UKC

anybody find any benefits?

In reply to the power:
yes

You need to include core skill training into your regimen or it will be like owning a Ferrari with no steering wheel.

In reply to the power:

Personally I haven't and I'm getting on alright.
Leading 7a indoors and I don't think core strength is a limiting factor.
On Trad I'm almost certain it's not a limiting factor for me.

I did practice getting my foot high (eg swing left to the level of my hands) I think this is more practice than strength as I haven't "trained" it for 6 months and I still feel the ability helps in climbing.

However the board at Uni is 38deg, and I have a feeling training core strength will help me now.

any help?

Personally I don't find the need to train core strength for climbing. If you can easily hold your body into the wall, then I think that time is better spend working on finger strength or endurance.
(Just my 2p worth)

In reply to the power:
Having a core is very important in order to apply body tension. But the strength will only be useful if your technique is good.
This may be of help.
http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-body-tension-means.htm...
James

In reply to the power:

as the smaller peripheral muscle groups tire (hands, forearms, calves etc) you rely more and more on larger muscle groups towards your abdomen, spine, hips and shoulders.
the better integrated the whole lot is the more efficient your musculature and glycogen use becomes.

dont just train your 'core', train to strengthen both the muscle groups and interconnection structure.

like anything, unless theres a disproportionate increase in weight and/or loss of flexability, any training that makes you stronger and better integrated is a good thing.

In reply to the power: Core helps stability, keeping you on the wall on steeper ground as well as getting you back on it when you need your feet on ... Pretty important to train your core.

In reply to the power: I guess I can answer this in a sort of sideways manner by saying that I don't specifically train core but I do notice when my core seems to be the weakpoint that keeps me from climbing harder. For trad climbing, you are rarely climbing very steep terrain and even when I am, I don't feel that lack of body tension is the weakest point. For indoor bouldering however (and I assume the same is true for outdoor), I often find that on steep angles, the way my sags away from the wall robs me of problems I think I should be able to do.

To a certain extent the importance of core strength depends on your height, the taller you are, the more core strength you need to keep your whole body in control on steeper ground, while shorter people have a much easier time of it.

When I have felt the need to be better on steeper angles, I have always just climbed more on those angles, rather than specifically trying to train my core.

Agreed, when the handholds get really poor on overhanging ground, its core tension pushing through your feet and torso that keeps you in position as much as strong fingers.

However, I think climbing on the right steepness problems does a great job of training the muscles and the technique, and doing some knee raises hanging from a bar so you end up curled up in a ball always do a good job of blasting everything. You need to be damn strong to do proper good form leg raises, so crank out the knee raises first.....

Since learning the ultra basics like flagging, step throughs, swapping feet/hands, centre of gravity blah blah, the next most important revelation for my punterish climbing has been learning how to use my core to keep me in a position where i can do what i want. A desperate dyno lunge can actually become a fairly straightford reach when you figure out where and what to do with the big weighty blob between your arms and your legs, and the answer is not flopping around like a bag of jelly

In reply to the power: Core training for me seems to make a huge difference. To get the most out of your body, instead of just pulling harder with arms/fingers, you need to pull and push actively with your feet, tuck your body in close, sometimes move you hips sideways over a foothold and twist your core keeping the arm and shoulder stationary. A strong core allows you to keep the rigidity necessary to keep your feet in play, and your arm exertion minimised. After all, pretty much every difficult route out there requires high feet, horizontal body positions, big static reaches to holds too small to cut loose onto etc. If you spend a training session really concentrating on active foot placements, pulling with your toes, moving your body instead of your arms when possibly, you will probably feel all kinds of core and leg muscles tire that you may not normally use. Ab routines including leg raises, front levers, pullups with legs held out horizontally etc really seem to make a difference. Helped me through one grade barrier anyway. If your up for a laugh, try this and see if your core has endurance - flattened me the first time: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1464945638519938565#

In reply to jacobjlloyd: thanks everyone,core training starts tomorrow

In reply to the power:

mark twight has a lot to say about all this. check out gym jones for an interesting and intense perspective.

dont forget: 'core' doesnt mean abdominals, but it does include them.
i find things like weighted pull ups where you lift the weight with your feet, overhead squats, floorwipers, turkish get ups, barbell/dumbell complexes and juxtaposing combinations (something hefty like an overhead squat followed by something complicated like man makers or burpees or a bike sprint) put it all together.

just isolating 'core' exercises like abdominal workouts etc isnt too effective - need to train entire body movements with the largest range of motion possible, which increases with training and prevents stiffening up.

oh, and keep the reps high most of the time so you dont pack excess weight. mind you, it takes time and effort to 'get big' so you will be able to deal with it.

let us know how you get on. theres not enough info about on this, anecdotal or otherwise.

In reply to the power: http://usa.moonclimbing.com/core-body-%E2%80%93-the-missing-link-c-334_365....