UKC

Bouldering starting out

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 kingjam 14 Sep 2015
Hi

Need some advice , im a fairly experienced climber and have plateau'd f or a long time at my current grade which is HVS , 6a sports .

This year I want to focus my training around bouldering and was wondering if anyone has any resources or advise around a training programme.

I will get to the indoor wall once a week and am going to invest in a finger board but ideally want to be climbing 6B+ 6c indoors.

Thanks
 Jon Stewart 14 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:
Is it possible to re-jig things so you can get to the wall more often? You'll improve really quickly if you boulder 2+ x per week indoors.

The trouble with finger boards is that if you're not already a good boulderer (say >6c ish) then you can end up being one of those horrible climbers who can get up a 7a+ roof while climbing like a sack of spuds and being unable to manage a 6b arete. Might not apply to you if you've been climbing for a few years, but HVS/6a sport isn't really the forcing ground of good technique which comes from doing hard moves, i.e. bouldering and a very high volume of climbing.

There are loads of online resources about how to get the most out of your finger board, but I would say if you want to get from not bouldering to font 6c, you're going to need to spend a lot of time climbing.
Post edited at 14:01
Removed User 14 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

You shouldn't be using a fingerboard at your grade, really shouldn't be using one till at LEAST 6C+. The solution is to climb more, that's how progression is made.
1
OP kingjam 15 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

Ok lets ignore the finger board. Are there some simple bouldering drills i can use to get me started ?
 Steve nevers 15 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

> Ok lets ignore the finger board. Are there some simple bouldering drills i can use to get me started ?

Youtube is surpringly good. Neil Gresham has a good basics of movement video on there, and if you look about you'll find the same ideas repeated by others.
around 15 Sep 2015
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Yes but without fingerboarding you might not even be able to get up a 7a+ roof. This seems like an incredibly weak argument against getting strong.

It doesn't seem as though OP wants to do fingerboarding as a replacement activity for climbing, so I'm not sure where the harm is coming from?
1
 Steve nevers 15 Sep 2015
In reply to around:

> Yes but without fingerboarding you might not even be able to get up a 7a+ roof. This seems like an incredibly weak argument against getting strong.

> It doesn't seem as though OP wants to do fingerboarding as a replacement activity for climbing, so I'm not sure where the harm is coming from?

Its more the potentail tendon etc damage from over enthusiastic fingerboarding i guess.

Also strength gains with poor technique isn't really going to help a HVS/6a sport climber that much. i'd say strength isn't going to be as much help until 7a/b compared to technique. Footwork, core, directional loading, finding rests, strategy, headgame work would be more important.
around 15 Sep 2015
In reply to Steve nevers:

> Its more the potentail tendon etc damage from over enthusiastic fingerboarding i guess.

I'm not sure that static hanging has the potential to cause too much damage - your body generally knows fairly early on when it's not going to accept hanging off a half-pad mono, say. Ease into it slowly and gently (using the huge jugs/4 finger slots) on most fingerboards, and I'm not sure it's more dangerous than climbing too hard too early.

> Also strength gains with poor technique isn't really going to help a HVS/6a sport climber that much. i'd say strength isn't going to be as much help until 7a/b compared to technique. Footwork, core, directional loading, finding rests, strategy, headgame work would be more important.

I found the opposite: I'd attribute most of my progression to getting stronger (both fingers and general arms/core), and now that I'm bouldering 7A, that's when I've started to having to experiment with micro-beta. Of course, I could have picked up a lot of tips about technique along the way, but when I'm taking new climbers out, even when I'm yelling technique at them I'm not sure they have the strength to get into and hold the most advantageous positions.
2
 Steve nevers 15 Sep 2015
In reply to around:

Progression rates in both vary wildly for individuals i find. For example it sounds we both that progressed to a similar grade-range using the opposite approach!

I've always been a very 'full-body' climber though. Old injures to my right shoulder means i've never been able to train fingers/arms due to instabilities there, so tend to use body positioning and heels etc a lot. Hitting 7A/B and only finding strength an issue now. But hey thats my personally 'thing' though i guess. Also being 5'11 and quite light for my height has most likely been a factor in a delayed strength plateau.

Also find teaching technique is better done without yelling at people! .
 Dave Flanagan 15 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

Kingjam what is your bouldering grade at the moment?
 Jon Stewart 15 Sep 2015
In reply to around:
> Yes but without fingerboarding you might not even be able to get up a 7a+ roof. This seems like an incredibly weak argument against getting strong.

Guess it depends what you aspire to. I think it would be unhelpful and annoying to be able to crank through a plastic 7a+ roof and then go bouldering to find you can't get up the 6bs (or even 5s in Font). Getting good at climbing for me has to increase to the range of stuff you can deal with - good climbers have skill set that they can apply to a load of different situations on rock. If you've got a certain amount of time to spend on climbing, at the OPs grade I think that's best used climbing a lot rather than doing isolation strength training as that leads to climbing hard problems in very limited styles like a sack of spuds, which is not what I aspire to. Some people may do, I don't know.

> It doesn't seem as though OP wants to do fingerboarding as a replacement activity for climbing, so I'm not sure where the harm is coming from?

The reason I said that was because the OP said he could climb once a week; I think anyone who who seriously wants to improve needs to make climbing more often a priority.
Post edited at 20:11
OP kingjam 16 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

So look there are some limitations to what i can do . I cannot for instance climb more than once a week although I can keep fit outside the climbing wall . Im 98 k aaand whiilst i can get down to 96 i wouldnt want to drop more weight than that for teh sake of climbing better. I know all these things will limit my potential and im fine with that .

My goals are to climb a couple of grades above what I currently do and from where i see it both technique and strength are areas where i can make large improvements , I do not see them being independent . If i struggle up a 6c i dont care, thats a thing to resolve in 2017 just as long as im progressing and right now i cannot get up a 6b at all.

So I want to boulder once a week and i will fingerboard once a week.

For bouldering I wanted something more structured to my training than just rocking up and trying some routes . So im really looking for some help with drills that will help me progress ( technique and strength )and i can measure myself against .

thanks in advance
In reply to kingjam:

If you can't increase your climbing volume, you won't benefit from a fingerboards - as the others said, it's useless below a certain level.

If I were you, I'd focus on volume. Start by measuring how much you can fit in that weekly training session: how many moves, how many routes, how many problems or how many meters - in short QUANTIFY it.

Once you have those figures, try to increase them progressively.

For instance, if you can climb say 5 no. 6a routes of 15 m, then the next time, make sure you climb 6 of them, or try a 6a+ or choose longer ones.

Make sure you meet the target without increasing the overall session time spent (tip: drink plenty of water between each attempts).

If you keep track of those numbers and push them up during that weekly session (make sure you don't waist it by chatting around), then you should easily gain a couple of grades and improve your technic without any serious risk of injury.

I'm no climbing coach, but to climb 6c indoors, you don't need any
 Dave Flanagan 16 Sep 2015
> For bouldering I wanted something more structured to my training than just rocking up and trying some routes . So im really looking for some help with drills that will help me progress ( technique and strength )and i can measure myself against .

If your wall is decent and has a good range of bouldering circuits you should be able to use that to benchmark improvements over time.

I don't think there are many useful drills out there. I think the best way to improve is to try problems but in a few structured, analytical way. Make a plan before you pull on a problem, have a go, if you fall off try and figure out what went wrong, is there a better way, make a new plan, try again etc. Initially this process is slow but becomes quicker and ultimately intuitive. Much better than climbing with tennis balls in your hands.

Also seek out weakness, again a good wall with a variety of surfaces and styles will help, there will be problems within a circuit that you struggle on/avoid/don't enjoy, if the goal is to raise your general level then you need to spend most time on those.



 Steve nevers 30 Sep 2015
In reply to kingjam:

'Grade Pyramids' might help.

Have a structured plan of say 12 F4s, 8 F5/+s, 4 on your grade limit and 2 projects for each session (pulling these numbers out of the air but its a rough outline) and stick to it, making yourself climbing the kind of problems you'd normally avoid too.

focusing on your weak areas does pay off as it helps boost your confidence and makes you have a wider base to draw on when working out moves for other problems.

For example I found an injury that left me climbing slabs one-handed for a fortnight made me focus a lot more of balance over power, and the returns of that were huge in terms of grades, as it made me a lot more aware of my whole body position while moving on the wall, and also made me work on dynamic-yet-controlled moves and improve my deadpoints.
 alx 06 Oct 2015
In reply to kingjam:

If you have not consistently bouldered before you will get better at it the more you do.

Have fun, do this lots, fall off lots, learn to try hard and the rest of the training bumf at this stage in your climbing lifetime will be of limited value.

Depending on your body type, genetics, personal inclinations to certain styles you will eventually plateau. Until then have fun as hanging off a bit of wood one handed with 50kg strapped to you is not fun.

The only instances where training at this point would be of value is if the climbing facilities are dire, but from your profile you live in London so have access to a wealth of indoor walls.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...