UKC

Hi all

Some observations I'd like your help on.

Where I live covid shutdown the indoor walls  at the end of feb. Before covid  I was an avid 2 times a midweek indoor (6c) and a Saturday outdoor climber (6b) climber.   

During lockdown all I could do was max strength finger boarding maybe once per week.  When restrictions eased we were allowed outside but the climbing walls were not open. We made use of this and started climbing outside 3 times per week.  I managed to tick some 6cs and project some 7as which is pretty good progress for me. 

I returned to indoor climbing today, 6 months later, and the 5bs and 5cs felt pretty tricky and there were some holds which I didn't even want to commit to.  

So my question is, what are people's opinions on how much indoor climbing helps you progress at outdoor climbing? as to me right now it seems to have very little effect or influence. From where I am right now it seems finger boarding is more than enough to help your outdoor climbing.

  Second question; if my hypothesis (for myself) is correct what should I focus my time indoors on, to get the best bang for my buck to enable me to climb better outdoors.  

Thanks 

Depends on what you do when you go indoor climbing...

Have a nice time with your mates and climb a handful of routes = not much benefit.

Go indoors and do structured training on routes = shed loads of benefit.

Theres a lot of middle ground there too of course.

Whilst fingerboarding type stuff is great physically, the movement benefits of actually climbing, as well as confidence above bolts etc can’t be overlooked.

Thanks jez, really learning a lot from your videos btw. 

Generally, yes. Especially if it’s actual training - at least some vague structure as opposed to half heartedly doing random things on random days. However everyone’s circumstances will be different. How useful indoor training will be depends on a multitude of factors:

The type(s) of climbing you do

Your current level outdoors

The level you aspire to outdoors

How often you climb outdoors

How long you’ve been climbing / training 

How good your technique is

Your natural strengths and weaknesses eg good strength to weight ratio, stamina, finger strength.

Do you pick routes that suit you, eg slabby stuff which rewards footwork and finger strength but doesn’t require other physical attributes 

etc etc

What your account suggests to me is that you found outdoor climbing to be bad training for indoor climbing; I find it hard to infer the opposite reading. 

Stands to reason really, I've always found outdoor climbing in the UK to be cruxy and fingery, so finger strength traning and bouldering often results in good gains.  Indoor route climbing is more a matter of power-stamina / an-cap.  You don't get many routes like that outdoors in the UK - so the best training for indoor climbing is more structured indoor climbing.

Indoor and outdoor routes are often very different in character - a good indoor route should be sustained, imho, whereas outdoors that is quite rare. The route will probably have a crux section, or possibly a couple, with easy climbing in-between.

Working on strength will clearly help you blast through a crux, but you may have lost some stamina which would make sustained routes feel harder. Also outdoor routes tend to get hard by having smaller holds, something which finger strength training works well for. Indoor routes also do this but also have a wider range of body movements, something you will be out of shape for if you haven't been practising.

I don't know about your wall but my local one is saying liquid chalk only - the holds seem to have developed a greasy texture and are covered in yellow grime (which I hope it isn't, but suspect its skin) - that may also be playing a part.

Specificity is key! 

My partner and I have recently started indoor lead again after a post lockdown summer at the local crags. (mainly because our monthley subscription had kicked back in and we are tight ha !! )

We found it quite alien when we returned indoors and it took a good few sessions to get used to it again, and as stated above we noticed how little endurance we had indoors, I guess this is because outside we may only get a handful of routes in per visit, where as inside it's almost non stop climbing.
Our indoor grades we there or there abouts what we expected but we didn't feel fit or strong enough to send the higher grades we expected, so being forced to rest before finishing the route.
This has improved after a few weeks of climbing 3-4 times a week indoors, but to answer your question I think yes if you climb hard indoors then your outside game will improve.

Example, during the winter before lockdown we climbed indoors at least three times a week and I could just about dog a 7b+ lead, our first trip out in March I lead 7B outside, on a route I could not make the first clip 6 months prior. ( I do not climb that grade a lot btw, I more a 6Cish climber outdoors and 7a ish indoors )
I seldom find that I climb better inside due to climbing outside, but I  really don't mind as I climb inside only to climb better at the crag and not vice versa.
I think there is a chance my grade is lower outside than indoors is due to the time I spend reading the route adhock as I never really look before I start the climb, and with out the dot to dot colours I am sure I hang around longer. 
I think this is more the case with foot work as indoors the tiny holds are in plain sight so we spend less time looking, thus getting through the route more efficiently.
I do think in my gym the grades may be quite close to outdoor grades but it feels eaiser because they are so quick and eaisy to read.

So in a nutshell I think yup the gym will help your outdoor climbing but it's not as fun

Indoor climbing potentially has loads of effect on outdoor performance - provided you do the right sort of climbing.

For most UK sport around f7a (provided as Jez pointed out, it's not your head or fluidity of movement that's the main issue), indoor leading on sustained routes is often pretty ineffective and a poor choice of training.

Relatively fingery and techy limit bouldering indoors is likely to be more productive than either just leading 6s or fingerboarding.

As mentioned, specificity is key. You want to climb indoors on routes or blocs that are as similar as possible to the outdoor routes you wish to climb. You need to consider the number of hard moves, the angle/style of climbing and the type of holds.

For me, when aspiring to climb harder UK sport that analysis invariably leads me towards bouldering indoors rather than leading routes.

Makes a big difference to me.

If I've got strong finders from doing regular limit bouldering on a 30 deg board, plus a decent level of stamina from doing laps on overhanging routes, then I'll climb much better outdoors. Without this, I can climb about E2 just relying on general climbing experience, but with it I can climb up to E4 on the right kind of route.

Not convinced indoors is much good for grit though. Finger strength and stamina aren't going to get you up any weird holdless contortions, just got to do lots of grit for that.