UKC

I'm an intermediate climber and I've never trained before. I decided to do the 4 exercises that Magnus Midtbø explains in one of his video's for 30 days. I'd like to share my thoughts and progress. I also made a video explaining everything here:  youtube.com/watch?v=j5euTNEBE5g&

His training consists of 4 exercises:
speed campussing for power, lock offs for strength, 2 minute circuits for power endurance and staying on the wall for 30 minutes for aerobic endurance.I made huge progress (see below), especially in terms of endurance. This makes sense, because power takes a lot longer to develop.

Despite the gains, I wouldn't really recommend this training. I got close to an injury due to overtraining, and I also found it to be incredibly boring. This type of training would probably suit more advanced climbers better. For me, technique drills make much more sense right now

I tried to be as structured as possible:
Week 0: physical assessment, a gym climb as a benchmark, and a self evaluation to measure my baseline.
Week 1 - 4:
- Strength and Power every Wednesday (morning) and Saturday.
- Power Endurance every Friday and Sunday.
- Aerobic Endurance every Monday and Wednesday (evening).
Week 5: deload week, 3 easy climbing sessions but mostly rest days.
Week 6: redid everything from week 0 to measure progress, and also tried an 8a for the first time.

The progress, week 1 vs week 6:
From 12 pull ups to 15 (+25%)
From 28 seconds to 33 on max hang time / continuous hang on 20mm edge (+18%)
From 117 seconds to 155 when doing 7/3 repeaters on 20mm edge (+32%)
From 19kg to 20 max hang on 20mm edge (+5%)
From 34kg to 38 single weighted pull up (+12)
From 46 moves in 2 minutes to 60 on my home wall (different circuits in different weeks, +30%)
From 2/3 of a round on a big circuit at my local climbing gym to 2 full rounds (+300%)
Speed campussing increased speed by 60% on same route

Difference on a climb (video analysis): negligible. I climbed a little bit faster, but didn't feel effects of stronger fingers or better endurance.
Self evaluation: improved physically, but mentally very weak due to overtraining and bad news from the doctor about a hip issue (they recommended I quit climbing all together). It was really hard to focus while climbing.

So all in all, lots of progress physically, but quite boring and too intense for me. Glad I tried it, but now I need to focus on something else. Let me know if you have any questions! And if you have any tips or experience on how to climb with bad hips, I'd love to hear from you!

When you first start out, I found you need to train you body to a certain level, to then enable you to start proper training.

Lots of training schedules by professionals assume your body is already "training fit".

It takes weeks to build muscle, but many months (or a year(s)) to develop the connecting tissue that holds it all together.

One of the hardest things to do is to hold back and avoid injury, when your muscles are feeling really strong.

You're probably right! I definitely feel like my shoulder needs more stability! Speed campussing was intense...

I imagine this is the original video you based your training off of;

youtube.com/watch?v=oJQ8rH-LlGM&
 

For anyone interested. 

If you've never trained before, you'll get significant 'newbie gains' from almost any form of training program, no matter how random or inappropriate it is. This program was designed by an ex-pro climber turned professional Youtuber - not a coach. YMMV.

So I'm not entirely surprised you feel over-trained, but it's great you recognise that the improved measures didn't relate to climbing improvement. You might see better results on the rock/wall after another week of rest (two sessions max).

For advice on climbing with 'bad hips' I think you'll need to be more specific about what is bad about them.

Eat lard, climb hard. Get fit on the walk in. 

You're totally right, I got much better results a few weeks later! Managed to do 4 different 7a boulders in a single session for the first time. I think more rest definitely helped, but I'm also doing better mentally. I was honestly a little bit depressed when I heard that my hips have been damaged up to the point that 2 specialists recommended I quit climbing.

So about the 'bad hips': it looks like I have FAI (hip impingement, develops during childhood) which restricts the range of motion of my hips. Because I've always been very active, I did get into end range positions a lot with my hips, and it looks like that caused severe degeneration of the hip joint (osteoarthritis). I'm talking to different specialists to see what can be done, but so far the consensus seems to be that it's too late for treatment because there's already too much damage.

Since then I've also spoken with a specialist that suggests I should continue climbing, and stay fit - but adapt my climbing style. This means staying well within my range of motion. It may mean other things as well, I'm still trying to figure things out.

Anyway, adapting the way I climb sounds easier said then done. What do I do when there's a high foot? Smear my way up? Jump? Not do the climb? Something else? If anybody has any ideas, I'd love to hear it
In any case, thank you so much for your response! Always nice to hear from an experienced coach.

I think feeling depressed is very justifiable after that news!

Staying within your hip ROM essentially means climbing like someone with stiff hips - there's plenty about, particularly in the over 50's (some climbing high 8's on sport). Fred Nicole lead a 9a months after hip replacement last year.

Getting really good at flagging (where others frog), using tiny intermediate footholds to breakdown high rockovers, and twisting more than most would be good places to start.

Flagging and twisting is already a big part of my style! Tiny intermediate footholds... not so much. Guess I know what to focus on

Thanks again!

+1 to flagging. I have weird hips (no doc has ever agreed to scan them as they're not causing major issues in "normal" life, just a bit sore sometimes). I'm fine high-stepping but find it impossible to bridge wide or frog and can't seem to train that type of flexibility (or, say, do most hip mobility drills) as I struggle to stretch the muscles and just end up with pain in the outside of the hip... and the harder I work on it the more it gets painful. This screws you big time on some moves but over the years my style (and strengths) have evolved in line with this limitation. I climb a lot with one high foot and the other dropped off (flagging or smearing under me) and do a lot of twisting off one low foot, so I've got pretty good at those kinds of moves. Any beta with two high feet almost never works. Amir - your hips may be much worse than mine, but you might be surprised by how hard you can still climb even with limited hip mobility.. just get used to spotting where you're likely to need to divert from the "standard" beta, finding your own methods, and accepting that grades will sometimes feel very erratic! 

Thanks for your insights! I highly recommend you find a way to get an x-ray. I went to a GP several times 10 years ago, and he convinced me not to take an x-ray of my hips because "I had nothing to worry about." 

Now specialists are telling me there's too much damage and I'm looking at a total hip replacement soon. They say I have FAI which could've been treated back then, but now it's too late... So really, I'm not even trying to climb hard - I'm trying to climb without further damaging my hips (regardless of the grade I end up climbing).

Does climbing harder really do more damage than slightly easier climbing? It might cause you to fall off less when bouldering at the gym but I didn’t think it made much difference as compared with walking to the crag with a rucksack etc. If you want to climb as hard as you can (and it sounds like you do) why not just go for it and if the hip is holding you back change it! You wouldn’t drive a car at 20 mph, you’d get it fixed. 

The more I postpone a total hip replacement, the better. First of all, because there's an expiration date on those things., Second of all, I've looked at the research and expect that if I can postpone the surgery by 5 years (which should be doable if I don't continue damaging it by frogging or high stepping on every move), then there will be alternatives by then.