UKC

Have started doing 4 repeats of a boulder problem x 4 to improve power endurance. How long should I be leaving between each rep on the same problem, and between each set of reps?

In reply to Exile:

No more than 1min rest between each rep, and however long it takes for full recovery between each set.

In reply to Exile:

I would say

No rest between reps, just the time it takes to jump off and get back on.

Rest the same amount of time between sets as it takes to complete a set

In reply to craig1983:

I'm with Vinny. What you're describing isn't a classic 4x4.

In reply to Exile:

What I've been doing is a comblination of the above - dropping off and getting straight back on, but then leaving it 5 - 10 minutes ish between sets.

If I leave shorter between sets won't I be in effect training endurance? (I'm not sure I could leave less time on the difficulty of problems I'm doing as I'm pretty shot after each set, and rep three and four are often touch and go.)

In reply to AJM:

So the 4x4 part of my training session should only be taking 15 minutes ish total?

In reply to Exile:

See Robbie Phillips training blogs below...Part 3 describes 4x4s, typically used for endurance. Part 4 describes Power Endurance, where he talks about 3x3s....but the same technique is used...just on harder problems.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3924

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4289

In reply to craig1983:

That's route 4x4s! And it says they should be done back to back.

In reply to Exile:

That doesn't sound far off yeah. 16 problems with effectively a 1:1 climb:rest time at 30s per problem...

In reply to AJM:

Thanks all - so need to carry on doing what I'm doing but shorten the rest time between sets as I get fitter. Great!

In reply to AJM:

It says just enough time to jump off, chalk up, and get back on...so I'd say "no more than 1 min" is a pretty fair max time between reps.

In reply to AJM:

To clarify re "route 4x4s", this was a lazy way of differentiating between "route 4x4s" which are an aerobic training exercise and "boulder 4x4s" which are a power endurance exercise.

You can obviously do either on either - I often replace 4 boulder problems with a route and do 4-5 laps with short rests as power endurance training or do laps rfound a boulder for aerobic training.

In reply to AJM:

So, given the main part of the session is only 15 minutes should you have a good rest, (say 15 - 20 minutes,) and then repeat or should the session be so hard that this isn't an option?

In reply to Exile:

I think the suggestion in self coached climber is to do a couple of sets, and once you can do a couple of sets in a session to try to step the difficulty up.

In reply to Exile:

I've always found a good 4x4 leaves me knackered, but perhaps my fitness isn't that good. It's surprising how little time you need to really do yourself in! Two in a session would seem to be a good aim, you could always make the second one a bit easier...

In reply to seankenny:

Right then, build up to two lots of 4x4 in a session with each problem rep being drop off the problem and start again with no more than 1.5 minutes ish rest between each set - 20 minutes rest and light climbing between each 4x4. Add in warm up before hand core and cool down after. Sound good?

Sounds about right. I've just started doing PE work after 3 months of only bouldering. My top grade is v5 so my 4x4 looks a bit like v3, v2, v3, v2, two min break between sets. After that I take 10-15 mins to just sit and veg. I'm too knackered to do a set at the same level presently so I'm working my way up, doing v2, v1, v2, v1. Next session I'll try to do 4x v2 and so on until my second set is the same as my first.

In reply to Styx:

Sounds about right. I've been using a wall that has no marked up problems so have made up my own while training power, (I would guess they are up to V5 ish.) Out of the nine I made up I've just started using the easiest four, but at the moment 1 4x4 on these leaves me pretty shot.