UKC

My exams are coming up in 7 weeks now (Ahh!) so I will have to be studying more than normal. I usually climb 2x a week and train 3x a week at home (I know I should climb more but I can't get down to the wall more than that as I can't drive). I usually do one of the beastmaker app workouts, frenchies or one arm negatives, a core workout and then some injury prevention exercises. This all in all takes about two and a and half hours in total, including a thorough warm up. The problem is that I don't have time to do all of this 3x a week, although it would be 4x because I can't get to the wall during the week because I'm studying. What I am wondering is should I do the beastmaker app workout and not finish it or should I find an alternative shorter hang board workout? Which is more beneficial? If I would be better off doing a shorter workout could anyone point me in the direction of one? For a bit of climbing background I am 5ft 7in at 130lb, I'm 16 and am mainly a boulderer. I have climbed font 7C+ (Indoors so take that as you want) and in terms of routes have on sighted 7B+ (I only climb routes for competitions so I haven't tried any harder but they felt pretty easy in terms of moves, endurance was the only problem). Any help would be appreciated , and I know I don't need to train, my life doesn't depend on it but I enjoy training as it gives me a chance to relax and think about the day. Thanks very much !

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

My tuppence worth: concentrate on your exams. Worry about climbing performance improvement thereafter.

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

You're clearly a strong kid, so I'm not gonna nag on about training so hard and the long term damage you could be doing to yourself.
The thing that bothered be about your title is that 'hang boarding on a tight schedule' could end up with you trying too hard without a proper warm up, leasing to injury. Don't risk it.
Use this time to let your body recover, focus on your exams, and chill!

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

You can maintain your current standards with one focused session a week down the wall. The time you would spend everyday dangling off the board can be put into study and then let off steam at the wall.

If you stop going to the wall and just board you will likely lose the 'feeling' for climbing and despite maybe being stronger when you come back you will feel rusty for a while.

One focused session a week will keep your movement, reduce injury risk (finger boarding while tired/stressed) and maintain your level (which is bloody good anyway) and give your body a bit of a break. It may even recover and get stronger anyway due to an enforced rest - depending on how much you were doing before.

In reply to Jack McKechnie:
16? Tight schedule?

Buy a Filofax and get up earlier.

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

Sounds like you're training pretty hard.

You don't need to get an app with a workout pre-installed though. It's unlikely to be that good for you anyway. Much better to write you're own, and tailor it specifically to your needs.

If you want to strip a workout right down then I'd suggest doing fingertip pullups, probably the most climbing specific of basic exercises. Do sets of 4/5/6 (depending on strength/fitness) on the minute - 15 sets will then only take you 15 minutes. Consider adding weight if you need to make it harder, wrist weights if you want to make it harder on your fingers. If you improve at these you'll probably notice an overall improvement in your climbing. That should leave some time for some core / antagonist training. Maintaining strength supposedly requires fewer training days so if you just want to maintain you could do your other exercises say once per week.

There's a great free app called interval timer. (Android version: http://bit.ly/1pwF30Y) You can write multiple workouts, set rest times, it records your workouts when you've completed them. Because everything is timed you know exactly how long you're workout will be before you start. It's ideal for an intense and effective, time limited workout.

In reply to stp:


Sounds like a recipe for injury - needs more rest IMO.

In reply to ianstevens:

Depends how strong you are. I think anyone who can boulder font 7c+ would find it suitable. This is a way a lot of good climbers trained in the 80s. Ben Moon trained this way last year to get in shape for Rainshadow.

The biggest causes of injuries I think are training when exhausted and (usually related) poor form.

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

You could look at training in this period as maintenance. Perhaps a good time to have a bit of an off season and let niggles recover.

That's due to the need for mental focus to be on studying. Since in practise studying more than (say) 10 hours a day is not usually productive so I'd think you still have (down)time for training, and it could clear your head for the bookwork.

I'd probably do 5x5s on the fingerboard: ie 5 x ((5s on, 5s off) x 5, 3' rest) = 20 minutes. With 20' warmup and doing 2 grips you'd be done in an hour.

You could also do max hangs: single 10s hangs at your limit. With a couple of minutes rest between each you could do 15 hangs in half an hour. You'd surely need to add a fair bit of weight on 2 handed grips at your level, or perhaps take some off with a pulley if doing one handed hangs. I'm new to these but have recently been doing them on alternate workouts with the 5x5s and find them complimentary.

I've picked up both the above ideas - with gratitude - from a climber of this parish (Mark iirc?).