UKC

So having been climbing for a few months and really liking it the thought of having nowhere to climb or train was just not going to happen, basically I spend a few months each year out in Asia and when I say my location is in a Rice field that is not far from the truth.. My nearest climbing gym is a plane ride away and there is bugger all Crags in the area..

I have built a rather fetching 8'x12' with a 20 degree slant wall in my workshop, I tend to only climb routes rather than bouldering but I do head to the bouldering gym from time to time, is there a indoor training "bible" that is the go to way to train on a small wall???..

I tend to climb up to about 6b indoors, I have a decent amount of larger holds but would like a few more jugs, I am currently thinking the wall will come into it's own to work on footwork..

So what the general consensus??..

Regards

In my experience it goes like this:
- Build wall
- Talk about wall
- Use wall twice
- Get fat
- Sell wall

The Gimme Kraft book will give you a good guide on some exercises for use with a system board, but aside from that plenty of holds and regular sessions trying hard moves and doing some circuits will get you proper strong. 

Check out the some of the training videos here on UK climbing.  I remember a couple of videos from a while ago (2012-2014) of James Pearson detailing some stamina training, with alternatives if you only have a boulder wall available.  

Robbie Phillips also had a series of articles on here as well, which also had boulder wall training details (IIRC).

Maybe too late - but a Moon Wall could be good in this situation?

In general you need to make sure you're having fun or enjoying what you're doing. If not it will be hard to stick with it. You need to train on it consistently, say every other day, to make decent gains.

You could train either strength or endurance. Although you're more interested in routes, strength is still very important to train to get better. As routes get harder the individual moves get harder too. It's harder and takes longer to get strong but you don't lose it so easily. This what most boards are used for.

So the way to do that is to simply set yourself some boulder problems you can't quite do and keep working on them until you can. Keep a record of the problems in a book so you can go back to them later. As you get stronger these should feel easier than when you first do them. Charting progress like this is a good way to stay motivated and keep pushing yourself.

I don't think I'd put any jugs on 20 degree board. For your ability you probably want more like 1st to 2nd joint flat holds and smaller.

When legendary Scottish climber Malcolm Smith built his first board he found out he couldn't do a single problem on it. He kept working on it though and was soon doing many problems and ended up as one of the strongest climbers in the world.

I use my woodie mid-week to supplement weekends outside / at the wall. Personally, I find that I'm still slightly below full strength 2 days after a solid board session. YMMV but meaningful training every other day on a woodie would led to fatigue and injury, not gains.

Luckily the wall has been used more than twice thus far and even if I wanted to sell it I doubt the local rice farmers would have any need for it other than fire wood that was brought by the white man...

Also out of the question will be speaking to anybody about it, when I was buying the wood the fella asked me what it was for (In broken English) I explained it was for a climbing wall, said loudly with climbing motion..

The reply was "Why not just climb a tree", Gotta love that logic and I honestly could not argue.. I wanted to point out my fear of heights and lack of anyone to Belay me not to mention the questionable anchor points that the local trees would have, or coconuts falling onto my head...

Regards

Regarding "fun", it is either hit the wall or sit at the side of the road drinking beer being abusive to the locals and in the long run that will not help anybody..

I am a few sessions in at the moment, only managing a hour each time before my fingers are cut to pieces on the shite holds I have, but I am getting a idea for what I need longer term..

Regards

Yeah I am starting to see the benefits that focused training could bring, I will get a load of holds sent over when I am back in the UK later this month..

I tend to climb every other day when in London and apart from sweating like a baboon in a oven I cannot see why that could not be continued here in micro scale.. 

Regards

Here's a good insight into what training might involve...

https://www.trainingbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1.-Alex-Barrows-Tra...

Training beta podcast is a good source of info.

I'd be worried that you risk training too intensely from a low base, if you've not been climbing long. Take it easy on those fingers.

Making your own holds out of wood (and other random things) might be a good option for you.

+1 for the Gimme Kraft book. Start a training journal an make a plan to go along with it.

if your board has a kickboard and you (hopefully) haven’t drilled and fitted captive fittings yet, then set the holes as per the Moon website instructions and buy the Schoolroom sets. I think Ben has extended the app and problems/sets to include 20 degree boards now.

Yeah I guess so much depends what you do, how long you do it for and how hard you push. When Alex Megos was in Sheffield he was training 3 times a day (though probably only one session on a board). Dave Macleod reckons research suggests it's better to train several days in a row rather than having long hard sessions, though that means each session factors that in, so you don't go as hard.

Also I'm guessing your board is probably steeper than the 20 degrees mentioned above. I think the steeper the board the more draining a workout tends to be. Lots of other factors too from genetics, age and bodyweight that will vary the amount of recovery quite a bit. But maybe it's better just to say consistency is what is important and the precise timing will have to be worked out by trial and error for the individual.

Sounds like you've got a good reason to train then.

You might consider wooden holds. All the early boards used homemade wooden holds. Just cut up some scraps of wood, sand down the edges and screw them onto the board. The lack of friction on wood means they're much more skin friendly and harder to hold thus they work you harder.

I think the two angles are 40 degrees and 25 degrees.

I have built this wall with the option of increasing angle as the bottom is hinged, it would only take a few bolts and a couple of more holes drilled to increase the 20 degrees.

In my advancing years, I’m finding 20 degrees board angle is just fine!

Sounds like a perfect way to go. Increase the angle as you improve and get better.

There's an interesting article on systems' board training worth looking at. Although yours isn't a systems's board I think a lot of it applies.

https://joshuatreebouldering.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/system-training-part-...