Irish Climbing Coaching » Training

Learning to reflect and improve

neal.mcquaid — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:13:17 +0000

Cross-posted from my own personal blog

“Planning is an unnatural process – it’s much more fun to do something.
The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and desperation”
- Sir John Harvey-Jones 1924 – 2008, Industrialist

I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while but life and work have gotten in the way so it’s been a bit of a long road to getting to it! As mentioned on another interesting blog for those motivated by the sport of climbing, Doylo’s Blog had a good personal reflection on his own past year, and the lessons he learned and the forthcoming strategy for 2010. As it happens, Dave seems to have remembered he has a blog and decided to update it also with his own current plans and process he’s going through right now – sounds pretty organised!

I mentioned it a bit here when I took a longer-term view of my own progression from when I started climbing all of 11/12? years ago – sheesh! – and even on reflecting about my experiences so far in Sheffield and the potential for increases.

so, looking back on 2009, I can only say it’s been insightful also in so many ways. I’ve learnt what my natural baseline is now (after going for months of just intermittent climbing) and what many of my strengths were for this reason. I’ve also learnt of the weaknesses – imbalance of pocket to crimp strength, lack of power for burly moves, a lack of belief for harder routes sometimes. All good experiences and brilliant to reflect on now so that I can improve in the future. I was at a seminar today in relation to my course and one of the quotes was “when you share your learning, it grows instead of getting less” (an old 5th century Tamil poem). Well, to the two top-level climbers who answered my calls for advice, I owe you one and to keep the karma going, I’ll continue to share my learning on this blog and a bit on irishclimbingcoaching.ie so hopefully some of it will be of use to someone! LOL Having said that, I’ve always got a lot to learn myself, most notably in getting strong not just in your fingers so I’ll be picking some people’s advice

So, in taking another quote from the seminar – “the future belongs to those who prepare for it today” (some bloke called Malcolm X made that one – like Dave’s post, I have a rough plan to follow for the forthcoming months to prepare for my summer plans (so would probably benefit most people in my hemisphere). And in the interest of sharing, my next couple of posts are going to be my own plans. As part of those posts though, I’m expecting comments and thoughts – this discussion is a two-way thing. Hopefully you’ll get ideas of my own plans, and hopefully some can advise on what they think I should really be focusing on……

The topics (and I’ll update as I finish more)
- overall training plan for 2010
- strength work-outs (fingers, shoulders, etc.)
- fitness
- things that haven’t worked and failures

Are the Amazon links at the bottom of my posts annoying/useful/distracting?

Good training books from Amazon:
9 Out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes: Navigation Through the Maze of Advice for the Self-coached Climber

Performance Rockclimbing

Self-Coached Climber: The Guide to Movement, Training, Performance

Jerry Moffatt: Revelations

Specificity

nigelcallender — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:33:00 +0000

LIMERICK, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – We all know one…. Little Jimmy who does endless laps of the bouldering wall, hogging it for the evening and not stepping off once. He just cruises around on big holds fighting the ‘pump’ for ages at a time, all the while muttering something about ‘trying to get strong’. Though he does have this strange ability to be able to stay in the same spot (usually stuck just below the crux moves on a route) for a short eternity, Little Jimmy never does get any stronger. Why is this? For all the ‘training’ he puts in to ‘get strong’ why isn’t he some well muscled mutant cranking out one-armers every time there’s a female in the room?

Following on in our series on the basic principles of training (see No. 1: Periodisation) we’ll deal with another major factor in making your training successful, Specificity.

Specificity means that a certain type of training is specific to a certain system/muscle group/type of muscle fibre. If you wanted to improve your cycling, you wouldn’t go out and do a load of pull-ups as training would you? This is a very stark example, but the same principle applies to every aspect of training. If you want to develop your finger pocket strength, you don’t train on big slopers, or if you want to develop your power, you don’t try and do a high volume of moves in a really static manner.

So why is Little Jimmy’s training program ineffective? Maybe he wants to ‘get strong’ on big holds… True, he may only want to improve his strength on bigger holds, but the intensity at which he’s climbing (i.e. easy moves and loads of them) is wrong. It’s not specific to what he wants to achieve. His muscles are operating far below their maximum and so are not in the ideal ‘zone’ for developing strength, if he was in this ‘zone’ he’d probably only be able to string 4/5 moves together, never mind the few hundred he does during his usual sessions. Basically, Little Jimmy is working far below his maximum and at too low an intensity. So, what he’s actually training is his longer term endurance, hence his ability to hang below the crux on a route for an eternity – now if only he had the strength to do the harder moves….

This is a very general overview/taster on specificity, it can be as simple as this or considerably more complicated, depending on your goals in mind. Take a step back and have a think about what you’re currently trying to achieve and what way you’re actually going about it. If you find that you’re doing circuits on a bouldering wall, but actually want to improve your one-move lock-off strength, you need a rethink. This will become a bit clearer over the next few weeks as a few more principles are introduced. Don’t think we’re going to give everything away though – and it’s far easier to just get someone else to plan all this for you

Photo: John Harrison gets specific on steep, 2 finger pockets on a Sardinian 7c.

Turning Up the Heat

nigelcallender — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:37:00 +0000

LIMERICK, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – We’re always told that we should warm-up prior to intense exercise, but why? Does it really do anything? Is it applicable to climbing? In short, good quality research on the effects of warm-up is in short supply, but yes, warming-up does improve performance.
Warming-up can take two forms, a passive warm-up (i.e. sitting in a heated room or under a heated blanket) and so the body just literally warms-up in tissue/core temperature, or an active warm-up. An active warm-up is what most people will be familiar with (core temperature is raised by metabolic reactions within the body and also has further reaching effects which will be discussed later). Both techniques have been shown to improve performance (Bishop, 2003a) but we will focus mainly on the active warm-up in this article which is suggested to lead to better performance (Bishop, 2003b).

How does warming-up improve performance?
Here’s a few mechanisms:

Decreased joint stiffness.
Increased nerve conduction velocity (think how slow your reactions become when you’re seriously cold…)
Potential increases in muscle force output (Batista et al, 2007).
More optimal temperature for enzyme activity (enzymes speed-up chemical reactions in the body).
Increased blood flow (via the release of nitric oxide and the action of the sympathetic nervous system) and so better supply of oxygen and various other molecules to working muscle, as well as removal of waste products.
Increased ability to deal with fatigue causing metabolic by-products.

How is it applicable to climbing?
Most people who climb regularly have probably jumped on a route at the beginning of a session or day at the crag, got completely pumped because it was a bit too hard to start off on and so not managed anything harder all day. This has been popularly called ‘Flash Pump’ and an adequate warm-up would have prevented this. This is just one example, but it happens to everyone at some stage.
How should the warm-up be structured?
The warm-up should take into account the goals of the session. It should start of with general cardio exercise (e.g. jogging/skipping for 5 minutes) then progress to become more specific to the task in hand. This may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed by the amount of people who swing around on a juggy overhand for a few minutes when they plan on projecting a vertical route on crimps.

Does a warm-up/stretching prevent injury?
I’ll cover this at a later date, it’s a bit murky.

Summary and practical tips:
Currently, available research suggests a warm-up improves subsequent performance, so:

Start off with some light aerobic exercise, i.e. 5 minutes slow jogging. This will serve to raise the core temperature and ‘wake-up’ the cardio. system.
Slowly progress your exercises to become more specific to climbing, e.g. press-ups (say 5 at a time, 3 sets), squeezing a squash ball for a few minutes etc.
As the exercise becomes sport specific, that is when you actually start climbing, start on easy terrain e.g. Slabs/vertical wall. Avoid crimpy terrain or pockets until a few minutes in.
Start as you plan to continue. Motor Skills (Technique) are best learned and reinforced when fresh. So this means make sure your footwork is precise and your movement good right from the beginning.
If you plan on spending a while on a very steep problem with lots of pocket-type holds for example, spend some time building up to it. Climb on pockets on a less steep wall and also put in some time on bigger holds but on the steeper ground.
Stay warm in between attempts/during breaks. Put on a jacket (like your mother always said.)

Photo – Kev Power Warming Up in Doolin. (N. Callender)

Further reading/refs:
Batista, M.A., Ugrinowitsch, C., Roschel, H., Lotufo, R., Ricard, M.D. & Tricoli, V.A. (2007). Intermittent exercise as a conditioning activity to induce post-activation potentiation. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21(3), 837-40.

Bishop, D. (2003a). Warm-up I: Potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm-up on exercise performance. Sports Medicine, 33(6), 439-53.

Bishop, D. (2003b). Warm-up II: Performance changes following active warm-up and how to structure the warm-up. Sports Medicine, 33(7), 483-98.

Periodisation

nigelcallender — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:21:00 +0000

LIMERICK, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – Continuing on from our theme on ‘Motivation and Goal Setting’, we’ll move and deal with something that ties the psychological side of climbing and training (i.e. the preparation and mental side of things) with the physiological side (i.e. physical exercise). Though the two are very firmly intertwined in reality, it is far beyond the scope of these articles to go into it (guess you’ll have to come on one of our Coaching Workshops!!) As the step in developing your goals and maintaining your motivation, we are going to deal with the Periodisation. Periodisation is the method of varying your training periodically to prevent ’stagnation’ of the exercises and ensure the body is always having to adjust. It can be used to help maintain motivation levels and stave off boredom by changing things around every now and then. This is achieved by breaking your training into different phases, depending on the goals in mind. There are a number of different periodisation models and though all effectively achieve the same goal, research is conflicting as to which is best at eliciting gains (e.g. Buford, Rossi, Smith & Warren, 2007; Rhea, Ball, Phillips & Burkett, 2002). For the sake of simplicity, here we will deal with the most basic model, a Linear Model of Periodisation.

Macro, Meso and Micro-Cycles
In order to periodise your training, you need to break it down into ‘Blocks’. These blocks or cycles are targeted towards a specific goal and will contain the relevant training / exercises to realise your goal. A macro-cycle is a long cycle which may for example, last an entire season. This will contain a number of meso-cycles, shorter blocks of training which may last a few weeks and will each have a specific focus e.g. endurance, power-endurance, finger strength, slopers etc. Micro-cycles are then the shortest cycles and for this example will last a day/a few days.

Linear Periodisation
In a linear periodisation model, within a full macro-cycle, each meso-cycle builds on the foundations of the previous one. In climbing terms this may start with a 4-6 week stint of general whole-body conditioning, micro-cycles within this may only last one/a few days and may involve running/other cardio. activity or general low-intensity strength work. Each micro-cycle would vary slightly in activity, though still maintain the focus of generally conditioning the body for later training. This is a good time to start correcting any potential sources of injury that may strike later on. The next meso-cycle would then focus on long-term stamina training i.e. for long routes that generally don’t ‘pump’ you out too much. Building on this may be a meso-cycle of arm/shoulder strength whilst maintaining a few sessions to keep the stamina levels ‘topped-up’. So the basic concept is to start out with high-volume, low intensity activities and generally progress to lower-volume, higher intensity exercise. This all depends on the goal you are training for though, so again, must be directed towards your goals!

The Benefits of Periodisation

As well as keeping you ‘interested’ and maintaining your motivation levels, periodising your training keeps you more focused on your goals, makes your training more effective as your body is constantly having to adapt to changes and helps prevent injury and burnout as you’re not working the same thing all the time. This may seem complicated and may take a short time to get your head around it, the easier option is to just get a Climbing Coach to do do it for you…. Also it isn’t just something for elite climbers who train, it is very applicable to climbing itself and all levels of ability.

References:

Buford, T.W., Rossi, S.J., Smith, D.B. & Warren, A.J. (2007). A comparison of periodisation models during nine weeks with equated volume and intensity for strength. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21(4), 1245 – 50.

Rhea, M.R., Ball, S.D., Phillips, W.T. & Burkett, L.N. (2002). A comparison of daily linear and undulating periodised programs with equated volume and intensity for strength. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 16(2), 250 – 55.

Motivation: directing towards the goals

neal.mcquaid — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:16:00 +0000

KILDARE, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – Following on from the previous theme, hopefully you’ll have been thinking about what keeps you motivated.
For most people, what keeps them motivated is the aim or desire to climb a new, harder grade.
Obviously, if you’re going to put some time in on a discipline, it makes sense that you actually enjoy what you’re doing as it’ll help keep you going when you’re busy, the weather is crap, you’re tired, etc. – i.e. what keeps you motivated?

So, now that you’ve an idea of what keeps you ticking, relate this to your aims goals for the year. This all links to what we’ve been talking about regarding goal setting. Most importantly, what you practice at, you’ll get better at. So if you’re hoping to improve your traditional climbing level, it makes sense that you’re going to have to focus on this type of climbing. Same goes for bouldering, sport climbing, etc.
What we mean here is that if you’re going to focus on trad climbing (taking this as the primary example as it’ll relate to many of the climbers in Ireland), you’re going to have to make sure your stamina is emphasized while training. Likewise for bouldering, it’s largely bouldering and strength/fingerboarding work that ye should be thinking about. Makes sense?
Having said that, I am going to contradict myself here a bit by saying that don’t completely disregard the other disciplines. While stamina is absolutely critical for trad climbing, if you’re not strong enough to do the moves it doesn’t matter how long you can stay on the wall. Trad climbers need to focus on some bouldering or strength training more than boulderers need to practise for some stamina!

Another idea to consider, and only slightly off-topic , is that of the motivations that come from those around you. If you’re looking for a catalyst for improving your climbing and staying motivated, make it an idea to climb with new people/strangers every once in a while. Just taking the effort to meet and climb with new people will help keep you on the path that you’re aiming for!

O.k., I’m not going to elaborate on this more today – it’ll take a few blog entries to get you thinking about this! We’ll start giving you an idea on the concepts of making up training plans in the coming days and weeks (although a climbing coach will be required to properly explain it all!).

Set yourself some time today and take 10 or 15 minutes to write down your goals for the year. Keep it short – don’t try to over-extend yourself! It might just help you realize what you need to think about to improve this year.

Image Credit: Unknown climber spitting off a project in Rodellar, Spain. Photo by Keith Ladzinzki – one of the best climbers in the states at present.

- Neal -

Motivation: towards your goals

neal.mcquaid — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:07:00 +0000

LIMERICK, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching) – Continuing on from Nigel’s post last week, I’m left with the task of compiling how to translate motivation to your own situations. Stay with me here, I’ll try keep it concise and to the point!

Firstly, motivation will come in different shapes and forms for everyone. Like everything else in life, what motivates you will be different to what motivates everyone else. Makes sense?

People get motivated for multiple reasons. Get stronger/faster/better, friends are involved – they’re all valid reasons. For most, climbing will be about recreational fun, for some others it will be push themselves to the absolute limit. Some will be to challenge themselves, to beat your friend at the next IBL or on route(s!), to be the best(!)

In short, you need to give yourself a reason, or a goal, to remain motivated. If you find yourself turning up at the wall just ticking off a few routes – ask yourself; is this what you want?

What motivates you? -This is a key question to answer…..
For a lot of people they won’t be completely aware of why you train or climb, meaning that motivation goes through dips and troughs as you get distracted from your goals. Don’t forget, the Real World (family, friends, partners, work, fun) will all do their best to interfere in your situation! It’s a case of keeping yourself focused and in check – which will help you reach those goals you’re aiming for.
Take those negative issues and focus them on positives – again, see Nigel’s entry for a prime example of this!
See how this relates to goal setting? Try and relate it to your goal setting as mentioned previously on the blog. Make sure that the goals you’re setting correlate to what keeps you motivated – that’ll keep focused on what needs to be done.

Image Credit: The author’s hard work & motivation during the previous year pays off – lowering off from 8a+ (Asia Shadow Play, Thailand)!

Goal setting for the Year

neal.mcquaid — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:30:00 +0000

KILDARE, IRELAND (Irish Climbing Coaching)

Hi all!
Firstly, welcome to the new site and we hope to supply you with some interesting notes while you’re here!

Well to start this site off (and in the interests of people checking in regularly , I thought I’d start off with the concept of goal setting in climbing.
Since it’s early January, and mid-winter, now is a great time to be considering your goals and ambitions in the coming year. And that’s not just in climbing, feel free to adapt this to whatever you do in life!
With a couple of months before the dry(er) seasons arrive, it’s worth getting some thoughts into your head regarding what you aim to get out of this year.

Climb a new style of route? (sport, boulder, trad, ice, aid?)
Visit some new areas? (Europe, USA, etc.)
Climb a new grade?
Become more consistent at a grade?
Climb more routes in a day?
Stop getting panicky and scared above gear?
Climb with more people to improve my technique?

While just thinking about the aims for the year isn’t going to give yourself the results you’ve wished for (if only! , it’s definitely a big step in the right direction towards reaching your ambitions! By just putting them on screen or on paper, you’re making that conscious decision to persue your aims.
If you’re feeling even braver, why not even publish them – we’re interested to hear everyone’s thoughts!

So go on, stick your neck out and throw down the gauntlet to yourself (it’s only going to matter to you) and write down your climbing goals for the year in the comments below. Looking forward to seeing them!

I’ll even add mine in to get the ball rolling. Trust me, I get uncomfortable myself putting these in the public domain!

Note: no, neither myself or Nige are in the photo above , but this is the best example (with a photo) of goal setting. I met John (Canada) while in Siurana in Spain in November. He’s in his early 50’s but had set himself a goal to climb 5.13 (that’s 7c+!). You know what, he pulled it off easily….

Update: Don’t forget to check our continuation on this series, Goal Setting: Ins and Outs