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aniyunwiyaclimber
Nov 13, 2004, 4:00 AM
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Registered: Nov 8, 2004
Posts: 40
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Hello!
I just got a job where a part of it will be climbing and I need to improve myself for it. I'm a psychologist by trade, but also a beginner with climbing, did it for about 6 months last year, took special indoor classes in all of it and advanced technique, etc.
I've figured out that my two biggest drawbacks are a lack of endurance/upper body strength and a fear of falling. I have very good footwork and fairly decent balance, and pretty decent finger strength. My long term goals are to climb to a 5.9 level and learn to do lead climbing. I'm probably around a 5.3 level now, climb 1-2 times a week, mainly bouldering due to lack of a partner. I can't realistically get to the gym more often, due to my schedule, but I may be able to get more training through work so I may be able to go consistently 2 times a week in a few months.
So, my question is, given my current level and long term goals, how long do you think it will take me to get there and what short term goals do you think could I make for myself to move toward the long term goals, and are there any specific training routines you'd recommend that would help me with those two problems?
The owner of the gym said he will create a specific training for me to help me with some of these things, but I wanted your feedback because you're girls like me and we think of creative solutions.
Also, I just put in an order for the Dirt Barbie and Trad Betty shirts - very cool and thank you to our wonderful women for creating them!
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jt512
Nov 14, 2004, 2:26 AM
Post #2 of 3
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Registered: Apr 12, 2001
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In reply to: I've figured out that my two biggest drawbacks are a lack of endurance/upper body strength and a fear of falling. I have very good footwork and fairly decent balance, and pretty decent finger strength. My long term goals are to climb to a 5.9 level and learn to do lead climbing. I'm probably around a 5.3 level now, climb 1-2 times a week, mainly bouldering due to lack of a partner. I can't realistically get to the gym more often, due to my schedule, but I may be able to get more training through work so I may be able to go consistently 2 times a week in a few months. So, my question is, given my current level and long term goals, how long do you think it will take me to get there and what short term goals do you think could I make for myself to move toward the long term goals, and are there any specific training routines you'd recommend that would help me with those two problems?
The girls must all be out climbing, so I'll give it a shot. Your post touches on a number of issues. I'll try to take them one at a time.
Endurance. "Endurance" means different things to different people, so let's first make sure we're on the same page. Endurance, in a climbing context, means the ability to do many moves, which aren't individually difficult for you, in a row without tiring. Some people use the term "endurance" to mean the ability to do a lot of climbing in a day without tiring, but that is physiologically distinct from endurance, as defined above, and is better termed "stamina." Now, if you mostly boulder, then it is not surprising that you lack endurance, because bouldering, which by definition is doing a few powerful moves in a row, is exactly the opposite of endurance climbing. There are two ways to train endurance in the gym: traversing the wall and doing laps on roped climbs. Either way, your goal should be to climb continuously at a moderate level of difficulty. If your forearms are pumping out, find easier terrain.
We should, however, back up a step, and consider that endurance might not really be your weakness. Especially if you are a beginner, it is very easy to mistake a lack of efficiency of movement (ie, poor technique) with a lack of endurance. The reason being that climbing inefficiently will tire your forearms more quickly. Consequently, my advice is to concentrate your training on working on your technique. Traversing is one way to do that, and as noted above, also helps improve endurance. Needless to say, there is no way that anyone can give you specific technique advice from their computer, but an expert climber at your gym can critique your climbing and offer suggestions on what to work on.
Upper body strength. If you boulder a lot, you’re already doing the best upper body strength training you can do for climbing. However, as with endurance, what feels like a lack of upper body strength is likely, in great measure, a lack of technique. Watch how experts climb boulder problems and try to imitate their movements.
Fear of falling. This is a complex subject, and someone could write a book about it. In fact, someone – Arno Ilgner – has. The book is called The Rock Warrior’s Way and you can buy if from Amazon.com or from the author’s website, www.warriorsway.com. Like physical technique, mental technique can be practiced and learned. I highly recommend the book.
Goal Setting. First of all, your goal should be to have fun, seriously. One thing that’s nice about climbing is that climbing is its own best training. Instead of sitting in some sweaty gym pumping out endless repetitive moves with an iron bar, your climbing will improve the fastest by doing what is fun – climbing. Secondly, as a beginner, you have no idea what your abilities are. Everybody improves at their own individual pace, so how can you set goals with a time frame? You might be able to climb 5.9 in five months, not five years, so what you think of as a goal, could actually hold you back. Be careful about preconceived notions of how hard you can climb; they can be self-limiting. Not that I climb all that hard, but until recently I never believed that I would ever climb at the level I do now; but you know what, if I had believed it earlier, I’d have accomplished it earlier.
So, aside from having fun, your goal should be to climb smart. Get opinions from several expert climbers on what your weaknesses are, and climb routes and problems that work on those weaknesses. Resist the temptation to overtrain, especially if you will be working in a gym. Climbing at any level is strenuous, and our bodies need lots of time to recover between workouts. Ligaments in the fingers are particularly prone to climbing injuries because they strengthen more slowly than the surrounding muscles. The Prime Directive is never weight your fingers more than four times per week. And that is the maximum. Pay attention to your body and take more time off, as needed. The older we get the longer we need between workouts to recover, and the higher penalty we pay, in terms of increased healing time, if we get injured. So take it easy.
-Jay
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aniyunwiyaclimber
Nov 14, 2004, 4:02 AM
Post #3 of 3
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Registered: Nov 8, 2004
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Wow, Jay!
Thank you for the great advice! I had never heard about not putting weight on one's fingers for more than 4 days a week, but it makes a great deal of sense. I'd actually read The Rock Warriors Way - just finished it last week - for whatever reason, it didn't seem to move me past the fear thing, but I've been reading Performance Rock Climbing (PRC) by Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann this week and that seems to be concrete enough for me to get. I think once I've read that book I'll go back and read Rock Warriors Way and it will begin to sink in better for me.
Based on PRC, last week I started to do continuous traversing, starting out with an easy slab. I was able to do a half an hour on it, back and forth, up a few holds, down a few, around a corner and back again about 9 times in the half hour, no stopping/getting off, just taking a few needed rest breaks. I didn't get too pumped on that one because it's a fairly easy slab you can do without hands if you've got the foot technique down. Today at the gym I did it on a more vertical wall and got majorly pumped after 10 minutes, so I think that you're right, my technique needs more work.
The gym owner said he'll tailor an advanced lesson to my needs to help me get where I need to go, including getting me up on the ropes again and having me take successively longer falls and falls from different angles to help me get used to falling and prepare better. He's been around most days that I've been traversing around, and he's been watching me, so I am sure he's got some ideas of where I can improve what I'm doing.
I may also take my video camera to the gym with me and have a friend film me so I can watch it and get a handle on what I'm doing on the wall.
I really liked your idea about not limiting myself or putting time limits on things. I think I'm doing that because climbing is now tied to my job, or will be - there will come a day, likely well before I feel that I am prepared for it, that my job will send me outdoors for my first outdoor climb, with several expert climbers and a group of teens. In my head I've been thinking it's a matter of succeed or fail, but from PRC, I got the idea it's succeed or not succeed, there idea of failure based motivation just doesn't work and I need to chuck that altogether. If I just have fun, forget the idea of time and failure based motivation I can move anywhere!
Thanks again for the great info!
Marge
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