UKC

Struggling to increase my grip endurance on long sessions, my grip goes then my sessions ruined, any ideas /tips to help?
And before it gets said w#nking doesnt help

In reply to littlejon86:

As a really rough plan drop about 3 or 4 bouldering grades from what you can work a problem at. Climb up and down for as long as you can until you start to feel moderately pumped. Rest for 2.5 times the time that circuit took. Rinse and repeat. Don't burn yourself totally into the ground with the number of cycles but close to it (you will end up spending longer to recover and ultimately training less). You will hit a plateau by this method but if your endurance is poor it will probably bring big gains for a few weeks.

In reply to littlejon86:
Laps on an auto belay, aiming for

In reply to littlejon86:

I give a vote for laps on the auto belay been doing that every other week (1 session in 4) to improve Stamina not sure how it's improving grip but I'm able to do more without being pumped in my other sessions

I laid it out in sets if 3 last night,
5b,5c,6a
6a,5c,5b
5c,6a,5c,

and so on till the last but one set
6b+ (I was bored by now), 5b,
6a, 5c

I did 21 laps in an hour and 10 minutes it was very hot yesterday too. I have recently started to onsight some 6b's on top rope to give you an idea of comparative grade levels.

In reply to littlejon86:

How much are you resting between goes? How long do you take to warm up?

Getting a 'flash pump' and not being able to climb any longer is a symptom of climbing too hard before your body is ready for it.

Similarly without taking proper rest the cumulative effect of the routes/boulders you've done before will take its toll. Unless you're specifically training endurance (and I would suggest that if your profile is correct and you have <1 year climbing experience, that you shouldn't be 'training' as opposed to building climbing experience), there's not much value to climbing on when you're already shattered.

For novice climbers I think there's a lot to be said for staying as fresh as possible through a session, and focusing on improving technique and learning how to climb smoothly.

In reply to littlejon86:

At the end of your climbing session, when you are a bit knackered, aim for a 20-30 min traverse-athon on the bouldering wall, any holds, no touching the mat, no resting in corners for longer than 10 secs. Keep it easy, keep on moving, get in everyone's way.

Onb off chance you are in London, this works well at Mile End, full traverse of main room and back twice.

In reply to RockSteady:

Cheers man, its since ive been hitting overhanging routes, altho im a novice climber ive been a lorry mechanic for 15 years so thought i had a reasonable start on my grip etc, but the flash pump you say sounds like what it is..a few 5 routes to warm up then upto 6a+ on flat im fine but then any route with a overhang burns me out...must say that my clipping is still pretty rubbish and thats a big drain

In reply to littlejon86:

On overhanging routes it's even more important to climb with good technique to minimise tiredness. Using your outside edge, flagging, twisting in, drop knees, heel hooks etc to keep your centre of gravity close to the wall.

Focus on this and (1) you'll get less tired and (2) you'll get better at climbing and (3) improve your endurance over time as you'll be able to climb more routes in a session.

In reply to littlejon86:

Rocksteady's advice is spot on. Another bit of advice is that overhanging routes require more strength and strength training is best done with lots of adequate rest.

Try a steady warm up practising those overhanging techniques that Rocksteady talks about especially twisting in. Then when you do move onto the harder overhanging routes force yourself to take a much longer rest between goes than you would do on the more vertical routes. You'll find you can climb for longer and you will get stronger over time.

In reply to RockSteady:

Think my new approach is going to be easier route but do them perfect for a few weeks, when im not thinking about it and just climbing well ill be dropping into the wall better etc...im off for a week due to work so when im back ill put it into practice and get my flagging and outside edge work perfect

In reply to littlejon86:

I know exactly what you mean. Something I was wondering about over the winter too. A really full pump can take a long while to fully subside. If you don't rest long enough your standard is way diminished. That's why people rest for up to an hour between tries on hard redpoints when climbing outdoors. But of course you don't want to take rests like that when training.

One solution is to just do easier routes so you're not so pumped each time. But I think that just gets you fitter for doing longer routes of a low standard and doesn't do much for power/power endurance needed on harder routes.

I started experimenting this year by deliberately taking rests/hangs on harder routes before I became overly pumped. That way I could do the same hard pitch multiple times in a session with relatively short rests (just the time alternating leads with my partner - 10 - 15 mins). This is like interval training. Because you're not focused on getting to the top you can focus more on movement, experimenting with subtle shifts of body position and executing each move as perfectly as you can.

But the main thing is that you can greatly increase the volume of hard moves you do in a session. You can also gradually decrease the number rests on a route you take to increase the intensity as you get stronger/fitter.