Climbing and being a Vegetarian

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

Hi,

Just had a recent question about how I deal with being a vegetarian and a climber. How do I manage to get sufficiently high enough protein to build muscle and get stronger.

When I first started climbing I didn’t think about taking any kind of protein supplements and just got on with it. I did find that although I could make excellent gains in finger strength putting on muscle mass was very difficult. This is made even worse by the fact that I am a classic ectomorph, which makes it even harder. As a result I could crimp my way up routes with very small holds, so long as it wasn’t to steep.

Since returning to climbing in the last few years I have started to take protein supplements every day after training and sometimes at breakfast. The end result has been half a stone of extra muscle mass, a better recovery and a much better performance on steep routes. However the extra weight has dented my finger strength, which fortunately has been compensated for by the extra strength and power I have gained.

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Sling Training

Posted on April 19, 2012 by admin

Hi,

Its now been four weeks of sling training. The results have been impressive with a good increase in my core strength and ability to move my feet on steep ground.

Check out this article for more details.

http://rockclimbinguk.co.uk/sling-training-for-climbing-update/

 

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Sling Training

Posted on March 9, 2012 by admin

Hi,

Since I interviewed Magnus Midtbo, I have been contacted by one of his sponsors Jungle Sports, the sling training specialists. As a result they have sent me some sling training kit and a similar exercise program to Magnus! Check out the video below:

I’m really excited about including within my program as my general upper body strength is rubbish. I’ve had two sessions so far and its a lot harder than it looks! After the first one my core was still sore after 3 days!

With this being my peak training month I have been doing two days on and one day off. Having spoken to the Norwegian Climbing Coach he recommended that I do them on my rest day as they work the muscles in a very different way!

I am using the kit from Jungle Sports. I have been really impressed with the overall quality of the kit. The fact that your hands are in slings rather than gripping plastic handles, works much better for the exercises and reduces the strain on my already tired forearms.

The plan is to keep working hard for the next three weeks and return to a bouldering area in Spain to see if my overall strength has improved. I’ve written a review of the product for the website Rock Climbing UK and will run an update after my trip to Spain to see if it has helped my climbing.

 

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Climbing Training Articles

Posted on February 27, 2012 by admin

Its been ages since my last post! I have been busy doing work on the website Rock Climbing UK. We have been running a series of training articles based around interviews with sponsored athletes and have plenty more to follow. Check out our latest article here:

http://rockclimbinguk.co.uk/magnus-midtbo-on-climbing-training/

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Power Endurance Training

Posted on January 24, 2012 by admin

Its now the time of the year for me to put some effort in with power endurance. Anyone who has seen me climb will know I don’t have any! Time to change things.

I’m doing two sets of four weeks, with a week bouldering in Spain inbetween. A typical week will look something like this:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 25 move 8b+route circuit on my board. Initally I can’t do the circuit and have to do it in three overlapping sections. I will take a 15 second rest between each section and then have a longer 15 min break inbetween. As I gain more power endurance I will be able to eventually complete the circuit and use it for intervals. Finish with four sets of power endurance on a finger board, front levers, core and rotator cuff/lower trap work

Wednesday: Rest. I generally struggle with multiple days on as I am to sore. As I get stronger will do more days on.

Thursday: Repeat Tuesday, but finish with PE on the campus board.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Bouldering on a Moon Board. Campus and plyometrics. Finish with intervals on route length boulder problems (20 moves) around 7c-7c+

Then repeat the week. When I can do the whole circuit, I will do intervals, add extra moves and also start to add a large hold in to practise shacking out.

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Steve McClure on Training Power Endurance for Climbing

Posted on January 23, 2012 by admin

I have just done an interview with Steve McClure on Power Endurance training. I have been trying the various techniques for a few months now.

The article can be found here:

http://rockclimbinguk.co.uk/steve-mcclure-on-training-power-endurance/

My favourite is training with my feet on a chair whilst using the campus board. Because the moves are consitent you can train way beyond the level you would on a circuit, when a harder move combined with the fatigue causes you to fall off. With feet on campusing you can just keep going! The end result is a full on body pump.

Steve also describes the finger board method, which has very similar results to the campus board. I find it better to do if I have been trying really hard circuits before hand. When hanging on the one arm, add in a pullup for maximum burn!

I do think these should still be used in conjunction with circuits, where you can replicate things like crux sections of routes, as well as resting on large holds during the circuit.

Hope you enjoyed the article and found it helpful!

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Forearm pain climbing

Posted on January 7, 2012 by admin

I have had problems over the years of forearm and wrist pain when I have been doing power endurance training. It can get so bad that I can’t train or get pumped in seconds. I’m not sure if its some kind of muscle compartment problem or overly tight flexors.

The solution I have found is to stop doing stamina or power endurance work for a while and massage the forarms extensively. The way you do the massage is key. I find a surface that is hip height and lay a towel over it. I then put a wine bottle on the surface and roll my forearm over it. I add my other arm ontop to add extra force. I roll backward and forwards and really focus on any sore spots I find. Make sure you rotate your arm around to get at all the tight areas.

Once I have done this I then use a small ball and rest my forearm on it. I then roll my forearm, across the ball (not lengthways) to cross friction the muscles.

I find if I do this for a few weeks, it soon settles.

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Climbing Plyometrics

Posted on December 29, 2011 by admin

Over the last few years my climbing style has become mainly static. In a bid to improve my ability to throw for those distant holds I have started doing double handed rebounds on the campus board. So for example you jump both hands from rung number 1 to 3 and then back down again. The key to making it a plyometric exercise is the speed of the rebound when you drop down to rung number 1 and bounce back up to 3 again.

In my experience when you start doing this exercise the rebound speed is pitifully slow, when compared to the speed of a lower limb plyometrics. In fact its to slow to really be considered plyometrics at all. The problem is that we just can’t generate the same level of explosive force through the smaller upper body muscle groups.

So the solution is to reduce the load on the muscles when we make the rebound. This will allow us to bounce back up quicker. There are a number of options:

  1. Do the exercise between rungs that are closer together. Because you drop a smaller distance the force required to rebound is less.
  2. Use larger holds. This removes some of the limitations associated with the fingers and brings the more powerful arms into play.
  3. Attach bungee cords to the top of your campus board and tie them to your harness under tension. This will reduce the weight particularly at the point where the greatest force is required.

The 3rd point is used by speed climbers to great effect. As they get stronger they reduce the load until they can perform the exercise using their full body weight.

I’m off to B&Q to see if I can get some bungee cord! Will let you know how I get on.

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Creatine for Climbers

Posted on December 22, 2011 by admin

Creatine is a supplement that is used extensively with power athletes and body builders. The use with rock climbers is relatively uncommon due to the side effects of water retention resulting in weight gain of 1 to 2 kilo’s.

I tried using it 10 years ago using the normal loading process and experienced a lot of muscle cramping. I tried using it again last winter, by adding 5 grams into my daily protein drink. The benefits for me are very noticible. I find that I can sustain harder power orientated workouts than I can normally, I recover better and achieve better strength gains. The results may be more obvious for me as I am a vegetarian and therefore have low levels of creatine in my body anyway.

I do put on around 2 kilo’s of extra weight. Because its recommended to only use the supplement for a maximum of 6 months, I use it over the winter training period when it is less of an issue. I then stop taking it at the start of the climbing season, with the added bonus of the loss of 2 kgs in weight!

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Strength training for climbers

Posted on December 13, 2011 by admin

Sitting her with a serious case of man flu I thought I would add a post describing what I should be doing at the moment!

Strength training for climbers is a topic that is covered extensively in the climbing press. One area that doesn’t seem to be covered is how to set problems on your climbing wall to improve your overall climbing strength and power.

The first thing to do is to look how you do your problems at the moment. Do you put in any sneaky Egyptians or drop knees to give you that extra reach?  Are the moves you do relatively short, but on small holds? Are you using large footholds? If the answer is yes to any of these or you want to improve your ability to reach those distant holds try the following:

  1. The first rule is no more egyptians! All moves must be made by rocking up to the hold you are reaching for, using small foot holds. This makes life much harder and the shoulders work more, because you can’t get your body as close to the board.
  2. Create a problem using the same hold type. I.e. flat crimp, undercut, press hold, layaway. The holds need to be positioned to make them just beyond your currently ability to reach for. They also need to be big enough that you aren’t just slapping to an adjacent hold, but smaller enough to make it hard work. I have illustrated this on the image below, with the hand holds highlighted in red.

    Moon Board at Awesome Walls Stoke 179x300 Strength training for climbers

    Moon Board at Awesome Walls, Stoke on Trent

  3. Now keep trying the problem until you can comfortably do the problem.
  4. Once you can do this level the next stage is to move the holds further apart. The layout of the Moon board in the picture works really well, because you can just change by reaching for a higher set of holds.
  5. The other option is to use a foot hold which has different angle faces, such as the Moon foot hold below. Rotate the hold to the next worse face and then try the problem again. As the footholds get poorer you will find that the way you reach between the holds will change. Your movement will have to be a lot more explosive and you will hit the hold you are reaching for much quicker. The end result will be better contact strength and fast twitch fibre recruitment.

    Moon School Room Footholds 300x179 Strength training for climbers

    Moon School Room Foothold

I combine this type of training into a normal bouldering session, once I am well warmed up. Give it a go and see if you can reach easier for those distant holds!

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