Tuesday 2 April 2013

How do I get better and progress…

Recently I have had a fair few emails and discussions with various people about how to structure a training programme to get better and progress their grade.

As climbers it is assumed that for you to progress and get better you need to either climb more or train loads.

Both can be hard to do with time constraints, life, family, climbing partners, work and lots of other pressures that get in the way.

Another (in my opinion) mis-conception that people seem to have is you can’t mix climbing and training with regular partners, so for example, if your partner is not into training then you doing a training session will interfere with their social climb or that they have to be training with you….

The latter of the two is the ideal scenario as you will find that two people training together will generally push the other one and in turn you both progress, however in reality this is not always the case.

So, back to the original question, how do I get better and progress…

All in all it is not the time that’s the issue, most people will climb once or twice a week and will generally stay at the wall for a few hours, getting on easy stuff and lapping out F5+ is not going to help you climb F7a if you are at a F6c plateau, which is what the most common trait is.

All you need is a bit of structure to your regular session, a partner or someone to hold your ropes and a few hours.

I would suggest giving the following a try, replace one session a week with the following for 6 weeks and see how you progress… I’d be keen to know. This is not aimed at elite climbers , if you only climb once a week do this every other week and do it for 12 weeks;

You have a choice depending on facilities and who you are with and what you are working on…

Routes Sessions

o   Warm up cardio and stretch for about 25 minutes
o   Warm up you climbing muscles on the ropes, climb 3/4 routes that are well within your capabilities that have a range and different types of moves over different angles.
o   Redpoint routes from the ground every time, do the last 5 routes that you have worked and got, they should be right at the top end of your limit, if you fall off, pull the ropes and go again, spend about 45 minutes on this.
o   Pick 4 routes that you have already done that are roughly two grades below your maximum and try to do two in a row, your going to do the same route twice, one after the other, you can lower to the ground after completion or if you fall, pull the rope and go again, this should take about 30 minutes.
o   Pick five hard boulder problems that you can do or almost do. Attempt or do each problem three times in a two minute period. Rest two minutes before moving onto the next problem, this should take about 20 minutes.
o   Cool down and stretch for about 20 minutes

Boulder Sessions

o   Warm up cardio and stretch for about 25 minutes
o   Warm up bouldering on easy problems for about 20 minutes, this should be done on a variety of angles with a wide range of moves.
o   Create boulder circuit with 4 problems that are very hard and not quite right at your limit. Try to climb the boulder problems in a row & run/move quickly between (not all walls would be happy with you running between problems) them once you have completed one set rest for 3 minutes and repeat, do this 5 times.
o   Work boulder problems from the ground, spend about 30 minutes working some boulder problems that you have not done or that are right at your limit.
o   Technique & new movement drill (deadpoints, dynos, flagging, rockovers, etc ...) spend about 30 minutes on technique and movement, make the problems up, they should include footwork and hand placement drills aswell as movement.
o   Cool down and stretch for about 30 minutes.

So mix one session in with your normal regular sessions and let me know how you progress, you might find your maximum limit starts to rise, this is a good thing, don’t stay in your comfort zone, keep pushing the upper limit.

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