UKC

Ok, the with objective "getting stronger" for sport routes, as well as other things, I'm planning to spend 1 hour a week on/under a Beastmaker 45deg system board (after a good warm-up). What should I do? My max boulder grade is probably around V5/6C. I'm not sure what ratio of efforts to rest I should be looking at. How many efforts in an hour? Is it best to go for big power moves or keep it static? Should I be working very hard short sequences or longer problems to the top of the board. Should I also work the mirror of any problems I'm on or does left and right strength imbalance make this impractical.

Thanks in advance for any informative replies?

In reply to JLS:

I'm no expert but my 0.02:
- Efforts to rest - good rests between problems. Effort:rest 1:many (4? 5?)
- power vs static - depends on your weakness. But not many people climb static on a 45.
- long vs short - again, depends on your weakness. Do you fail on single moves on sport routes or on pulling the xth hard move in a row (where, if you're training it on a board, x is less than about 10)?
- personally I'd work mirrors if I had a mirror board.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers. Looking at some weightlifting sites would suggest that for climbing, where increasing the bulk of muscle is less important than improving recruitment and neuro systems, I should be doing looking to move fast and explosively with about 5 minutes rest between efforts. So I think I'll be looking at doing around 10 big efforts in the hour. I'd been doing some campus ladders and had guessed 5 minutes rest between them would be about correct so that seems to have been born out.

Anyone else got an insight on this sort of stuff?

In reply to JLS:

Have never been uninjured for long enough to try board climbing really but here's some videos I remember watching in the past:

vimeo.com/67873877

vimeo.com/67877971

Good luck.

In reply to cha1n:

Cheers for those links. A lot of useful info there. Thanks.

In reply to JLS:

I would aim to simply master moving well on that angle - aim for accurate, dynamic, feet-on problems of varying lengths. Short tensiony moves off poor holds will contribute more towards your sport climbing skills than long foot-off moves between big holds.
Power and finger strength should develop as a useful by-product (if you're not on jugs). I'd look to extend it to a 1.5hr session if you can find the time/energy, and definitely mirror every problem, it'll help your movement awareness no end, plus iron out strength imbalances. IMHO.

In reply to John Kettle:

Cheers. Yeah was definitely thinking feet on for core. My gut feeling was that beyond an hour I'd start to lose form and would increase injure risk. I'll bear in mind your suggestion and see how it goes...

In reply to JLS:
Hi JLS, you need to figure out what it is you want to climb. Working out on the 45' with no goal is like reaching for the lump hammer without having a job to do.

So your stats say you have ticked sport 7c, no doubt 8a is lingering in the back of your mind. But what kind of 8a? Short and powerful? Long and pumpy?

Also what type of climber are you? You have ticked 6c+7A on boulders, if you want a short, powerful 8a sport climb you need to be a well rounded 7C/V9 boulderer, if you want long and pumpy being able to do 6B+/6C for 30m would get you the same grade.

In reply to alx:

Well, I'm not going to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, so I know I'll never be super strong. Long and pumpy all the way.. The aim is simply to increase non specific generic strength so I'm less often shut down on hard cruxes and don't require to push my powers of recovery to the max everytime I get through a British 6a move.