/protein needs to be taken between working muscles that hard.
I'm looking at this from the purely gym based experience though.
Everyone is different.

OM

In reply to Pesda potato:

Working muscles to fatigue will build strength, not power endurance. Specifically, hypertrophy training ( the term for this kind of exercise ) builds muscle mass, which may or may not be what you want depending on your goals - depending on how strong you are now it could well be counter-productive.

In reply to planetmarshall:


Yes that's right.
From a gym perspective 1-6 reps of very heavy weightlifting will build muscle mass fastest , anything above 10-12 reps builds stamina and endurance .
You probably want a bit of both to balance it out depending on you current state.

OM

In reply to Onion magnet:

If the goal is to become stronger for climbing, then you need to keep in mind that any additional muscle mass you develop has to be carried up the route with you. If you don't already have a good strength base, then hypertrophy training could be beneficial. If, however, you already have a good level of strength, then you can still raise your maximum strength by performing low reps/high weights without exercising to failure.

In reply to Pesda potato:

Great advice ta

As an addendum I was told by a physio that stretching is useless and that eccentric exercises that strengthen and lengthen is the only way to do l it

In reply to Pesda potato:

I would be a little careful using weight training in climbing if that's your plan as it has a tendency to reduce agility levels. I have found gymnastics based routines best, especially for core strength. Apart from that loads of running mixed with circuiting steep bouldering seems to be working best. However I am 6,2 so my biggest weakness behind ability is hand strength to weight ratio, hence keeping unnecessary muscle off makes a big difference.

In reply to Pesda potato:

Your question is too vague to really answer properly.

To make physical gains In strength or endurance you need to work to a certain level of fatigue, yes.

That level differs according to your objective. To improve power endurance you generally work to a stage where you're reslly quite pumped then rest a few minutes then repeat a number of times; I find I work until I'm really quite tired. To improve strength then you should be doing less volume, but still training a bit beyond the point where you feel your performing less well than when fresh. For power you should stop as soon as you feel an attempt was worse than the previous one due to fatigue.

The above are purely physical considerations. However, when tired your ability to learn technique is really impaired. So I'd say that it's also important not to train to the point where you're flailing, as that increases injury likelihood, degrades technique, and means more rest before you can train again.

The knack is in balancing the above two competing prioirities

In reply to Pesda potato:

It depends what you mean by fatigue. I think doing sets to failure can be a good way to train. You need a certain level of intensity when you train and if it not at least close to muscle failure its usually not that effective.

However its best not to finish a session feeling completely knackered because that means it will take longer to recover and longer before you can train hard again. This will slow your progress. Finish Strong is a term which sums this idea up.