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supasteve
Jan 29, 2004, 5:41 PM
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how many of you out there do some sort of weight lifting to complement your climbing. I was thinking of starting some sort of program but i dont want it to interfere with my climbing schedule. I was thinking about lifting because i really lack muscle strength and figured it would be the best way to increase strength and by doing high intesity low rep workouts it would not increase weight. any ideas of a program to do, ive never lifted in my life
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adampaiva
Jan 29, 2004, 5:46 PM
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I lift on my off climbing days. I do medium weight, medium reps because the high reps just gets too boring and i think it helps my climbing alot. wrist curls really helped my forearms to not die on me after a few climbs and some good stong abs and back helps you out in pretty much any physical activity.
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scubasnyder
Jan 29, 2004, 6:02 PM
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I lift almost every day, but thats because I play football, it kinda sucks though because i keep gaining weight which is muscle, but not good for climbing.
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daryl314
Jan 29, 2004, 6:09 PM
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I think the whole idea of low rep high intensity lifting adding weight is a myth. As long as you don't start eating more, your body wouldn't have anything to add mass. I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer doing exercises with heavy weight and a few reps once a week on a non-climbing day. I usually do bench press, dumbell shoulder press, some kind of triceps extension, and call it a day. Finish the workout quickly and go home and worry about other things.
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sharpender
Jan 29, 2004, 6:10 PM
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I had a semi forced absence from climbing that left me quite soft and round about the middle. My son who is a major type jock turned me on to a weight training program. I've been back to climbing on a regular schedule for about a year now. I'v lost that weight and am climbing stronger but at my age not a lot of stamina. I have taken a program my son turned me on to. I think it's called Fit for Life. Work upper body on day one, cardio on day two and then lower body lifting on day three. Been consistent for a week now and can feel myself getting stronger. I know it works cause back in the day when I had a free pass to a gym for coupla months I was climbing my strongest - mid range 11's. Motivation now is to my high peaks in the Sierra this summer. I won't make it if I don't get stronger. I recommend you look for this program or one like it.
What Adampavia said about strong back and abs is important too. ALso work the forearms, hands and calves. Progess slowly. Pumped muscles interfere with climbing well.
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davidji
Jan 29, 2004, 6:11 PM
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I do a short workout after climbing. Low reps (3-6) for most exercises to focus on strength over bulk & endurance. I figure I get endurance from climbing.
I do a few exercises specifically to help with climbing (one-armed lockoffs & dips with weight) as well as some others to give a general upper body balance. I do higher reps with dips (7-9) because the weight is already pretty heavy for me (recently I've been adding 10lbs below bodyweight) and I'm afraid more weight could lead to injury.
Recently added a pinch-training exercise, and expect to experiment with others.
Dropped lower body a couple of weeks ago, due to injury, although the Leavittation thread has me thinking I should start again soon.
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fredrogers
Jan 29, 2004, 6:12 PM
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Some good weight training articles by a Brit at http://www.planetfear.com/climbing/training/articles/index.html
I've tried some of his suggestions and used low reps, high weights. It was a fun diversion from indoor winter climbing, but I never stuck to it long enough to know if had real world benefits.
Gaining power is a slow process that involves taxing your muscles and then giving them a chance to rest and rebuild. I don't think you can lift and keep the same climbing schedule. If you currently climb 4 days/week then you should replace 2 of those days with lifting. If you want to do more climbing than maybe do some light climbing AFTER you lift weights. You still need rest days whether it's for rebuilding after climbing or weights. I would avoid lifting on your off-climbing days. When would your body ever have the chance to rest?
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jt512
Jan 29, 2004, 6:17 PM
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In reply to: how many of you out there do some sort of weight lifting to complement your climbing. I was thinking of starting some sort of program but i dont want it to interfere with my climbing schedule. I was thinking about lifting because i really lack muscle strength and figured it would be the best way to increase strength and by doing high intesity low rep workouts it would not increase weight. any ideas of a program to do, ive never lifted in my life
High-rep, low-weight lifting won't increase body weight, but it also won't increase your strength significantly. If you wan't to get stronger you have to do the opposite: lift weights that are heavy enough that you can only do a small number of reps. Frankly, you'd probably be better off practicing in a climbing gym than lifting weights at all.
-Jay
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gat
Jan 29, 2004, 6:18 PM
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In reply to: how many of you out there do some sort of weight lifting to complement your climbing. I was thinking of starting some sort of program but i dont want it to interfere with my climbing schedule. I was thinking about lifting because i really lack muscle strength and figured it would be the best way to increase strength and by doing high intesity low rep workouts it would not increase weight. any ideas of a program to do, ive never lifted in my life
I have some questions before I can give a useful answer:
First, identify your reasons for desiring increased strength. If the sole reason is climbing, realize that the best way to better yourself as a climber is to climb. The fancy term is specificity. Wow, doesn't that sound nice?
Second, what facilities do you have available? This will have have an obvious impact on the type of training you can do.
Third, how often do you climb? How often do you climb hard? These are important considerations. Adding resistance training to your schedule will force you to adjust your climbing schedule to avoid overtraining/injury.
If you get an opportunity, post your answers to these questions and I will attempt to give you some information to work with.
Also, search the forums on this topic. I know it's been beat to death in the past, you may find something useful.
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baja_java
Jan 29, 2004, 6:27 PM
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depends in what way and how strong you want to get. past some point, weight lifting doesn't really compliment climbing. big pec muscles = dead weight. very good for other things :wink: handicap penalty when you climb. if you enjoy the challenge, then that's part of the fun. i know bec i'm pushing to bench 315 and still be a good climber. want to shoot for both before i have to settle for one. but i also know quite a few climbers who don't do much weights or at all, and they're very strong, for what climbing needs. they just climb and climb. if you simply want to workout between climbing days, just hit all the muscles. light weights and high reps will up your muscle endurance
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davidji
Jan 29, 2004, 6:28 PM
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In reply to: Third, how often do you climb? How often do you climb hard? These are important considerations. Adding resistance training to your schedule will force you to adjust your climbing schedule to avoid overtraining/injury. |
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addrock
Jan 29, 2004, 10:08 PM
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pull ups and milk make me strong 8)
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razor
Jan 29, 2004, 10:33 PM
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To any one interested in lifting and climbing, i do both on a regular basis i have been climbing and lifting since i started climbing 2 years ago and it has benefited me greatly.. it depends on the person and there level of commitment to there program and on how intense you your self want to be.... there is always room for improvement in sports strength really helps some times but you can also do endurance along with that too just a suggestion... well good luck on what ever you choose to do high rep intensity or heavy low rep.... :twisted:
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escale
Jan 30, 2004, 1:03 AM
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On lifting weights and climbing, I use the find what is weakest and strengthen it up. I use the weights to build needed strength to climb better. Of course I guess I could use the weights to build pecs and abs so I can be more attractive at the beach, but I’d rather climb stronger rather than look good. That is just me.
My philosophy is quite simple. I go climbing or bouldering and push my self hard but stay as safe as possible. Next day, write down notes as to what muscles are really sore. I will do this by going to the gym and doing a quick run through all the machines. If it hurts to make that motion, even with small weight, then that is an area that needs working.
Take a day off.
After a couple of days rest, work those specific muscles in the gym for 2 or 3 weeks along with weekend climbing, working both power for the weak muscle groups and endurance for the remaining groups. Focus on at most 3 muscle strengthing groups. Example Biceps, quads and forearms. Or whatever you need. You might need upper back, calf and abs. Keep a notebook. So, my schedule would be:
Saturday, crank some clearly tough climbs or boulder problems till I am totally toasted, but don’t injure anything. Sunday, do a muscle pain test with the machines, Monday take time off, Train Tuesday and Thursday, focusing on these muscle groups, but work all groups for total balance, I will work in power for those muscles where I need the strength denoted by soreness, and endurance for those muscles that are fine. Friday party with friends, and do regular climbing on that weekend.
For the next three weeks, I climb like I want on weekends, and work in the gym on Tues and Thurs with doing power training with those muscle groups I want to work and endurance training for everything else.
I will do this for about 3 weeks, and then switch to endurance for all the muscle groups even the ones I just power trained on for about another 3 weeks. I keep climbing on weekends to have fun and after that, I take a break and start over on some Saturday going for major stuff. Repeat as necessary.
My favorite crank with weights are 3 sets of 30 or 50 reps for endurance, setting the weights down to complete this. 50 reps is my goal.
For power I use the French pyramid method:
Definition: a short break is 5 to 40 seconds, just to shake the blood back into your muscle.
Warm up phase: Crank 10 reps at 70% of your “totally ability”, take a short break
Pyramid Phase:
Crank 3 reps at 80% of your totally ability, take a short break,
Crank 2 reps at 90% of your totally ability, take a short break,
Crank 1 rep at 95% of your total ability, take a second break,
Crank 2 reps at 90% , take a short break
Crank 3 reps at 80%, take a short break and stop. This is one pyramid.
Repeat pyramid phase two more times on that muscle group and stop.
If you suddenly feel any pain, stop and check it out. Muscle strains and tendon sprains are serious matters and could ground you for months. Don’t every try to “train” at 110% of you ability. It will take a major amount of time to heal from that kind of damage or possibly surgery if it is available.
To determine your “total ability” poundage, at first, take a guess, but be conservative. Go do one “pyramid” and see how easy it was to crank that one rep after you built yourself to it. Think about whether you can do this three times. If it was easy, then complete the pyramid, and make a note that on your next pyramid set, you will add 10% more weight to find your 95% total ability. If it was too hard, then stop and lower the “target weight, ( ie “your ability”) by 10%. Write this down in your notebook. Don’t try to figure this out in one sitting! Come back, with your notebook and use the new numbers after a day of rest. Remember this is weight training, not weight competition. It is just a bunch of numbers in your notebook, much like the rating numbers on a climb, it is just for reference.
For example: If one could crank 100 lbs leg presses 3 reps of 15 or 20, then there is good chance he could crank 130lbs once. This would be an approx “total ability”. Don’t just get on the machine and crank the weight once to see if you can do it. You will blow a muscle or a tendon right off. So he would crank 100 lbs 10 times, 110 lbs, 3 times, 120, 2 times and go for the 130 1 time, then back down, 120 2 times, 110 3 times.. Don’t do the warm up phase again, but do the pyramid part two more times. If that was easy, then make a note in your notebook to increase your warm up phase to 110 lbs so you can go for a 140 crank phase, next time you come to the gym. Don’t try it now, after you did one set, you are risking muscle or tendon damage, wait till the next gym visit, two or three days from now.
If you cannot complete all of the pyramid power phase in its entirety, ie, three pyramids, then you need to decrease your “total ability” by 10% or face the possibility of tearing muscle and tendon. One out of 20 of my climbing friends kept adding more weights figuring his body would keep up with him, and he eventually separated muscle from tendon and tendon from bone. Bummer to be him. Always take it easy while weight training. It’s called training because you will be coming back for more. Strength building will be measured after months and months of work.
After three weeks of the pyramids on your specific muscle groups, spend 3 or 4 weeks bringing that new muscle into endurance by lowering the weight so much that you can do 3 reps between 20 to 50 reps. Then, take a break your body needs some time to rest. Try some watercolor painting, rebuild the engine in your car, spend a week photographing wildlife or flame someone about his or her opinion concerning bouldering, sport climbing or trad climbing. And then some Satruday, climb hard to start over again.
---Escale
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allthetime
Jan 30, 2004, 7:35 AM
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Lifting weights obviously burns calories, and building muscle is supposed to increase your metabolism, which means you burn more calories at rest, so if you don't change your diet, how does weight lifting increase your weight? It seems to me if you lift weights, you will lose weight, and become stronger--so that sounds like a good program for a climber.
Check out Clyde Soles' book, "Climbing: Training for Peak Performance". He dispells some popular myths, and suggests climbing specific weight lifting exercises and the proper form for those exercises to keep you from hurting yourself.
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andy_reagan
Jan 30, 2004, 7:38 PM
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in the next couple weeks I'm gonna start working in some medium weight training as a good warm up for the hang board I just got. Now I usually lift weights about 3-4 times a week. Its hard now that Im climbing more because I can't seem to find a rest day. I have to force myself to rest! :cry:
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